
What are your favorite local places for shopping, pampering or entertaining? Vote now in this year's Best Of Holiday Shopping readers' choice poll.
It is 9 a.m. on Friday the 13th, and the whine of many dentist drills cannot be ignored. “I’m scared,” Kelly Witcher says as she waits in line.
Alan Frederick said patience has been an essential virtue. Frederick, 68, has devoted hundreds of hours to date in the restoration of the antique “disappearing propeller boat” now housed in his shop at Smith Mountain Lake. “I always call this my love-hate boat,” Frederick said. He bought the 1921 “Dippy” for $500 in 1992 from a competitive water skiing acquaintance in Oswego, N.Y. Frederick has restored three other boats, including a 22-foot 1948 Chris-Craft Sportsman Sedan and a 20-foot 1948 Chris-Craft Custom Runabout.
A person was taken to the hospital after a shooting late Friday night in Roanoke. Roanoke Police responded to reports of a shooting in the 3300 block of Hershberger Road shortly before midnight. One person was shot and taken to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital with non-life threatening injuries, according to police spokesman Scott Leamon. Leamon said no arrest have been made early Saturday morning and the case is still under
Elvis Presley had seized the throne, John F. Kennedy was a year away from pursuing Camelot and central Virginia’s public schools were racially segregated when James Bryant first got behind the wheel of a Bedford County bus. The driver performed his first run in 1959 at the school that currently houses Otter River Elementary in Goode, near parts of the county where he was born and raised. At 75, he
Carolyn Boley remembers the bullet holes that appeared in her husband’s office window. It was the early 1970s, and Ed Boley was working to integrate Roanoke’s Patrick Henry High School — the city’s last holdout from desegregation. As principal of the school, he was in charge. Violence was not uncommon then, but the gunfire scared Carolyn Boley. “That was before cellphones,” she recalled this week. “If things got really tight,
CHRISTIANSBURG — Blacksburg lawyer Joe Painter is back in jail after his bond was revoked Friday because of an alleged threat he made against the Montgomery County commonwealth’s attorney. A witness testified that Painter, 66, who is facing gun and drug charges stemming from an incident in February, stated that he was “going to eliminate Mary Pettitt from the gene pool.” Judge Joseph Canada, a retired judge brought in to
A commission established by University of Virginia President Teresa Sullivan will investigate the school’s slave history. Sullivan has recruited 27 faculty, staff, students, alumni and community members to be part of the Commission on Slavery and the University. The group will coordinate research on slavery and find ways to present their research to the community. Slavery is an inescapable part of UVa’s history. Many students and staff already know about
Roanoke police have obtained surveillance footage from Lowe’s as part of their continuing investigation into the April death of a south Roanoke woman. Cary Mitchener was found dead in her home in the 2600 block of Stanley Avenue Southeast shortly after 6 p.m. on April 15, according to police and search warrants. Her arms were tied behind her back, her legs were bound and a bag had been placed over
Each orifice is duct-taped shut right now. But the ATM sitting idle outside the Poff Federal Building in Roanoke will dispense cash again, its owner predicted Friday. Angela Price, president and CEO of FedStar Federal Credit Union, said the credit union plans to resume ATM and full-time branch services after a three-year, $51 million renovation of the Poff building is completed next year. A construction crew began work in 2011
After decades as a teacher and administrator, Ray Arnold retired, but that didn’t keep him from working with the Roanoke school system doing one of the most dizzying jobs of all: finding substitutes. Before there was an automated system to round up substitute teachers, there was Arnold, who would rise at 4 a.m. and phone substitutes to line up teachers so classrooms wouldn’t be empty. Arnold, 88, died Sept. 6.
A crew conducting a national public art project to raise awareness for immigration reform made a stop Friday in downtown Roanoke. A van with a giant eye printed on its side parked outside 16 West Marketplace on Church Avenue from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., taking photos of passers-by who lined up. Each subject got to pose with their larger-than-life size portraits, which were then posted on the wall of
A teenager who cut off his court-mandated tracking device and became a fugitive from police, then was later charged in two Roanoke shootings this year, will stay in jail at least until his October trial. De’Sha Shamal Taylor, 17, was ordered by a judge to remain held without bond at his hearing Friday morning in Roanoke Circuit Court. Taylor was indicted by a Roanoke grand jury last week on charges
Some of the Roanoke Valley's most popular radio stations went silent for much of Friday because of a power outage. All five of the stations owned by Mel Wheeler Inc. were knocked off the air when their studios lost electricity around 9 a.m. The stations are all housed under one roof on Electric Road in southwest Roanoke County. Top-rated Star County (WSLC-FM, 94.9), Q99 (WSLQ-FM, 99.1), Vibe (WVBE-FM, 97.7/100.1), K92
RADFORD – The Radford University Board of Visitors approved the school’s operating budget Friday and heard concerns about the latest faculty morale survey. On a 13-0 vote, the board approved the $202 million operating budget, as well as a six-year plan required by the General Assembly. Members Anthony Bedell and Stephan Cassaday were absent. Also on a 13-0 vote, the board approved $8.5 million for two new recreation field projects
It was an odd request that eased the tension of a terrifying moment in July, one that gave Greg Elliot the chance to escape a dangerous situation. “I could use a burger,” Elliot recalled his captor saying. Roanoke County General District Judge Vincent Lilley leaned forward from his bench with interest as Elliot testified during a preliminary hearing today. Sitting only feet away in a mustard-yellow jumpsuit, 47-year-old Bill Martin
A tractor-trailer hauling cigarette filters overturned Friday morning in Botetourt County, sending the driver to a Roanoke hospital and blocking highway traffic for several hours. Virginia State Police spokesman Sgt. Rob Carpentieri said Michael Anthony Miles Jr., 27, of Richmond had to be extricated from his cab after the 11:45 a.m. wreck on U.S. 220 Alternate (Cloverdale Road). He was taken to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, where spokesman Eric Earnhart
The suspicious package that prompted the brief closure of Plantation Road in Roanoke County on Friday morning was nothing more than a cardboard box full of insulation, officials said. Still, Roanoke County police Assistant Chief Chuck Mason said a passer-by who called in the report did the right thing by phoning 911 when the individual saw a man place the box on the side of the road. Police and emergency
ABINGDON — Two hours of legal debate on Virginia’s natural gas laws passed Thursday when U.S. District Court Judge James P. Jones suddenly voiced frustration over the seeming inability of anyone to easily access an escrow account holding nearly $30 million in gas royalties. “Are we going to throw up our hands and say ‘oh well, that’s how the world works?’ ” he directed at coal and energy company lawyers
A squirrel damaged an Appalachian Power substation this morning, cutting off power to about 2,400 customers in Roanoke and Montgomery counties. Appalachian Power spokeswoman Teresa Hamilton Hall said a squirrel damaged equipment at a station in the western part of Roanoke County about 8 a.m. today. Power was lost in many homes in the Glenvar area and eastern Montgomery County. The company's website reports about 1,300 customers in Roanoke County
A celebrity spotting in the Hill City isn't a common occurrence. So when pop diva Britney Spears made an appearance at a Wyndhurst restaurant Thursday afternoon, it created a bit of an internet buzz. Spear was spotted at The Neighbors Place, where she was "very polite" and left a generous tip, according to the restaurant's Facebook page. What appears to be a cell phone photograph began circulating on social media
Lockn’ Festival organizers Thursday called the event a success, but said it lost money and they aren’t ready to commit to another large-scale music festival in Nelson County next year. About 25,000 people attended the four-day event, which ended Sunday at the Oak Ridge Estate in Arrington. The festival was expected to generate $1.6 million in tax revenues for the county, Lockn’ spokeswoman Olivia Branch said in a statement. About
Abraham, Lilly, Pepperoncini, Pooche, Ralphie and Treazur will return to the runway Sunday as four-legged models sashay during the Roanoke Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta’s 2013 Doggy Fashion Show. Tango, an 11-year-old award-winning mixed breed, will join Bay, Jubie, Teeny, Tigo, Toby and Trixie in making their debuts in the sorority’s second annual doggie fashion show. “They will model fashions from swimwear to bridal wear,” said Laurice Hampton, show
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