The Bedford County Sheriff's Office continues to investigate the Tuesday drowning of a Moneta toddler.

Lt. Kyle Williams said the department is not identifying the victim because he is a juvenile, but Sherry Webster of Huddleston said the victim was her 4-year-old grandson, Alex Edward Webster.

Sherry Webster, the child's paternal grandmother, shared few specific details about the drowning, except to say her grandson somehow "got out of the house and into the pool."

Williams said the boy fell into an above-ground inflatable pool at a home on Horseshoe Bend Road in Moneta about 8 a.m.

Emergency crews performed CPR and the child was transported to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

According to online real estate records the home is co-owned by Rebecca Ellis.

A woman by the same name was listed in the child's obituary as one of Alex's grandmothers.

No charges have been filed.

-- Courtney Cutright

Salem school board approves $55,000 traffic fix

The morning traffic flow in front of Salem High School, which the school system had termed a "hazard for parents and students," will be addressed with a summertime makeover.

This week, the school board approved a $55,000 project to add signs, fences and raised crosswalks to the school's drop-off lanes and front parking lot.

The updates are designed to improve what has been deemed a chaotic flow of cross traffic between students and vehicles near the high school's front entrance.

The plan designates a through lane and a drop-off lane in front of the high school. Using fences, it directs foot traffic across those lanes only at the raised crosswalks.

The traffic situation worsened in recent years as parents have increasingly dropped off their children, school officials said.

Superintendent Alan Seibert offered this advice to parents who wanted to help fix the high school's traffic issues: Send your children to school on the bus.

Substantial completion of the project is scheduled for the end of August, before teachers return on the last day of the month.

-- Pete Dybdahl

History grant will help teachers in 7 districts

STAUNTON -- A professional development program aimed at improving history education is being established for teachers in seven school districts in Western Virginia.

The U.S. Department of Education awarded a $743,000 Teaching American History grant for the three-year program to a consortium of public schools in Bedford, Alleghany, Bath, Craig, Giles, Highland and Pulaski counties. The Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library is a partner in the effort.

School officials say the program will include seminars on history education for 25 social studies teachers in grades five through 12.

Teachers also will attend a weeklong institute led by visiting scholars at the presidential library and visit historic sites such as Jamestown and Yorktown.

-- Associated Press