The Roanoke Times: Home page

Police in standoff in Southeast Roanoke - roanoke.com

Police cordoned off a two-block radius Saturday night near the intersection of Fifth Street and Highland Avenue Southeast in Roanoke.

Several police vehicles were still on the scene outside a house on Fifth Street early Sunday morning, where an officer said he was called Saturday night to respond to a situation involving a barricaded subject.

Vaccines getting a boost - roanoke.com

Many more could be on the market in five years or less.

MARIETTA, Pa. -- Malaria. Tuberculosis. Alzheimer's disease. AIDS. Pandemic flu. Genital herpes. Urinary tract infections. Grass allergies. Traveler's diarrhea. You name it, the pharmaceutical industry is working on a vaccine to prevent it.

Roanoker to launch online bird-hunting venture - roanoke.com

Northern Virginia native Jason Kosmann has hunted for his own business venture since his senior year in college at Georgia Tech, where he studied business and engineering.

Now, several years later, the 24-year-old believes that he has found his calling.

Holiday layaway - roanoke.com

More stores are setting up the service all year or for the season.

The concept of paying for Christmas gifts over a period of time, without using a credit card, appealed to the Ingram family for the first time ever this holiday season.

Anthony Ingram was laid off from his job at Walmart in January, and now he's working as a crew manager at McDonald's in Roanoke. His hours are unpredictable, so the Vinton resident does not know how much money he will earn weekly.

UPCOMING Information on public events of interest to businesspeople can be sent to Upcoming, The Roanoke Times, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke VA 24010, e-mailed to upcoming@roanoke.com or faxed to 981-3346. Deadline for submissions is two weeks before the event. For more information, call Heather Brush Froeschl at 981-3340. - roanoke.com

Dec. 1

Meeting

National Association of Retired and Veteran Railway Employees Unit 130 meeting.

When: 11:30 a.m.

Where: Plantation Creations, 7342 Plantation Road, Roanoke

REALTY TRANSFERS The Roanoke Times lists real estate transfers from the Roanoke Valley weekly as a matter of public record. Go online at http://www.roanoke.com/realty/ to search for recent land transfers as part of the homes.roanoke.com site. - roanoke.com

ROANOKE

Over $300,000

Foster, Susan A. and others to Susie V. Jamison, 613 Avenham Ave. Roanoke VA 24014, $340,000 10/23/2009.

$200,000 to $300,000

NAMES AND CHANGES - roanoke.com

EDUCATION

MALCOLM POTTS, professor of biochemistry in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Virginia Tech, has been conferred the professor emeritus title by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors.

Overdraft fee changes coming - roanoke.com

WASHINGTON -- New rules by the Federal Reserve Board should help curb those expensive overdraft fees that have become an annoyance for many consumers.

By next summer, financial institutions will be prohibited from charging new and existing customers overdraft fees on transactions at automated teller machines and with debit cards unless the customer consents to such overdraft protection.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Consumers who rely on heating oil to heat their homes will pay more this winter than last year, thanks to higher prices for crude oil, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. - roanoke.com

SAN FRANCISCO -- Consumers who rely on heating oil to heat their homes will pay more this winter than last year, thanks to higher prices for crude oil, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Be a generous tipper, without overspending - roanoke.com

There are no hard-and-fast rules, but year-end tips are generally the cost of a single session.

NEW YORK -- This holiday season, a leaner budget might clarify which people truly make a difference in your life. The challenge will be figuring out how much to tip them.

Determining what to give during the holidays, if anything, will likely be more complicated than in years past. Even if money is tight, it's hard not to feel guilty about skimping on the usual year-end bonus. You might also worry that not tipping will create an awkward tension or result in shoddier service.

Affordable, quality health care for all - roanoke.com

Robert Barnes

Barnes is a native of Roanoke and lives in Sweden.

I am a Roanoke native who has been living in Sweden for the past 10 years. Observing the debate over health care in the U.S., I have heard characterizations of reform as potentially turning us into Sweden. I'd never try to talk us into adopting a Swedish-style system in the U.S., but it is important to point out that this is not even close to what is on offer in the reform that is being considered in Congress. However, I would like to dispel some myths and raise some questions for consideration.

To live and die on your own terms - roanoke.com

Don H. Bivins, M.D.

Bivins is medical director of the Good Samaritan Hospice. He is also an associate professor of neurosciences at the Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Just a few months ago, President Obama addressed our nation and a joint session of Congress on his ideas for health care reform; tens of thousands of people marched on Washington to voice their concern regarding the health care reform legislation; and three Roanoke physicians and one Roanoke insurance executive had op-eds printed in The Roanoke Times regarding the anticipated legislation.

For those who have too little - roanoke.com

The teenagers didn't seem disrespectful -- just oblivious, standing in a cast bronze bread line, posing with statues of gaunt men waiting for food in the depths of America's Great Depression.

Some towered a good head above the figures, products of excellent nutrition all their young lives; one girl draped herself over the top of a statue in a smiling, goofy embrace.

An insurers' code of conduct is vital - roanoke.com

Robert B. Hansen

Hansen works at the MD Center for Pain Management in Portsmouth. He is also the associate clinical professor of neurology at Virginia Commonwealth University/Medical School of Virginia.

Let me go with dignity - roanoke.com

Tommy Jordan

Jordan, of Roanoke, is retired from Norfolk Southern and is active in Democratic politics.

I know everyone has thought about death, and not so much about the cost associated with dying. My wife died last year after a five-year battle with cancer. My wife and I had never thought about either of us dying before age 60. But I want to share some of the things people need to consider.