Evan Jones

It has been six years since the iconic 611 steam locomotive hauled passenger excursions in Virginia, and as it resumes doing so today, it is clear there is no loss in interest: more than 90% of the 18,000+ tickets are already taken.  For the next five weekends, the Roanoke-built locomotive will take passengers on two excursions a day — 30 in all — from Goshen to Staunton and return. More from WFIR’s Evan Jones:

 

Roanoke City officials believe a new bank headquarters building will help boost development along the Franklin Road corridor. Ridge View Bank is a little more than two years old with retail branches in Salem and Smith Mountain Lake and a loan origination office in downtown Roanoke. With today’s groundbreaking, construction is now set to begin on its headquarters on part of the big parking lot in front of the former K-Mart building. The Ridge View headquarters building should open in about one year, and it will include another retail branch. Bank officials say long-term plans are in the works to serve parts of four states. WFIR’s Evan Jones has the story:

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Early voting in Virginia has about five more weeks to go before election day arrives, and as of today in Roanoke County, anyone wishing to vote early in person now has two places to do so. The Roanoke County Elections office opens a satellite voting site today at the Brambleton Center near Cave Spring Corners — the earliest date it has done so. The Brambleton voting center will be open the same hours as the main elections office in Vinton. WFIR’s Evan Jones has more:

The locations mentioned in this report are for Roanoke County voters only. If you live elsewhere, check with your city or county’s elections office for early voting locations and hours.

Photo: Gene Marrano/WFIR

Visitor spending in the Roanoke region reached a new high in 2022, exceeding levels reached before the pandemic brought so much to a halt. Visit Virginia’s Blue Ridge coordinates efforts to bring visitors to the region. It all took a big hit, of course, when COVID arrived in 2020, but the travel-related expenditures for last year are in, and they are the most ever, topping $872 million in direct spending — for conventions, hotels, restaurants, retail, outdoor recreation and much more. More from WFIR’s Evan Jones:

The future appears promising — VBR reports close to two million unique visitors to its website last year — also a new record.

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Early voting is now underway in Virginia, and if Roanoke County is any indication, there will be plenty of people marking their ballots well ahead of election day. The number of absentee ballots already mailed out is around 3,500 — well above the figure when early voting began in the last two years. In addition, initial in-person voting was well above recent years.  More from WFIR’s Evan Jones:

The owner of two local computer stores says he is seeing increasing cases of computer fraud that begin with a legitimate call for tech support — but the person at the other end sometimes takes on a second job of sorts once the tech issue in question is resolved. Chris Duncan owns Vinton Computer and Brambleton Computer. He knows you’ve heard all the usual warnings, like not responding to those emails, clicking their links or those pop-up boxes. But he’s seeing something else now that often results in much greater losses — scams that begin with a tech support call you might place for something like a printer problem.  WFIR’s Evan Jones has more:

State education officials say the latest student assessments show a “significant and persistent learning loss” in reading and math for students in grades three through eight. The loss is especially acute for minorities and special needs students. Officials attribute it mainly to time away from classrooms during the pandemic. Governor Youngkin says his administration will embark on an all-out effort to address the learning deficit. WFIR’s Evan Jones:

 

NEWS RELEASE: Governor Glenn Youngkin today announced ALL IN VA, a comprehensive plan to support Virginia’s students facing the continued detrimental impacts of COVID-19 learning loss, declining academic performance and absenteeism. Virginia’s Standard of Learning scores demonstrate that student achievement remains well below pre-pandemic levels. The Youngkin administration is taking further, aggressive action to ensure all Virginia students get the academic support they need to recover learning loss, boost their attendance and academic performance.

“The shuttering of our schools led to lasting learning loss for our children. Especially in grade 3 through 8, we must redouble our efforts,” said Governor Glenn Youngkin. “ALL IN VA focuses on the foundational elements of education, attendance, literacy and learning, and provides a playbook to school divisions to meet the needs of our students. The ALL IN VA plan fosters collaboration and partnership between school divisions, our Department of Education, community leaders and most importantly, students and their parents. I challenge all of us to work together with urgency to create a brighter future and deliver the education our students in the Commonwealth were robbed of for far too long.”

“The ALL IN VA plan is built on proven best practices in learning loss recovery, literacy education, and school attendance. We know what works, and Virginia’s students will benefit with high-intensity tutoring built into students’ day by school divisions investing this money in proven models that get results. Our students deserve nothing less,” said Secretary of Education Aimee Rogstad Guidera.

“Grade 3 through 8 Virginia students are still struggling to recover the learning loss from the pandemic and are not performing as well as their pre-pandemic peers,” said Superintendent of Public Instruction Lisa Coons. “The 2022-2023 SOL data demonstrates just how important school attendance is for students’ academic success. VDOE recommends school divisions allocate this $418 million in learning loss resources to proven programs that will achieve the greatest student impact–approximately 70% for high-dose tutoring, 20% for Virginia Literacy Act implementation, and 10% for chronic absenteeism response.”

The ALL IN VA plan is a three-pronged approach to accelerate the learning loss recovery by addressing:

  1. Attendance
  2. Literacy
  3. Learning

Click here to read Governor Youngkin’s ALL IN VA plan.

Click here to read Virginia’s 2022-2023 Standard of Learning scores.

Click here to view the ALL IN VA 2023 Annual Standards of Learning Assessment Rates Presentation.

Watch the ALL IN VA announcement here.

Danville’s Police Chief is heading to Roanoke. City officials in Danville announced today that Scott Booth has accepted chief’s position in the Star City. It is no surprise: Roanoke City Manager Bob Cowell had indicated Booth was his top choice. His record in Danville includes a sharp reduction in crime rates under his tenure.

DANVILLE CITY NEWS RELEASE: City Manager Ken Larking announced today that Police Chief Scott Booth will be leaving the City of Danville to accept the position of police chief for the City of Roanoke. Booth’s last day as police chief in Danville will be October 31.

Larking noted the dramatic reduction in crime rates under during Booth’s tenure.

“While I am disappointed that Chief Booth will be leaving us, I am incredibly thankful for what he and his team have accomplished under his leadership,” Larking said. “I am happy for him to have this new opportunity and for the people in Roanoke. Scott and the department have built a winning system in Danville.”

Mayor Alonzo Jones agreed, saying, “He’s done a great job for the City of Danville, and he deserves praise for the work he has done. To see crime at the lowest rates in years, the partnerships between the police department and the community that are now in place, and the high level of engagement and trust with citizens speaks volumes for Chief Booth and the entire department.”

Booth has been the chief of police in Danville since February 2018. “Over the last five years, we have worked together as a city to meet several goals, including reducing violent crime and establishing community-based policing, which has become the Danville model,” Booth said. “Through a philosophy of having leaders in the department that are empowered to act, and lead by example, the Danville community has come together and established a better tomorrow for the future.”

During his tenure, he has been recognized for his leadership in reducing crime, community policing, and community engagement. Most recently, Booth received national recognition with the Frederic Milton Thrasher Award from the National Gang Crime Research Center. The award recognizes Booth’s accomplish

Virginia now has a revised budget in place for the fiscal year that started July 1st. The General Assembly gave final approval Wednesday, ending a contentious process ahead of November’s elections. Among many other things, the new budget includes pay increases for state employees, teachers and law enforcement personnel along with increased spending for education. The package also provides for tax breaks. One of them is this year only — a $200 income tax rebate for single filers, $400 for those filing jointly. And starting with next year’s returns, there is an increase in the standard deduction to $8,500 for single filers and $17,000 for married couples’ returns. The budget now goes to Governor Youngkin for his signature. More from WFIR’s Evan Jones: