Evan Jones
Once again, a camera in the middle of Smith Mountain Lake lets you look in on a pair ospreys trying to raise a family. But as WFIR’s Evan Jones reports, if recent experience is any guide, nature can be rough, and survival is anything but guaranteed.
Here is a longer-form interview with Smith Mountain Lake State Park Manager Brian Heft:
Click here to watch the Smith Mountain Lake Ospreycam.
Vinton has dumped its dumpsters. The town has closed the dumpster site that had been available to residents seven days a week. Main reasons include the $10,000 annual cost, a perennial problem with vultures in the area, and with a waterway canoe launch in the works, a way to improve the nature experience. WFIR’s Evan Jones has the story.
The Roanoke County Electoral Board meets today as the County deals with a State Board of Elections decision to decertify the electronic voting machines used in the county. As WFIR’s Evan Jones reports, 30 Virginia cities and counties are all scrambling to replace them by November.
Barring an unforeseen last-minute change, the days of the Roanoke postmark appear to be near an end. The Postal Service plans to start sending Roanoke-area mail to Greensboro for processing as soon as this weekend. It is part of a much larger Postal Service consolidation in efforts to cut costs, but as WFIR’s Evan Jones reports, postal workers question its effectiveness.
State lawmakers cited privacy concerns in rejecting Governor McAuliffe’s proposed amendments Wednesday to a bill that sharply limits when law enforcement can use drones to gather evidence. The governor’s proposals would have allowed more widespread drone use without warrants, but both houses voted the proposed changes down, as WFIR’s Evan Jones reports.
The Berglund Center is using frequent customer surveys in efforts to measure preference from everything to which acts should come to food service at the concession stand. Arena officials say they don’t have much trouble getting plenty of responses, not when they offer incentives like two Alan Jackson tickets coming to someone who answers the e-mail survey sent out this week.WFIR’s Evan Jones has the story.
A federal grant is helping several Roanoke area farmers markets offer fresh fruit and produce to lower-income residents who might otherwise overlook or forgo a healthy shopping option. The grant allows food stamp, or “SNAP”, recipients to double their purchasing power of eligible items at the markets — up to $20 worth a day.WFIR’s Evan Jones has the story.
Summer gas prices are likely to be the lowest in at least ten years. Gas Buddy, which tracks prices across the country, now projects a national average summer price of $2.35 a gallon — and Virginia’s average is often 20 cents or so lower. But an expert in retail gas pricing strategies says as prices go down, we are less likely to look as hard for the best deals. More from WFIR’s Evan Jones.