Evan Jones
A Roanoke-based foundation hopes a $100,000 national award will help sustain and develop its mission of providing mobility-related rehab equipment to under-insured and uninsured Virginians. The Foundation for Rehabilitation and Endowment — or FREE for short — recently competed for and won the award from the Premier Healthcare Alliance to advance its work. WFIR’s Evan Jones has the story.
TVRM Photo
Two steam railroad excursions out of Roanoke Saturday proved so popular that a third run is now scheduled for Sunday. The new excursion leaves Roanoke at 11:00 Sunday morning going to Lynchburg and back. WFIR’s Evan Jones has the story.
Click here for full excursion information.
Roanoke County Police say the number of impaired drivers does indeed go up on St. Patrick’s Day weekend, so they’re promising DUI checkpoints and patrols through Sunday. Police know word of such checkpoints quickly spreads through social media, but they say the high-visibility enforcement still reduces the number of alcohol-related crashes. WFIR’s Evan Jones has the story.
Ed Elswick
Roanoke County Supervisor Ed Elswick makes it official tonight: he will seek a second term on the board. Elswick represents the Windsor Hills District, where defeated then-incumbent Joe McNamara in the Republican primary in 2009. Elswick is running this year as an Independent. WFIR’s Evan Jones has the story.
Three months after the Newtown, Connecticut school shootings, Roanoke’s Police Chief says city schools are as secure as can possibly be. Chris Perkins says the school system already had excellent procedures in place, but there have been some changes in the response to events of December 14th. WFIR’s Evan Jones has the story.
Ken Cuccinelli the populist and Terry McAuliffe the pragmatist — a noted long-timeVirginia political analyst says that’s how the two candidates for governor will portray themselves in this year’s campaign for governor. WFIR’s Evan Jones spoke with Bob Holsworth in Richmond.
Holsworth is Managing Principal of Decide Smart in Richmond.
A noted Virginia political observer couldn’t agree more with Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling’s belief that raising the money needed to run a successful Independent campaign for governor would be a daunting task. Larry Sabato, Director of the UVA Center for Politics, says only an exceptionally wealthy candidate could probably do so. Now that the race appears to be set, get ready now for another lengthy barrage of campaign ads and robocalls. WFIR’s Evan Jones has the story.
Ferrum College is marking its 100th anniversary with a $25 million capital campaign. Among other goals, the “Centennial Campaign” plans to create more endowed scholarships and professorships at Ferrum, where enrollment has grown from 900 to 1,500 in the last ten years. WFIR’s Evan Jones has the story.
Photo credit: rpv.org
The seven Republicans running for lieutenant governor and the two seeking the GOP nomination for attorney general will all be in Roanoke County tomorrow night for a candidates’ forum. Roxanne Christley, President of the Roanoke Valley Republican Women’s Club, says you don’t have to be there to hear the debate:
Click here for the web site that will stream the debate live. For those who want to see all the candidates in person, the forum gets underway at 7:00 pm Wednesday at the newly renovated Cave Spring Middle School.
A Roanoke-based startup company believes it has created a big breakthrough — a device that prevents drivers from holding cellphones while behind the wheel. The “ORIGOSafe” keeps a car from starting if the phone isn’t docked and sounds an alarm if it is pulled out once the vehicle is in gear. WFIR’s Evan Jones spoke with the company’s founder.
Click here for full ORIGOSafe information.
ORIGO photo