Gene Marrano
MGN
The Council of Community Services gets ready to open its new testing center satellite location on Williamson Road next Monday – that’s where people battling substance abuse seeking clean needles and syringes must also fill out the paperwork first. The Council of Community Services will also test for HIV and Hepatitis on Williamson Road as it does at the Campbell Avenue main office – but the C-C-S director pointed out today that NO needle exchanges will take place on Williamson Road – only at a mobile unit in various locations. Anne Marie Green says CCS has been “a good neighbor” at its long time Roanoke home and in 3 other localities, but at today’s Roanoke City Council meeting Williamson Road Area Business Association executive director Valerie Brown and several companies on that corridor objected:
Four months after 130 other employees in Roanoke were furloughed, Norfolk Southern announced another round of layoffs this morning. That includes 47 at the locomotive shops and another 20 at Shaffer’s Crossing. That information came from a union official according to WDBJ-7. A subsequent statement from Norfolk Southern called the furloughs “consistent with the railroad’s organizational realignment.”
Chris Head in studio/C Palmer photo
Debates on casino gambling, guns and the ERA may grab the spotlight but meat-and-potatoes issues like the biennial budget will also have their time in the spotlight as the General Assembly session gets under. Republican delegate Chris Head was live in studio this morning; he said the General Assembly needs to be fiscally prudent despite the encouraging numbers on jobs and wages at this time. Head said live in-studio this morning he recalls a special session that was needed during Democratic governor Terry McAuliffe’s administration when the budget had to be tweaked when tax revenues fell short of projections. Hear the complete two-part conversation with delegate Chris Head below:
Part 2 of our interview with Chris Head below was recorded off-air:
Del. Sam Rasoul
It promises to be the biggest “hot button” issue during the General Assembly session that convenes on Wednesday – gun control legislation and related bills. In the first of a two-part series WFIR’s Gene Marrano speaks with Democratic Delegate Sam Rasoul:
Republican Delegate Chris Head weighs in here tomorrow morning on gun control issues.
Sam Rasoul in studio/ C Palmer photo
Governor Northam has released what he calls a “Bold Criminal Justice Reform Agenda” ahead of the General Assembly session that convenes next week. It includes marijuana decriminalization, parole reform and raising felony larceny thresholds. Fellow Democrat and Roanoke delegate Sam Rasoul on part of that reform agenda:
Rasoul was live in studio this morning speaking on a variety of issues – including gun control, minimum wage hikes and the biennial budget. Hear the complete conversation below, watch it on Facebook. Republican delegate Chris Head joins us Monday morning at 8:45.
Three-plus years of donations and volunteer labor have led to the opening of a permanent veteran center at New Freedom Farm in Buchanan. Now the healing place for veterans and others suffering from PTSD or substance abuse is holding an open house. More from WFIR’s Gene Marrano: