Ian Price
According to the latest numbers released this morning from the Virginia Department of Health, there are 19 new probable or confirmed coronavirus cases being attributed to the Roanoke Valley. State health officials report six new cases in Roanoke City, five new cases in Roanoke County, four new cases in Salem, and four new cases in Botetourt County.
A unanimous vote from Roanoke City Council last night ensures that the broken Robert E. Lee memorial won’t return to Lee Plaza in downtown Roanoke. WFIR’s Ian Price has details:
By a 7-0 vote, Roanoke City Council voted tonight to remove the monument to General Robert E Lee – erected in 1960 – from Lee Plaza downtown. Under a new state law that gave municipalities the right to decide the fate of monuments and statures honoring the Confederacy, museums, battlefields and other historical venues can petition to take the Lee Monument over the next 30days. All that remains in the plaza is the base; the rest of it was hauled away and placed in storage after a resident knocked it down. “We did it the right way,” said Roanoke Mayor Sherman Lea about the process, which happened after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Roanoke City Public Schools will be online only for the majority of students through the first nine weeks of the school year after a vote last night – there was one no vote from the school board as WFIR’s Ian Price reports:A photo on Facebook shows graffiti on the “End Racism Now” mural this weekend — the graffiti is a quote from Kionte Spencer’s Facebook being critical of police before he was killed in an altercation with police. WFIR News has spoken with two individuals who spotted the graffiti Saturday morning. We also observed a heavy police presence around the mural for most of that day. Kionte Spencer, an 18-year-old Hidden Valley High School student, died in February of 2016 after he was shot by Roanoke County police while carrying a realistic-looking BB gun in his right hand near the intersection of Brambleton Avenue and Electric Road.
(Photo posted on Facebook by Nick Entsminger)
After only a few additional COVID-19 cases yesterday, the latest numbers this morning from the Virginia Department of Health show 54 new cases in the Roanoke Valley. The bulk of those cases in Roanoke City, where 41 new confirmed or probable coronavirus cases have been recorded. There were nine new cases in Roanoke County, four new cases in Botetourt County, and no new COVID-19 cases in Salem.
Roanoke is celebrating the opening of its Financial Empowerment Center with a virtual ribbon cutting this afternoon. WFIR’s Ian Price has more:
Photo: Ken Cuccinelli Twitter
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says that acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf and his deputy, Ken Cuccinelli – a former Virginia Attorney General – violated their oaths of office when they barred his state’s residents from participating in a program that allows U.S. travelers quicker passage through borders and airport lines. He notes that this occurred during the height of the coronavirus pandemic. Cuomo says this happened after New York passed a law curtailing cooperation with federal immigration enforcement:
Wolf says New York continues to maintain provisions that undermine the security of the American people and purport to criminalize information sharing between law enforcement entities.