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From Transportation Security Administration: A 17-year-old Roanoke, Virginia, youth was stopped by the Transportation Security Administration with a handgun at the Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport checkpoint on Friday, March 30. The TSA officer who was staffing the checkpoint x-ray monitor detected the .38 caliber revolver inside the youth’s carry-on bag. It was not loaded.
TSA officials notified the airport police, which responded to the checkpoint, confiscated the handgun and detained the young man for questioning.
As a reminder, individuals who bring firearms to the checkpoint are subject to federal civil penalties of up to $13,000. This applies to travelers with or without concealed gun carry permits because even though an individual may have a concealed carry permit, it does not allow for a firearm to be carried onto an airplane. A typical first offense for carrying a handgun into a checkpoint is $3,900. The complete list of penalties is posted online here: https://www.tsa.gov/travel/civil-enforcement.
Passengers are permitted to travel with firearms in checked baggage if they are properly packaged and declared. Firearms must be unloaded, packed in a hard-side case, locked, and packed separately from ammunition. Firearm possession laws vary by state and locality. Travelers should familiarize themselves with state and local firearm laws for each point of travel prior to departure.
TSA has details on how to properly travel with a firearm posted on its web site here: http://www.tsa.gov/traveler-information/firearms-and-ammunition. Airlines may have additional requirements for traveling with firearms and ammunition. Travelers should also contact their airline regarding firearm and ammunition carriage policies.
Photo: Virginia Lottery
From the Virginia Lottery: It was a few days after the winning numbers were announced in Virginia’s New Year’s Millionaire Raffle, and Rick Manley was at the Speedy Mart at 514-B Blue Ridge Avenue in Bedford. He spotted a sign in the store proclaiming that one of the $1 million top prize tickets had been bought there. So he offered his congratulations to the store owner. “He said, ‘Was it you?’” Mr. Manley recalled. “I said, ‘I doubt it.’” However, he was wrong. When Mr. Manley went and checked the winning numbers, he discovered he did indeed have that winning ticket.
He bought the ticket with his friend Mike Heflin, Jr. The two split the million-dollar prize equally. In addition, the store received a $10,000 bonus from the Virginia Lottery for selling the winning ticket. That winning ticket was #078410. It was one of three top prize winners in the January 1 drawing. The other two top prize winning tickets were bought in Stafford and Virginia Beach. Five additional tickets won $100,000 each. Those tickets were bought in Charlottesville, Leesburg, Ridgeway, South Hill and Virginia Beach. An additional 500 tickets each won $500.
From Roanoke Police: Currently Roanoke Police are investigating a pedestrian being struck by at least two vehicles in the 400 block of Elm Avenue SE. The pedestrian who was struck appeared to have sustained serious injuries. He was transported to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital by Roanoke Fire and EMS for treatment. No charges have been placed at this time. The investigation is on going.
From Appalachian Power at 7 p.m. Wednesday: More than 90 percent of customers affected by the March 24-25 snow storm have had power restored. However, there are still more than 500 locations in Virginia where damage must be repaired before all customers have power restored. Most of the remaining outages are in Giles, Montgomery, Pulaski and Wythe counties.
More than 1,700 workers remain dedicated to the restoration effort and are now concentrating on the areas that sustained the most damage. Each of these repairs requires a significant amount of physical work, but fewer people are restored when each job is completed.
The forecast calls for sunny weather tomorrow and then rain tomorrow night, which could be heavy at times and may hamper restoration efforts.
Outages
About 8,200 customers are currently without power, mostly in Virginia.
Areas of Virginia with large numbers of customers affected by the storms include:
| Counties | # of Customers Out |
| Bland | 681 |
| Giles | 994 |
| Montgomery | 1,845 |
| Pulaski | 3,123 |
| Wythe | 1,524 |
Storm Restoration Efforts
More than 1,700 workers, including line employees, tree crews and contractors, are working to restore electric service. As weather permits, crews are still using helicopters to assess storm damage.
Service has been restored to all stations and main lines, but there are still some outages that affect large numbers of customers, plus several hundred additional smaller outages. When outages are cleared, crews are moving into more heavily damaged areas to assist in restoration.
Service restoration is handled by priority, meaning essential public safety facilities are repaired first followed by trouble areas affecting the most customers. From there, small clusters of customers are repaired and then individual homes and businesses.
Power lines do not necessarily follow along roads to neighborhoods. Houses on the same street or road may be served by different lines. Customers whose service is still out, but whose neighbors now have power, should re-report their outage.
Restoration Estimates
Most customers are expected to be restored according to the estimated times below. In isolated instances where damage is most severe, restoration could extend beyond these estimated times.
Areas in Virginia with estimated restoration dates/times are:
Tonight by midnight
Carroll County
Floyd County
Thursday by midnight
Bland County
Giles County
Montgomery County
Pulaski County
Wythe County
Appalachian Power will post updated restoration estimates for customers who may remain out until Friday. Customers should check the company’s outage map or sign up for mobile alerts to see those updated estimates.
Safety Message
Customers should treat all downed lines as live power lines and stay away from them. Never touch downed power lines or sparking equipment. Additional safety tips are posted at https://www.appalachianpower.com/outages/faq/OutageSafetyTips.aspx.
For More Information
Customers who do not have power may check for updated restoration times and other information by:
- Going to the outage map atwww.AppalachianPower.com/outagemap
- Downloading the AEP mobile app in Apple’s App Store or the Google Play store.
- Signing up for outage alerts atwww.appalachianpower.com/account/alerts/
- Calling the Appalachian Power customer center at 1-800-956-4237
A snapshot view of current outages is available at www.appalachianpower.com/outagemap.
Next Update: The next update is scheduled for Thursday, March 29 at noon.
From the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors: In our community, there has been much talk about how we should work together to protect our children. There has also been much talk about those actions that should be taken to further secure our schools. As members of the Board of Supervisors we hear this discourse and we applaud the passion of those who not just ask, but demand a safe environment for our kids.
The trained and skilled members of the County Police, Fire, and Emergency Communication Departments, who bear responsibility for the protection of all in our community, are, and shall remain, at the forefront of all efforts to safeguard our children.
Roanoke County’s Public Safety staff work closely with school administrators to ensure security plans and procedures are routinely practiced, and meet regularly to review them. Public Safety staff work with teachers, students, parents, and other members of our community to teach valuable lessons in school safety, respond quickly and effectively to reported concerns, engage with the community to identify collaborative solutions to complex challenges, and provide many other services during the course of their duties.
As we know from Public Safety experts here and elsewhere, we cannot mitigate every risk we face by simply implementing a few new security procedures. Our objective should not simply be to stop someone in the act of doing harm; rather, we must improve our ability to see the warning signs while simultaneously putting in place effective deterrent strategies. To do so will require not only our Public Safety experts, but our mental health professionals, our social workers, and every citizen of our community.
The Board of Supervisors supports the work of the School Board in partnership with our Public Safety experts to continue discussion of this issue, and consider thoughtful and comprehensive recommendations. The Roanoke County School Board has appointed a School Safety Committee to define what measures could be taken to further secure our schools. At this point, it is premature to determine what actions the Board of Supervisors might take. We will continue to work with the School Board to consider the recommendations that they put forward. Together, we will address school and student safety in the same manner as we address all of our most pressing challenges: with openness, diligence, and effective collaboration.
Appalachian Power says some New River Valley customers are unlikely to get their power back for another three days. More than 40,000 Virginia customers were still in the dark mid-afternoon Monday, and the utility says getting to each of the many scattered outages is a slow process. The utility says almost all Roanoke City and County customers should have service restored by late afternoon Monday. In Franklin County, the goal is midnight Monday. For Floyd County customers, midnight Tuesday is the best estimate, and in Montgomery County, some Apco customers may be without power through much of Thursday.
From Appalachian Power 10:00 am Monday: Progress is being made to restore electric service following a snow storm that hit Appalachian Power’s southern West Virginia and southwest Virginia service territories Saturday night. As much as 15” of heavy, wet snow fell in some areas causing trees and limbs to buckle under the weight, leading to mass outages. It was the most significant snowstorm to hit the area since Superstorm Sandy in West Virginia in 2012. With sunny weather and temperatures in the 50s, crews expect to make some headway throughout the day. But road access issues still remain, especially on secondary roads, which could hinder restoration efforts.
Outages
Nearly 58,000 customers are currently without power. Most of those customers, around 50,000, are in Virginia. Areas of Virginia with large numbers of customers affected by the storms include:
| Counties | # of Customers Out |
| Bland | 2,732 |
| Carroll | 1,276 |
| Floyd | 2,334 |
| Franklin | 3,104 |
| Giles | 5,531 |
| Henry | 3,961 |
| Montgomery | 10,864 |
| Patrick | 1,935 |
| Pulaski | 11,778 |
| Tazewell | 733 |
| Wythe | 5,358 |
Storm Restoration Efforts
While progress continues in areas with less damage and less snowfall, there is still a great amount of damage to assess and repair. More than 1,000 workers, including local line employees, tree crews and contractors, are working to restore electric service. Today, additional workers from outside Appalachian Power’s service area will arrive in the most heavily damaged areas. Line crews are working on outages that affect large numbers of customers. At the same time damage assessors are physically patrolling lines, identifying damaged areas and determining the resources needed to make repairs. Crews are utilizing multiple helicopters to help with line assessments.
Restoration Estimates
In some areas, restoration will be slow because of issues related to secondary road access. About 95 percent of customers are expected to be restored along the estimated times below, but scattered outages where damage is most severe could remain into Friday. In Virginia, areas with estimated restoration dates/times are:
Today by 4 p.m.
City of Roanoke
Roanoke County
Tazewell County
Today by midnight
Franklin County
Tuesday by midnight
Henry County
Patrick County
Wednesday by midnight
Carroll County
Floyd County
Thursday by midnight
Bland County
Giles County
Montgomery County
Pulaski County
Wythe County
Everything old is new again at SML Aviation, a flight school in Moneta that teaches people to become pilots. So if you are looking for a computerized experience, you need to look somewhere else. WFIR’s Denise Allen Membreno explains.
NASCAR Officals say all track activity at Martinsville Speedway for today (Sunday, March 25) has been postponed until tomorrow (Monday, March 26). STP500 AlphaEnergy250
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race is scheduled to resume at 11 a.m. ET. The Monster Energy Series will follow, at approximately 2 p.m. ET.
The Roanoke County Public School system is extending the school day to meet state requirements. The school system has missed nine school days and had two delayed openings. Dr. Ken Nicely, Director of Administration for Roanoke County Schools, says this is an effort to make up instructional time.
The elementary school day will begin at 7:45 a.m. and will end at 2:30 p.m. Middle and high schools will begin at the normal time, 8:20 a.m. and will end at 3:35 p.m. If there are any additional snow days, Memorial Day will be a school make-up day.
“Light It Up Blue” World Autism Day is one week from Monday on April 2nd. Blue Ridge Autism and Achievement Center is hosting a series of events to educate the public. WFIR’s Denise Allen Membreno has more.