Across Virginia
UPDATE
Roanoke isn’t the big easy but starting Friday it’ll be significantly easier to catch the summer sun while enjoying an alcoholic beverage in downtown Roanoke. WFIR’s Camden Lazenby has more.
Posted at 8:00 –
DORA is coming to downtown Roanoke – that is, a Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area that will allow patrons over 21 to purchase alcoholic beverages from a participating establishment and carry them in a marked open container – within a clearly defined area within downtown. The zone will be in effect from 11am to 8pm on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, from June 10th through July 31st. Campbell, Church, and Salem Avenues, Williamson Road and Market Street are among the DORA boundaries.
Officials in Virginia say two women are missing after a group of people in rafts and on paddleboards went over the Bosher Dam on the James River. WWBT-TV reports that 12 people were involved in the accident Monday afternoon. One of them managed to get out of the river and reach a nearby house for help. Assistant Fire Chief Jeffrey Segal said kayakers in the area helped rescue nine more. But Segal said two women in their 20s are unaccounted for despite a very thorough search. They planned to keep looking Tuesday morning.
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) – A jury found a Virginia man guilty on Friday of strangling his ex-girlfriend almost four years in front of the couple’s young toddlers. The Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk reports Lamont Johnson was found guilty of second-degree murder in the death of Bellamy Gamboa in July 2018. The jury also convicted Johnson of two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor for leaving the couple’s 20-month-old toddlers home alone while he disposed of Gamboa’s body. Jurors resumed deliberations Friday afternoon to determine the sentence for Johnson. The murder charge carries a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison.
(Update 6-6) The victim of the May 28 house fire on Brookridge Road has died as a result of her injuries. Charges against suspect Caleb Firebaugh have been upgraded to first degree murder
(Roanoke County, VA) – On Saturday, May 28, 2022, at approximately 1:43 pm the Roanoke County Emergency Communications Center received a 911 call about a house fire where the homeowner had been assaulted in the 4000 block of Brookridge Road. Roanoke County Fire & Rescue and Roanoke County Police responded to the scene. Upon arrival, flames were showing from the house and a victim was found in the front yard. The victim was transported to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. The fire was extinguished by responding fire personnel from Roanoke County and Roanoke City Fire-EMS. A suspect and a suspect vehicle were quickly identified and the information was relayed to area law enforcement. About forty-five minutes after the initial 911 call the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office advised that they had received a call about the suspect vehicle being involved in a car crash in the Boones Mill area of Franklin County. The suspect fled on foot from the crash and was taken into custody by the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office and the Virginia State Police. The suspect Caleb Firebaugh, 25, of Roanoke County was arrested and charged with Aggravated Malicious Wounding and is being held without bond at the Roanoke County/Salem Jail. The Roanoke County Police would like to thank the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office and the Virginia State Police for their assistance. Detectives from the Roanoke County Police Department and investigators from the Roanoke County Fire Marshal’s Office continue to investigate this incident. If anyone has information about this crime they are asked to call the Roanoke County Police at (540) 562-3265.
(Richmond, VA) — Yesterday, the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) announced the first presumed monkeypox case in a Virginia resident. The initial testing was completed at the Department of General Services Division of Consolidated Laboratory Services. VDH is awaiting confirmatory test results from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The patient is an adult female resident of the Northern region of Virginia with recent international travel history to an African country where the disease is known to occur. She was not infectious during travel. She did not require hospitalization and is isolating at home to monitor her health. To protect patient privacy, no further information will be provided. The health department is identifying and monitoring the patient’s close contacts. No additional cases have been detected in Virginia at this time.
“Monkeypox is a very rare disease in the United States. The patient is currently isolating and does not pose a risk to the public.” said State Health Commissioner Colin M. Greene, MD, MPH. “Transmission requires close contact with someone with symptomatic monkeypox, and this virus has not shown the ability to spread rapidly in the general population. VDH is monitoring national and international trends and has notified medical providers in Virginia to watch for monkeypox cases and report them to their local health district as soon as possible. Based on the limited information currently available about the evolving multi-country outbreak, the risk to the public appears to be very low.”
Although rare, monkeypox is a potentially serious viral illness that is transmitted when someone has close contact with an infected person or animal. Person-to-person spread occurs with prolonged close contact or with direct contact with body fluids or contact with contaminated materials such as clothing or linens. Illness typically begins with fever, headache, muscle aches, exhaustion, and swelling of the lymph nodes. After a few days, a specific type of rash appears, often starting on the face and then spreading to other parts of the body. Symptoms generally appear seven to 14 days after exposure and, for most people, clear up within two to four weeks. Some people can have severe illness and die. As with many viral illnesses, treatment mainly involves supportive care and relief of symptoms.
If you are sick and have symptoms consistent with monkeypox, seek medical care from your healthcare provider, especially if you are in one of the following groups:
Those who traveled to central or west African countries, parts of Europe where monkeypox cases have been reported, or other areas with confirmed cases of monkeypox during the month before their symptoms began,
Those who have had contact with a person with confirmed or suspected monkeypox, or
Men who regularly have close or intimate contact with other men.
If you need to seek care, call your healthcare provider first. Let them know you are concerned about possible monkeypox infection so they can take precautions to ensure that others are not exposed.
On May 20, 2022, VDH distributed a Clinician Letter to medical professionals reminding them to report any suspected cases of monkeypox to their local health department as soon as possible and implement appropriate infection prevention precautions.
Following the fatal school shooting in Texas ,Roanoke City’s Sheriff wants more resource officers stationed at schools across the district. WFIR’s Clark Palmer has that story.
UPDATE: Steven P. Lender, 50, of Pennsauken, NJ was arrested for Driving Under the Influence and Misdemeanor Hit and Run, for his role in the early morning CMV crash on Interstate 81 at Interstate 581, which left the bridge and several vehicles on I-581 damaged. There were no injuries reported in the crash, and the vehicles on I-581 only struck the debris that had fallen off the bridge.
Previous: from Virginia State Police: At 5:20 a.m. this morning a northbound tractor-trailer struck the bridge on Interstate 81 as it crossed the Interstate 581 bridge. The truck is reported to have been hanging off the bridge. After striking debris from the crash, several vehicles have been disabled on I-581.
Previous: A tractor trailer crash this morning has closed all I-81 north bound lanes in Roanoke County. The accident happened around mile marker 143. No word on possible injuries.
LEESBURG, Va. (AP) — A political newcomer and Vietnamese immigrant emerged from a field of 11 candidates to win the Republican nomination in a northern Virginia congressional district.
Hung Cao, a retired Navy officer, won the nomination in Virginia’s 10th District, which encompasses the outer suburbs of the nation’s capital.
He will face two-term Democratic incumbent Jennifer Wexton in November.
Republicans chose Cao in a firehouse primary with ranked-choice voting. He led through every round, but multiple candidates were eliminated before he achieved a majority over his closest competitor, Prince William County Supervisor Jeanine Lawson.
The redrawn 10th District leans Democratic but Republicans see it as competitive; Republican Glenn Youngkin won 49 percent of the vote in the district in last year’s gubernatorial race, according to data from the Virginia Public Access Project.
Cao raised less money than Lawson, but concentrated his campaign in the region’s immigrant communities.
He is one of three congressional nominees selected by Republicans Saturday. In the 5th District, Rep. Bob Good overwhelmingly won re-nomination at a district convention In the heavily Democratic 8th District, Ukrainian immigrant Karina Lipsman won the party’s nominating convention and the right to challenge Democratic incumbent Don Beyer.
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — Dozens of graves at a city-owned cemetery in Norfolk are threatened by eroding shorelines on the Elizabeth River.
A city review of the 44-acre site at Riverside Memorial Park found the shoreline surrounding the cemetery has been damaged by decades of dredging, nearby marine industrial activity and wind-driven waves that have undercut the riverbanks.
At least 10 headstones are only feet away from steep slopes leading down to the river, The Virginian-Pilot reported.
The city is seeking $1.9 million from the Virginia Community Flood Preparedness Fund to repair 1,500 feet of shoreline. But the money in that fund comes from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, from which Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin wants to withdraw.
A city official said it’s unclear if that funding source would be available if Virginia withdraws from the regional initiative.
Rep. Bob Good
FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) — Republican Bob Good has overwhelmingly won his party’s nomination to seek a second term in Congress representing Virginia’s 5th Congressional District.
Good — a conservative who touted endorsements from former President Donald Trump and GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert from Colorado, among others — won with 85 percent of the weighted vote among the 1,300 delegates who cast ballots at the party’s nominating convention Saturday at Hampden-Sydney College.
He was challenged by Air Force veteran Dan Moy.
Good will face Democrat Josh Throneburg in November. The district, which includes parts of central and southside Virginia, leans heavily toward Republicans.
Republicans held two other nominating contests Saturday. In the heavily Democratic 8th District in northern Virginia, Ukrainian immigrant Karina Lipsman, a defense and intelligence expert, won the nomination at a convention in Springfield with nearly 62 percent of the vote. Her closest competitor, Kezia Tunnell, received 19 percent.
Lipsman will now face four-term Democratic incumbent Don Beyer.
Eleven candidates are on the ballot in Virginia’s 10th District, where Republicans are holding a firehouse primary with ranked-choice voting to pick a nominee to face Democrat Jennifer Wexton.