Local Government, Civic Affairs and Education
Its been vacant for a decade and its “good bones” survived a fire and water damage since then. Now a landmark in northwest Roanoke will soon be a community center again as WFIR’s Gene Marrano reports:
The American Cancer Society’s Discovery Shop at Smith Mountain Lake celebrates its 14th anniversary today. Southeast region Executive vice-president Brant Woodward will be there as they recognize volunteers that helped help the thrift store raise more than 14 million dollars for cancer research to date. There’s a Discovery Store on Franklin Road in Roanoke as well. Speaking live in-studio this morning, Woodward said the Discovery Shop in Moneta has a special relationship with the High Point Furniture market. (Hear a full-length interview about local American Cancer Society events and programs below).
The town of Vinton is planning for its annual Fall Festival is in full swing. It’s an event that people all around the Roanoke Valley look forward to each year, and because of its size, lots of volunteers at are need to help make the festival a success. More on this story from WFIR’s Bob Clark.
Roanoke County school officials believe they can now move ahead with expansion and renovations at Cave Spring High School. Three bids were opened today, all of them much closer to the originally budgeted cost than the single bid opened in June that was $17 million over budget. School Board members hope to award the contract before the end of the month.
News release: The Roanoke County School Board today received three bids for the expansion and renovation of Cave Spring High School. The board will begin discussions with the apparent low bidder with the intent to possibly award a contract at the Sept. 27 school board meeting. The following bids were submitted:
- Avis Construction Co.: $33,330,000
- Charles Perry Partners, Inc.: $35,970,000
- G&H Contracting: $34,265,000
“We are extremely pleased to move forward with this high priority project,” said Mike Wray, Cave Spring District member on the Roanoke County School Board. “I join the entire board in thanking all the companies that submitted bids and we especially thank the staff at Cave Spring High School for their patience and dedication,” Wray said.
As part of “National Welcoming Week” the City of Roanoke and local partners are hosting a series of events designed to bring immigrants, refugees and natural-born residents together. More from WFIR’s Gene Marrano:
Roanoke City has 9,500 storm drains, and if debris ends up blocking any of them, that can create street flooding or problems for nearby homes and businesses. City crews are doing their best make sure all those storm drains are clear so that when the heavy rains come, the runoff actually runs off. WFIR’s Evan Jones has more:
A year-and-a-half after the groundbreaking and just weeks after it started welcoming VWCC culinary students back the Claude Moore Education Complex on Henry Street celebrates with a ribbon cutting tomorrow. WFIR’s Gene Marrano has a preview:
As the fight over redistricting continues between Republicans and Democrats in Richmond, one group believes politicians should not be the ones redrawing boundaries. WFIR’s Ian Price has more:
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Fewer third-graders are passing reading tests in Virginia. And that has education experts concerned about their future academic success. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported Saturday that the pass rate for the reading tests fell for the second straight year. The average score has fallen from 84 percent to 72 percent in the past decade.
Third grade is when children are supposed to make the transition from learning to read to reading to learn. Studies suggest that the step has a huge impact on future learning. Connections are often found between poor reading performance in third grade and a failure to graduate high school on time.
Experts said an increase in screen time and a drop in time spent reading are among the reasons for the decline in test scores.