News
From Roanoke County Public Schools: ROANOKE – The Roanoke County School Board has appointed Donald T. Butzer as the new Catawba District member for the school board. Mr. Butzer will fill a portion of the unexpired term of Tom McCracken, who resigned from the Catawba District school board seat in June. Mr. Butzer will serve on the school board until the November 2016 special election is certified.
Mr. Butzer is a retired manager from Verizon where he was responsible for managing several aspects of business facilities and operations.
“We had five highly qualified candidates and considered all applicants very seriously. We want to express our thanks to all those who applied for this interim position,” said Roanoke County School Board Chairman Mike Wray. “Our decision was made based on Mr. Butzer’s strengths and his knowledge of how the education system works. Even after Don was unsuccessful in last November’s election, he remained very active and involved in our schools,” Wray said.
This afternoon’s heavy rains led to localized street flooding in the downtown Roanoke area as close to two inches of rain came down in about 45 minutes. Roanoke Fire-EMS reports its Swift Water Rescue Team helped a stranded motorist in the 900 block of Campbell Ave. The thunderstorms that moved through also left more than 1,800 customers in Roanoke City and County without power.
Doug Bock photo
Roanoke Fire-EMS photo
Tim Jones
From Roanoke City: — At a press conference held in the north lobby of Noel C. Taylor Municipal Building on Tuesday, July 12, Roanoke City Manager Chris Morrill announced that Tim Jones has been selected as Police Chief for the City of Roanoke. Jones has been serving as Acting Police Chief since March 2016. This announcement culminates a four-month national search and recruitment process, which included gathering input from various organizations within the community and using a citizen interview panel with participants who reflect Roanoke’s diversity. From the 42 applications received 11 finalists were selected. After video interviews, four candidates were invited for onsite interviews of which three were interviewed by the citizen panel, technical panel (which included Chief Kelvin Wright from the City of Chesapeake) and the city manager.
“I am pleased that after an extensive national search, we found the right candidate in our own department. Tim Jones has the professional experience, academic background, and deep knowledge of the community to lead the Roanoke Police Department during these challenging times. I look forward to working with Chief Jones as we continue to build a safer community through stronger relationships with our citizens and neighborhoods,” said Morrill.
(Continue reading for the rest of the news release.)
Carilion Clinic is teaming up with a local farmers’ market to help raise awareness about diabetes. WFIR’s Starr Anderson has more details.
Next Tuesday the Virginia Supreme Court holds a hearing on Governor McAuliffe’s executive order that restored voting rights to more than 200-thousand ex-felons. Some Roanokers plan to be at that hearing – more from WFIR’s Gene Marrano:
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – A federal judge has struck down a Virginia law that binds the states’ national political party delegates to a winner-take-all format, a ruling one GOP delegate hopes will embolden Republicans to vote for someone other than Donald Trump as their presidential nominee.
Judge Robert E. Payne ruled Monday that a law requiring the state to award all its delegates to the winners of the presidential primaries – and proscribes potential criminal penalties for those who disobey – is unconstitutional.
But the law was so obscure that the GOP delegates already planned on voting proportionally at the convention, and not winner-takes-all. The ruling does not free the delegates from voting proportionally based on the results of the March 1 primary, which Trump won.
Carroll Correll Jr., an anti-Trump delegate, had challenged the law.
The music goes on at Jefferson Center in Roanoke – with a new programmer at the helm for the 2016-2017 season just announced. More from WFIR’s Gene Marrano:
The registration deadline is nearing for anyone interested in helping the Smith Mountain Lake YMCA float into history. WFIR’s Starr Anderson has the story.