From thecrookedroad.org

Note from Dan: The Crooked Road announced this afternoon that it’s no longer pursuing federal designation as a National Heritage Area, in the face of misinformation being spread by Tea Party activists that the designation would be “an attack on private property rights.”

Here’s my column in today’s paper about this matter.

Here’s the press release The Crooked Road sent out Thursday afternoon:

THE CROOKED ROAD PROMOTES HARMONY NOT DISCORD

“On an icy day in January 2003, a small group of volunteers from throughout Southwest Virginia sat around a pot-bellied stove at the Carter Family Fold and planned The Crooked Road. Lunch was prepared and a fervent blessing said by Jeanette Carter. The Crooked Road has always been, and continues to be, about the traditional music of Southwest Virginia. Over the last 10 years, The Crooked Road has sought to unite the communities of Southwest Virginia through their shared musical heritage. The unified nature of this initiative has also been its strength, allowing the region to establish and benefit economically from having an internationally known brand for authentic traditional music. Read more »

Photo by Caitlin Edenfield

A committee at Virginia Tech today recommended the university change the location of a planned Hokie football practice facility rather than build it on land occupied by an olde-growth forest called Stadium Woods.

My colleagues Tonia Moxley and Andy Bittner have more here.

This has been a hugely contentious issue at Tech; it’s donated scores of letter to the editor by writers pleading the the university to save the woods.

What do you think? Put your comments below.

www.godhearme.org

The Giles County school board today voted to remove the Ten Commandments from a school wall in Narrows High School.

The decision comes in the face of an almost certain federal court ruling against the board and costly plaintiffs’ attorneys fees they could have to pay if they had lost the case.

My colleague Laurence Hammack has that story here.

What do you think? Did the board do the right thing? Why or why not?

Put your comments below.

Yesterday I told you about a budget amendment from Gov. Bob McDonnell that would have left a majority of Virginia’s senior citizens service agencies (which provide programs such as Meals on Wheels) in a financially shaky straights.

Today, the governor withdrew his amendment. Advocates for seniors are overjoyed.

From McDonnell’s press office:

The governor’s decision to request that the amendment be withdrawn was made following input from a number of groups and care providers that a change to the existing formula to account for population shifts would have a disproportionate effect on the work done by Area Agencies in a number of Virginia communities. The governor believes these agencies do tremendous work and he supports their efforts. He is committed to ensuring they are well funded. He appreciates the information received over the past week and believes that it is in the best interest of Virginia’s seniors to keep the system in-place as it currently exists.

If the amendment had gone through, the LOA Area Office on Aging would have lost about $90,000 in funding for the coming budget year. With the amendment withdrawn, they stand to lost about $37,000 in funding compared to the current year.

But they’ve already made plans to cover that (hopefully) with a fundraiser called “Let’s Do Lunch,” that I’ll be telling you more about in June.

So stay tuned!

Shot by Dan, on the 2nd anniversary of the massacre

The jury awards $4 million each to the families of Julia Pryde and Erin Peterson — $2 million to each parent.

What do you think?

Update from roanoke.com:

“Virginia Tech contributed to the deaths of two students, Erin Peterson and Julia Pryde, in the mass shooting that took place on the campus April 16, 2007, a jury ruled today.

The seven-person jury in Montgomery County Circuit Court also awarded each parent of Peterson and Pryde $2 million. In total, the jury awarded damages of $8 million. The state may only be responsible for paying $100,000 in damages. The judge will rule on the awards cap later.”

(c) Ian Marsden | Wikimedia Commons | New text by Dan

Forgive me if I brag a bit, but I’m beginning to feel a bit like a prophet on the subject of Rush Limbaugh’s decline.

In a post Saturday, I asked, When will Rush Limbaugh announce his upcoming sojourn? And I speculated that he would have to, just to take some heat off his fleeing advertisers. Well, Rush took a day off Monday with no advance notice, the very next day he was slated to be on the air. Supposedly he’ll be back on the air Tuesday.

Much more troubling for Limbaugh, however, was the announcement from Premiere Radio Networks that it was immediately suspending national “barter ads” advertising for the next two weeks.

Here’s why: The syndicator provides the show to local radio stations for free, but in return, they must run “barter ads” that Premiere sells. They won’t be selling any for the next two weeks. In other words, they’re pissing away about 4 percent of their barter ad revenue for the year. The story was broken Monday night by Radio-Info.com. The radio stations are supposed to fill the dead air with local spots or ads for gold-seller Lear Capital or identity-protector LifeLock, which is trying to rehabilitate its image after paying $12 million in fines for deceptive advertising.

This is a highly unusual move, and it cannot be an insignificant amount of money, although the suspension does not apply to in-program commercials. Appearing on “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” on MSNBC last night (the clip is below), Tom Taylor, editor of Radio-Info.com, said the last time this happened was 5 years ago, after Don Imus called the Rutger’s women’s basketball team “nappy-headed hoes.”

And you know what happened after that: CBS fired Imus.

Rush reportedly played a round of golf Monday, and Taylor ended his segment on the show last by noting his headline tomorrow is “A Rush to Chill.”

“Rush Limbaugh and Premier want to cool things down for awhile and and let things quiet down,” Taylor said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Rush Limbaugh gets in some more golf.”

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

(h/t to Cold n P)

Daniel Lobo | Wikimedia Commons

The good news is, your electric rates aren’t going up this December.

The bad news is, they’re going to go up in February, by 7.4 percent.

Thanks, Apco!

The best news of all, for Apco, is that their legislative nemesis, Del. Ward Armstrong, D-Henry County, will be out of office by then.

Read the story from my colleague Jeff Sturgeon here.

Update: Regular reader/poster Art Hill has the comment of the day, below:

“C’mon, people. Those full-page anti-Armstrong ads ain’t cheap.”

Sent in at 11 a.m. by a reader; awaiting more details from the city of Roanoke.

Here’s Tuesday’s column about this issue.

Daniel Lobo | Wikimedia Commons

Calling his behavior “outrageous” and “totally beyond the pale,” a federal judge sentenced Roland “Spanky” Macher to 30 months in prison this morning. In March, the Roanoke landlord and former restaurateur and towing operator pleaded guilty to federal charges of tax evasion, bankruptcy fraud and food-stamp fraud.

Put your comments here.

Franklin County Sheriff Ewell Hunt

Big, big story today about the events leading up to the fatal shooting of a Franklin County deputy’s ex-wife on Memorial Day, outside Sheetz on Orange Avenue at Williamson Road.

Of course hindsight always is 20-20, but do you think Franklin County Sheriff Ewell Hunt could have  handled it better?

Put your thoughts here.