News From Roanoke.com

The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality is investigating the source of a gasoline leak that contaminated a small tributary of Carvin Creek in Roanoke County.

Roanoke County Fire and Rescue crews were called about 10 p.m. Thursday after several people reported a strong smell of gasoline, said Allen Linkenhoker, pollution response coordinator for the Roanoke office of the DEQ.

Roanoke's public works crews no longer suck up leaves piled curbside.

As a result, longstanding leaf collection outfits are raking in piles of new business this year in the city. And competitors are popping up like fall mushrooms.

Psst! Some of your heritage may be vanishing.

That's the message of the annual endangered sites list produced by the Roanoke Valley Preservation Foundation, a 21-year-old nonprofit organization that labors to protect the structures and landscapes that lend the region its sense of place.

A former Roanoke Star-Sentinel writer pleaded not guilty Friday in federal court to a misdemeanor charge connected to an apparent attempt to document an election law violation.

Willow Louisa Rosenblatt, 39, of Roanoke is accused of the unauthorized access of a computer system engaged in interstate commerce, an unusual charge rarely seen in Roanoke's federal courts. Translated, the accusation is that after her employment as a freelance sports writer ended in the spring of 2008, she set the Star-Sentinel's e-mail system to forward messages to her at home, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sharon Burnham said. Star-Sentinel Publisher Stuart Revercomb had his personal e-mail forwarding to the paper, so that went to Rosenblatt as well, Burnham said.

Coyotes are increasingly on the prowl in the expanding suburban Greenfield community of Botetourt County, but state game officials say there's little they can do but encourage residents to hunt down the animals.

Editor's note: Mill Lane will be closed Nov. 30 through Dec. 2, officials said. The dates were incorrect in print, and have been fixed in this online version.

Part of Mill Lane in Salem will be closed for three days next week while nearby railroad repairs are made.

Sarah Palin's visit to Roanoke on Sunday for a book signing comes amid a tidal wave of publicity and national media attention.

ROCKY MOUNT -- Speaker after speaker passionately, pleadingly or sometimes testily implored the commissioners to take action that current state law is unlikely to allow -- that they fully reject or drastically reduce another rate increase proposed this year by Appalachian Power Co. that would further increase customers' electric bills.

Video by Jordan Fifer | The Roanoke Times

A tractor-trailer overturned Thursday on U.S. 220 in Roanoke County and caused significant delays for drivers traveling into Franklin County.

The truck was carrying 19 tons of Tupperware when it rolled on its side near Willow Branch Road just before noon, county police said. No one was injured.

The Roanoke County School Board was unable to give raises to the school division's employees or to fill some employment vacancies this year because of budget constraints tied to the sour economy.

But with the holidays just around the corner, the board may be able to reward employees with one-time cash bonuses -- $750 for full-time employees and $500 for part-time staff.

Yet another facet of a Salem ATM company's struggle against financial sabotage played out in federal court this week with a split jury verdict in the case of a Utah man accused of meddling in Couvrette Building Systems' efforts to recover assets from a former top administrator.

Roanoke's superintendent of schools and school board chairman on Thursday said plans are being implemented to have a full-time principal at William Fleming High School by the start of the next school year.

ROCKY MOUNT -- The man charged in the death of a Ferrum College student and the wounding of another remains out on bail. Jason David Cloutier, 31, of Ferrum returned to court Thursday morning after being released Wednesday on $20,000 bond.

Botetourt County authorities are continuing their investigation of telephone threats that led to the evacuations of Eagle Rock Elementary and James River High School on Wednesday afternoon.

Police have identified the woman whose body was found Tuesday under a Roanoke bridge.

Jennifer Shantelle Adair, 30, of Roanoke was found under the Wasena bridge about 7:30 a.m. A crew on a Norfolk Southern coal train spotted her body near the train tracks and called police.

UPDATED 10:46 a.m. Nov. 19: Ferrum man charged in death of student remains out on bond

UPDATED 10:46 a.m. Nov. 19: Ferrum man charged in death of student remains out on bond

FERRUM -- The rural character of the Ferrum College campus fit Jessica Goode perfectly, those who knew her say.

Former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's book-signing event slated for Sunday in Roanoke has not been canceled by the publisher, despite online and local media reports on Wednesday to the contrary.

You better watch out. Santa Claus doesn't want to catch the H1N1 flu virus.

Some national Santa hiring companies are trying to reduce the risk that this white-bearded man of Christmas -- and the children who sit on his lap -- will not contract the H1N1 virus, commonly referred to as swine flu.