News From Roanoke.com

Somebody has put sugar in the gas tank of knowledge about beating record fuel prices.

Bogus tips, some circulated by respected organizations, are circulating on the Internet and through the grapevine.

As soon as Stacie Chase and her family left church on Sunday afternoon they raced to Fallon Park Pool to find some relief from the smoldering heat.

The course: public speaking.

The assignment: impromptu speeches.

Cody Reynolds' topic: The influence of penguins in his life.

In less than three minutes the 17-year-old crafted a jocular speech about flightless birds in "sweet tuxedos."

A Roanoke County man was charged following a crash Sunday near Tanglewood Mall that sent two people to the hospital.

Police have identified a man fatally struck Friday afternoon in Northwest Roanoke as Adrian John Boguniecki, 23.

Police spokeswoman Aisha Johnson said the Roanoke man was struck by an eastbound Dodge Ram pickup truck in the 3500 block of Hershberger Road.

A blighted structure on downtown Roanoke's western end is poised to take on new life, but developers say it's too early for many specifics.

The brick 106,000-square-foot Virginia Mills Cotton Products plant on Sixth Street could become home to 108 condominiums, though developer Ed Walker said the details aren't set in stone.

Midway through her first morning as the region's top federal law enforcement official, Julie Dudley contemplated the change from the No. 2 position she'd held in the U.S. Attorney's Office.

The Roanoke City Council voted Monday to appoint David Carson and Lori Vaught to three-year terms on the Roanoke School Board, even as Carson came under fire from opponents of a plan to close a city elementary school.

The Roanoke City Council voted 6-0 on Monday to approve a 3,000-square-foot expansion of the Raleigh Court Health & Rehabilitation Center for a physical therapy unit.

Vice Mayor David Trinkle abstained from the vote because of a potential conflict of interest.

A discarded cigarette sparked a small fire Monday at Corned Beef and Co. in downtown Roanoke.

Firefighters were called to the restaurant in the 100 block of Jefferson Street about 11:30 a.m., said Roanoke Fire-EMS spokeswoman Tiffany Bradbury.

Virginia Military Institute has received a $665,000 grant from the Department of Defense to enhance its Arabic studies program through the Reserve Officer Training Corps Language and Culture Project.

One man is in the hospital and another in police custody after a stabbing Monday in Southwest Roanoke, police said.

According to Detective Mike Meador, the victim was stabbed near the railroad tracks in the 2100 block of Franklin Road about 3:40 p.m.

A Buchanan County man who faked being a quadriplegic became the third member of his family to be sentenced on federal fraud charges, Acting U.S. Attorney Julie Dudley announced Monday.

Timothy Carl Ling, 31, of Hurley was sentenced last week to 20 years in prison on charges related to several fraud schemes that also involved his mother and father.

Former U.S. Attorney John Brownlee will hold a news conference at 11 a.m. today "to formally announce his decision regarding his potential candidacy for attorney general for the Commonwealth of Virginia," according to a news release sent out Monday.

Ben Roberson stood by his father to greet newcomers at Cave Spring Baptist Church in Roanoke County on Sunday. And Chip Roberson, the pastor, stands solidly behind his son, a U.S. Army sergeant home on leave from an area of heavy fighting in Afghanistan. But in the pulpit, the preacher is neutral.

The details are secret, but Michael Carter's jewelry store in Rocky Mount has not changed its name. And Francis Brown's one-man limo company in Roanoke is still called Cartier Limousine and Airport Car Service.

The maker of OxyContin has developed a new form of the tablet that it says will be harder to crush into a powder -- a process that converted what might have been a miracle painkiller into a street drug with the potency of heroin.

The Roanoke School Board voted Thursday to close Forest Park Elementary School next month and open a new academy for overage students in its place in September.

Promising to pray for their government leaders without being critical, about 60 people stood around an American flag planted on a hill, held hands and bowed their heads outside Parkway Wesleyan Church on Thursday.

It didn't matter that Thursday was Roanoke firefighter Scott Hetherington's first day back at work since suffering a cardiac arrest during a fire; he still had to scrub the toilet at station No. 7.