News From Roanoke.com

Residents of Roanoke's flood-prone areas said the system seemed to be working well.

Late Thursday morning, with rain still falling and streams rising, the National Weather Service predicted the Roanoke River would crest at 15.5 feet at about 1 p.m.

Student chefs treated diners to venison, pork and salmon at the Roanoke Rescue Mission on Thursday.

Alexandra Horton had never tried deer meat before.

She would not try it now, she said as she waited in line for dinner with her mom, Rebecca, at the Roanoke Rescue Mission on Thursday.

Venison was on the menu.

However, freshmen and sophomores will need parental permission to check out "The Perks of Being a Wallflower."

A controversial novel challenged by the parent of a Roanoke County high school student will not be banned, but school officials have chosen to restrict access to it.

The brass bell was taken from a locomotive owned by the National Railway Historic Society.

Eddie Mooneyham figures the people who broke into the rail yard at the Roanoke Industrial Center off Ninth Street Southeast sometime last weekend or early this week knew just what they were looking for.

The Roanoke School Board's attorney said publicizing the file may violate Willis' privacy.

The grievance report of the former William Fleming High School principal fired this week by the Roanoke School Board likely will remain closed.

Despite efforts by Tech officials, the orange and maroon cans are still on Blacksburg store shelves.

BLACKSBURG -- Anheuser-Busch's controversial "Team Pride" promotional campaign never really got started in Blacksburg.

But the orange and maroon Bud Light "Fan Cans" can still be found on store shelves and are finding their way into the hands of tailgating Hokie football fans, including underage drinkers.

BELLE PLAINE, Iowa -- The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is reporting that a Michigan man has been injured in a hunting accident in Tama County.

According to authorities, Adam Post of Howell, Mich., was taken to Mercy Hospital in Cedar Rapids on Wednesday after being struck with shotgun pellets in the face and chest. The shot was fired by 56-year-old Leas Hill of Salem, Va.

RICHMOND -- Gov. Tim Kaine declared a state of emergency Wednesday as unrelenting rain from the remnants of a tropical storm soaked the state.

Kaine's declaration mobilizes state agencies to prepare for the threat of flooding over a wide swath of Virginia.

Social networking sites are helping maintain interest in the search.
Map and timeline

Matt Chittum | The Roanoke Times

Willis "needs to ride off into the sunset," said a black leader who also is a Roanoke schoolteacher.

The Roanoke School Board reached consensus about one thing related to the highly publicized grievance hearing of William Fleming High School Principal Susan Willis on Tuesday evening: She had to go.

A Botetourt County deputy stopped the car for speeding on Interstate 81 and found $30,000 worth of the drug.
Chauvin BaileySandy Ball Related

• How much heroin is in a bag? How much does that bag sell for in Roanoke? View our interactive: Heroin rings of Roanoke

Authorities on Sunday seized about $30,000 worth of heroin from a vehicle en route to Roanoke from New York City, the Botetourt County Sheriff's Office said in a news release.

A hearing to assess a proposed wind farm's encroachment on a Civil War site has been delayed indefinitely.

As work on the state's first commercial wind farm enters a winter lull in Highland County, so do the regulatory proceedings related to the most recent complaint against the project.

Pat Patterson said he owed it to those who voted for him as the Vinton District supervisor.

Democrat Pat Patterson has formally requested an election recount in his bid to become Roanoke County's Vinton representative on the board of supervisors.

Mike Altizer, the Republican incumbent, was certified the winner of last week's election by just 16 votes of 5,011 cast. Altizer received 2,509, Patterson 2,493, and there were nine write-ins based on the total certified by the county electoral board.

A tanker truck leaking a hazardous chemical shut down a portion of U.S. 11 in Rockbridge County for more than nine hours Tuesday morning but caused no injuries.

The truck, parked at Lee-Hi Travel Plaza and hauling about 55,000 gallons of the solvent and gasoline additive toluene, began leaking about 10:30 p.m. Monday, according to Virginia State Police spokesman Sgt. Rob Carpentieri.

Corrected 11/11/09 to clarify possible next step for fired principal.

The Roanoke School Board voted 5-2 on Tuesday evening to fire William Fleming High School Principal Susan Willis.

Roanoke's largest independent orthopedic group approached the health system, which is currently under increasing federal scrutiny.

The largest independent orthopedic treatment center in the Roanoke Valley is merging with Carilion Clinic.

Roanoke Orthopaedic Center, which currently has 10 physicians on a staff of about 100 at its Roanoke County location, and Carilion announced the deal Tuesday.

John Allen Muhammad and his accomplice killed 10 people during an October 2002 spree.

JARRATT -- John Allen Muhammad, the sniper who kept the Washington region paralyzed by fear for three weeks as he and an accomplice gunned down people at random, was executed Tuesday night by lethal injection.

A Montgomery County man with a history of run-ins with the law was taken to jail Tuesday night after he held a relative hostage during a 90-minute standoff with sheriff's deputies, authorities said. No one was injured.

Eric N. Surface, 50, was charged with abduction and was being held without bond at the Montgomery County Regional Jail, said Lt. Norman Croy of the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office.

In a speech in Roanoke, Truett Cathy said closing his stores on Sundays was his best decision.

Closing Chick-fil-A restaurants on Sundays was the best decision that the chicken chain's founder said he ever made.

Truett Cathy, founder and CEO of the Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A, spoke to a crowd of about 800 people Tuesday evening during a banquet to benefit Renewanation, a Roanoke nonprofit with a mission to create a tuition-free school system that teaches a Christian worldview. The organization also announced some new developments, such as a plan to teach voluntary Christian courses this summer through a public school system.

The current leader says he needs to devote more time to being curator, his other position there.

Mill Mountain Zoo announced Tuesday that Dave Orndorff -- who for two years has pulled double duty as general curator and executive director -- will step down as the facility's director once a replacement is hired. He will continue to serve as curator.