News From Roanoke.com

Saying she doesn't want to "close the door" on the project, a council member alters her vote.

Uncertainty may be the only sure bet with Roanoke City Council.

A Roanoke grand jury has indicted a teenager in the June shooting death of a 15-year-old boy.

Marquise Terrel Daye, 16, now faces a charge of first-degree murder and a charge of using a firearm to commit murder, according to online court records. He will be tried as an adult.

Heath Wayne Overstreet faces a murder charge and apparently violated a protective order.

The Roanoke Times | File 2007

Jay Aneja, whose family owned the store and who also faces charges, is thought to be in India.

Two more defendants pleaded guilty Monday in federal court in Roanoke to charges tied to last year's burning of the Weekend Sofa Outlet store on Williamson Road.

Sidney Montre Terry, 25, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit mail fraud in connection with an insurance claim filed after the fire, and Jason Ronald Varona, 23, pleaded guilty to concealing a felony.

Tech's Collegiate Times has sued the West Virginia State Police over withheld documents.

Virginia Tech's student newspaper has won financial support from the Society of Professional Journalists to help in a public information suit against West Virginia State Police.

The Collegiate Times has been chosen to receive $1,000 from the society's legal defense fund to further a suit filed in May to obtain police investigation records relating to the 1998 disappearance of Tech student Robert Kovack, according to a news release.

Official results will not be released until later this summer, Roanoke's superintendent said.

Roanoke Superintendent Rita Bishop told a joint meeting of the city council and school board Monday that early indications suggest that 14 of the city's 28 schools met federal benchmarks last year. Another five schools are waiting to hear a final determination, she added.

James Bryant will leave his post almost exactly 43 years after he started in Salem as a patrolman.

Salem police Chief James Bryant has frequently described himself as a man of few words.

So it seemed fitting that instead of giving a speech, he used a short PowerPoint presentation Monday to announce his retirement to his staff.

Two $10 million lawsuits stemming from the Virginia Tech shootings will be overseen by a special judge.

Two civil suits filed by victims' families unhappy with the response to the April 16, 2007, Virginia Tech shootings have reopened old wounds, posed new questions and brought to light new documents two years after the deaths of 33 students and faculty.

New Superintendent Anthony Jackson has a plan to turn Henry County schools around.

COLLINSVILLE -- Henry County resident Christina Martin would like to see a change in the school system she graduated from decades ago, especially now that she has two children.

"We need new, upcoming ideas," she said.

Philip Kingery, who is accused of killing his wife, is scheduled to appear in a Franklin County courtroom this morning, Sheriff Ewell Hunt said Sunday.

Kingery, 48, of the Hardy community in Franklin County, has been charged with murder in the death of Rose Kingery, 52, whose body was found July 17 near the couple's home on Coopers Cove Road. Both had been reported missing July 13.

A tape has surfaced of The 24 Karat Soul, an area band, playing its biggest act in 1968.

In the late 1960s, eight Roanoke Valley high school students formed a soul band, played for three years and broke up with some great memories but no recording of perhaps their most important performance -- opening for the Beach Boys at the Salem Civic Center.

His shaggy hair and T-shirt fall on his frame as if on a hanger.

Her big eyes take him in. She giggles more than speaks.

Brandon Handy pedaled his bike 16 miles over the mountain from Paint Bank to the carnival in New Castle, just to be with Madison Paxton.