News From Roanoke.com

Boca, a Belgian Malinois, was Roanoke police's first bomb-sniffing dog and served nobly for 10 years.

Editor's note: Boca served with Officer R.D. Cox. Cox's name was misspelled in print; it has been corrected in this online version.

For 10 years, he sniffed out explosives, guns and even the bad guys.

The former Shenandoah Hotel was renovated in 2000 at a cost of $4.5 million.

Nine months after Mill Mountain Theatre last presented a play, the building that once housed its actors is for sale, its owners have confirmed.

Plans call for the Atelier building, located on Salem Avenue in Roanoke directly opposite the entrance to the Taubman Museum of Art, to officially go on the market early next year, said Jim Sears, president of Center in the Square. Center owns the Atelier, in addition to its signature Center in the Square building at One Market Square, which houses the moribund theater itself.

More than a dozen conditions were attached to Patrick Henry's stadium when its construction was approved in 2006.

Patrick Henry High School's football team hosted its first on-campus home game in 2007 despite opposition from a group of neighbors in the Brandon Avenue-Grandin Road area of Southwest Roanoke who opposed the stadium's $4.1 million construction.

The special grand jury investigating the Franklin County Sheriff's Office will have another two months to deliberate.

County Circuit Court Judge William Alexander said Monday that he filed the order last week to give the group until Dec. 31 to investigate and report their findings.

A couple and their two teenage children were displaced from their Southeast Roanoke home Monday night when flames damaged the back of their house.

The fire was reported about 8:20 p.m. When firefighters got to the two-story brick house in the 3500 block of Garden City Boulevard, flames were burning up the back of the house and smoke was coming out of the windows.

A 30-year-old man from Goodview was killed when he was thrown out of the pickup he was driving after it went over an embankment Monday afternoon.

Kevin Lamon Martin was driving a 1988 Dodge Dakota westbound about 3:30 p.m. on Virginia 24 near Spradlin Road when he crossed the yellow center lines and sideswiped a 2008 Freightliner Snap-on truck, police said.

A fire that displaced a Roanoke County couple and their dog Sunday night has been ruled accidental, a fire department spokeswoman said.

Fire investigators were unable to determine the exact cause of the fire in the 3500 block of Simsmore Avenue because of the extensive damage to the storage building where the fire began, Jennifer Conley Sexton said. The house is likely a total loss. Damage estimates are about $125,000.

A Roanoke man was seriously injured after being struck by a vehicle early Saturday on Franklin Road.

Kevin Damon Webb, 32, was taken to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital after he was hit about 12:30 a.m. while walking on Franklin Road just northeast of the U.S. 220 interchange, Roanoke police said in a news release.

A Ferrum business was destroyed by fire Monday morning.

Underwood's Custom Kitchens near the intersection of Franklin Street and Skillet Road is deemed a total loss after the fire, which started in the attic, said county Fire Marshal Bennie Russell.

Roanoke police are looking for two people in connection with a shooting and home invasion Saturday.

Officers were called to the 1300 block of Rorer Avenue Southwest just before 8:30 p.m., police spokeswoman Aisha Johnson said.

Roanoke police are looking for a man who robbed a Walgreens drugstore early Saturday morning.

The suspect approached the pharmacy counter of the Walgreens at Williamson and Hershberger roads northwest about 2:20 a.m. and demanded money.

An 84-year-old woman was charged with reckless driving Monday after her car hit a Roanoke Domino's Pizza store, police said.

Clara Kelley was trying to park her car at the pizza shop in the 2300 block of Peters Creek Road about noon when she crashed through the front of the store, police spokeswoman Aisha Johnson said.

An Amherst man died Sunday night after he was hit while trying to walk across Interstate 581 in Roanoke, Virginia State Police said.

Bobby Junior Braxton, 62, was crossing the southbound lanes just south of Peters Creek Road about 6:30 p.m. when he was hit by a tractor-trailer, Sgt. Rob Carpentieri said.

The growing Roanoke company designs systems that optimize energy utilization.

On Monday afternoon, ADMMicro, a Roanoke-born and -based energy management technology company, announced its acquisition by GridPoint, an Arlington-based company that develops "Smart Grid" software for electric utility companies.

The assault happened just 10 days after he was convicted of violating a protective order.

A man who ambushed his ex-girlfriend as she arrived at work, slashing her repeatedly in the face, arms and torso, was sentenced Monday to 17 years in prison.

The proposed amphitheater in Mary Elizabeth Park would be built in two phases.

ROCKY MOUNT -- The Rocky Mount Town Council took another step Monday toward developing a music venue to mark the town's spot on The Crooked Road, Virginia's Heritage Music Trail.

The officer was stopped at a sobriety checkpoint on Williamson Road.

A Roanoke County detective who has been recognized for protecting the innocent from molesters and murderers was taken to jail Saturday on charges of driving while intoxicated.

Patricia L. Farris, a five-year veteran of the Roanoke County Police Department, was arrested about 2 a.m. Saturday after she was stopped by one of her colleagues at a Williamson Road sobriety checkpoint, Assistant Chief Donna Furrow said.

Susan Willis has been on paid leave since the SOL scandal erupted at William Fleming High.

The Roanoke School Board is expected to make a decision at tonight's regular meeting regarding William Fleming High School Principal Susan Willis' future as an employee of the city's public schools.

Conrad Porter told police that he was one day away from getting rid of his computer pornography.

Conrad Elwood Porter, 71, was trying to quit child pornography, he told police one afternoon in May.

But earlier that day, a Century 21 real estate agent brought a prospective buyer into Porter's small brick Cape Cod home in the 2600 block of Fairway Drive in Raleigh Court and stumbled upon his stash.

Lloyd Daren Howell, already incarcerated since 2005, will get eight years for the killing.

Five years after an 85-year-old man took a fatal blow to the head during the robbery of his Roanoke business, Lloyd Daren Howell was convicted of the crime Monday.

As part of an agreement reached in Roanoke Circuit Court, Howell pleaded no contest to second-degree murder and robbery. The 48-year-old, who was already incarcerated on unrelated charges, received another eight years in prison.