News From Roanoke.com

Josh Stevens raised his eyebrows as he glanced at the ID.

The plot was bizarre, carefully planned and amateurishly executed: To make money in America, three young men from refugee families set out to find a wealthy woman, abduct her from her home and hold her for ransom.

The firm tasked to help Roanoke find a replacement for City Manager Darlene Burcham after she retires next spring received 108 applications for the job.

In a dramatic reversal from February, a proposal for a new asphalt plant in the Glenvar community sailed through a Roanoke County Planning Commission public hearing Monday with only a whiff of opposition.

For 35 years, Debby Reynolds was the guardian of the Mountain View Elementary School library. But if a child wanted a book to read, she never stood in the way.

"She just loved books, and she just shared her love of reading with them, every encounter, every time they came into the library," Mountain View Principal Leigh Smith said.

William Fleming High School Principal Susan Willis broke her silence Monday evening after nearly five months of quietly fighting for her job.

A state report released in June accused Willis of spearheading an effort to manipulate the schedules of dozens of special education students to bolster the school's performance on state Standards of Learning tests. But Monday she said there are errors in the state Department of Education report that incriminated her.

A taxi driver smashed his cab against the wall of a downtown Roanoke fire station Monday night as his passenger reportedly tried to rob him.

Firefighters from the station removed the men from the vehicle and took them to a hospital. Their conditions were unknown.

Money woes are forcing the National D-Day Memorial Foundation in Bedford to lay off 11 of its 24 employees, President William McIntosh said Monday.

The memorial employees, some full time and some part time, were told last week, McIntosh said, adding that they've known their jobs were in jeopardy since February.

Bradley Schmidt died the way he lived, friends and family said: fearlessly.

Photo by Stephanie Klein-Davis | The Roanoke Times

SALEM -- Will trick-or-treat for cash.

That was the attitude of dozens of children and parents who brought sack after sack of Halloween candy to the area's first candy buyback sponsored by Salem dentist Caroline Wallace.

The smell of autumn rises from Ann DeMaury's basement.

It's the scent of cinnamon, cloves, sugar, apples and a little something special cooking in DeMaury's 40-gallon copper kettle during apple butter season at Ann's Apple Butter in Botetourt County.

The new governor elected Tuesday will be brimming with ideas on how to move Virginia forward, but one of his first jobs likely will be proposing deep cuts in state spending to deal with at least a $1 billion budget shortfall.

After years of suing former patients by the thousands for unpaid medical bills, Carilion Clinic is scaling back a collection process that at times has mistakenly ensnared the poor.

Even conventional weddings can scare the hair off a black cat.

Bridesmaids' gowns tend toward terrifying. Anxious grooms resemble zombies.

And the parents of the bride can turn ghostly pale contemplating the tab.

MONTEREY -- Highland High School is starkly different from Roanoke's public high schools. The mountainous community is agrarian, and almost all of Highland's students are white.

But the two school divisions have some things in common: At least half the students receive free or reduced-price lunches, and both use the same instructional method to boost student achievement on standardized tests.

Roanoke police are investigating an apparent murder attempt that occurred Saturday morning in the 1700 block of Melrose Avenue Northwest.

No injuries resulted.

The "shots fired" call went out to police about 10:20 a.m.

About 100 people filled an outdoor area of the Roanoke Civic Center on Saturday night to ring in Halloween -- King of Pop style.

"I was a big fan of Michael Jackson, so it definitely attracted me," said Frank Arnold of Roanoke.

Not all barometers of the holiday season are visible in the crowded store aisles.

Early in the morning, when it's still dark outside, the lights are on inside Target's store on Valley View Boulevard in Roanoke.

Two armed robberies hit two restaurants in quick succession Friday night in Pulaski County and the sheriff's office believes the heists were related.

No one was injured in either robbery.

The first stickup occurred about 9:08 p.m. at Troy's restaurant in the Fairlawn section of the county, Sheriff Jim Davis said. The second followed just five minutes later at King Buffet.