www.newrivervalley.com

Despite various rumors spreading on the online social networks, including Facebook and Twitter, the Montgomery County Animal Shelter in Christiansburg will not be closing Wednesday.

Messages appearing on these outlets Tuesday stated that the no-kill shelter would close Wednesday and those interested could adopt pets there for free.

Ruth Richey, public information director of Montgomery County, cleared up these rumors stating that they were not true and that there was a mix-up of information with another animal shelter, the Montgomery County Texas Humane Society.

There are media reports that the shelter there will be closing.

Since it filed for bankruptcy nearly two months ago, Luna Innovations Inc. has seen its business rapidly deteriorate as contracts have been lost and employees have fled, according to court testimony this morning.

Luna has operations in Blacksburg, among other locations.

Reporter Sarah Bruyn Jones has more on this story.

Just in time for college football season, a new sports store arrived in Christiansburg this week, bringing college, NFL, Nascar and other sports team merchandise.

It's B&C Sports Collectibles, but this store won't be selling Virginia Tech shirts, hats, mugs, t-shirts and other Hokie garb because of a non-compete clause at the New River Valley Mall.

Business writer Jenny Boone has more details on her retail blog, The Storefront.

Two of the four men accused of stealing 11 firearms from a Christiansburg pawn shop pleaded guilty to federal charges this morning. A third is scheduled to plead guilty this afternoon.

Reporter Mike Gangloff has more on this story.

UPDATED: The third man has now pleaded guilty, as well.

Barnes and Noble will contribute a percentage of every sale made to customers who present a special BookFair voucher from LV-NRV. It takes place this Saturday and Sunday at Barnes and Noble in Christiansburg. For more, see our Back Cover book blog.

Virginia’s annual tax-free holiday on back-to-school supplies starts Friday and runs through Sunday, .
For these three days, clothing, shoes and certain school supplies are exempt of the state’s 5 percent sales tax.
The school supplies must be priced at $20 or less to be tax free. Clothing, shoes and other select items must be $100 or less to qualify.
For a list of all purchases that will be tax free, see this post on business writer Jenny Boone's retail blog, The Storefront.
Jenny has also a post about additional discounts being offered at Wal-Mart and tips on how to shop to your best advantage during this tax holiday.

Some American Electric Power customers in northeastern Floyd County will be without power Wednesday from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.

Affected customers should have received a notice, said Todd Burns, spokesperson for AEP.

Power will be out to do improvement work to a substation that’s part of a larger project, Burns said.

Burns said they hope to have the work completed by noon, but put out a notification that the power would be out all day in case it takes longer.

--Amy Matzke-Fawcett

BLACKSBURG — University City Boulevard and Prices Fork Road will have some lane closures from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. today while paving occurs.

Paving will be taking place at the intersection of University City and Prices Fork, and there will be single-lane closures.

Also, road improvements to Prices Fork from Huntington Lane to Blacksburg town limits will occur weekdays through Aug. 14 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Intermittent lane closures will occur with a minimum of one travel lane operational in each direction at all times.

Roadway improvements will include milling and resurfacing of the existing roadway and pavement markings to include improved striping for bike lanes and pedestrian crossings.

— Sharla Bardin

The Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford Metropolitan Statistical Area had the state’s second highest unemployment rate among Virginia’s 10 MSAs in June at 9.5 percent, according to the Virginia Employment Commission.

A full story will be in Thursday's Roanoke Times.

By Allison Chopin | The Roanoke Times

RADFORD — City officials are on the verge of cutting ties with their cable provider.

At Monday night’s city council meeting, officials described JetBroadband as unresponsive and owing the city nearly $50,000. Council set a public hearing Aug. 24 to consider revoking the company’s exclusive license.

When the company took over cable operations in Radford in June 2007, it failed to reach a required agreement under which it must pay the city for use of its existing utility poles and equipment, officials said.

Since then, the city has asked JetBroadband to sign the proper agreement and pay its debt, but the company has failed to comply. Although JetBroadband in May paid $6,000 of the $53,000 owned, according to city officials, city attorney Jim Guynn said Monday night that he has been unable to reach the company through e-mail.

At the Aug. 24 public hearing, JetBroadband officials will have another chance to state why it should be allowed to keep its license in Radford.

Calls to JetBroadband, which is based in Rustburg, were not returned Tuesday afternoon.