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If you're reaching this page after 11 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 7, because you typed "roanoke.com" into your browser hoping to find today's breaking news, the latest from the Fort Hood shootings or election results, we're sorry.

You've been redirected to this post because, between 11 and 11:30 p.m. tonight, we'll be taking a few of our databases offline to perform some routine maintenance and backups.

Thanks for your patience. We'll be back online as usual by 11:30.

Till then, our stories, multimedia and calendar will be unavailable, but you'll be able to browse our blogs -- where you can recap Election Day news and analysis, find a recipe for Brunswick stew or discuss the 100 things restaurant staffers should never do at Lindsey Nair's Fridge Magnet blog, find out about holiday promotions and new shops arriving in town on Jenny Kincaid Boone's Storefront blog and recap this week's Virginia Tech game on Randy King and Doug Doughty's Insiders blog.

In the meantime, if you've got questions or comments, feel free to comment here on our From the Newsroom blog or e-mail me at meg.martin@roanoke.com.

-- Meg Martin, online editor

About a half dozen readers have called or e-mailed the past couple of days to ask why we didn't run precinct charts detailing this week's election results in Wednesday's newspaper. We decided not to publish those charts this year for a few reasons:

• We felt like we could make better use of the space they require (nearly two full pages) with more stories and photos;
• The time it takes to compile the charts often causes us to miss our newsroom deadline. And if we miss our deadline that starts a chain reaction that ends with readers getting their papers late;
• The information is available on the state board of elections Web site.

Let me know if you missed having the charts in print. There's an election every year in Virginia and I know the question will come up again.

Editor & Publisher posted a story this week listing the "top 25 newspapers with the largest increases in print and online audience based on designated market areas."

The Roanoke Times ranked in the Top 10 with a 6.3 percent increase. Check out the details here.

A reader sent me an e-mail recently accusing the newsroom of political bias in our coverage.

He pointed out how Democrat Creigh Deeds' photo ran above Republican Bob McDonnell's photo in a front-page story detailing the gubernatorial candidates plans for improving schools. Because of that placement, only Deeds' photo could be seen when the paper was folded in newspaper racks.

"You see, your liberal slant on everything makes all of us think that something as simple as this has a political reason," he wrote. "My entire Hardee's biscuit and coffee group this morning thought so."

He's right that only Deeds' mugshot -- a newspaper term for a small photo inset in a story -- was visible above the fold.

He's wrong about why it happened. That decision on which candidate's photo to place on top was made based on the candidates last names, not their political leanings.

Read more »

Megan Schnabel

ROANOKE, Va. (October 5, 2009) — Megan Schnabel has been named editor of the Blue Ridge Business Journal (BRBJ), effective October 19.

Schnabel currently is a metro team leader for The Roanoke Times, owner of the BRBJ, with responsibility for coverage of public safety issues, courts and public integrity reporting. She is a 1995 graduate of Northwestern University's journalism school and joined The Roanoke Times as an intern in 1994. She was a business reporter for seven years, covering economic development, workplace issues and technology.

In 2002, Megan was promoted to assistant editor for The Current, gaining experience with the production of a niche tabloid product. In 2004, she joined the metro desk, where as team leader she directed notable coverage of such high-profile stories as the Alfred Dowe expense expenditures, the Henry County sheriff investigation and the federal prosecution of white supremacist Bill White.

In addition, Megan has served as the paper's point person on public records issues and serves as a regional Freedom of Information Act coordinator for the Virginia Press Association. She is also a 2007 graduate of the Batten Leadership Institute program at Hollins University.

The Blue Ridge Business Journal is a free bi-weekly business publication for the Southwest Virginia region, with nearly 16,000 subscribers.

Attention Virginia Tech fans: There's $2,500 in a Kroger gift cards on the line in our first-ever video contest. In 60 seconds or less, tell us why you are the primo Hokie fan. Break out that camera and send us a haiku, a rhyme, a tail-gating chant, whatever. We'll post it and then invite roanoke.com readers to vote on the best. Plus the editors will pick a wild card favorite, just to mix it up. Deadline is Sept. 30. Look for the details here.

Did you see the Patrick Henry/Hidden Valley high school football opener Friday night? If you missed PH's 44-14 win, check out the video highlights on our new VarsityCast page. Look for it to be updated Friday nights with live new content.

In addition to the weekly game highlights (shot by by multimedia producer Chris Zaluski), you'll find a real-time Twitter feed with Timesland scores and a chance to predict which teams will come out on top in the 2009 season. Look for the "Varsity Forecasters" box on the lower right of the page and see how your picks compare with those of Robert

Robert Anderson, Roanoke Times preps editor

Anderson, our prep sports editor. You have until 4 p.m. Friday to enter your picks.

Have any suggestions for how we cover high school football, in print or online? Leave them here or contact Robert at robert.anderson@roanoke.com

While you're browsing that VarsityCast page, also look for video of Robert's season preview and profiles of new coaches and top players to follow.

We had a lively discussion at our afternoon news meeting Wednesday about how we should display the news of Sen. Ted Kennedy's death on today's front page. Kennedy's death was announced by his family around 1:15 a.m. Wednesday morning, after our final deadline for Wednesday's paper had passed.

So, the news had been all over television and the Internet for more than 24 hours by the time our paper hit doorsteps this morning. A handful of editors in the room argued that his death was a huge national story and deserved traditional centerpiece display -- four columns wide with a large headline, photo, story, timeline -- on the front page.

Others argued that the timing of his death -- coupled with the fact that he had few local connections -- was good reason to play the story inside the paper.

As you can see here, we decided on somewhat of a middle ground: A large banner over the paper's flag announcing his death and directing readers to more coverage on pages three, four and five.

That alerted readers buying the paper in racks or stores to the coverage but also allowed us to give a nice display to local columnist Dan Casey's feature on Dave Asbury.

What do you think about how we played the story?

We've added a couple of new reporters to our staff and changed some beat assignments in the past month.

Rex Bowman joined the paper to cover Botetourt and Bedford counties. Bowman, a Floyd native who lives in Roanoke, spent 12 years covering Southwest Virginia for the Richmond Times-Dispatch before coming to our newsroom.

He's  also worked at The Washington Times, The Daily Progress in Charlottesville, The Argus in Fremont, Calif. and the Easton Star Democrat in Maryland.

Lerone Graham was promoted to full-time status as our weekend police reporter.  Graham, who graduated from Norfolk State University in 2008, was hired last year as a one-year intern in our New River Bureau.

Neil Harvey has taken over coverage of  Salem. He came to The Roanoke Times in 2001 and has worked in news and features. Most recently, he covered weekday night police.

Tonia Moxley is now covering Virginia Tech and Radford University and serve as the newsroom's point person on broader higher education stories. Her five years of experience covering Blacksburg and her wide network of sources in the New River Valley make her a good fit for that position.
Moxley first joined the company in 2002 as an assistant online editor with roanoke.com. She worked as an editorial assistant in the bureau from 2002-2004 before taking on the Blacksburg beat.

Click here for a complete newsroom staff list.

"How stupid can the Times be," read the subject line of the e-mail.

It captured the intensity of the reader’s complaint about a feature photo we published showing a 13-year-old Roanoke boy jumping off of a second-story stairway onto a trampoline.

"Why on earth would your newspaper put something out there that exhibits such dangerous behavior," the reader wrote. "Your paper should be promoting safety as much as possible, not encouraging foolish, dangerous behavior that can cause serious injury or worse."

Jumping onto a trampoline from one story up is a recipe for a trip the emergency room. I wouldn’t want either of my daughters trying it.

However, the decision on whether we acted irresponsibly in publishing the photo isn’t clear cut.

Read more »