www.roanoke.com

Discuss the election results here as they come in.

For tomorrow: Roanoke City Council on Monday directed the city attorney to start the process of placing a protection easement on most of Mill Mountain. Council agreed a survey, estimated to cost about $60,000 is needed, and seemed in agreement that the summit -- the most controversial piece -- should be left out of the discussion.

We think if you're going to spend that kind of money and put the mountain through a rigorous public debate, and continue to entertain ideas of running a tram up its slope, then you ought to talk about the entire mountain.

Endorsements for 2009

Virginia voters will decide the direction of the state for the next four years. Choose wisely.

Citizens of Virginia will elect a new governor and attorney general Tuesday and decide whether the House of Delegates will continue to be controlled by Republicans who have refused to take real action on the transportation crisis facing the state.

Many national pundits want to make this campaign a referendum about President Obama a year after his historic election.

A recent poll showed that Virginia voters are smarter than that. Only about 30 percent said Obama would factor in their decision in any way. Most Virginians know Tuesday's vote is about their home state, not the nation.

The direction Virginia could take in the next four years is certainly what weighed most heavily on members of The Roanoke Times editorial board as we deliberated our endorsements.

Read more.

A compilation of our endorsements for the 2009 general election:

Read more »

We're working on an editorial about the upcoming improvements on the Market. We will stay our course of urging the city to communicate with those affected.

While the Market Building will need to shut down for the renovations, vendors there have known this for some time. The city should help them relocate.

As to the open-air Market vendors, great care must be taken to provide space for this activity to continue while changes are made to their spaces and renovations occur at Center in the Square.

Communication and cooperation will work to all's advantage.

We're working on an editorial about the surprise announcement by Gov. Tim Kaine that Roanoke City Council has agreed to place a conservation easement on Mill Mountain.

The news came as a surprise to all, as council has not discussed this -- at least in public -- as it should have, nor had it discussed the protection zone with the parties who would need to be involved in creating and accepting an easement.

Still, the idea for some time has held merit for most of the mountain. It's the developed top and whether it should be developed further that draws controversy. The top should not be left out of the discussion.

For Friday we'll write about the controversy at William Byrd High School where one parent objected that the school's library carries the novel, "The Perks of Being a Wallflower," by Stephen Chbosky. The parent's child did not check out the book nor was he assigned to read it.

The county policy requiring three librarians to read, review and recommend whether the book should be reshelved is underway. We find it troubling that a teacher might be in trouble for recommending a book found in the library.

For tomorrow: Roanoke City Council in a split vote Monday agreed to spend $1.5 million out of its planned capital bond issuance on improvements to Countryside Golf Course. They needed to make the commitment in order to ink a contract with an undisclosed firm to manage the golf course under undisclosed terms.

Council needs to take a second vote on this expenditure. It would be great if they'd share with the public figures that would explain how much taxpayers will be paying to subsidize this course. City management will, as usual, say it doesn't legally have to disclose anything until it signs a contract. We will, as usual, say that they should.

For tomorrow: There's a frost warning out for tonight so we might as well wrap up the regular baseball season. For Major League Baseball, attendance overall this year dropped 6.5 percent.  The great recession is being blamed for the overall loss and probably contributed to the Orioles 3.3 percent decline. Bad baseball explains the Nationals' 22.8 percent slide.

Here in the Roanoke Valley, though, stats on attendance fared better for the debut season of the Salem Red Sox. During the off season, fans are sure to debate whether to keep the controversial tarps or remove them.

They don't bother us. How about you?

Monday, Roanoke City Council named a new park -- a link in the Roanoke River Greenway -- after the late Del. Vic Thomas, who for 30 years represented parts of the city and county in the state House. Wednesday, we'll write that Thomas more than earned the honor.