www.roanoke.com

We're looking to recognize "the Best of Salem." The best school coach. The best rec league coach. The best -- well, the best lots of things.

Lots of "best of" contests focus just on businesses -- and goodness knows, we've got lots of business categories, too. But we also want to do shout-outs to lots of other people in the community who deserve recognition. The best teacher. The best school staff. The best bus driver.

We've got details on our Best of Salem contest -- including a link to the official online ballot -- right here.

The voting has begun and runs through March 31.

Let your friends know so they can help recognize "the best of Salem."

We’re looking for The Best of Salem
The best place for breakfast.
The best place to walk the dog.
The best place to get your car fixed.
The best . . . well, you name it.
Think of all the things you recommend to friends — that’s what we’re looking for in our “Best of Salem” poll.
We’re kicking off the voting today -- here's a link to the official online ballot. The voting runs through midnight March 31.
We'll be announcing the results in our one-year anniversary issue April 24.
We’ll be awarding a gold, silver and bronze medal and passing out stickers for our top winners to display.
We’ve got lots of categories, though you don’t need to vote in them all.
Some deal with schools — who’s the best teacher? Some with sports — who’s the best rec league coach? Some with businesses — who’s the best hair salon? Some with kids — where’s the best place to go trick-or-treating? At least one even deals with romance — where’s the best place for a first date?
But all deal with living right here. Our favorite question: What’s the best reason for living in Salem?
Let the voting begin! (And be sure to tell your friends!)

Salem School Superintendent Alan Seibert has been picked to join a group of Virginia educators who will visit India next month. Here's a release from the city of Salem, followed by one from the state superintendents' association:

When Alan Seibert was growing up in Woodstown, New Jersey his Boy Scout troop taught him to be prepared for anything.
One of the merit badges he earned on the way to achieving Eagle Scout status in Troop 38 was in
"Personal Management."
Now, Salem's School Superintendent is taking the lessons learned in personal finance and applying them
9,000 miles from Salem.
Seibert, Virginia Secretary of Education Thomas Morris and twelve other Virginia school division
superintendents will visit businesses and schools in India from November 28 to December 8 to learn
about how India's economy is tied to Virginia's and what they can do as education leaders to help
Virginia's students become more globally competitive.
"I just truly think that technology will allow Salem's children to compete, participate and succeed in the global economy from right here in the Roanoke Valley," says Seibert.
"I just think it is incumbent on a school system to be looking for and then communicating those
opportunities to young people." The trip is totally funded by forty different companies that have
offices in the Commonwealth.
The Salem Rotary Club and an anonymous Salem business leader stepped up and contributed the funds to
make the trip possibe for Seibert. Read more »

Whoa, what's this? You may notice the So Salem site now looks a bit different. It's not you, it's us. We've changed our software. You shouldn't notice anything different, other than a new look. But the new software will help us make posts more quickly -- and when we're updating this site as often as we do (sometimes a dozen times a day), that's a big deal.

As always, if you have news or photos involving people or events in Salem or western Roanoke County, you can share at news@sosalem.com.

The first issue of our new community newspaper for Salem, Glenvar and western Roanoke County comes out today.

* If you’re a subscriber to The Roanoke Times and live in zip codes 24153 or 24070, you’ll find So Salem included in your regular newspaper delivery each Friday.

* If you’re not a subscriber, but still live in those areas, you’ll get So Salem mailed to you each week as part of the Simply Savings advertising flier you now receive. For most of you, that generally means it will arrive on Friday or Saturday, depending on postal delivery. If that uncertainty sounds like a reason to subscribe, our circulation department will be happy to help you.

* In addition, we have free copies of So Salem available at these locations:

-- Food Lion, 1796 Apperson Drive
-- Food Lion, 28 Wildwood Road
-- Kroger, 161 Electric Road
-- Kroger, 1925 Electric Road
-- Kroger, 1477 West Main Street
-- Mill Mountain Coffee & Tea, 13 E. Main Street

And, for a limited time only, we also have special promotional copies available at these locations in and around Salem:

Read more »

Welcome to the new website for community news for Salem, Glenvar and western Roanoke County.

If you’ve been a regular reader of this blog for the past month or so, you’re noticing something different today. If you’re coming here for the first time, well, it’s all new anyway.

The big news here today is that we’ve launched a full website -- and a weekly print edition.

What you’re looking at here is The Notebook, our news blog for So Salem. Most days, we update this blog multiple times -- sometimes with things you’ll later see in print in some form, sometimes with things you won’t. Think of it as a running conversation.

And we do want this to be a two-week street. You can click the “comment” button on the lower right to comment on blog posts. You can also share your news and photos at news@sosalem.com.

If you want to bookmark this blog, here’s the new, formal address.

And if you want to bookmark the whole site, you’ll want this.

For more about what the whole website features, click here.

And for more on our print edition, click here.

Finally, to meet our community journalist, Miranda Adkins, either in person or in cyberspace, click here.

Starting today, customers at the Mill Mountain Coffee and Tea on 17 East Main Street in downtown Salem will notice something different -- a drop-off box for submissions to So Salem, our new community newspaper and website for Salem and western Roanoke County.

Yes, we know you’re reading this online -- and scattered all over this site are links where you can submit news and photos to news@sosalem.com.

But we also know that not everybody is online -- and sometimes not everything is easy to send across the Internet.

So that’s why we have a drop box. Think of this as our Salem bureau.

We also know that sometimes it’s good to just sit and chat -- and that’s why Miranda Adkins, our community journalist for Salem and western Roanoke County, will be holding “office hours” at Mill Mountain Coffee and Tea on Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. That’s her picture on the right. Regulars might recognize her for another reason -- she used to work there.

She’s eager to hear your ideas about covering our community -- so stop by and share some news the old-fashioned way.

Later this week, we'll be expanding So Salem in two big ways.

First, we'll be adding a full website for Salem and western Roanoke County to complement the news blog you're looking at now. We'll talk more about that when it goes up and we can point to some of the features.

Second, we'll be launching our print edition of So Salem on Friday. It will be a new weekly newspaper to provide community news to Salem and western Roanoke County residents.

There are three ways you'll be able to get the print version of So Salem.

Read more »

If you were at the Blue Ridge Kite Festival this weekend and got your photo taken by our paparazzi photographer, check it out here!

Do you have news about something in Salem or Glenvar or western Roanoke County? A neighborhood event, a school achievement, or other recognition? Share it with us, and your neighbors. Send your community news to: news@sosalem.com

And if you have a photo, send that on, too. We look forward to hearing from you.