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Sales on-Track and Midwest Industrial Supply have entered into an agreement where Sales will market and sell Midwest products. Midwest makes rail lubricant and anti icing agents. Sales on-Track  is a rail industry development and consulting business located in Roanoke.

Here is the press release from Sales on-Track.

Roanoke, Va – May 22, 2012 – Jim McNabb, president Sales On-Track LLC, Roanoke, VA and Steven Vitale, president, Midwest Industrial Supply, Inc., Canton, OH today announced that sales on-Track LLC will market and sell Midwest’s Glidex® Rail Lubricant, Ice Free Switch® and Zero-Gravity Third Rail® anti icing agents to the railroad industry in the northeast, midatlantic and southeastern United States. Read more »

Howell’s Motor Freight, Associated Asphalt Transport and Fleetmaster Express Inc. took home safety awards from the annual Virginia Trucking Association Safety Management Conference in Virginia Beach. These companies were awarded for having effective safety programs, reduced accident rates and improved safety records during 2011. See below for a full list of safety award winners.

Here is the press release from Virginia Trucking Association.

The Virginia Trucking Association presented its 2012 Safety Awards on May 17 during its Annual VTA Safety Management Conference, held at the Holiday Inn & Suites North Beach in Virginia Beach, VA.  The safety awards are generously sponsored by Service Insurance Agency of Richmond, VA.

Howell’s Motor Freight of Roanoke, VA was presented the 2012 Grand Trophy for Fleet Safety in Virginia.  This award is presented to the company that was judged to have had the state’s most effective motor carrier safety program during 2011.  Howell’s Motor Freight won the award in their division with an accident frequency rate of 2.07.  In 2011, their Virginia-based drivers worked a total of 165,393 hours with no fatalities and a frequency rate of 0%.

Roger Fishel of Staunton, VA, and a driver for FedEx Ground of Fishersville, VA was named the 2012 Virginia Truck Driver of the Year. Roger has been a professional truck driver for over 43 years and had driven over 3.2 million miles.  He is also a business owner with a fleet of trucks and uses his experience and knowledge to teach and train his employees to be professional and safe drivers.

Willie Cantrell of Louisa, VA and Safety Supervisor for Intertrans Carrier Company out of Gordonsville, VA was named the 2012 Virginia Truck Safety Professional of the Year.  He has been in the trucking industry since 1994 and has been recognized numerous times for his outstanding safety achievements.   He has made a tremendous amount of improvements in his company’s overall safety program in the short time he has been with them and is focused on keeping the company’s CSA score where it should be and sets a strong standard for all employees.

Fleet Safety Awards were presented to the following companies that had the lowest 2011 Virginia accident frequency rate in their class of competition:

ABF Freight System, Inc. – Fort Smith, AR
Appalachian Freight Carriers, Inc.  – Edinburg, VA
Associated Asphalt Transport, LLC – Roanoke, VA
Houff Transfer, Inc. – Weyers Cave, VA
Howell’s Motor Freight – Roanoke, VA
I.D.M. Trucking, Inc. – Weyers Cave, VA
Intertrans Carrier Company – Gordonsville, VA
Pitt Ohio Express – Pittsburgh, PA
Security Storage Company – Dulles, VA
Whitehurst Transport, Inc. – Richmond, VA
Wilson Trucking Corporation – Fishersville, VA

Improvement Awards for the fleets which had the greatest percentage of improvement in their accident frequency over the previous contest year were won by Associated Asphalt Transport, LLC, Roanoke, VA; Dick Harris & Son Trucking Company, Madison Heights , VA; and Eagle Transport Corp, Rocky Mount, NC.

Fleet Safety Certificates were awarded to the following companies who had an improved safety record over the previous year:

ABF Freight System, Inc. – Fort Smith, AR
Appalachian Freight Carriers, Inc. – Edinburg, VA
Associated Asphalt Transport, LLC – Roanoke, VA
Con-way Freight, Inc.  –  Ann Arbor, MI
CVS Transportation, LLC – Fredericksburg, VA
Eagle Transport Corp. – Rocky Mount, NC
FedEx Ground – Moon Township, PA
Fleetmaster Express, Inc. – Roanoke, VA
Howell’s Motor Freight – Roanoke, VA
I.D.M. Trucking, Inc. – Weyers Cave, VA
Intertrans Carrier Company – Gordonsville, VA
Paxton Van Lines – Springfield, VA
Quarles Petroleum, Inc. – Fredericksburg, VA
Southeastern Freight Lines, Inc. – Lexington, SC
Whitehurst Transport, Inc. – Richmond, VA
Wilson Trucking Corp. – Fishersville, VA

New River Valley green businesses will have a chance to network on May 30. Mingling Green will be held in the Attitudes Bar and Grill at the Holiday Inn Blacksburg at 5:30 p.m. This event is sponsored by the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center. Visit gogreennrv.com for more information.

Four archeologists were honored by the chief of the USDA Forest Service. Michael Madden, Michelle Rosado, Richard Guercin and Holly Johanns, from the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests, were recognized for leading the Passport in Time project evaluations on some threatened sites in Virginia. PIT projects involved evacuations, gathering data and analyzing artifacts.

Here is the press release from USDA Forest Service.

Roanoke, Va – The Chief of the U.S.D.A. Forest Service honored four archeologists from the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests; Michael Madden, Michelle Rosado, Richard Guercin, and Holly Johanns received recognition for leading Passport in Time (PIT) project evaluations on some of Virginia’s threatened sites.  These PIT projects are one of few opportunities for amateur archaeologists to perform excavations.  Forest Supervisor Tom Speaks asserts, “These archeologists deserve recognition because of the Passport in Time’s longevity, its impact, and its far-reaching engagement with other state, federal, and private organizations.”

Forest Service Archaeologists engaged partners to establish a nationally recognized volunteer Passport in Time Program.  Participants from all over the United States volunteer thousands of hours performing excavations, gathering data, and analyzing artifacts from significant Virginia sites including:  a historic farmstead that was the scene of the Third Battle of Winchester during the Civil War, a Civil War Federal Winter Encampment, and a series of prehistoric and historic sites on the James River at Chippokes Plantation State Park.

Last month’s Passport in Time project took place at Savage Neck near Eastville, Virginia on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay.  Fifty-two PIT participants contributed 1,821 volunteer hours in a week-long excavation retrieving artifacts from a prehistoric site.  Artifacts are instrumental in answering research questions regarding the daily lives of prehistoric Native Americans.  This site is one of the oldest sites on the Eastern Shore and is threatened to disappear from shoreline erosion, rising sea levels, and increased storm activity.

Speaks describes how the PIT partnership in Virginia has been in place for more than two decades.  “The multi-agency public-private partnership collaboration creates a sustainably strong and comprehensive program the public can count on enjoying and participating in year after year.”

Shashank Priya developed these piezoelectric windmills to power a bridge monitoring sensor network.

A two-day energy harvesting conference will be held at Virginia Tech in August. Associate professor of mechanical engineering Shashank Priya will host the conference that will bring researchers together for the 7th Annual Energy Harvesting Workshop and 2nd Annual Center for Energy Harvesting Materials and Systems Conference. Fuel cells, batteries, new technology and more will be  highlighted at the conference. Submissions for symposium abstracts are due May 31 and can be faxed at 231-2903 or emailed to fukushia@vt.edu.

Here is the press release from Virginia Tech.

BLACKSBURG, Va., May 22, 2012 – Virginia Tech Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering Shashank Priya will host a two-day conference Aug.7 and 8 on campus, bringing together a group of international experts on energy harvesting and its applications.

Priya directs Virginia Tech College of Engineering’s Center for Energy Harvesting Materials and Systems, part of the National Science Foundation’s Industry University Collaborative Research Center. He is organizer of the upcoming 7th Annual Energy Harvesting Workshop and 2nd Annual Center for Energy Harvesting Materials and Systems Conference. Read more »

The Blue Ridge Independent Living Center in Roanoke contributed to a report by the Statewide Independent Living Council that received the first Commissioner’s Award for Livable Communities. The council was recognized for their hand in developing housing options for people with disabilities. BRILC assessed bus stops and connecting walkways which resulted in an accessibility study to determine Americans with Disabilities Act  compliance.

Here is the press release from the Virginia Department of Rehabilitative Services.

(RICHMOND, Va.) —Commissioner Jim Rothrock of the Department of Rehabilitative Services has awarded the Statewide Independent Living Council with the first Commissioner’s Award for Livable Communities. The award was presented at the Independent Living Conference held in Richmond on May 1, 2012.
Read more »

Carla Finkielstein (center), an associate professor of biological sciences at Virginia Tech

A $150,000 fund from the Avon Foundation for Women will go toward studying circadian rhythms and cancer. Carla Finkielstein, an associate professor of biological sciences at Virginia Tech, and her team will use the funds to examine the relationship between odd work schedules in women and rates of breast cancer. The team hopes to find ways that the body’s internal clock suppresses tumors which could lead to finding the best time to administer treatments.

Here is the press release from Virginia Tech.

BLACKSBURG, Va., May 21, 2012 – Carla Finkielstein wants to know why women who work night shifts or jobs with odd hours have higher rates of breast cancer, and the Avon Foundation is helping her find out. The associate professor of biological sciences in Virginia Tech’s College of Science recently traveled to Washington, D.C., to attend the annual Avon Walk and receive a check for $150,000 in support of her research.
Read more »

Job growth in the New River Valley has caught some attention. The NRV has been named to the Forbes’ top ten list of Best Small Cities for Jobs. Out of 242 metropolitan statistical areas with less than 150,000 jobs, the NRV ranked fifth. Additional rankings can be found here.

Here is the press release from The Montgomery County, Virginia Economic Development Department.

Montgomery County, Virginia – The Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford Metropolitan Statistical Area (aka New River Valley) has been named to Forbes’ list of the ten “Best Small Cities for Jobs.”  Our metro ranked 5th nationally against 242 MSAs with less than 150,000 jobs.   Read more »

Members of the Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants were recognized with 2012 Life Member Awards. In order to be considered for the award, members must have more than 40 continuous years of service. This year, 42 inductees were recognized.  Area inductees include: Roger Anglin of Roanoke; Reid Johnson Jr. of Roanoke; James Lee of Roanoke; Glenn McMillion of Blacksburg; James Pearman Jr. of Salem; Marion Powell of Roanoke; James Scearce Jr. of Roanoke; Harry Schwarz of Roanoke; and Howard Weaver of Dublin.

Here is the press release from the Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants.

Richmond (May 18, 2012) — The Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants (VSCPA) is pleased to recognize 42 members with its 2012 Life Member Award. The prestigious award recognizes those who have been members of the VSCPA for more than 40 continuous years. Including this year’s inductees, only 333 members have received the coveted Life Member Award in the VSCPA’s 103-year history.
Read more »

The International Association for Food Protection named Kroger’s Mid-Atlantic region as the recipient of the Black Pearl Award for advancing food safety and quality. Each of Kroger’s 122 Mid-Atlantic stores is audited six times during the year in addition to inspections by health departments. Kroger also has an online customer notification system that reports certain types of recalls.

Here is the press release from Kroger.

ROANOKE, VA.(May 18, 2012)—Kroger’s Mid-Atlantic region is joining in the celebration of the company’s being named the 2012 recipient of the prestigious Black Pearl Award for advancing food safety and quality.

The International Association for Food Protection names one company annually for its efforts to advance food safety and quality. Read more »