Phase I Verification Forms and Applications for Payment must be post-marked to the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission by June 30. The commission will pay $9.5 million on 46,000  Phase I flue-cured and burley quota owner and producer claims. For more information, visit vatip.com.

Here is the press release from the Phase I Tobacco Indemnification Program.

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA (May 30, 2012) … In June the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission will make payments on 46,000 Phase I flue-cured and burley quota owner and producer claims totaling $9.5 million dollars. Read more »

Williams Supply Inc. in downtown Roanoke will be visited by American Lighting’s mobile LED light lab on June 13. The mobile lab showcases energy efficient lighting demonstrations, videos and products. A free breakfast will be served during the visit.

Here is the press release from Williams Supply and Lighting Galleries.

ROANOKE, VA.—May 29, 2012—-American Lighting’s mobile LED light lab will make an appearance at the downtown Williams Supply, Inc. (210 Seventh St. SW), location on June 13 from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. (with free breakfast).

The 36-foot customized trailer, the nation’s first mobile LED showroom, focuses on energy efficient lighting for residential, commercial and specialty markets. It features functional demonstrations of energy-saving LED and T2 fluorescent solutions, how-to videos and plenty of products for showroom staff, architects, specifiers, and contractors to see the products up close. Read more »

Veteran business owners can now use a branding program offered by the Roanoke Regional Small Business Development Center and the Virginia Small Business Development Center Network. VetBiz offers marketing materials for free to any veteran who owns 10 percent or more of a business. For more information, contact Tom Tanner at 540-983-0717 x 223, or email ttanner@roanokechamber.org.

Here’s the press release from Roanoke Small Business Development Center.

Branding to let customers recognize Veteran Owned Businesses.
A new branding program for local veteran-owned businesses is being offered by the Roanoke Regional Small Business Development Center and the Virginia Small Business Development Center Network.

VetBiz A Veteran Owned Business is a branding program that can be used by any business that has a veteran as an owner of at least 10 percent of the business.

The branding can be used on marketing materials, including websites. The Roanoke Small Business Development Center also has decals that can be used on windows or doors to let the public know the business is veteran-owned.

This program is free to the veteran small business owner.

For information, please contact Tom Tanner at 540-983-0717 x 223, or email ttanner@roanokechamber.org.

The Roanoke Small Business Development Center is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to assist both startup and existing business by providing no cost business counseling services.

Chrissy Greene

Through completing classes, seminars and tests, real estate management company Hall Associates Inc. has earned the required State of Virginia Standard License for Managing Common Interest Communities. Hall was previously operating under the Provisional License. In addition to earning the standard license, Hall’s director of association management, Chrissy Greene earned the Certified Manager of Community Associations and the Association Management Specialist designations.

Here’s the press release from Hall Associates, Inc.

Hall Associates, Inc. has earned the State of Virginia Standard License for managing Common Interest Communities, a requirement in Virginia. Hall Associates had previously been operating under the Provisional License, but has since completed a rigorous schedule of educational courses, seminars and testing. These efforts, combined with experience in the industry, made Hall eligible for the Standard License. Read more »

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 »