Editorial cartoon by Chris O’Brion

Update May 21: Handful of people at meeting protest 28.5% pay increase for Roanoke City Council

Update 2:50 p.m. May 13: Roanoke City Council votes to postpone a vote on the proposed pay increases until June 3.

Today’s the day Roanoke City Council takes up the issue of a big pay raise: 28.5 percent for council members and 15 percent for the mayor.

With the rest of city hall looking for a 2 percent increase and no final word yet on whether the city’s teachers will get an increase, the politics of this could be pretty interesting, notes reporter David Ress.

Take our poll:

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If you want to watch Roanoke City Council’s discussion and vote this afternoon, check out Blue Ridge Caucus for details.

The issue has been debated across several of our blogs, most intensely on columnist Dan Casey’s.

Here’s a quick summary to catch up:

Our news story explaining the proposed pay raises (and you can compare to other elected officials across the state): Roanoke council set to consider raises at meeting next week

The most comments (50+) can be found on this Dan Casey thread:  Column: Mayor & council pay raises — they’re baaaaack!

Reporter David Ress explains why the Roanoke council pay raise issue won’t end quickly

From the Roanoke Times editorial board: Roanoke City Council is making a huge mistake

Please jump into the issue in the comments below …

From Dwayne Yancey, senior editor for new channels:

Who’s got the best burgers in Salem?

Who’s the best rec league coach in Botetourt County?

What’s the most fun thing that’s happened in southwest Roanoke County in the past year?

Earlier this year, we asked readers in our community news editions those questions and more in our 5th annual Best Of reader polls.

Voting was up across the board; sometimes incredibly so. We had a 69 percent increase in voting in southwest Roanoke County alone, for instance.

This morning, we reveal what readers told us in more than 50 different categories in SWoCo, So Salem and The Botetourt View.

We had a similar “Best Of” reader poll in the New River Valley; those results will go live in The Burgs on May 12.

And the winners are …

Southwest Roanoke County

Salem

Botetourt

BTW, if you subscribe to our eTimes/iPad editions, you have access to all of our community publications.

The Supreme Court waded into the fight over same-sex marriage today, at a time when public opinion is shifting rapidly in favor of permitting gay and lesbian couples to wed, but 40 states don’t allow it.

According to a Pew Research Center poll conducted in mid-March, 49 percent of Americans now favor allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally, with 44 percent opposed.

But what do you think? Take our local poll:

On Wednesday, the justices will consider the federal law that prevents legally married gay couples from receiving a range of benefits afforded straight married Americans.

Read more from the Associated Press.

UPDATE (March 14, 2013): Voting has closed for the “Best Of” reader polls in our community editions. Check back to see the winners on April 19 in The Botetourt View, So Salem and SWoCo; and May 12 in The Burgs.

From Dwayne Yancey, senior editor for new channels:

You’ve only got a couple days left to vote for your favorites in our annual ‘Best Of’ reader polls in our community editions in the New River Valley, Botetourt County, Salem and southwest Roanoke County.

Voting closes at midnight on Sunday, March 10, and we’ll announce the winners on April 19 in The Botetourt View, So Salem and SWoCo; and May 12 in The Burgs.

Vote tallies are running well ahead of last year in each zone, especially New River, where participation has nearly doubled.

You can find the ballots here:

New River Valley

Botetourt

Salem

Southwest Roanoke County

Don’t see a category that fits what you want to vote for? You can always cast a vote in “best thing not on this list.”

Look for our three-day special report, “Making It Click: Lives on the Line,” which begins Sunday, Feb. 24.

Reporter Jeff Sturgeon (@SturgeonRT) spoke with public radio station WVTF (89.1 FM) about the series earlier this week. Find highlights from his interview here.

Video: Watch our series trailer

Reporter Jeff Sturgeon

To summarize:

Nearly 1,700 unbelted Virginians have died in vehicle wrecks in the past five years.

But 600 — maybe 700 — could have lived.

How?

By committing the simple act of fastening their seat belt — and following the law.

So many of us do belt nowadays — nearly 82 percent in our state, on average. But the message isn’t getting through to everyone, especially in rural Virginia, where in some communities up to three-fourths of traffic fatalities involved unbelted drivers or passengers.

In this Roanoke Times/roanoke.com special report, we explore why the disparities exist. We also retrace failed efforts to strengthen Virginia’s seat belt law and look at new initiatives to educate young drivers.

We are almost ready to roll out the new roanoke.com, but before we do, we’d like some help in testing the new site and getting feedback from our users.

If you are interested, please email beta@roanoke.com with your email address.

The testing will be done the second week of January, and we expect it will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. You can take the test from any computer or tablet.

If you sign up, keep an eye on your inbox around Jan. 14 for a link to the survey and testing instructions.

Thanks for your interest. In the meantime, follow our new Times Square blog for updates about the redesign and what’s happening in the newsroom.