NEWS RELEASE: (Asheville, NC) – Blue Ridge Parkway officials announced that beginning today through June 24, 2021, tents and soft-sided campers are temporarily prohibited at Mount Pisgah Campground. The campground, located near Milepost 408, has seen increasing bear activity in recent days. In particular, a young bear has established a pattern of entering occupied camp…… Continue Reading
UPDATED NEWS RELEASE: The driver of the vehicle has been identified as Angelia Alexander, 64, of Roanoke. The cause of the accident is still under investigation. PREVIOUS: The driver of the vehicle has unfortunately succumbed to her injuries. Name is being withheld at this time pending proper notifications. The Roanoke Police Department Fatality Investigator team…… Continue Reading
Beginning July 1, possession of marijuana for recreational use is legal in Virginia – but users cannot purchase it anywhere. They have to grow their own – and only 4 plants per household. The problem says Debbie Custer with The Hemp Mill in Vinton – you can’t buy seeds anywhere legally at this point in…… Continue Reading
Virginia tourism officials are asking the General Assembly to allocate an additional $50 million to help the state’s tourism industry recover. It was generating about $27 billion in spending before the pandemic hit, and the Virginia Tourism Corporation says the extra money would help revive both state and local efforts to fully bring it back.…… Continue Reading
Carilion Clinic’s $400 million, 500,000 square foot addition that includes a new tower at Roanoke Memorial – with more patient beds, an expanded emergency department and a cardio-vascular institute – has gained momentum with a 240-foot tall crane now assembled and ready to go. WFIR’s Gene Marrano with an update on a project launched in…… Continue Reading
A new and very different type of weekly show debuts this Sunday night at 6pm – “Appalachian Vibes” will feature music and interviews with those making music in the sprawling region known as Appalachia: WFIR-AMNE The post WFIR will debut “Appalachian Vibes” this Sunday at 6pm first appeared on News/Talk 960-AM & FM-107.3 WFIR.… Continue Reading
NEWS RELEASE: On June 17, 2021, at 1503 hours, Roanoke Police were notified of a single-vehicle accident of a vehicle into Addison Middle School. On officers’ arrival they located the vehicle that had crashed into the structure. Roanoke FireEMS responded to extinguish the vehicle. No students or staff were injured. The adult female driver was…… Continue Reading
The second tallest man made structure in Roanoke besides the Wells Fargo Tower isn’t another downtown building – its the 240 foot tall crane that was going up today at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, where work on a new hospital tower is getting underway in earnest after a delay last year due to the pandemic.…… Continue Reading
Virginia lawmakers will face some budget decisions they didn’t see coming a year ago: what to do with an entirely unexpected budget surplus. Virginia Finance Secretary Aubrey Layne says state revenues may exceed projections by more than $1 billion for the fiscal year that will end June 30th. The General Assembly will have to decide…… Continue Reading
Its opening was delayed by a few months in 2020, but then Mast General Store on South Jefferson Street opened and soldiered on through the pandemic. At a celebration of its one year anniversary in Roanoke this morning, Vice-Mayor Trish White-Boyd said she is bullish about the future. Company president Lisa Cooper also spoke at…… Continue Reading