- Contact us |
- Customer care |
- Subscribe |
- Advertise |
- Submit news |
- Sign in
Don't Miss:
Are you the Ultimate Red Sox Fan? Enter your photo in our contest and you could win fan-tastic prizes.
EDITORIAL: Better machines, better elections
Some Montgomery County voters will go back to the future when they cast ballots in the June 11 Democratic Party primary. Voters in Montgomery Precinct F-1 will use paper ballots when they step into the booths at Luther Memorial Lutheran Church in Blacksburg, but not in an old-school way. They will feed their marked ballots into a Unisyn OVO optical scan voting machine, a new piece of equipment scheduled to be
Obama still says, ‘trust me’
Leaving aside the seriousness of lawlessness, and the corruption of our civic culture by the professionally pious, this past week has been amusing. There was the spectacle of advocates of an ever-larger regulatory government expressing shock about such government’s large capacity for misbehavior. And, entertainingly, the answer to the question “Will Barack Obama’s scandals derail his second-term agenda?” was a question: What agenda? The scandals are interlocking and overlapping in
EDITORIAL: Snooping on the press
Embarrassed by revelations of his administration’s flagrant intrusion into press freedoms, President Obama last week sought to squelch the bad publicity with an announcement that he still supports longdormant legislation establishing a federal shield law. The law, which would protect reporters from being forced to reveal confidential sources, is worth resuscitating. But it’s a tattered and inadequate fig leaf for the embattled president. The proposed law is riddled with loopholes,
LETTERS: Keep the FDA out of our food choices
Keep the FDA out of our food choices In the editorial “Trouble brewing over caffeine,” which ran on May 3, you said that the Food and Drug Administration needs to make sure that not too much caffeine is being marketed to the public. I strongly disagree with this point for a number of reasons. I don’t think the FDA should control what we are able to buy. It is our
PICK OF THE DAY: Bottom line, coal is filthy
In “Coal is more than yesterday’s fuel” (May 16 commentary), David Banks deflates his own argument for coal as a viable continuing energy source for generating electricity. He acknowledges that carbon capture and sequestration is needed to eliminate the carbon that burning coal generates, but admits it is too expensive and so has not been deployed (and will not be anytime soon). He wants to spend government funds to develop carbon
COMMENTARY: Wrench in plans to boost energy-efficiency standards
Virginia is at a critical juncture in setting its new building code that would dramatically boost energy efficiency in the state. Saving energy saves money and offers a variety of benefits to our communities. Sadly, an organization is attempting to prevent this adoption that could cause Virginia to miss out on this opportunity to modernize and improve our infrastructure statewide. The Home Builders Association of Virginia has spent a great
COMMENTARY: Perhaps the NRA is on to something
As I was driving down the interstate recently, it occurred to me that perhaps the National Rifle Association is on to something. There I was, driving along in the right-hand lane, striving to remain within striking distance of the posted speed limit while staying at least a heartbeat in front of the continuing stream of grilles that kept looming up ominously in my rearview mirror. I tried to ignore the
EDITORIAL: Performance review time in Roanoke
Roanoke City Council ordinarily leaves no navel ungazed upon when deciding even the nit-pickiest of issues. For substantial decisions, months drag by in briefings and meetings that offer ample opportunity for all to be heard. So it is astounding that council initially failed to consider that the public might have something to say about the 28.5 percent raises the majority wishes to grant itself. It looks as though those hankering for
COMMENTARY: Let’s help rural students get in the college game
As many of you know, I grew up in the wonderful little community of Fancy Gap. For those of you not familiar with my hometown, it is nestled atop the Blue Ridge Mountains in rural Carroll County not too far from the North Carolina border. Fortunately for me and my brother and sister, we grew up in a home where getting an education was not a question, but a quest.
Should flimsy plastic bags be banned or taxed?
Plastic bags save time, money and the environment All litter can be a detriment to the environment, but plastic bags make up only a tiny fraction of the U.S. municipal solid waste stream. Plastic bag manufacturing and recycling also provide 2,000 jobs to hard-working Virginians. The Farm Bureau is pushing less sustainable and environmental options such as paper and reusable bags. But plastic bags produce significantly fewer greenhouse gases than
A single discarded bag can wreak havoc on a farm
A single discarded bag can wreak havoc on a farm Members of the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation, the state’s largest agricultural advocacy group, support legislation encouraging retailers to use paper or reusable shopping bags to reduce the problems litter from plastic bags cause farmers. Jodi Roth argues that plastic bag litter accounts for only 0.6 percent of litter and 0.5 percent of the solid-waste stream. The damages a single discarded bag
COMMENTARY: Armed and safer
Re: Ed Palm’s commentary, “Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition,” published on May 8: First, I would like to thank Palm for his service to our country, and congratulate him on his first grandchild. Although I am not quite sure what motivated Palm to pen this article, I know what has caused me to respond. My oldest daughter is graduating high school in a couple of weeks and will
COMMENTARY: Students cannot afford public universities’ excesses
Dark clouds are forming over America’s public universities as the Wall Street mind-set spreads across more of our institutions. A decade of excessive spending based largely on unlimited student loans is looming dangerously over a major national asset. In January, Moody’s, the nation’s premier credit rating organization, issued a report titled “U.S. Higher Education Outlook Negative in 2013.” Moody’s evaluation was based on the hundreds of billions of dollars in
LETTERS: Making a bad bottleneck worse
Making a bad bottleneck worse Where do Roanoke’s traffic engineers get their degrees and ideas? The roughly three-block area of Elm Avenue in front of the old Community Hospital is the city’s largest traffic bottleneck. In their infinite wisdom (or ignorance; you choose), they have chosen to create more of a bottleneck by reducing the number of outbound lanes from the area. They are placing a median where there was
EDITORIAL: Short takes
A county’s official faith Washington County’s supervisors voted this week — unanimously — to hang the Ten Commandments in the Government Center Building in Abingdon. They also voted to form a committee “to look into the legal implications of such a move,” the Bristol Herald Courier reports. The “implications” should be as swift and sure as the Old Testament wrath of God, should anyone have the nerve to challenge the
PICK OF THE DAY: Franklin County supervisors got it right
As a Franklin County resident who has to pay the “small price” in higher taxes that the editors seem so concerned about (“Shame on Franklin County supervisors,” April 28): Forthwith, print a chart of school salaries plus benefits and real estate taxes with contributions from counties to school boards (with state contributions) from all contiguous counties. This is urgent! The schools will perish and the counties will fail without an
COMMENTARY: Shoot at will! Which one’s Will?
It’s a good thing automobiles weren’t invented when the Constitution of the United States was being written. Our Founding Fathers may have felt compelled to add an amendment outlining the horseless carriage’s place in our society. It might have read, “While recognizing these contraptions are unreliable and most likely a passing fad, the right of the people to own and operate Automobiles shall not be infringed.” No doubt we would
EDITORIAL: City pulls covers over its head
Martinsville City Council has decided to carry on as if the whole patchwork quilt controversy never flared. Too bad. A group of fine students will lose an opportunity to broaden their minds by seeing their world through different eyes. And, at best, the city now will slip into polite silence between black and white on matters of race. Denial will not bridge a racial divide. And surely it was denial
PICK OF THE DAY: On becoming ‘Mom’
It was so much fun to read the respectful yet hilarious tribute to Mom in The Roanoke Times for Mother’s Day (“They became their mom when . . . ,” May 11); I could relate to every word. I chuckled as I was taken down memory lane and could hear Mom calling the roll to get to the right child’s name. My name came first, then on down to my brother, the
LETTERS: Paying council what it’s worth
Paying council what it’s worth Mayor David Bowers and Councilman Bill Bestpitch of Roanoke City Council, who are pushing for a huge raise in their pay, remind me of an old story. This man applies for a job and asks his prospective employer what the pay is. The employer responds, “We will pay you what you are worth.” The applicant thinks for a minute, then says, “Sorry, I can’t work
1. 9 people taken to hospital after car drives into Trail Days parade Saturday
2. Blacksburg man charged after reports of fight Sunday morning
3. NFL 'grind' over for former Virginia, Cave Spring star Ronde Barber
4. Attorney General Cuccinelli not subject to Freedom of Information Act
5. Franklin Co. officials say funds can’t be diverted to fill school cuts
6. Organizations leave Adopt-A-Highway duties by the roadside
7. Student robbed on Virginia Tech campus Saturday morning
8. Center in the Square's grand reopening draws crowd
9. Hollins University custodian shows persistence in earning her degree
10. In the region: Virginia Tech softball pulls off 13-inning win over Marshall
THE ROANOKE TIMES
