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"Going Rogue" Book Tour Dates Through Thanksgiving     Today at 2:59pm Here are some details of the upcoming book tour. I’m starting in Michigan and you’ll understand why when you read the book. Last year, I made a promise to the good people of Michigan that I would be back, and now I’m keeping that promise. (Michigan is near and dear to my family’s heart! Our eldest son, Track, lived with a great host family there during his hockey days.) From Michigan, the “Going Rogue” tour will cover as much of the country as possible. I’ve decided to stop...

Going Rogue" Book Tour Dates Through Thanksgiving Today at 5:59pm Here are some details of the upcoming book tour. I’m starting in Michigan and you’ll understand why when you read the book. Last year, I made a promise to the good people of Michigan that I would be back, and now I’m keeping that promise. (Michigan is near and dear to my family’s heart! Our eldest son, Track, lived with a great host family there during his hockey days.) From Michigan, the “Going Rogue” tour will cover as much of the country as possible. I’ve decided to stop in cities...

The suspect, a Virginia Tech graduate and one-time Vinton resident, was shot but survived at Fort Hood, Texas. Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army psychiatrist accused of shooting 12 people to death and wounding 31 others at Fort Hood, Texas, on Thursday, was the son of Roanoke merchants and restaurateurs, lived in Vinton and graduated from Virginia Tech. Hasan was born in Arlington to Palestinian immigrants from near Jerusalem who later settled in Vinton. Neighbors on Vinton's Ramada Road remembered him as a "studious" boy who went by "Michael." While his brother Eyad -- "Eddie" -- would play football with...

The family of Nidal Hasan once owned the Community Grocery Store on Elm Avenue. The Hasans also lived on Ramada Road in Vinton. Charles Garlick, a former neighbor, remembers the family. He told News-7 Thursday night that he remembered Nidal Hasan as a clean cut , nice young man. Garlick remarked that Hasan had more hair in those days than in the photos circulating after the shooting. The family sold the house about eleven years ago, Garlick said. He also noted that Nidal Hasan's parents both had died. Obituaries in the Roanoke Times show Malik Hasan died in 1998 and...

The group of intelligent patriots swelled to around 100 yesterday, Oct. 30th from 4-6 PM in Roanoke County VA at the intersection of westbound Brambleton Avenue (US221) and Northbound Electric Road (VA 419). In keeping with the upcoming Halloween holiday, one lady dressed as a doctor with a mask and stethoscope. Her sign, with a drawing of a hypodermic syringe, read “Congress Sticks it to America Again.” One gentleman’s sign showed a caldron and a caption of “Obamacare, a Real Witch’s Brew.” The reaction of those drivers passing by who expressed opinions was overwhelmingly positive by about 20 to 1,...

Our Say No To Government Health Care rally is scheduled for this Friday (10/30) from 4:00-6:00 p.m. We will meet at Cave Spring Corner, at the intersection of Rt. 419 and Brambleton Avenue in SW Roanoke County, and start by occupying the grassy area in the northwestern quadrant of the intersection (just near Walgreens). As more people arrive, we will spread along the right of ways of 419 and Brambleton. If this area is completely filled when you arrive, please move down to another intersection such as 419 and Chapparall, 419 and Ogden Road (Republican Headquarters), or the Oak Grove...

At St. John Lutheran Church, Pastor Mark Graham is relieved because his congregation followed him on Sunday, where 70% of members voted to leave the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), which is their current national association. “Some of the things that the ELCA has adopted do not follow in with my beliefs regarding God and life and family,” said Judy Limroth who voted for the change. The ELCA is the largest Lutheran association in the country. This comes one month after the national church decided to recognize gay marriage and allow homosexuals in a relationships to become part of...

Following on the hundreds who protested Barack Obama this morning in Raleigh, the Associated Press reports several hundred protesters were gathered in Bristol, Virginia as of 3:16 p.m. for the scheduled 4 p.m. Obama town hall meeting at a Kroger grocery store:A crowd of more than 200 protesters opposed to President Obama's health care overhaul have gathered outside a Kroger supermarket in Bristol, Va., awaiting the president's arrival for a town hall meeting. Some held signs reading, "Obamacare is political malpractice" and "Keep your hands off my health care." The Wednesday protest drew people from the tri-state region of Virginia,...

They've been mistaken for Jedi-wannabes headed to a Star Wars convention. They've been investigated by police, approached by strangers, gawked at from cars and offered gifts of crumpled dollar bills and Little Debbie snacks. After trekking along more than 300 miles of dusty Virginia country roads and suburban highways, six Franciscan friars reached Washington on Tuesday, having seen it all during an offbeat modern-day quest for God. For six weeks, the brothers walked from Roanoke with only their brown robes, sandals and a belief in the kindness of strangers to feed and shelter them. The sight of six men in...

The orange and white stray cat was brought to Vinton Veterinary Hospital on June 26th and tested positive for rabies four days later. A notice went up on neighbors doors in the Garden City area of Roanoke City. The cat had been seen in the 1500 block of Hillview Avenue. Heather Reed is a Veterinary Technician at Vinton Veterinary Hospital and now has to undergo rabies shots after being bitten by the rabid cat. She says, “I was at home when the health department called me and um got a little frantic because i am five months pregnant and i...

http://www.wdbj7.com/global/Category.asp?c=168438&clipId=3927967&topVideoCatNo=57488&autoStart=true The media continues to miss the point.....

Four men accused of planning to kidnap two Roanoke County women and hold them for ransom were indicted Thursday in U.S. District Court in Roanoke. Joshua Kasongo, 19, of Roanoke; Mohammed Hussein Guhad, 19, of Roanoke; Luke Musa Elbino, 19, of Vinton; and Anthony Eugene Muse, 18, of Roanoke are each charged with conspiring to kidnap and attempted kidnapping. Guhad and Muse are students at Patrick Henry High School. Elbino is a student at Virginia Western Community College.

Great turn out for the Roanoke Virginia Tea Party! I attended with my son and we truely enjoyed it. Like one of the speakers said we partied like it was 1773. Someone here said we had 500 to 750 people. I thinking a few more than that. I hope Washington is listening.

People across the country are gathering today for “tea parties.“ It’s all a part of a tax day protest. Those involved say they aren’t happy with how the government is spending tax payer dollars. Among those events going on in our area is a demonstration at the Franklin County Courthouse in Rocky Mount. We’ll have a full report from that tea party tonight on WSLS at 5:30 p.m. A tea party is also planned in Roanoke along Wiley Drive from 5:00-7:00 p.m. We’ll bring you what happened there, tonight on WSLS at 11:00 p.m. Huber: Over 500 in attendance along...

Reduced to barely a trickle in a not-so-distant drought, the slender and shallow Roanoke River is a rotten substitute for Boston Harbor. Sharon Nicely and Elena DeRosa are well aware of that. Nevertheless, they're vowing to make do when they host a "Tax Day Tea Party" at River's Edge Park on April 15. It's part of a national grass-roots movement of like events sparked by an off-hand comment from a cable news guy and spurred on by conservative bloggers. The two women, who had never met in person before Tuesday, wouldn't strike you as revolutionary icons. DeRosa, 49, who lives...

Robert Anthony, curator of the North Carolina collection at the Wilson Special Collections Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill... was one of the 24 scholars who holed up last month in the Tower of London, the dank quarters where Raleigh spent most of the last 15 years of his life working on Volume I of the "History of the World." When the academics emerged from the Tower after two days, it was agreed that a critical analysis of the writings and works of the man largely responsible for persuading the queen to launch the 1584-87 Roanoke...

“We found the houses taken down and the place very strongly enclosed with a high palisade of great trees, with curtains and flankers very fortlike, and one of the chief trees or posts at the right side of the entrance had the bark taken off, and five feet from the ground in fair capital letters was graven CROATAN, without any cross or sign of distress. We entered the palisade, where we found many bars of iron, two pigs of lead, four fowlers, iron sacker-shot and such like heavy things, thrown here and there, almost overgrown with grass and weeds.” --...

Highlands Union’s chief operating officer appears to have committed suicide in the bank's office on Thursday morning. Abingdon Police say the body of Tom Riffe was found about 7:30 a.m. in a second floor office of Highlands Union Bank, 340 West Main Street. Riffe, 55, of 847 Old Airport Road, Bristol, Va., died of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound. Police say the office was secured until investigators arrived. A firearm was found at the scene and collected as evidence. Surveillance video from the bank shows that Riffe arrived at the bank alone around 3:30 a.m. The victim’s body was taken...

Palin in Salem Virginia

For the third time in six weeks, the McCain campaign has to adjust where Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin holds a rally in Virginia because she is proving to be such a big draw. The campaign announced today that Palin's visit Monday to Salem, located near Roanoke, is being moved from the city's civic center to the Salem Football Field to accommodate the expected crowds. Gail Gitcho, a McCain spokeswoman, said there has been "overwhelming response" for tickets for the event. Two weeks ago, a Palin rally in Richmond had to be relocated to the parking lot of the Richmond Motor...

Campaign Calendar "I'm going to fight for my cause every day as your President. I'm going to fight to make sure every American has every reason to thank God, as I thank Him: that I'm an American, a proud citizen of the greatest country on earth, and with hard work, strong faith and a little courage, great things are always within our reach. Fight with me. Fight with me." - John McCain Use this calendar to find the latest events for McCain-Palin 2008. 10/26/2008 9:00:00 AM - Tampa , FL Road to Victory Rally in Tampa, FL Please join...

Sarah Palin's visit to Salem has been moved. The City of Salem says the response to the Republican Vice Presidential Candidate's visit has been overwhelming and the rally will be moved outdoors to Salem Stadium.

VP Candidate Sarah Palin will be in Roanoke on Monday, Oct. 27. She will speak at the Salem Civic Center (which is probably too small). The doors will open at 3:30 PM and the event starts at 5:30 PM HQ location below...We have TICKETS TODAY.... In the Branch Highways building, near IHOP and the Great 611 Steak Restaurant, Roanoke, off 220 South on Frontage Rd. 3904 Franklin Road SW, Suite E Roanoke, VA The better way is to print your own ticket from your computer...fill out this form and you can print however many tickets you need http://www.johnmccain.com/ste/eventrsvp.aspx?guid=753fe61a-b3e3-4dd7-be34-e2763a734fdf

Sarah Palin in Roanoke/Salem, VA on Monday, Oct. 27!!! VP Candidate Sarah Palin will be in Roanoke on Monday, Oct. 27. She will speak at the Salem Civic Center (which is probably too small). The doors will open at 3:30 PM and the event starts at 5:30 PM Tickets will be distributed via the Virginia McCain Victory locations, including the one in Roanoke, VA .... but they do NOT have tickets today, Thurs. 10/23...they might start giving them out tomorrow, Friday. Stay tuned....More details to follow.....

Just got word that VP Candidate Sarah Palin will be in Roanoke on Monday, Oct. 27. She will speak at the Salem Civic Center (which is probably too small). No word yet on time, but we anticipate the late afternoon. Tickets will be distributed via the Virginia McCain Victory locations, including the one in Roanoke, VA This is still in planning but the local media has already been notified by the campaign....More details to follow.....

ROANOKE: Barack Obama hunted deep on Republican turf Friday as he campaigned to seal the deal with voters 18 days from election day, while warning Democrats of their historic ability to 'snatch defeat' from victory. The Illinois senator campaigned in Virginia, which has not voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since 1964 but is now very much in play as Republican John McCain struggles to shore up his own support for November 4. But while he is flush with cash, and some poll readings in battleground states such as Virginia hint at an election wipeout, Obama is stepping up warnings...

Roanoke, VA – Thousands of people were confronted with the truth about Sen. Barack Obama’s extreme support for abortion during one of his campaign stops in Roanoke, Virginia, on Friday, October 17.Denny Green of Life and Liberty Ministries drove the Truth Truck to the Obama event that displayed panels depicting images of aborted babies and encouraging visits to the AbortionIsAnObamanation.com website. That site, launched in August by Operation Rescue, documents Obama’s radical support for abortion, including his position that babies that are born alive during failed abortions should not be protected by law.Mr. Green reports: When we first pulled...

ROANOKE, Va. (AP) — Barack Obama's transition team recently held a large organizational meeting as part of an accelerated effort to plan for a possible new administration, Democratic officials said Friday, as the nominee embarked on a late-campaign tour of traditional Republican states with a fresh attack on John McCain. Under the direction of John Podesta, a former White House chief of staff under Bill Clinton, the transition effort includes a dozen separate groups divided into different areas of responsibility, these officials said. One added that Cassandra Butts, a longtime associate of Obama, is in charge of the group dedicated...

ROANOKE, Virginia (AFP) – Barack Obama hunted deep on Republican turf Friday bidding to seal the deal with voters 18 days from election day, while warning Democrats of their historic ability to "snatch defeat" from victory. The Illinois senator campaigned in Virginia, which has not voted for a Democratic White House hopeful since 1964 but is now very much in play as Republican John McCain struggles to shore up his own support for November 4.

At a rally for Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., in Roanoke, Virginia, Sen. Jim Webb, D-Vir., cited Sen. John McCain's selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin -- and Obama's pick of Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del. -- as evidence that Obama would be a better president. "What is the one decision that a candidate for president makes before he or she is elected that clearly indicates what their judgment is?" Webb asked the crowd. "The selection for who is going to run with that individual as Vice President." "Do you really think that Sarah Palin is the most qualified person in the...

Plungers greet Obama at Virginia Rally Posted: 12:44 PM ET From CNN Political Director Sam Feist ROANOKE, Virginia (CNN) — The new symbol of the McCain campaign: the plunger. As Democratic nominee Barack Obama pulled into the Roanoke Civic Center on Friday, he was greeted by the usual McCain campaign supporters that show at Obama rallies. But this time, those waving McCain-Palin signs were joined by dozens of people waving standard-issue plungers. Some wore white t-shirts emblazoned with "I AM JOE THE PLUMBER" on the front. The protesters all said they were volunteers and not paid by the McCain campaign.

Barak Obama attacks John McCain on economic and Medicare issues. He tells the Roanoke audience that McCain wants to cut $882 billion from Medicare and says older citizens will pay more for drugs. Obama attacks McCain for the economic problems and renewed his campaign theme of tying McCain to President Bush's policies....

This Sunday, October 12th, please join President Bill Clinton for a rally in Roanoke, where he will talk about Barack's vision for creating the kind of change we need. Change We Need Rally with President Bill Clinton Market Square 1 Market Square Roanoke, VA Public Entrances: Corner of Jefferson St. and Campbell St. Corner of Church Ave. and Market St. Sunday, October 12th Gates Open: 4:45 p.m. Program Begins: 6:15 p.m. http://va.barackobama.com/Roanoke The event is free and open to the public. Tickets are not required; however an RSVP is strongly encouraged. Space is available on a first-come, first-served basis. For...

Once it became clear Monday night that she was missing, a little more than 20 police personnel were looking for 10-year-old Molicia Tumaline....

A Clayton man convicted of lying to the government about his military service and submitting more than $18,000 in false disability claims was sentenced to 3 years in prison in a federal court in Virginia this afternoon. Randall A. Moneymaker will also serve 36 months of supervised release after his prison term and must pay $18,449 in restitution and a “special assessment” of $600 to the court. Moneymaker was convicted in March in Roanoke, Va., where he has also said he lives. Prosecutors refuted Moneymaker’s claims that he had seen combat in Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Panama and Grenada by producing...

Elliston Site Confirmed as the Only Feasible Location The Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT) released its final report on the Roanoke Region Intermodal Facility [April 7, 2008]. In January 2008, the DRPT Economic Assessment Report confirmed that the intermodal facility, as part of the Heartland Corridor initiative, could achieve significant economic benefits for the Roanoke region, including an increase in annual employment of up to 2,900 jobs and tax revenues of up to $71 million annually. The Heartland Corridor multi-state freight rail initiative will save more than 30 hours over the current freight rail shipping time between...

It's said that dead men tell no tales. But a severed arm and hand that emerged from a Wrangell Mountain glacier nine years ago just might -- with the help of two pilots, several forensic and genetic scientists and a raft of state and federal officials. Their combined efforts, detailed at an Anchorage press conference Friday, have determined that the human remains belong to one of the passengers on board a DC-4 airliner that slammed into the side of Mount Sanford 60 years ago last spring. More specifically, they belong to Francis Joseph Van Zandt, a 36-year-old merchant marine from...

Authorities investigated the mysteries surrounding the death of U.S. Senate aide Fred Hutchins on Wednesday, a day after his body was found beside his sport utility vehicle on U.S. 220 near Fincastle. "We're just working to let the evidence go wherever it goes," said Botetourt County Sheriff's Maj. Delbert Dudding. One of his deputies obtained a search warrant to look through the downtown Roanoke apartment of Hutchins, who was 26 and ran U.S. Sen. Jim Webb's office in Roanoke County. According to the search warrant, potential evidence was sought that might exist in Hutchins' computer, his cellphone, his answering machine...

An aide to U.S. Sen. Jim Webb was found dead alongside a Botetourt County road yesterday, according to a Richmond newspaper. Frederick Wayne Hutchins Jr., 26, apparently had been shot once in the head and a gun was found under his body, the Richmond Times Dispatch was reporting. The body was discovered outside his vehicle on an embankment on U.S. 220 near Fincastle.

** Originally published January 12, 2007 ** The Botetourt County kid who handed out political business cards as a grade schooler is now the local face for U.S. Sen. James Webb in the Roanoke and New River valleys. Fred Hutchins, who has spent the past several years as state Del. Onzlee Ware's legislative aide, has been hired by Virginia's new Democratic senator to run his Roanoke-based U.S. Senate office. For the time being, it will be in the same place as former U.S. Sen. George Allen's, in an office complex off Virginia 419 near the Roanoke County Administration Building. "I'm...

Authorities in Botetourt County this morning discovered the body of a well-known Democratic operative and U.S. Senate aide along U.S. 220, dead from an apparent gunshot wound. The body of Frederick W. Hutchins Jr., 26, of Roanoke was found shortly after 7 a.m. along southbound U.S. 220 by a Botetourt County deputy who had stopped to check on a vehicle parked on the highway's shoulder, according to the sheriff's office. Hutchins was an aide to U.S. Senator Jim Webb, D-Va. Hutchins had been shot in the head, and a gun was found beneath his body, Sheriff Ronnie Sprinkle said. The...

After a trial that lasted late into the night Friday, a jury found a minister from Radford guilty of sexually abusing a girl in 2000 when she was 8 years old. Hawthorne Reed Jr., 63, was found guilty on two counts of forcible sodomy and one of aggravated sexual battery. The girl said the events happened in 2000, but she didn't tell anyone until six years later. The Roanoke Times is not identifying the girl because of the nature of the case. She doesn't live in Virginia. Jurors on Friday heard from both Reed and the now-16-year-old girl. She was...

A Giles County man paroled from prison after serving 14 years for killing two hikers on the Appalachian Trail in 1981 now is suspected of shooting two campers just off the trail in Giles on Tuesday. Randall Lee Smith, 54, was in a Roanoke hospital yesterday after crashing a pickup truck in Giles, Sgt. Michael Conroy of the Virginia State Police said.

The small barren courtyard that separates the apartment buildings of Dwan Dillard and Mohamed Adin in Northwest Roanoke might as well be an ocean, so deep is the dislike that the American-born black woman and the Somali Bantu refugee have of each other. "That out there is a war zone," said Dillard, whose four children live with her at Maple Grove Apartments, a blighted complex of four buildings with a total of 40 units on Pilot Street near Melrose Avenue. "The African children attack ours. They throw rocks." Adin, who lives with his wife and nine children, blames "the Americans."...

FairTax Informational Meeting Edinburgh Square Community Room 129 Hershberger Rd Roanoke, VA 24012 (540) 366-1888 Near Plantation Rd., directly across from Star City Skating Center. Contact Donald Koop at raft@att.net.

Since the Hillary event could not be held yesterday (she canceled, due to high winds...broomsticks cannot land in high wind)...... Impeached President and Sex Offender Bill Clinton will be in Roanoke, VA today. He will be speaking at 6:30 PM at Patrick Henry High School. Since many of us will be attending the Huckabee event, you guys please step up and FREEP this guy!! FREEPmail me if you can help, I have a sign you can use from yesterday's FREEP of Hillary.....

Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee here in Roanoke - Monday Night! Monday, February 11, 7 pm Republican Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee will be here in Roanoke this Monday night at 7 pm at the O.Winston Link Museum on Shenandoah Ave. in downtown Roanoke (across from Hotel Roanoke). Everyone is invited!!

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton will campaign in Roanoke on Sunday afternoon (Feb. 10), holding a town hall-style meeting at Patrick Henry High School. The 4:30 p.m. event is open to the public. Clinton's appearance, announced by her campaign Thursday night, will come two days before Virginia's presidential primary. The senator is scheduled to speak at the state Democratic Party's Jefferson-Jackson Dinner in Richmond on Saturday night, as is her chief rival, Sen. Barack Obama. She will hold a town hall meeting in Manassas on Sunday before traveling to Roanoke.

County Dems seek to remove chairman "Misfeasance and negligence" were cited as reasons to strip Richard Evans of his office. By Reed Williams 981-3334 The Roanoke County Democratic Committee moved to dismiss its chairman after a squabble that led to the cancellation of Saturday's party caucus. Committee members sent Richard Evans a letter saying that "by unanimous consent of those present" they voted to "initiate proceedings to consider your removal from office." It is a rare move that no other local Democratic committee across the state has made in at least the past two years, as far as state party...

'Twitching' Illness Hits Several Students, Staff at Virginia SchoolWednesday, November 07, 2007 VINTON, Va. — A mysterious illness causing an odd "twitching" symptom has stricken several students and a staff member at a Virginia high school. Testing continues at William Byrd High School in Roanoke County where students and staff have shown strange symptoms of twitching and spasms since September, but a cause has yet to be determined. About 30 students staged a walkout and protest earlier this week, and the school has said about 300 of the school's 1,200 students have been absent. School officials say they do not...