Andanh.com

Breeze-into-town buyers seeking gold, other precious metals and gems seem to be out of luck in Roanoke, Roanoke County and perhaps even statewide.

With the price of gold and other precious metals soaring, city and county officials have been receiving more inquiries from out-of-town buyers wanting to set up temporarily to conduct business.

Newly appointed Roanoke City Council member Alvin Nash has not yet attended his first meeting, and already he faces questions about a potential conflict of interest.

Nash is the president and chief executive officer of Blue Ridge Housing Development Corp., which receives federal grants administered by the city. But the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development prohibits members of elected boards that administer the grants from receiving the federal funding.

Until 4 o'clock Friday afternoon, the exact location of the evening's event was uncertain.

The Roanoke chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference had hoped to honor Martin Luther King Jr. on the 40th anniversary of his assassination at the city's recently dedicated memorial to the slain civil rights activist.

BLACKSBURG -- Shortly after a Virginia Tech student was charged with the attempted malicious wounding of his roommate, campus police obtained a search warrant to check his dorm room for any indication that he might have intended to harm anyone else.

A Roanoke woman named Bonnie Blake won $250,000 in the Mega Millions drawing on March 21.

Blake bought a ticket at the Plantation Market Place, in the 7300 block of Plantation Road, and picked five numbers randomly.

Friday morning, Jon Seebo kneeled over a giant dough mixer in the kitchen of Christ Episcopal Church and pondered the task at hand: how to make shortcake for 30,000 people.

For nine hours that day, and more today, his hands would sculpt the dough Community School will use for its 28th annual fundraising Strawberry Festival.

Botetourt County's growing pains over the past two years have been felt directly by the county's staff, according to a recent survey.

A peer review of county employees released this week -- asked for by the board of supervisors -- found that some have experienced worker "burnout" by a "nearly unprecedented level of activities" affecting the county since 2006.

Erin James Predmore

Predmore is an emergency services clinician with New River Valley Community Services.

As a parent educator, I loved the opportunities I had to interact with expectant parents at our local hospital. The class would joke about sleep deprivation, dirty diapers, nosy relatives. As I wrapped up discussion on postpartum depression, parent stress and soothing a fussy baby, I asked the class, "How many of you are expecting to abuse your baby?"

Polin Trinidad's second pitch came right back to him.

The Salem Avalanche left-hander took a line drive right on his pitching hand. He picked it up, and threw Potomac's Jenel Spearman out at first before the mound was mobbed by concerned players, coaches and trainers.

Change your oil, rotate your tires and check your engine.

It's opening day for Motor Mile Speedway, and the competition this season is gearing up to be some of the best the Radford racetrack has ever seen.

FORT WORTH, Texas-- Kyle Petty said it wasn't his decision to sit out this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway and that he would consider driving for another team if he was no longer wanted at Petty Enterprises.

BLACKSBURG -- Senior Sean O'Brien bashed three home runs to lead the Virginia Tech baseball team past Maryland 8-7 at English Field on Friday.

The win was the Hokies' first in the ACC this season.

ROCKY MOUNT -- Chris Boylan's two-run triple highlighted a five-run first inning for Cave Spring, which went on to beat Franklin County 11-7 in a nondistrict baseball game on Friday.

Adolfo Avael went 3-for-4 with a double, home run, four RBIs and three runs scored to lead Franklin County (6-2).

CHRISTIANSBURG -- It was a near-perfect day at Canterbury Farm.

The sun was shining, a slight breeze was moving across the Danyis' 55 acres and a week-and-a-half-old filly was prancing in a nearby pen.

A Christiansburg man who was charged with attempted murder for stabbing another man nearly two years ago was sentenced to serve a year in jail Friday.

Anthony Haldon Larizza, 23, was charged after the May 24, 2006, fight near Radford University's campus left Kevin Milks with several stab wounds in his back.

This is how the Roanoke Valley stalks somebody famous. We turn our heads, ever so slightly, to look up in the box seats.

"That's him," we whisper to the friend next to us.

"You sure?"

Editorial board's tuition complaint must be a joke

Am I missing something? I did note your editorial "All Virginians deserve in-state tuition" ran on April 1. Somehow, I'm missing the joke.

Count on the Census Bureau for dubious math

Here's to hoping that the Census Bureau is better at counting people than in counting dollars and sense.

After spending billions of dollars to launch a high-tech system that was supposed to count people living in the United States in 2010, the bureau announced it will go back to the old people, paper and pencil method.

The e-mails come almost daily:
"Pearl Jam on Sale Tomorrow ..."
"Journey On Sale Date Announced ..."
"Budweiser Concert Series Welcomes Feist ..."

Needless to say, these e-mails are not promoting shows coming to the greater Roanoke Valley. These concerts will be in Virginia Beach and Charlottesville. Those places have amphitheatres.

This is a blog entry about a blog. Actually, it’s about the world of retail blogging. More retailers and other kinds of companies (including Roanoke’s Carilion Clinic) have created their own blogs in recent years, as a way to communicate with consumers who troll the Internet. Blogs are interactive online logs featuring everything from commentary and news to personal information.

Many online retailers are cultivating blog audiences, but I recently discovered one created by a Roanoke-based retailer, Fink’s Jewelers.

I've still trying to reach Fink's to ask about the purpose of its blog, so I'll let you know once I find out more information.

Also, here’s the blog by Carilion Clinic that I mentioned above. This also is a public relations tool for the company.

A Wal-Mart blog, called checkoutblog.com, is an unusual example of how retailers put information out in the blogosphere. It has largely unedited entrees written by store managers and buyers for the retail giant. They often give insight about certain products sold at Wal-Mart, but not all of their reviews are positive.
This blog is a contrast to other corporate blogs where mostly higher level executives give a polished spin about the company.

Here’s a recent New York Times story about Wal-Mart’s blog.