At graduation Friday, several Patrick Henry graduates were asked, “Who or what will you remember most about high school?”

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This video was commissioned by Roanoke Times editor Carole Tarrant to look back on the newsroom’s accomplishments for the past year. I worked on it with colleague Chris Zaluski.

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Judge Rachel Anger, of Ann Arbor, Mich., likes to have fun as she grades the felines at the Star City Cat Fanciers Show. The show was held at the Roanoke airport Holiday Inn Saturday and Sunday.

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More than 40 bicyclists took to Roanoke Mountain Wednesday as part of Roanoke Parks and Recreation’s Disco Mountain Bike race series.

The four races, spread through April and May, are 70s-themed because they originate at the Discovery Center atop Mill Mountain, which recreation officials jokingly refer to as the “Disco Center.”

Participants were encouraged to dress in disco attire (though few, if any, did). Music from the 70s played from boom boxes, encouraging riders on at key points along the course.

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Saturday, May 01, 2010

Bodybuilder Jamie Morrison earns his living snapping baseball bats on his back and talking about how Jesus saved him from a life of errancy. The demonstrations of superhuman feats — busting through a concrete wall or twirling a telephone pole in the air — have become Morrison and The Power Team’s crowd-pleasing vehicle for the gospel. Their repertoire has consistently hit the mark, and today and Sunday they’ll perform at Roanoke County’s Community Advent Christian Church , as they have on television and in hundreds of cities.

Morrison and two members of The Power Team performed at local schools this week as well, in addition to some earlier performances at the church.

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Roanoke County officers stop suicide attempt on parkway bridge

Michele Alderson, a Roanoke County police officer less than two years out of the police academy, began talking to the agitated man. She approached him slowly, but he moved over the railing, edging closer to a 160-foot drop into the rocky Roanoke River gorge below.

“I’ll be there in 20 seconds,” a fellow county police officer radioed.

“I’m not sure I’ll have 20 seconds,” responded Alderson.

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A different kind of pet store

For Michael Knick and 8-year-old son Jakob, the 90-minute trip from Covington to see a Roanoke dentist always involves a side trip to see Winky.

The 44-year-old white-faced capuchin monkey draws fans to Pet City, a family-run pet shop on Williamson Road. Though it sells a variety of pets and supplies, the Roanoke business is known for the more than half-dozen creatures such as Winky that are on display for visitors to see.

“Is this the same monkey they’ve had forever?” Knick asked one November afternoon. Winky has ruled the roost at Pet City for more than two decades.

“Wow! That’s cool,” Jakob said.

Winky’s sidekicks include a newly adopted iguana, a family of ring-tailed lemurs and a trio of weather-forecasting parrots. Perhaps the least exotic of the bunch is the store’s cat, Baxter.

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New Year’s in Roanoke: A moment of birth and death

Roanoke’s first baby of the new year was born as the city’s first homicide unfolded.

One man killed. One child born.

At 1:43 a.m. Friday, Jennifer Schilke gave birth to a 7 pound, 8 ounce boy named Edward — the first baby born in Roanoke in 2010.

At precisely the same moment Friday less than three miles away, Roanoke police were called to the scene of what they would later determine to be Roanoke’s first homicide of 2010.

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Sunday, November 22, 2009

More than 1,000 fans greet Palin at Roanoke Barnes & Noble

More than 1,000 people waited outside Barnes & Noble Booksellers at Valley View Mall in Roanoke for the chance to meet former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. She signed her new memoir, “Going Rogue.”

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A winding journey for Bob McDonnell

The Republican says his varied experience has prepared him to be Virginia’s next governor.

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