WFIR News Express

Here is the latest news from around the Roanoke Valley and Commonwealth of Virginia.

Here is the latest news from around the Roanoke Valley and Commonwealth of Virginia.

A General Assembly committee has discussed legislation that looks to lift Virginia’s ban on skill games. A study of the cost of education in Virginia was presented to the General Assembly’s Education Committee.

The Giles County Sheriff’s Office says a woman died after falling about 100 feet within a cave outside of Pearisburg on Friday. Two men have been arrested on child pornography charges following two separate investigations. Community organizers and civil rights leaders hosted an annual luncheon to honor the life and acts of Martin Luther King Jr. As the US and coalition forces hit targets in Yemen...

Governor Youngkin touted his hopes of reforming taxes during his State of the Commonwealth address. State Senate Democrats made clear yesterday they plan to continue the practice of stacking General Assembly committees with their own members in a proportion greater than their razor-thin 21-19 majority. Delegate Don Scott yesterday was sworn in as the first Black Speaker of the House of Delegates i...

38-year-old James Buckland, was sentenced in Wise County Circuit Court yesterday to serve two life sentences plus eleven years consecutively in prison without the possibility of parole after being convicted of shooting Norton Police Chief James Lane in 2021. The Virginia General Assembly opens this year's session later today with a new look -- and many unanswered questions on what it might acc...

A smalltime fisherman who died in 2017 has been linked to three cold-case homicides in Virginia from the 1980s, including two that were among a series of unsolved slayings of couples known as the “Colonial Parkway Murders,” Plans to bring a Wawa to the Daleville area of Botetourt County are up in the air after a vote by the county’s planning commission. Current Roanoke Vice Mayor Joe Cobb is plann...

The Nelson County Sheriff’s Office says a body was found inside a smoldering car yesterday. The Roanoke County Fire and Rescue Department is discussing ways to prevent a possible kitchen fire. An Elliston man, who was found guilty of accompanying rioters into the US Capitol on January 6th in 2021, has been acquitted on two of the six charges against him. Republicans have set their sights on higher...

Here's the latest news from around the Roanoke Valley and Virginia.

A group called Wild Virginia is voicing concerns about a potential PFAS contamination in Roanoke’s water. Roanoke’s Gun Violence Prevention Commission is preparing to distribute thousands of dollars in funding to more than a dozen non-profits that are working to reduce gun violence incidents. Current Roanoke Vice Mayor Joe Cobb says he is exploring the opportunity of becoming mayor, and says a dec...

The Bedford County Sheriff’s Office is requesting assistance in locating 15-year-old Alexis Parker who reportedly left her home on Falling Creek Road around 10:45 last night. Members of Roanoke City Council and the city’s Gun Violence Prevention Commission a held a joint meeting to discuss progress achieved in prevention, intervention, and justice initiatives. According to Virginia Forestry offici...

Here is the latest from around the Roanoke Valley and State of Virginia.

The Virginia Department of Health has announced the state’s first reported influenza-associated pediatric death for the 2023-24 flu season - a child between 5 and 12 years old in Virginia’s Eastern region has died from complications associated with the flu. A Northern Virginia Congressman is calling on his colleagues in the House to continue providing support to Ukrainian forces that have be under...

A 17-year-old girl from Bedford County has been cited after a police chase that ended with a crash in Campbell County. Some residents in Northeast Roanoke are raising concerns about a clinic that could open its doors in a recreational building. With casinos popping up on Virginia’s southern border, some lawmakers now want to explore whether wealthy northern Virginia should get in on the action. A...

An area Republican Congressman believes the Colorado Supreme Court set a dangerous precedent when it opted to remove former President Trump from the state’s primary ballot. Now that an affiliate of Publix supermarkets has purchased land in southwest Virginia, the next question is whether site work will begin in the new year. Wayne's Imported Automotive won't be open this coming Friday. Tha...

With migrant border crossings reaching 5 figures last week and US allies looking for more support as they fight wars, Tim Kaine is dismayed that Congress took a pass last week on voting for a supplemental aid package. More than a dozen neighbors in Lynchburg received flyers that contained disturbing images and racial sayings that include phrases such as “caution colored people” on their porches an...

According to search warrants, a sex offender shot by U.S. Marshals earlier this week on Dunmore Street in Sw Roanoke has now been charged with malicious wounding. A former Virginia Governor believes the Colorado Supreme Court banning former President Trump from holding office again undermines voter confidence in our system of government. It's part of the "holistic approach" to reduci...

Virginia State Police have charged 24 year old Micah Allen Godfrey of Clifton Forge, in the Officer Involved Shooting that happened on December 8th. Court records reveal the man shot and killed by police during a shootout at Melrose Towers in northwest Roanoke earlier this month told a friend that he was getting even with people he believed had betrayed him.

Personnel from the U.S. Marshals Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force shot a suspect who was being served a warrant for failing to register as a sex offender, according to Roanoke Police. Virginia State Police say a man was flown to the hospital after he was shot during a training scenario. Governor Youngkin says restricting TikTok for Virginians under the age of 18 is part of his plan to hel...

A Roanoke City School bus driver has been found not at fault for hitting a student Friday. Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares says protecting our kids "from the darkness out there online," is one of the most difficult jobs for a parent right now." The head of the Virginia Republican party says a lack of funding may have led to the GOP losing control of the General Assembly. The...

Here's the latest from around the Commonwealth and Roanoke Valley.

During a protest in downtown Roanoke, Rafeeq McNamara with Occupy Roanoke for Palestinians, says the US is hurting its reputation on the world stage by helping Israel’s operation in Gaza. The mother of a 6-year-old who shot his teacher in Newport News is expected to be sentenced today for felony child neglect, nearly a year after her son used her gun to critically wound his teacher. It could have...

Two students at Liberty High School in Bedford County received medical attention after they consumed a substance believed to be THC. This comes after 7 students at Central Elementary School in Amherst County ingested gummies that came from a bag that tested positive for fentanyl.. now two people have been arrested. A community-wide program designed as part of the "holistic strategy," env...

Amherst County Sheriff’s deputies say five students at Central Elementary School were hospitalized after they consumed gummy bears that tested positive for fentanyl. The owner of two Washington professional sports teams is reportedly preparing to move the franchises to Northern Virginia. Authorities are investigating after reports of a burglary at CW Tactical on Washington Avenue in Vinton. The Fr...

Here is the latest from the WFIR Newsroom.