Local Government, Civic Affairs and Education | News/Talk 960-AM & FM-107.3 WFIR

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The Federal Emergency Management Agency has released an updated map which shows changes in which Roanoke County neighborhoods are impacted by flooding.  WFIR’s Denise Allen Membreno has more.

FEMA has released a mapping application featuring new, preliminary flood maps for Roanoke, Roanoke County and Salem.  Nickie Mills, the flood plain administrator for Roanoke County; encourages all county residents to review the updated maps to identify any changes affecting their property. Mills says the previous maps were drawn in 2007.

“There’s been a good bit of land development then,” said Mills. “There’s a couple decades of rainfall data that we didn’t have the last time the maps were updated. So those are probably the biggest drivers.”

Mills recommends knowing your risk and talking with your insurer to find out exactly what your policy covers. The county is hosting two informational meetings.  The first meeting is Thursday 5 to 7 pm at the Roanoke County Administration Center. Find a link to more information on WFIR News.com

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There is a new map created by the Federal Emergency Management Agency showing some new areas in our region that could be impacted by flooding.  As WFIR’s Denise Allen Membreno reports some homeowners that may not have previously needed flood insurance may now be required to buy it.

Homeowners in newly expanded flood hazard areas may now be required to purchase flood insurance if they have federally backed mortgages. Nickie Mills, the flood plain administrator for Roanoke County, says even if your mortgage isn’t federally backed you should know your risk because most homeowner policies do not cover flood damage unless you have purchased flood insurance.

“For most people, it’s minor changes,” said Mills. “Now, there are some places farther upstream. FEMA’s new maps go farther upstream. So there are definitely some people who are new to FEMA’s mapped floodplain. Those areas are where you probably see more people mapped into the new floodplain. And if the house shows up on those maps, you’re probably going to need flood insurance.”

 In other areas, FEMA has determined that flood risk has decreased, which may reduce the need for flood insurance.  Find a link to the new map at WFIRNews.com or you can attend one of the two county information meetings. The first meeting is Thursday 5 to 7 pm at the Roanoke County Administration Center. Denise Allen Membreno WFIR News.

Links from brochure:

*- OK, so I will need flood insurance. What will that cost?

To view the maps, visit the FEMA Region 3 Flood Map Changes

https://arcg.is/0PuKW8

Roanoke County Information Meetings

  February 26, 2026

March 3, 2026

Virginia Western and Mountain Gateway Community Colleges have joined forces to save both schools and students some money. The two schools have formed a partnership to expand Commercial Driver’s License training in the region, where there is a shortage of drivers.  There is interest in CDL training from some Yokohama Tire employees about to be laid off. The revamped joint program is hybrid, both on-line with students from both schools then getting into the driver’s seat of an 18-wheeler in Roanoke. Both schools signed an agreement this morning.  A change in vendors by Mountain Gateway Community College in Clifton Forge and a directive from the Chancellor of Virginia’s Community College System to save money has led to a new partnership with Virginia Western Community College on a Commercial Driver’s License course, preparing students for driving 18-wheelers.

At this morning’s ceremonial partnership signing it was noted that the average age of a professional driver is now 54, with 300,000 leaving their big rigs behind every year due to retirement or health issues. The median annual salary for drivers is almost $53,000. Dr. Laura Treanor is the President of Virginia Western Community College:

A Virginia Tech department is hosting an event Thursday with the goal of sharing stories of displacement and the pursuit of new futures. WFIR’s Conner Arthur has that story:

Virginia Tech will host a storytelling event Thursday to share the experiences of Afghan women who fled their homeland after the 2021 Taliban takeover. The program, titled “From Afghanistan to the U.S.: Stories of Displacement and New Futures,” features members of the Afghan military and a student author.

Listeners can attend the event at the Inn at Virginia Tech in Latham Ballroom C or join via a live webinar. The session begins at 6 p.m. and runs until 7:15 p.m.

The evening highlights members of the Afghan Army’s Female Tactical Platoon (FTP). These 60 women trained and served on missions alongside U.S. service members in Afghanistan. Many escaped Kabul as the Taliban regained control, eventually resettling across the United States.

Commander Mahnaz Akbari and U.S. Army veteran Rebecca Edmondson will join three platoon members to discuss their military service and escape. One soldier will appear with her Virginia Tech partner, Alex Lilly. The pair has worked together for two years through the Afghan Conversation Project [3]. This initiative pairs students with FTP members for weekly Zoom calls to practice conversational English in a low-pressure setting.

The event also features Samman Akbarzada, an Afghan refugee and current University of Virginia student. Akbarzada authored a novel critical of the Taliban while in high school, which forced her to flee the country. She has since published a book of poetry and advocates for the rights of displaced and underserved communities through various non-governmental organizations.

Dr. Brett Shadle, director of the Virginia Tech Center for Refugee, Migrant, and Displacement Studies, believes direct storytelling is essential for public understanding. He notes that historical fears of outsiders often fade when people connect on an individual level.

“It’s harder to hate someone when you get to know them,” Shadle said during a recent interview. He explained that many veterans who served with these women are concerned about their future legal status in the U.S. Returning to Afghanistan would put their lives in immediate danger.

The program includes a question-and-answer session followed by a reception for in-person attendees. Several university departments are co-sponsoring the event, including the School of Education and the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences [2]. Admission is free, but webinar participants must register online.

The gathering serves as a reminder of the human cost of conflict and the power of community support. By sharing a cup of tea or a story, participants help transform the abstract concept of a migrant into a neighbor and friend.

A retired area pastor says he will continue advocating for harsher penalties for those who carry out acts of bullying and cyberbullying. More from WFIR’s Clark Palmer:

An area distillery is throwing its support behind legislation in the General Assembly that would change how these businesses can sell to customers. More from WFIR’s Clark Palmer.

Lawmakers in the General Assembly could soon vote on legislation that would allow employees or anyone else associated with a Virginia distillery to be appointed to serve as an ABC agent for the sale of certain spirits and low alcohol beverage coolers at the site of a farmer’s market. Jason Hardy, co-owner of JH Bards Spirit Company in Blacksburg, says this type of legislation would put distilleries on an even playing field with other alcohol producers in the Commonwealth:

Hardy says the General Assembly approving the bill would continue Virginia pro-business environment:

The bill also allows such agents of the Board to sell spirits, beer, wine, or cider for on-premises or off-premises consumption.

December 2025 marked the end of a roughly 14-month process of a boundary adjustment between Franklin County and the Town of Rocky Mount.  WFIR’s Denise Allen Membreno has more on what it means for the town’s new residents.

The boundary adjustment adds about 700 acres to the Town of Rocky Mount as well as more than 500 new residents, roughly a 10-percent increase in population. Rocky Mount Mayor C. Holland Perdue III says this was a part of a larger deal that included money for a fire truck and water for the Summit view industrial park in the county.

“This was kind of just something that seemed like the right thing to do when you start looking at those areas, because you had certain neighborhoods that half were in town and half were not,” added Perdue.

Town services to the new residents will roll out overtime. Police patrols will start February 23rd. Street maintenance will transfer from VDOT to the Town on March 1st. And trash pick up starts March 17th.  New residents that already have town water service will see a reduction in their water bill and Perdue says new residents that aren’t on town water will have to wait.

“We’re already working with legislators in Richmond on increasing funding here,” continued Perdue.  “And we’ve got grant coordinators working on our more potential grants. There’s infrastructure work that has to be done. And so that’s going to take time. But over the course of the next two or three years, all that should roll out. I mean, it doesn’t happen overnight because obviously you’ve got to lay pipe.”

New residents will also be able to vote in the November town elections. Denise Allen Membreno WFIR News.

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The Town of Rocky Mount is growing through a voluntary boundary adjustment agreement with Franklin County.  WFIR’s Denise Allen Membreno has more.

Rocky Mount Mayor C. Holland Perdue III says the adjustment is a part of a larger deal that included water to the Summit View Industrial Park in Franklin County and money for a new fire truck. The process started in September of 2024.

“This is a voluntary boundary line adjustment between the town and the county,” said Perdue. “And so, the only approval that was needed is by the Franklin County Circuit Court after proper notices were given. And so we put the notices in the proper papers and then the circuit court approved the adjustment in December of 25.”

Services to the new residents will start to roll out this month with police patrolling the new neighborhoods beginning February 23.  The town will assume street maintenance March 1st and trash pickup March 17th.  Some of the new residents already have town water, service to new residents who are not on the water system requires infrastructure work such as laying pipe. Perdue says new residents will see their property change from the county rate  to the town’s 13 cents per 100 dollars.

“New residents will receive a bill this year in the mail with a 0 balance, but that way it lets them know what their expected taxes will be the following year,” explained Perdue.

Perdue says the adjustment adds about 700 acres to the Town’s area and 500 to 600 new residents.  Denise Allen Membreno WFIR News.

Media Release from the Town of Rocky Mount

For more information, contact:

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While there are many benefits of becoming a town resident, the extension of water and wastewater  treatment lines to these homes will take more time to become a reality. The Town is working with engineers to map out line extensions for these new areas and seeking funding (including grants) to cover the large cost of these extensions and upgrades. This will allow residents in the new areas to connect to water and wastewater service if they do not already have those services. This will also raise property values, and these upgrades will prove to be incredibly beneficial for new residents—especially those with failing water wells or septic systems.

Rocky Mount is also working to solve several significant safety and quality of life issues related to ingress and egress in the Diamond Avenue Extension area. For many years, residents in that area have expressed concerns regarding access to the neighborhood given that there is only one road (Diamond Avenue) in and

Mayor C. Holland Perdue III said, “We are excited to welcome the new residents to Rocky Mount. They have already been part of the Rocky Mount community for decades because of their proximity to the town limits, but now we welcome them as official town residents. We look forward to making sure that they get

Town Manager Robert Wood said, “Town Council and staff are working to make sure that this transition is as smooth as possible. We are excited to see our town continue to grow and we will be sharing more information on Town services with all new residents soon.”

Note on property taxes: Town property taxes are thirteen cents ($0.13) per $100 of assessed value for real estate and fifty-one cents ($0.51) per $100 of assessed value for personal property (vehicles, etc.). As a benefit to new residents and because of the varied time frames for the full implementation of town services, the Town will be waiving the first year of these new taxes. These new taxes will likely be offset by a reduction in monthly utility bills due to significantly lower in-town utility rates.

WFIR’s Clark Palmer recently spoke with the President of the Virginia Citizens Defense League Phillip Van Cleave and got his thoughts on the situation:

Full Statement from the Virginia Citizens Defense League: VCDL is calling for a complete and INDEPENDENT investigation of the shooting of a CHP holder, Alex Pretti, in Minnesota and the result released to the public. We do not want an agency investigating itself, as that does not give a lot of credence to the outcome.

There are a lot of videos of the event captured by citizens and some of it appears to be very damning of the CBP officers involved in the shooting. One video shows Pretti facing downward with nothing in his hands as he is shot in the back. Various videos show an officer taking Pretti’s gun out of his holster and walking away with it just before Pretti is shot.

One video captures the events leading up to the shooting. The video showed that Pretti was not attacking CBP officers but was merely standing between them and a woman they had violently thrown to the ground, while Pretti recorded the officers on his phone. (I hope Pretti’s video is released.)

The various videos directly contradict the rush-to-judgement statements given by:

Assistant United States Attorney for the Central District of California, Bill Essayli, who said, “If you approach law enforcement with a gun, there is a high likelihood they will be legally justified in shooting you.” [Oh, baloney. Gun owners, me included, approach officers while openly carrying or concealed carrying all the time. We have a right to approach officers while legally armed. And Officers don’t panic when we do so. I guess Essayli’s education didn’t cover the Constitution.]

DHS Director, Kristi Noem said:

“I don’t know of any peaceful protesters that shows up with a gun and ammunition rather than a sign.” [More disappointment from Noem. VCDL had 50,000 armed people show up in 2020 and at least 80 to 100 show up in 2026 to protest gun control in Richmond. EVERYONE was peaceful. And this is the same across the country at rallies and protests where law-abiding citizens are armed.]

FBI Director Kash Patel said, “No one who wants to be peaceful shows up at a protest with a firearm that is loaded with two full magazines. That is not a peaceful protest, and you do not get to touch law enforcement. You do that anywhere; this FBI is going to be leading the charge to arrest those.” [More jumping to conclusions without looking at the evidence. Video shows it was CBD that “touched” Pretti, not the other way around.]

DHS also said that Pretti approached Border Patrol agents while armed with a handgun and “violently resisted” when they attempted to disarm him, leading to the shooting. The problem with that statement is that Petti’s gun was apparently concealed, so CBD had no idea he was armed. They discovered the gun after they had him on the ground, beating him to a pulp. An officer removed the gun from Pretti’s holster, and walked away with it just before someone yelled, “GUN!” and Pretti was shot. If they were trying to disarm him, why didn’t CBP yell, “GUN!” when they started to wrestle with him and not wait until after his holstered gun was removed from him? Immediately after the shooting another video show CBD officers noticing that Pretti didn’t have a gun at all, then finally figured out that the other CBD officer had taken it off Pretti before the shooting.

We’ll see what the investigation reveals, but if this turns out to be either murder, or at least manslaughter, the officers involved should be arrested and tried in a court of law.

Since 2012 Carilion Clinic physicians and residents have faced off in a spirited basketball game against Medical School students that also raises money to honor the memory of Morgan Harrington. Harrington was a Virginia Tech student interning at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine when she was murdered in 2019 after leaving a concert in Charlottesville. The Docs for Morgan fundraising basketball game debuted in 2012, raising money for a medical school scholarship. The Docs for Morgan basketball game raises funds and pays half the tuition for one Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine student, for all four years.

Docs for Morgan had been scheduled January 28 at Patrick Henry High School, but has now been postponed due to the weather and road conditions. Stay tuned for a new date.

More from WFIR’s Gene Marrano:

Two years of work by volunteers in Franklin County is coming to fruition on Sunday.  As WFIR’s Denise Allen Membreno reports that’s when Raising the Shade unveils a monument to black Civil War soldiers.

On Sunday, the day before Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the Franklin County NAACP and community volunteers are gathering to memorialize the men who fought to make his dream possible.  WFIR’s Denise Allen Membreno reports on the unveiling of the monument to Black Civil War Soldiers.

Raising the Shade Franklin County 1850-1910

A Democratic Congressional candidate running in Southwest Virginia says he wants to protect constitutional rights he believes are under attack. That story from WFIR’s Clark Palmer.