Local News

RICHMOND  — A chunk of Gov. Bob McDonnell’s transportation funding under the “Virginia’s Road to the Future” plan could go towards improving the overlap of interstates 77 and 81 in Wythe County.
Instead of finding free flowing traffic at the point where 77 and 81 meet, motorists can run into significant backups.
Under this plan, McDonnell would provide the Virginia Department of Transportation with $1.28 billion in new funding for 158 highway projects.

RICHMOND — Virginia officials point to positive outcomes in transitioning intellectually and developmentally disabled people from training centers, as they seek to close four such facilities and shrink a fifth to 75 beds.
The state faces resistance from parent groups that opposed the idea of moving residents from these facilities — like the Southwestern Virginia Training Center in Carroll County — into community-based care.

UPDATED 1/21/13 — Four days after the Jan. 17 storm that dumped a foot of snow on the area, Appalachian Power Co. reported on Monday that Grayson County still had the most people in the region without electricity.
There were an estimated 2,355 powerless in Grayson, or about 23 percent of customers, down from 6,000 outages the day of the storm.
On Monday, Carroll County had 858 customers without power (down from 2,300 on Jan. 17)  and Galax had 311 (up a bit from the 243 without power the day of the storm.)

INDEPENDENCE – The Grayson County Board of Supervisors approved a new ordinance earlier this month allowing the county the option to provide bonuses to its employees.
County Administrator Jonathan Sweet prefaced the public hearing on Jan. 10 by pointing out that, according to state law, the county must pass the ordinance in order to provide any type of bonus above the salary for any of its employees.
Sweet said the ordinance was brought up by the fact that most jurisdictions provide their employees with some form of bonus, usually around the holidays.