Free Republic

U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, who represents Virginia in the U.S. Senate, will hold an outdoor forum on Saturday, July 22 at 11 am in Luther Plaza outside the Cregger Center. While many of our students, faculty and staff are not on campus at this time, we wanted to inform everyone so those who are interested might attend. As an educational institution, Roanoke College has a long history of presenting events to the Roanoke Valley region with an emphasis on civil discourse. RSVP is encouraged but not required. RSVP directly to Senator Kaine’s office at TimKaine.com/healthcare. Parking will be available in...

Horrific CCTV footage has been released of the moment a thug exposed his pregnant girlfriend's skull when he viciously beat her up at a convenience store. Jamar Bernard Woody, 35, launched the brutal attack on Shatory Irving in Roanoke, Virginia, in June last year. The 26-year-old victim was three months pregnant and dependent on crutches because of a broken ankle.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Frank Wagner visited Roanoke Friday to pitch his campaign message of improving transportation infrastructure in order to create more jobs across Virginia.At a Roanoke County Republican Committee luncheon, Wagner, a GOP state senator from Virginia Beach, discussed his proposal to raise the gas tax for projects like widening Interstate 81 and building Interstate 73 and the Coalfields Expressway.Yes, he’s a rare Republican calling for a tax increase. He understands the irony. Building up major pathways in and out of Southwest Virginia will improve the business climate, he said.In the economically depressed Southside region , adding broadband and...

Three federal prosecutors will monitor claims of election fraud and voting rights abuse in the western half of the state this November. U.S. Attorney John Fishwick appointed Assistant U.S. Attorneys Charlene Day, Ronald Huber and Jennie Waering to serve as election officers for the district. The appointments come as part of the Justice Department’s nationwide Election Day program for deterring election discrimination and fraud at the polls during the Nov. 8 presidential election. “Every citizen must be able to vote without interference or discrimination and to have that vote counted without it being stolen because of fraud,” Fishwick said. “The...

Wasil Rafat Farooqui His attorney asked that he be evaluated after a man and a woman were stabbed in Roanoke County’s Pines Apartments. A Roanoke County man charged with attacking two people with a knife has been sent to a state psychiatric hospital for evaluation. Wasil Rafat Farooqui, 20, was transferred to Central State Hospital in Petersburg after his attorney, Sheila Moheb, asked that he be assessed. A judge granted the motion Oct. 13, said Roanoke County Commonwealth’s Attorney Randy Leach. Leach’s office didn’t object, but asked that Farooqui be sent to a secure facility. Central State houses Virginia’s only...

Gravis Marketing poll of Colorado. Trump +4, 41% to 37%

Saturday, September 24, 2016: Live stream coverage of the Donald J. Trump rally in Roanoke, VA at the Berglund Center. Live coverage begins at 6:00 PM ET. Watch the LIVE stream and FULL replay of the event below: Berglund Center

A Salem resident and local landlord said the Federal Bureau of Investigation contacted her Monday after learning that the father of a man suspected of carrying out bombings in New York and New Jersey rented a Roanoke property she owns.

An anonymous group called "The Betsy Riot," encourages anti-gun pranks and vandalism all over the country. "We are infuriated by slaughter, and by the ignorant, violent, racist, sexist, fear-mongering gun culture that enables it, and by the overly polite and deferential failed attempts to quell it. We are here to change that," they told me in an email. The Betsy Riot | From Facebook Vandalism painted Saturday on a retaining wall outside Roanoke lawyer Mel Williams’ office on Third Street in the Old Southwest neighborhood. The photo was carried on the Facebook page of The Betsy Riot, a new anti-gun...

The warrant says Wasil Farooqui told police he left his home on Pelham Drive Saturday "to clear his head" and took a butcher knife from the kitchen. He drove about a mile to The Pines apartments and parked. Farooqui said he began hearing voices telling him he was stupid and to attack people. Snip A source told CBS News that Farooqui has been on the FBI’s radar for several months and is believed to be self-radicalized. The source also told CBS News that Farooqui tried to go to Syria earlier this year, but only got as far as Europe. That...

The FBI is now involved in a stabbing investigation in Roanoke County. Wasil Farooqui is charged in the incident that seriously hurt a man and woman at the The Pines Apartments on Saturday. Witnesses told police that during the attack Farooqui was yelling "Allah Akbar."

After a sluggish start, the United States has ramped up its number of Syrian refugee admissions, putting it within reach of meeting President Barack Obama’s goal of taking in 10,000 Syrians by the end of the federal fiscal year. The surge has included resettling 21 Syrian refugees in the Roanoke region over the past three months, a significant uptick from last year’s total of just two admissions. Roanoke has long been a hub for arriving refugees, with more than 800 accepted in the past five years, according to U.S. State Department data. The acceleration of Syrian refugee admissions nationwide...

Full replay of the Donald J. Trump and Mike Pence Town hall event in Roanoke, VA at the Hotel Roanoke & Convention Center.

Monday, July 25, 2016: Live streaming coverage of the Donald J. Trump and Mike Pence Town hall event in Roanoke, VA at the Hotel Roanoke & Convention Center. Live coverage begins at 3:00 PM ET.

Monday, July 25, 2016: Live streaming coverage of the Donald J. Trump and Mike Pence Town hall event in Roanoke, VA at the Hotel Roanoke & Convention Center. Live coverage begins at 3:00 PM ET. Roanoke, VA Watch the LIVE stream of the event below beginning at 3:00 PM ET Hotel Roanoke Convention Center Monday, July 25, 2016: Live streaming coverage of the Donald J. Trump for President rally in Winston-Salem, NC at the Winston Salem Fairground Annex. Live coverage begins at 8:00 PM ET. Winston-Salem, NC Watch the LIVE stream of the event below beginning at 4:30 PM ET...

For a short while, the thing called “gun violence” was uppermost in the minds of the blabbering class. Two lovely young people, Alison Parker (news reporter) and Adam Ward (photojournalist), of Roanoke, Virginia, were gunned-down on live TV, in a scene reminiscent of the film “15 Minutes,” in which an anchor’s drive for ratings and a murderer’s quest for his 15 Minutes of Fame result in … gun, fist and other gratuitous, on-air violence. A week on, CNN’s Poppy Harlow was using the language of George Orwell’s Oceania to describe the entity, “gun violence,” that “took” the life of poor...

What Common-Sense Gun Control Looks Like Last Thursday, as Americans were still coming to grips with the tragic rampage in Oregon, President Obama addressed the American people. An hour before the president spoke, news outlets were confirming that the shooter in Oregon had targeted his victims based on their religion. Multiple eyewitnesses and relatives of the victims all said the shooter asked the victims to state their religion. Those who said "Christian" were shot in the head. Others were shot in the legs or other parts of their body. The president -- in 1,299 words -- never once discussed religious...

From: info@terrymcauliffe.com After my family experienced an act of horrific violence, I quickly learned that the personal is political and that the political matters. When my daughter Alison was brutally struck down by a deranged gunman on live television, I made it my life’s work to implement effective and reasonable safeguards to prevent this from happening again. Gun violence is far too common, and I plan to do whatever it takes to stop more tragedies like this from occurring. I know that in order to actually make a difference and get commonsense gun control legislation passed, we need to get...

Vester Flanagan, a.k.a Bryce Williams When nine black people were murdered in June at a church in South Carolina, suspect Dylann Roof’s “manifesto” was widely publicized and analyzed immediately. Along with his racist rants, photos emerged of him with a Confederate flag, prompting scores of demands to remove the banner from public places, and even reruns of the Old South-themed TV series “Dukes of Hazzard” were canceled. Also, statues and other monuments to Southern Civil War-era leaders were targeted. So what’s been the impact of the 23-page manifesto delivered to ABC News by Vester Flanagan, a black man who...

HENRY CO., Va. -- Andy Parker has withdrawn his candidacy for a seat on the Henry County Board of Supervisors to focus on gun control. Andy Parker is the father of Alison Parker. WDBJ7's Adam Ward and Alison Parker were shot and killed Aug. 26. Parker said he will go to Washington D.C. next week to talk to lawmakers about gun control. Parker says one of his meetings is with Mark Kelly. Kelly is the former astronaut and husband of Arizona politician Gabby Giffords, who was shot in 2011.