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CHRISTIANSBURG

Rescue Squad plans October fundraiser

The Christiansburg Rescue Squad will hold a spaghetti dinner from 4:30 to 7 p.m. Oct. 8 at the Christiansburg High School cafeteria.

| Anna L. Mallory

anna.mallory@roanoke.com, 381-8627

RINER -- Over his 14-year tenure at Auburn Middle School, math teacher Eric Altizer jokes that he's learned quite a bit of science.

RICHMOND -- Gov. Bob McDonnell said Tuesday the Department of Motor Vehicles is suspending its practice of accepting a federally issued employment authorization document as proof of legal presence in the United States.

Global Spectrum's first full year managing the Roanoke Civic Center on behalf of the city was marked by at least two big successes, a few losers and a continuing push to eliminate the facility's taxpayer subsidy.

Some 13,000 Roanoke students returned to school Tuesday for the start of a new academic year -- without the major transportation glitches that plagued the start of the previous school year.

Transportation ran "very well compared to last year," according to Mountain Valley Transportation General Manager Andre Harris.

Gene Jones greeted students in front of Roanoke's William Fleming High School on Tuesday -- the first day of the 2010-11 school year -- and reminded the teenagers to stow cellphones while he looked out for potential dress code violations.

Last year the city council cut loose leaf collection in Roanoke. Now, it's considering doing away with the collection of leaves in plastic bags -- and may instead require city residents to use special paper bags instead.

Roanoke County schools Superintendent Lorraine Lange said she plans to make a recommendation to the school board Thursday about where to house Cave Spring Middle School students displaced by next year's proposed demolition and rebuilding project.

• Performing: Kelly Gravely and the Groove, Yo Mama's Big Fat Booty Band, Robert Jospe and Inner Rhythm, Larnell Starkey and The Spiritual Seven, the Cyrus Pace Roanoke All-stars featuring Judi Jackson, Kemistry, Priddy Gangsters, Uncommonwealth's Henry McCoy, William Fleming High School drum line, The Gospel Connection and more
• Where: Elmwood Park, Roanoke
• When: Noon Saturday; gates open 11 a.m.
• How much: $8 before 4 p.m.; $10 after 4 p.m.; $5 for children ages 6-12; free for children 5 and younger; group rates available by request

More info: e-mail festivalharrison@verizon.net or visit harrisonmuseum.com/henrystreet.html

TODAY

Beginning Wire Wrapping

10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Jacksonville Center for the Arts, 220 Parkway Lane, Floyd. Nonmembers $83, members $67, materials fee $50-$75. Contact 745-2784, info@JacksonvilleCenter.org, JacksonvilleCenter.org.

Pickup driver sought in motorcycle crash

State police are searching for the driver of a pickup truck they say caused a man to crash his motorcycle Saturday afternoon in Glade Hill.

The managing director of the Mountain Lake Conservancy wasn't lost or looking for a way out of the woods.

BLACKSBURG -- Actress Julia Stiles spoke to a group of students, alumni and staff Monday at Virginia Tech, taking questions about her career in film, onstage and in television.

Stiles will play the lead role in "Persephone," a show directed by Virginia Tech assistant professor Bob McGrath when the show opens in New York in October.

Jovina Stevens, 9, loves math, and her sister, Stanlyn, 12, enjoys playing basketball at William Byrd Middle School.

Louise Scere, 11, and her sister Aboitel, 8, are ready to start school at Herman L. Horn Elementary School.

All events are free and open to the public. For more information, go online to www.blueridgeparkway75.org.

FRIDAY

> Cumberland Knob Recreation Area, milepost 217

The Blue Ridge Parkway swerves and sails over 469 miles from Shenandoah National Park to the Great Smoky Mountains. In some ways, though, the scenic road started not in a park, but on a dining room table in a Salem apartment.

Sara Watkins' decade in the music business, most of it spent with progressive-bluegrass act Nickel Creek, has led her to some high-quality friends.

One of them, former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones, produced Watkins' solo debut. Another, radio host Garrison Keillor, added her to his "A Prairie Home Companion" Summer Love Tour, which hits Salem Civic Center on Thursday.

TODAY

Family Night

Local artist Diane Relf will discuss her artwork and help you create a one-of-a-kind friendly space. Co-sponsored by Eastmont Art Asssociation. 6:30 p.m. Meadowbrook Library, 267 Alleghany Spring Road, Shawsville. Free event, 382-6965.

The 13 Virginia Tech fraternity brothers who comprise the black-light performance group Fighting Gravity will appear again tonight on NBC's "America's Got Talent," as they battle with the rest of the Top 10 contestants for a place in the show's final four.

Because it's been hotter than h---, uh, blazes this summer, it's tempting to think of the state of the Roanoke Valley's public pools in theological terms -- creation, decline and resurrection.

Splash Valley, the new outdoor aquatic play area at Roanoke County's Green Ridge Recreation Center, is expected to have drawn nearly 50,000 visitors this season by the end of today. That's at the high end of expectations for the pool's inaugural season.