[7-Tultex]

[ANCHOR=Melanie]

[NEWSCAST=AM Cutins]
[WRITER=kwe]
[TAPE#=99-51]
[GRAPHIC=Tultex Chap. 11]


December's Tultex layoffs left many former workers with a lot of unanswered questions.
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Martinsville]


Last night at Martinsville High School more than 500 people sought answers from the company's president.
Questions about vacation and severance pay as well as health insurance were on people's minds since the company has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy.
But many walked out with their questions still unanswered.
(///// SOT /////)
[SOT 1:58:57]
[IN Q=]

((FREDDIE WITCHER: I FEEL LIKE THEY ARE JUST TRYING TO MOVE EVERYTHING OVERSEAS AND GET RID OF THE PEOPLE HERE AND MAKE IT CHEAP AND EASY ON THEM.))
[SUPER=01-Freddie Witcher/Former Tultex Employee]
[RUNS=:07]
[OUT Q=easy on them]
(------------)
[VO-NAT]


In the meantime former employees say they're looking for other work and trying to get by.
(------------)



[7-Southside-Tobacco]


[ANCHOR=Melanie]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutins]
[WRITER=kwe]
[TAPE#=None]
[GRAPHIC=Tobacco Settlement]


Officials from the areas hardest hit by textile plant closings are asking the state for 6 million dollars in tobacco settlement money.
Martinsville and Henry County lost 33-hundred textile jobs-- yesterday local officials asked the Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission to reserve the money for economic revitalization.
Virginia is expected to receive 4 billion dollars over the next 25 years from the tobacco settlement.

[7-E-Rubatex]


[ANCHOR=Melanie]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutins]
[WRITER=ssm]
[TAPE#=00-02 1:27]
[GRAPHIC=Rubatex Strike]


As the Rubatex strike continues in Bedford, some striking workers say Big Brother is watching them, and they're not happy about it.
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Bedford]


Union president Richard Walker appeared before city council last night to question Rubatex's use of security cameras around the factory.
The cameras are attached to telephone poles, and the union wants to know who approved that and who's paying for the electricity that runs them.
(///// SOT /////)
[SOT 8:17:36]
[IN Q=We don't feel]

((RICHARD WALKER/UNION PRESIDENT: WE DON'T FEEL LIKE WE ARE SEEING AN EQUAL SHARE IN THIS AS FAR AS ON BEHALF OF THE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT.))
[SUPER=01-Richard Walker/Union President]
[RUNS=11]
[OUT Q=police department.]
(------------)
[VO-NAT]


The Rubatex strike is now in its 18th week.
(------------)



[7-General-Assembly]


[ANCHOR=Melanie]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutins]
[WRITER=dse]
[TAPE#=None]
[GRAPHIC=State Capitol]


The first Republican controlled General Assembly opens at noon today in Richmond.
The chief job for this year's session is to hammer out a 48-billion dollar state spending package for the next two years.
Ellen Qualls will have a live report from the state capitol later today on News-7 at noon.
Tonight at 7--
(XXXXXXXX)

[TAKE FULL SCREEN BOARD]
Governor Gilmore delivers his State of the Commonwealth address.
You can see it live here on your Hometown station from seven to eight.
(-------------)



[7-81-Repairs]


[ANCHOR=Melanie]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutins]
[WRITER=dse]
[TAPE#=None]
[GRAPHIC=Interstate 81]


Expect some delays on Interstate 81 in Roanoke County over the next two days.
(XXXXXXXXX)

[TAKE FULL SCREEN MAP]
V-Dot will close one northbound lane of the interstate from nine in the morning till three in the afternoon today and tomorrow.
They're repairing a bridge near mile marker 143-- that's just north of the I-81 and the I-581 interchange.
(-------------)



[7Weather]


[ANCHOR=Melanie]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutins]
[WRITER=tar]
[TAPE#=]
[GRAPHIC=none]


Here's a look at your mid week forecast.
Mostly sunny today with winds reaching 10 to 15 miles per hour.
Highs in the upper 50s to 60.
Tonight, partly cloudy with rain sprinkles late in the evening.
Lows in the upper 30s.
The extended forecast...
[SUPER=X5000; set dissolve]
[SUPER=314-Mostly Sunny/Winds SW 10-15/55-60/Partly Cloudy/Sprinkles Late/35-39;]
[SUPER=#555; RESET]



[45-E-Lewis-Gale]


[ANCHOR=Melanie]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutins]
[WRITER=sgo]
[TAPE#=99-60 47:21]
[GRAPHIC=Lewis Gale]


More doctors have been added to the list of those leaving Lewis-Gale clinics.
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Salem]


But the clinic won't say much about why 18 doctors are leaving.
Its executive director says he's surprised.
But as long as Lewis-Gale is holding discussions with PhyCor ... the parent company ... clinic management says it can't talk about what made the doctors leave.
(///// SOT /////)
[SOT 2:26:30]
[IN-Q=It is not the intention]

((JON NESS/LEWIS-GALE CLINIC EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: IT IS NOT THE INTENTION TO SAY THIS IS NOT AN ISSUE. THE PURPOSE OF THIS MEETING TODAY IS TO SAY THIS IS AN ISSUE, AND TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT.))
[SUPER=01-Jon Ness/Lewis-Gale Clinic Executive Dir.]
[RUNS=08]
[OUT Q=ACKNOWLEDGE THAT]
(------------)
[VO-NAT]


Here's the list of the 18-doctors who have resigned so far.
Four practice at the main clinic in Salem.
The rest are at Lewis-Gale satellite clinics:
One doctor is leaving Back Creek, two from Fincastle, one resigned in Floyd and one in Fort Lewis.
Five are from the Lee-Hi clinic and four at West Salem.
Meanwhile ... doctors tell us they're under a gag order.
They can't talk to each other or to their patients for fear of getting sued.
But Internet chat rooms echo what doctors tell us privately ... that say the company mismanages clinics and takes too much of their profits.
(------------)



[45-E-Patients]


[ANCHOR=Melanie]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutins]
[WRITER=tfl]
[TAPE#=00-01 :57]
[GRAPHIC=Hold]


Most of the resignations came from Lee-Hi Family Practice and Immediate Care Clinic.
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Salem; ]


Some patients waited inside the clinic for three to six hours for treatment, but they say that's better than not having their doctors at all.
(///// SOT /////)
[SOT tc 20:38:27]
[IN Q=Are you]

((WILLARD HARRISON/PATIENT: ARE YOU HAPPY WITH HIM? YES, HE'S A GOOD DOCTOR, SO YOU WOULDN'T WANT TO FIND ANOTHER? I WOULDN'T WANT TO, BUT I MIGHT HAVE TO.))
[SUPER=01-Willard Harrison/Patient; ]
[RUNS=:07]
[OUT Q=have to.]
(------------)
[VO-NAT]


NO doctors are talking to the media right now for fear it will interfere with current negotiations with Lewis-Gale Clinic.
But one resigning doctor did say even if they leave the clinic, they are NOT leaving town and have no intention of abandoning their patients here.
(------------)



[45-E-Waterworks]


[ANCHOR=Mel]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutins]
[WRITER=tte]
[TAPE#=99-46 1:17:13]
[GRAPHIC=None]

A Smith Mountain Lake man faces some expensive fines for cutting off residents' water.
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Franklin Co.;]

Robert Winney owns Waterworks of Franklin County, serving about 50 lake area homes. The State Corporation Commission held a court hearing yesterday, saying Winney quit paying his electricity bills, overcharged customers, and left them without water several times.
[SUPER=04-September 1999;]
[TAPE#=99-42 6:05]

The health department says one leak gushed almost six thousand gallons of water a day for seven weeks during last summer's drought.
(///// SOT /////)
[SOT 1:09:33]
[IN Q=It oculd have been repaired]

((WILLIAM EISAMAN/CUSTOMER: IT COULD HAVE BEEN REPAIRED WITHIN TWO OR THREE DAYS. BUT NO, YOU LET THAT THING GO FOR SEVEN OR EIGHT WEEKS WITH THE WATER GOING DOWN THE HILL, THE TOWER COMING DOWN, AND THE REST OF US SUFFERED AS A RESULT OF YOUR LAXNESS.))
[SUPER=01-William Eisaman/Waterworks Customer;]
[RUNS=:15]
[OUT Q=YOUR LAXNESS]
(------------)
[VO-NAT]

Winney says he cannot afford to fix the system unless the state lets him raise rates by 30 percent. Instead, the state may fine him at least 25-hundred dollars. Winney already owes the commission 25-hundred dollars for past violations. He says he plans to sell the company.
(------------)



[45weather]


[ANCHOR=Melanie]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutins]
[WRITER=tar]
[TAPE#=]
[GRAPHIC=none]


Taking a break from the news to check today's forecast...
Mostly sunny and not as windy today, with highs in the upper 50s.
Partly cloudy by this evening, with a few sprinkles possible overnight.
Lows in the upper 30s.
Looking ahead to the next five days....partly to mostly sunny skies through the weekend.
Highs in the 40s and 50s.



[SUPER=X5000; set dissolve]
[SUPER=314-Mostly Sunny/Winds SW 10-15/55-60/Partly Cloudy/Sprinkles Late/35-39;]
[SUPER=#555; RESET]



[8-E-Brzonkala]


[ANCHOR=Mel]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutins]
[WRITER=equ]
[TAPE#=99-53 34:51]
[GRAPHIC=Brzonkala]


The Supreme Court has heard arguments in the case of a former Virginia Tech student who sued two football players she says raped her.
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Washington, DC;]


Yesterday, Christy Brzonkala was in Washington to hear arguments in what is now a national civil rights case.
It's a test of the 1994 federal Violence Against Women Act, which Brzonkala's using to sue Tony Morrison.
Brzonkala made her public comments last week.
(/////SOT/////)
[SOT 15:52:40]
[IN Q=It's too traumatic]

((CHRISTY BRZONKALA/ALLEGED RAPE VICTIM: IT'S TOO TRAUMATIC FOR ME TO TALK...YOUR SOUL TORN OUT.))
[sot 11;44:27]

((MARILYN MORRISON/TONY MORRISON'S MOTHER: THIS CRUSADE...SO WHY ARE WE HERE?))
[SUPER=03-Washington, DC/Friday; :00]
[SUPER=01-Marilyn Morrison/Tony Morrison's Mother; :14]
[RUNS=:28]
[OUT Q=why are we here?]
(------------)
[VO-NAT]


The justices must decide if the commerce and equal protection clauses of the Constitution allow Congress to make laws about violence -- when state courts already provide a remedy.
(------------)
[TALENT=Melanie]
[SS=Hold]


A ruling will come some time before the court recesses in June.
A separate case accusing Virginia Tech of allowing a "hostile environment" for women has been sent back to Judge Jackson Kiser in Roanoke.

[8-E-Indictment]


[ANCHOR=Melanie]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutins]
[WRITER=mjo]
[TAPE#=99-57 22:15]
[GRAPHIC=Legal Scales]



A grand jury has charged a truck driver who killed an elderly couple while driving with two counts of manslaughter.
The trucker was charged yesterday for taking his eyes off the road.
(------------)
[VO-NAT]

[from 99-24 21:09]
[SUPER=03-Montgomery Co./May;]


A Montgomery County grand jury charged the truck's driver, 31-year-old Richard Wayne West with the involuntary manslaughter of a New York couple.
West's tractor trailer went through a median, killing the elderly couple last May.
(------------)



[8-S-Crash-Cause]


[ANCHOR=Melanie]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutins]
[WRITER=jda]
[TAPE#=99-56]
[GRAPHIC=Crash Investigation]


The National Transportation Safety Board has ruled on the cause of a fatal plane crash that happened two years ago near the Roanoke Regional Airport.
However, the report is still inconclusive.
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Roanoke/December 10, 1997]


47- year- old James Notch of Arlington, Texas was killed when his plane crashed into a Roanoke neighborhood. No one on the ground was injured, but one house was totalled and two others were damaged.
The crash ocurred shortly after the small plane took off and disappeared into a cloud bank. Witnesses said the plane sounded like it was having engine trouble, but investigators did not find any evidence of a mechanical malfunction.

(------------)
[ANCHOR=Melanie]
[SS=HOLD]


The NTSB determined the probable cause as loss of engine power for undetermined reasons. The final report also indicates the low ceiling was a related factor.

[8weather]


[ANCHOR=Melanie]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutins]
[WRITER=tar]
[TAPE#=]
[GRAPHIC=none]


Today's forecast is calling for more sunshine and a warm southwest breeze.
Highs in the upper 50s.
Partly cloudy tonight, with a few sprinkles late.
Overnight lows in the upper 30s.
And looking ahead to the next five days....partly to mostly sunny skies through the weekend.
Highs in the 40s and 50s.
[SUPER=X5000; set dissolve]
[SUPER=314-Mostly Sunny/Winds SW 10-15/55-60/Partly Cloudy/Sprinkles Late/35-39;]

[SUPER=#555; RESET]
by SS