[7-State-Budget]
[ANCHOR=Kimberly]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutins]
[WRITER=equ]
[TAPE#=01-01 TC49:55]
[GRAPHIC=VA Budget]
In Richmond, House and Senate leaders name budget negotiators today.
Those are the lawmakers who try to reach a compromise between two budgets -- one that they hope the Governor will then sign.
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Richmond]
But what happens if what those around Capitol Square call "the train wreck" actually happens this year?
If NO compromise can be reached, it means NO pay raises for teachers, NO new state troopers, and very little money for museums and cultural agencies.
(/////SOT/////)
[SOT]
[IN Q=I'm hoping]
[sot 15:37:29 ]
((DEL. MORGAN GRIFFITH/R-SALEM: I'M HOPING THAT WE CAN INCREASE THE ... CULTURAL MUSEUMS... NOT BEING ABLE TO WORK SOMETHING OUT WOULD HAVE FAR GREATER IMPACT THAN WORKING SOMETHING OUT THAT PEOPLE MIGHT THINK WELL THAT'S NOT AS GOOD AS WE SHOULD HAVE DONE.))
[SUPER=@Griffith;]
[RUNS=:24]
[OUT Q=should have done.]
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
If lawmakers avert the "train wreck," the Governor could still veto any budget that did NOT hit the 70-percent car tax phase-out.
That would leave him with the previous budget -- which was based on higher revenues than the state is collecting.
(/////SOT/////)
[SOT]
[IN Q=It's gonna ]
[sot 15:08:06]
((DEL. DICK CRANWELL/D-VINTON: IT'S GONNA BE EXTREMELY, EXTREMELY DIFFICULT. BECAUSE WITHOUT ANY OF THE BOND REVENUES, THIS GOVERNOR'S GOING TO HAVE TO CUT A BILLION DOLLARS OUT OF THE BUDGET.))
[SUPER=@Cranwell;]
[RUNS=:12]
[OUT Q=of the budget.]
(-------------)
[TALENT=Kimberly]
[SS=none]
A third option could be that the Governor would essentially create his own new budget without legislative approval.
Lawmakers say that would draw a series of lawsuits.
[7-Gas-pipeline]
[ANCHOR=Kimberly]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutins]
[WRITER=jmi]
[TAPE#=01-03 TC25:24]
[GRAPHIC=None]
The Roanoke County Board of Supervisors is rejecting a study of the costs of co-locating two gas pipelines.
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
[PRE PRO PAGE 1]
The report from Hayes, (See) Seay, Mattern and Mattern reads, "Co-location of the existing E-T-N-G easement, is not an option."
[SUPER=03-Roanoke Co.]
Residents who want the pipelines to run next to each other complained yesterday, saying the firm was asked for a price tag, NOT an opinion.
The report was sent to the State Corporation Commission examiner, who is currently reviewing a proposed Virginia Gas merger.
If the merger goes through, the new pipeline will most likely be built on a NEW site.
(------------)
[ANCHOR=Shannon]
[SS=None]
The Engineering firm has not had an opportunity to explain its findings.
News 7 will continue to follow the story.
[7-Video-conferencing]
[ANCHOR=Kimberly]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutins]
[WRITER=khu]
[TAPE#=00-49 TC1:22:58]
[GRAPHIC=None]
Roanoke's federal courtroom goes "high-tech".
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Roanoke]
City lawyers met in federal court yesterday for a demonstration of the courtroom's new video- conferencing capability.
Judge Sam Wilson says the technology will help "level the playing field."
The latest in computer-generated graphics are now available to all, not just government lawyers and attorneys with wealthy clients.
(------------)
[45-Wythe-Industry]
[ANCHOR=Kimberly]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutins]
[WRITER=mjo]
[TAPE#=00-55 TC1:12:50]
[GRAPHIC=Power Plant]
A gas-fired power plant could be in the works for Wythe County.
(+++++++)
[Take Map]
Duke Energy has an option to buy 715-acres of land in the Southeast part of the county.
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Wytheville;]
The company presented preliminary plans for the plant yesterday to local officials and residents.
Some said they're worried about noise and pollution.
Duke Energy assured them it wants to study the area and environmental impact before moving ahead.
(///// SOT /////)
[SOT 16:58:08 - :28]
[IN Q=As far as drawbacks,]
((CHARLES CLAUNCH/DUKE ENERGY: AS FAR AS DRAWBACKS, WE ARE GOING TO LOOK AT AIR IMPLICATIONS, WATER IMPLICATIONS AND AESTHETICS OF THAT LOCATION AND A FACILITY OF THAT SIZE AND WE'LL SHARE THEN WITH THE COMMUNITY IN APRIL.))
[SUPER=01-Charles Claunch/Duke Energy;]
[RUNS=:15]
[OUT Q=mid to late April.]
(------------)
[ANCHOR=Kimberly]
[GRAPHIC=none]
The plant could employ up to 400 people during 18 months of construction.
20 to 25 would work there when it's up and running.
[45-Clifton-Forge]
[ANCHOR=Kimberly]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutins]
[WRITER=tha]
[TAPE#00-47 TC1:36:10]
[GRAPHIC=None]
Residents in Clifton Forge will head to the polls next month to decide whether Clifton Forge will remain a city.
Local leaders hope the city's 43- hundred residents vote no.
Last night, Teresa Hamilton attended the first in a series of meetings for residents to voice their questions.
(/////SOT/////)
[SOT]
[IN Q=]
[SUPER=03-Clifton Forge; :05]
[SUPER=01-Dusty Rhodes/Clifton Forge Mayor; :31]
[SUPER=01-Doody Morris/City Status Supporter; 1:04]
[SUPER=@Teresa1; 1:17]
[RUNS=1:27]
[OUT Q=NEWS 7, Clifton Forge.]
((
(///sot////)
[SOT]
((YOU MUST CONSIDER YOUR KIDS, YOUR GRAND KIDS.))
[OUT Q= YOUR GRANDKIDS.]
Mayor Dusty Rhodes say the only way Clifton Forge can remain a city is to raise taxes ever more.
But Rhodes told the crowd in his opinion it would still never work.
He says the city's losing population and jobs.
Rhodes say the only solution is to revert to a town and become part of Alleghany County.
[sot]
(( YOUR TAXES WILL DECREASE, YOU WOULD NOT PAY THE 18 DOLLAR FEE FOR GARBAGE COLLECTION YOU WOULD STILL VOTE FOR FIVE MEMBERS OF CLIFTON FORGE TOWN COUNCIL, YOU WOULD ALSO VOTE FOR MEMBERS OF BOARD OF SUPERVISORS, THE TOWN NAME WOULD REMAIN ON THE MAP, OUR POST OFFICE WILL STILL BE HERE AND WE'LL HAVE THE SAME ZIP CODE. ))
[OUT Q=same zip code.]
City officials say Clifton Forge would also keep its police and fire department as well library and public works.
But some in the crowd indicated it sounded too good to be true.. pointing out that some people, such as constitutional officers, would lose their jobs.
[sot]
((DOODY MORRIS: I STILL SAY WE CAN STILL STAY A CITY AND WE NEED TO DEVELOP ECONOMICALLY AND WORK TOGETHER AS NEIGHBORS AND NOT FORCE OUR PROBLEMS ONTO OUR NEIGHBORS AND I HOPE ALLEGHANY COUNTY KNOWS WE LOVE THEM BUT WE NEED TO KEEP OUR BOUNDARIES.))
Another information meeting will be held Saturday at the Clifton Forge Fire Department.
Residents will vote on the issue March 6th.
Teresa Hamilton, NEWS 7, Clifton Forge.))[8-Blacksburg-Rescue]
[ANCHOR=Kimberly]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutins]
[WRITER=mjo]
[TAPE#=00-50 TC1:34:15]
[GRAPHIC=None]
Some rescue squad members are angry because Blacksburg Town Council voted NOT to confirm the squad captain.
(-----------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Blacksburg/WTOB;]
Town council voted unanimously NOT to support the rescue squad's election of Noel Gardner.
Council members questioned his ability to lead after a female squad member made an unpublicized accusation.
No criminal charges have been brought against him.
(///// SOT /////)
[bump SOTs]
[IN Q=Mr. Gardner]
[sot 14:39- :49]
((MAYOR ROGER HEDGEPETH: MR. GARDNER IS AWARE OF THE REASONS FOR THE DECISION AND SINCE THIS IS A PERSONNEL MATTER, THOSE REASONS WILL REMAIN CONFIDENTIAL.))
((JERRY OLINGER/SQUAD MEMBER: I THINK HE WAS GIVEN A VOTE OF CONFIDENCE BY THE RESCUE SQUAD BY OVER 75% OF THE MEMBERS THAT WERE PRESENT. I THINK NOEL WOULD DO A GOOD JOB AS RESCUE SQUAD CAPTAIN AND I THINK THE TOWN DIDN'T GIVE HIM GOOD DUE PROCESS OF LAW.))
[SUPER=01-Roger Hedgepeth/Blacksburg Mayor;]
[SUPER=01-Jerry Olinger/Rescue Squad Member;]
[RUNS=:27]
[OUT Q=process of the law.]
(------------)
[ANCHOR=Shannon]
[GRAPHIC=None]
The town instructed the squad to elect a new captain by March 13th.
[8-Dog-Attack]
[ANCHOR=Kimberly]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutins]
[WRITER=ssm]
[TAPE#=00-45 TC2:03:53]
[GRAPHIC=None]
A Lynchburg police department drug- sniffing K-9 attacks an officer.
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
It happened at the city's fire and police training grounds yesterday in Campbell County.
[SUPER=03-Campbell Co.]
Officer Rick Ruggieri (roo-JER-ee).. seen here in file video with his own police dog.. was exercising another handler's dog when it suddenly attacked him.
Ruggieri received wounds to his hands and forehead that required several stitches.
(///// SOT /////)
[SOT 10:49:16]
[IN Q=Anything that]
((MAJOR LEWIS: ANYTHING THAT HAPPENS THAT CAUSES ONE OF OUR PEOPLE TO BE INJURED, OR A CITIZEN TO BE INJURED, IS SOMETHING THAT WE ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO LOOK AT TO DETERMINE WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? WHAT'S THE RIGHT THING TO DO, WHAT'S THE APPROPRIATE RESPONSE?))
[SUPER=01-Jack Lewis/Lynchburg Police Department]
[RUNS=16]
[OUT Q=the appropriate response?]
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
The dog was destroyed immediately after the attack.
In the past three years, two citizens and two police officers have been attacked by police dogs.
(------------)
[8-Miles]
[ANCHOR=Kimberly]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutins]
[WRITER=mjo]
[TAPE#=00-54 TC57:36]
[GRAPHIC=Legal Scales]
After trying to make her husband's death look like a suicide, a Christiansburg woman pleads guilty to killing him.
(-------------)
[VO-NAT]
Melissa Faye Miles will serve 28 years in prison for shooting her husband, Terry Miles, in the head as he slept last April.
Prosecutors say the 27-year-old mother of two kept suicide notes her husband had once written and changed the dates on them after the murder.
(------------)
[8-Video-conferencing]
[ANCHOR=Kimberly]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutins]
[WRITER=khu]
[TAPE#=00-49 TC1:22:58]
[GRAPHIC=None]
A new high- tech tool will help attorneys in Roanoke.
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Roanoke]
City lawyers met in federal court yesterday for a demonstration of the courtroom's new video- conferencing capability.
Judge Sam Wilson says the technology will help "level the playing field."
The latest in computer-generated graphics are now available to all, not just government lawyers and attorneys with wealthy clients.
(------------)
by SS