[7-11Switch-OK]
[ANCHOR=Kim]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutin]
[WRITER=dse]
[TAPE#=02-14 TC44:39]
[GRAPHIC=Building for the Future]
High Definition television is now officially being broadcast from your hometown station.
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Roanoke]
We began broadcasting a digital signal on Channel 18 at about 8:15 last night.
(///// SOT /////)
[SOT]
[IN Q=the deadline]
[SUPER=01-Carl Guffey/WDBJ Director of Operations & Engineering]
[RUNS=16]
[OUT Q=getting it done.]
(-------------)
[VO-NAT]
About 70 percent of the nation's t-v stations will miss today's deadline mandated by the Federal Communications Commission .
(------------)
[7-11Echostar]
[ANCHOR=Kim]
[NEWSCAST=Am Cutin]
[WRITER=rca]
[TAPE#=02-12 TC1:00:06]
[GRAPHIC=None]
A satellite television company in the New River Valley is opening its doors to hundreds of new jobs.
(------------)
[VO-NAT :20.5]
[SUPER=03-Christiansburg;]
Today marks Echostar's second year in Christiansburg.
They will hold a job fair today from 7 am to 7 pm at the facility in the Falling Branch Industrial Park.
Echostar wants to hire 3-hundred customer service representatives to its call center.
Workers would provide technical support to satellite customers.
(///// SOT /////)
[SOT 8:30:17]
[IN Q=we continue]
((SHADD RING/ECHOSTAR DIR. OF OPERATIONS; WE CONTINUE TO GROW WE HAVE A 100-THOUSAND SQUARE FOOT FACILITY HERE RIGHT OFF OF 81 AND WERE ALWAYS LOOKING FOR GOOD EAGER PEOPLE THAT ARE LOOKING FOR A CAREER AND SO YEAH WERE CONSTANTLY HIRING UNTIL WE GET 2-THOUSAND EMPLOYEES IN THIS BUILDING.))
[SUPER=01-Shadd Ring/Echostar Director of Operations;]
[RUNS=:12]
[OUT Q=IN THIS BUILDING.]
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
12-hundred work at the facility.
To apply at Echostar you must be at least 18 and have a high school equivalency degree.
Ring says shifts are flexible and pay begins at 8-50 an hour.
(------------)
[7-11Storm-Cleanup]
[ANCHOR=Kim]
[NEWSCAST=Am Cutin]
[WRITER=ssm]
[TAPE#=02-07 TC1:26:02]
[GRAPHIC=None]
The city of Bedford will need at least one and half million dollars to repair buildings and homes from Sunday's tornado.
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Bedford]
A total of 23 homes and 58 businesses were hit as the storm tore through the center of town Sunday night.
The local Ford dealership had one of the biggest losses- Cars were flipped and windows smashed.
Other businesses had their roofs peeled back or facades ripped off.. but things are returning to normal.
(///// SOT /////)
[SOT 15:08:02]
[IN Q=These old buildings]
((SCOTT SMITH/DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR: THESE OLD BUILDINGS WEATHERED IT PRETTY WELL... READY FOR BUSINESS.))
[SUPER=01-Scott Smith/Downtown Development Director]
[RUNS=12]
[OUT Q=ready for business.]
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
Authorities say "a half dozen" buildings were destroyed or suffered enough major damage that they may have to be condemned.
(------------)
[7-11Unemployment]
[ANCHOR=Kim]
[NEWSCAST=AM cutin]
[WRITER=dse]
[TAPE#=none]
[GRAPHIC=None]
Last month, Virginia's unemployment rate fell to its lowest level since last September - dropping to four percent.
The Virginia Employment Commission attributes the drop to fewer temporary and permanent factory layoffs- along with mild weather that allowed outdoor work to resume earlier than usual.
Fairfax City had the lowest unemployment.
Seven communities reported double-digit jobless rates including Halifax, Henry and Patrick counties and the city of Martinsville.
[45-11SCV-Plates]
[ANCHOR=Kim]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutin]
[WRITER=mmu]
[TAPE#=02-10 TC58:10]
[GRAPHIC=None]
Attorney General Jerry Kilgore has yet to announce his decision about the Confederate license plates.
Kilgore is considering an appeal to the federal ruling that allows a plate for the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
He was expected to announce his decision last night.
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
The General Assembly approved the plate three years ago...but specifically said NO Confederate flag logo could go on it.
A federal appeals court upheld a ruling yesterday declaring the restriction unconstitutional.
(------------)
[45-Jones]
[ANCHOR=Kim]
[NEWSCAST=Am Cutin]
[WRITER=mjo]
[TAPE#=none]
[GRAPHIC=Legal Scales]
A man accused of raping at least one girl at a center for troubled teens will remain in jail WITHOUT bond.
A Botetourt County Circuit judge denied bond for 30-year-old Jimmy Lee Jones yesterday.
Prosecutors say that while Jones was working as a night security guard at the Sanctuary Crisis Intervention Center, he had sex with a 14-year-old girl. They say they're investigating similar allegations from other girls, ranging in age from 14 to 16.
Jones faces charges of rape, sodomy and child abuse.
[45-11Storm-Cleanup]
[ANCHOR=Kim]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutin]
[WRITER=ssm]
[TAPE#=02-07 TC1:26:02]
[GRAPHIC=None]
ONE - Point-FIVE million dollars- That's how much the city of Bedford will have to pay to repair the ruins from Sunday's tornado.
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Bedford]
A total of 23 homes and 58 businesses were hit as the storm tore through the center of town Sunday night.
The local Ford dealership had one of the biggest losses- Cars were flipped and windows smashed.
Other businesses had their roofs peeled back or facades ripped off.. but things are returning to normal.
(///// SOT /////)
[SOT 15:08:02]
[IN Q=These old buildings]
((SCOTT SMITH/DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR: THESE OLD BUILDINGS WEATHERED IT PRETTY WELL... READY FOR BUSINESS.))
[SUPER=01-Scott Smith/Downtown Development Director]
[RUNS=12]
[OUT Q=ready for business.]
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
Authorities say "a half dozen" buildings were destroyed or suffered enough major damage that they may have to be condemned.
(------------)
[45-11K-9]
[ANCHOR=Kim]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutin]
[WRITER=syo]
[TAPE#=02-06 TC1:38:18]
[GRAPHIC=None]
A successful K-9 training program has the Roanoke City Police celebrating.
(------------)
[VO-NAT :13]
[SUPER=03-Roanoke;]
Yesterday, the department graduated six officer-dog teams from Basic Police K-9 school.
Included in the 12 week program are lessons in K-9 investigation techniques, patrol work, handler protection and health and legal issues.
(///// SOT at :13 /////)
[SOT 15:11:20-15:11:32]
[IN Q=Each dog's trained a little bit different...]
((OFFICER JOHN HOOVER/ROANOKE POLICE DEPT.: EACH DOG'S TRAINED A LITTLE BIT DIFFERENT. SOME ARE TRAINED IN PATROL WORK, NARCOTICS, SOME JUST DETECTION. WE HAVE ONE STRICTLY A NARCOTICS DETECTOR AND ONE'S STRICTLY AN EXPLOSIVE DETECTOR DOG.))
((DEPUTY MICHAEL R. GARRETT/CAMPBELL CO. SHERIFF'S OFFICE: SHE'S A STRICTLY NARCOTICS DOG. SHE'S TRAINED IN DETECTION OF NARCOTICS SO SHE SMELLS OUT THE ODOR OF DRUGS. SHE'S AN AGGRESSIVE RESPONSE DOG. SHE SCRATCHES TRYING TO GET TO THE ODOR.))
[SUPER=01-John Hoover/Roanoke City Police Department;]
[SUPER=01-Michael Garrett and Onyx/Campbell Co. Sheriff's Department;]
[RUNS=:27]
[OUT Q=trying to get to the odor.]
(------------)
[VO-NAT :14]
The graduating teams are from Radford City, Virginia Tech, and Wise, Bedford and Campbell Counties.
(------------)
[8-Leyva]
[ANCHOR=Kim]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutin]
[WRITER=khu]
[TAPE#=501-07 1:46:22]
[GRAPHIC=None]
Pentecostal minister Tony (LAY-va) Leyva returned to Roanoke yesterday morning after being released from prison.
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Roanoke]
It's been 14 years since he was convicted of sodomizing young boys.
He served the maximum sentenced under the old rules-- before parole was abolished.
Leyva had been tried in state and federal courts in the Roanoke Valley.
He was released from Brunswick Prison, yesterday where state parole officers met the pastor and escorted him back to Roanoke.
The case dates back to the mid- 1980's when Leyva was leading revivals in Virginia and running a child prostitution ring on the side.
State probation and parole officials say he'll be under intensive supervision, wearing an electronic monitoring device. He plans to live at the Jefferson Lodge in downtown Roanoke, until he can find a job and a permanent home.
(------------)
[8-Avian-Flu]
[ANCHOR=Kim]
[NEWSCAST=Am Cutin]
[WRITER=dse]
[TAPE#=none]
[GRAPHIC=None]
A sixth Virginia county has been affected by the Avian flu virus.
The Virginia Department of Agriculture has confirmed a case in Highland County.
The virus had already shown up on poultry farms in Rockingham, Shenandoah, Augusta, Page and Greene counties.
119 farms have been quarantined and nearly three million chickens and turkeys have been destroyed.
Federal agriculture employees working out of Harrisonburg are trying to figure out how the virus is spreading.
[8-Franklin-Budget]
[ANCHOR=Kim]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutin]
[WRITER=mjo]
[TAPE#=none]
[GRAPHIC=None]
Tax increases may be on the way to Franklin County residents next year.
That's after the Board of Supervisors passed the 2002-2003 budget on a vote of 6 to 1.
The board approved a 9 percent increase in the real estate tax... which will go from 55 to 60 cents on each 100-dollars of assessed property.
County decals will go up 5 dollars AND the Emergency 911 tax is going up one dollar a month.
Supervisors said the tax increases were needed to avoid borrowing money to balance the budget.
[8-11Trigon]
[ANCHOR=Kim]
[NEWSCAST=Am Cutin]
[WRITER=jmi]
[TAPE#=02-11 TC56:08]
[GRAPHIC=Business News]
Trigon Health Care is assuring its customers that they won't notice any major changes in service when it merges with another insurance company.
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Roanoke/Last Month]
[TAPE#=501-07 1:34:09]
Trigon plans to partner with Indianapolis-based Anthem Health Care sometime this year.
Trigon said yesterday most members will receive a new insurance card in the mail, but not for at least another year.
Other than that, they likely won't see much difference.
(------------)
[ANCHOR=Kim]
[SS=HOLD]
If the merger is approved, the combined companies will serve 10 million people.
by SS