12:00-01

NOON-HEADLINES

ANCHOR=Melanie
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A medical examiner determines what killed a North Cross student who died during wrestling practice.
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ANCHOR=Melanie

and a Roanoke school bus is hijacked this morning and the driver forced to drive to Salem.
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ANCHOR=Beth
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It's been a foggy morning in many areas... Patchy fog could become a problem again this afternoon even though we're seeing some sunshine. I'll have the forecast in a few minutes. /////////////)
ANCHOR=Melanie
SS=NONE


Don't go away the news is next.

Madison-Fire


ANCHOR=Melanie
NEWSCAST=Noon
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TAPE# none
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A man died in a house fire in Madison Heights this morning.
The fire broke out at 10 o'clock, at 320 Old Wright Shop Road.
Heavy smoke was coming from the rear of the building when firefighters arrived.
Once they were able to enter the building, they found a man lying on the floor.
There's no word on how he died, or how the fire started.
Officials have not yet released his name.

busjacking


ANCHOR=Melanie
NEWSCAST=noon
WRITER=KHu
TAPE# 96-6
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A Roanoke city school bus driver was hi-jacked at knife-point this morning.
City school officials say the bus had dropped off all its students by the time the incident occurred at about 8:15.
However, city police report the driver's nine- year- old daughter was with her.
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VO-NAT
SUPER=03-Roanoke;


They say a black male- -about 15 years old- -flagged down the bus on Cove Road. The driver reportedly thought he was a student who had missed another bus.
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SOT
IN Q=The driver had dropped off

(( ))
SUPER=01-Chauncey Logan/Transportation Director;
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OUT Q=according to what the driver told me.
ANCHOR=Melanie
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After driving around for about 20 minutes, the hijacker got off the bus on Route 419 at Midland Road.
Salem police spent 30 to 45 minutes searching for the hijacker but couldn't find him.
Terri Lambiosa, the driver, was NOT injured.

North-Cross


ANCHOR=Melanie
NEWSCAST=noon
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TAPE#95-111
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An autopsy indicates a Roanoke County student-athlete who became ill during practice and later died had a tumor in his heart.
Chief Medical Examiner Doctor David Oxley says the condition, called atrial myxoma (AY-treeal MIX-oma), blocks blood flow to the heart.
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VO-NAT
SUPER=@File; :


18 year old Grayson Hooper-- Number 71-- was Captain of the Football Team at North Cross School.
During wrestling practice Monday, he told his coach he felt ill
SUPER=03-Roanoke Co.; :

after a short work-out on the track.
After resting about 45 minutes, his heart stopped beating.
He couldn't be revived despite several attempts at C.P.R.
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SOT 11:37:13
IN Q=We're just

((HUGH MEAGHER/NORTH CROSS DEAN OF STUDENTS: WE'RE JUST TRYING THE BEST WE CAN TO ENABLE THE KIDS TO GET THROUGH THIS PERIOD OF GRIEVING, IN RECOGNIZING THIS IS JUST THE FIRST OF MANY DAYS. IT'S NOT GOING TO BE OVER AT THE END OF THE DAY. WE'LL BE CONSCIOUS OF THIS LOSS FOR A WHILE. ))
SUPER=01-Hugh Meagher/North Cross Dean of Students; :
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OUT Q=for a while.
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VO-NAT


Doctors say while Hooper's condition would not have been detected in routine sports physicals, adults should be aware of certain warning signs.
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SOT 14:03:23
IN Q=Certainly if

((DR. TERRANCE MAY/ROANOKE CARDIOLOGIST: CERTAINLY IF YOUNGSTERS ARE FEELING ANY SYMPTOMS OF SHORTNESS OF BREATH, CHEST DISCOMFORT, PALPITATION, OR LIGHT HEADEDNESS, THESE SYMPTOMS WOULD NEED TO BE EVALUATED AND NOT IGNORED. ))
SUPER=01-Dr. Terrance May/Roanoke Cardiologist; :
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OUT=not ignored.
ANCHOR=Melanie
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Counselors at North Cross have been called in to help students through their grief.

VMI


ANCHOR=Melanie
NEWSCAST=noon
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TAPE# net
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The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in a case that's being closely watched by women's rights advocates.
At issue is the all-male status of the state-funded
SS=vmi

Virginia Military Institute.
Activists say it could wind up as a landmark case.
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VO-NAT
SUPER=@file;


The Clinton administration wants to force V-M-I to open its doors to women.

It says Virginia's separate program for women is unlawful.
But the state's lawyer says that V-M-I promotes educational diversity and admitting women would dilute its demanding military-style program.
The court's ruling is expected in June.
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TRAVEL


ANCHOR=Melanie
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Also in Washington --
A House Committee is hearing testimony at this hour on the White House travel office firings.
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VO-NAT
SUPER=03-Washington DC;


Former presidential aide David Watkins has produced a set of notes that link the first lady to the controversial firings.
In the notes Watkins writes that a week before the seven travel office workers were dimissed Hillary Rodham Clinton was ready to fire them all.
Mrs. Clinton has told government investigators that she played no role in the firings.
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RUSSIA


ANCHOR=Melanie
NEWSCAST=NOON
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Russian forces have launched what they intend as a final attack against Chechen rebels holding hostages in southern Russia.
Meanwhile, Chechen gunmen say if the attacks on the village don't end, they'll blow up a Turkish ferry with nearly 200 on board.
Jonathan Sanders has more on both stories.
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IN Q=All morning, Russian
SUPER=03-Pervomayskaya, Russia; :00
SUPER=03-Trabzon, Turkey; :48
SUPER=01-Jonathan Sanders/Reporting; 1:22
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OUT Q=Jonathan Sanders, CBS News, Moscow

((All morning russian military commanders have been pounding at the rebel Chechen held village of permaiskoye with their deadliest rockets - the grads.
They have backed up this indiscriminate firepower with airstrikes from hind gunships - it is all part of a plan to flatten and destroy the village.
Two days of cautious house to house assaults by russian anti-terrorist forces freed more than two dozen of the civilians held captive--some for more than a week by the lone wolf brigade of the chechen liberation army.
The russian authorities say they've done all they can to free the innocent--now they are determined to wipe out the rebels and pervomaiskaia by nightfall...which will bring to a bloody end this 8 day hostage crisis. But the crisis has grown into an international incident: last night muslim activists seized a ferry boat at the Turkish port of Trabzon. The russian bound ship with 225 people on board is now steaming towards istambul....where these terrorists say they will blow it up unless their chechen brothers in pervomaiskaia are freed. The shipboard hijackers, who've been giving radio interviews, are apparently turkish citizens...with relatives in russia's troubled southern territories...
While they have agreed to release the turkish passengers on board they are still demanding the entire region be freed from mosgo's control. its another nightmare for the kremlin which has worked hard to keep the civil war in chechnaia from spreading to neighboring republic...not to mention a neighboring country thats a member of NATO. Jonathan Sanders, CBS News, Moscow.))

kobe


ANCHOR=Melanie
NEWSCAST=noon
WRITER=mel
TAPE# net
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In Kobe, Japan, mourners are remembering the victims of a powerful earthquake.
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VO-NAT
SUPER=03-Kobe, Japan/January 17, 1995;


One year ago today, the devastating quake ripped through the city, killing more than six thousand and leaving some 300-thousand homeless.
Some were crushed to death as they slept, others were trapped and burned to death in fires that swept whole nieghborhoods.
SUPER=03-Kobe;


Today, some of the city has been rebuilt, but thousands still live in temporary homes and many still can't find jobs.
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tease#1

HARD MUSIC UNDER
ANCHOR=Melanie
SS=NONE


When News 7 returns,
It could be up to 25 years in jail for a car salesman convicted of food stamp fraud.
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VO-NAT

and it was a not so picture-perfect day for employees of a Roanoke County frame store when they showed up for work.
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ANCHOR=Beth


It's been a cold and damp morning but we're seeing plenty of sunshine right now... Enjoy it while you can because the clouds and damp weather will move in again.
I'll have the forecast in a few minutes. music up full
comm1


Picture-Parts


ANCHOR=Melanie
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Some workers in Roanoke County feel they're being HUNG out to dry.
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VO-NAT
SUPER=03-Roanoke Co.;


Employees at Picture Parts were told they no longer had jobs when they showed up for work today.
The sign on the door reads "closed today for inventory."
And while the inventory IS being counted... it's also being taken to another store in Charlottesville.
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SOT 10:06:02
IN Q=I was shocked

((CYNDI CUMMINGS/FORMER MANAGER: I WAS SHOCKED I CAME TO WORK AND THIS IS WHAT I FOUND. I HAD NO PRIOR NOTICE. NOTHING. ))
SUPER=01-Cyndi Cummings/Former Manager;
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OUT Q=nothing.
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VO-NAT


Cummings admits the Roanoke Valley store has been losing money, but says employees were told the store would remain open.
Picture Parts is owned by Tygart Moulding (MOLE-ding) in Randolph County, West Virginia.
The company's owner was not available for comment.
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Direct-Mail


ANCHOR=Melanie
NEWSCAST=noon
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TAPE# edit of 94-104 (edit of dmc)
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State police are investigating claims that the former managers and owners of a now-defunct Bedford County direct-mail company embezzled from their workers' health-insurance fund.
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VO-NAT
SUPER=03-Forest/File Tape;


According to a search warrant filed in Bedford County Circuit Court, former employees of Direct Mail Communications Incorporated of Forest say their payroll deductions for their health insurance were not deposited into a special checking account as required by law.
They say that caused the employee insurance plan to collapse.
With 340 employees, D-M-C once was Bedford County's second-largest employer.
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Lautenschlager


ANCHOR=Melanie
NEWSCAST=noon
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TAPE#95-113
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Salem Rescue Squad officials say they have initiated another investigation concerning accounting irregularities.
That, after former Salem City Councilman Gary Lautenschlager was sentenced for embezzling twenty-four thousand dollars from the squad.
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VO-NAT
SUPER=03-Salem/Yesterday;


In court yesterday he received a ten year suspended sentence and twenty years probation.
Lautenschlager testified that he took the funds to pay off credit card debts.
His attorney says justice was done.
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SOT 13:20:12
IN Q=He did not get

((JACK GREGORY/LAUTENSCHLAGER'S ATTORNEY: HE DID NOT GET AWAY WITH IT. HE'S BEEN CONVICTED OF A FELONY, HE'S LOST THREE JOBS, HE HAS CERTAINLY SUFFERED THE LOST OF REPUTATION IN THE COMMUNITY. HE SUFFERED MORE SO THAN ANY OTHER DEFENDANT I CAN THINK OF PRIOR TO COMING IN FOR SENTENCING.))
SUPER=01-Jack Gregory/Lautenschlager's Attorney;
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OUT Q=coming in for sentencing.
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Lautenschlager was also sentenced to 300 hours community service.
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wipe wipe wipe

Joseph-Spangler


ANCHOR=Melanie
NEWSCAST=noon
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TAPE#edit of 95-106
GRAPHIC=wipe wipe wipe
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VO-NAT
SUPER=@File;


A Roanoke used car dealer could receive up to 25 years in prison when he's sentenced in March for food stamp fraud.
Joseph Spangler -- owner of the "Sport Motors" car lot-- pleaded guilty to the charges yesterday.
He was given a 75- hundred dollar fine and ordered to pay more than nine- thousand dollars in restitution.
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Trigon-Cranwell


ANCHOR=Melanie
NEWSCAST=noon
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House Majority Leader Dick Cranwell is representing
SS=trigon

Trigon Blue- Cross Blue- Shield as its lawyer in its effort to convert to a for- profit company.
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VO-NAT
SUPER=@file;


But the Roanoke County Democrat says there is no conflict of interest between his job as majority leader and his representation of Trigon.
According to a report filed with the clerk's office in the House of Delegates, Cranwell made more than ten-thousand dollars last year working on the Trigon conversion.
The company disclosed Cranwell's role in its latest filings at the State Corporation Commission.
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Tease#2

SOFT MUSIC UNDER
ANCHOR=Melanie
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Still to come,
A daring rescue of a Connecticut man stranded in a river,
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and if you think it's cold here....astronauts of the Endeavour are walking around in temperatures 100 degrees below zero.
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music up full comm2

RIVER-RESCUE


ANCHOR=Melanie
NEWSCAST=noon
WRITER=cro
TAPE#=net
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In Connecticut last night a daring river rescue.
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VO-NAT
SUPER=03-East Windsor, CT;


For more than an hour a 36-year man clung to a chunk of ice in the frigid Connecticut river.
The man was too far out for firecrews to reach him by rope so a special Hover craft, which travels on ice and water, and two divers were called to the scene.
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SOT
IN Q=

((THIS IS THE FIRST ACTUAL RESCUE WE'VE DONE, EXCEPT LAST TIME WE TRAINED, IT WAS A GOOD 20 BELOW ZERO, I DON'T KNOW HOW THE MAN GOT OUT THERE UNLESS HE TAPPED DANCED ACROSS THIS STUFF, HE MUST HAVE BEEN VERY LUCKY. ))
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OUT Q=VERY LUCKY.
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The man, identified as Donald Jones, was hospitilized overnight but is expected to be released later today.
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STAR


ANCHOR=Melanie
NEWSCAST=noon
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The Hubble Telescope has produced some amazing photographs of never before seen cosmic events deep in space.
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VO-NAT


You're looking at the death of a star, going out in a blaze of heat, gas and dust.
It's the first close-up image ever of a star other than our own sun.
It's the giant star Betelgeuse (Beetle Juice).
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WIPE/WIPE/WIPE/

SPACE-WALK


ANCHOR=Melanie
NEWSCAST=NOON
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VO-NAT


And closer to earth, two Endeavour astronauts donned their space suits today and went for another lengthy spacewalk.
The primary objective of the six hour excursion was to test new space suit modifications.
The suits need to be thick enough to keep the astronauts warm in temperatures approaching one hundred below zero.
NASA plans to use the new gear in the building of an international space station.
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Williams


ANCHOR=Melanie
NEWSCAST=noon
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It's a new year and the attention of the American taxpayer is once again focusing on which income tax laws have changed and how those changes affect their individual returns.
Len Besthoff brought in a tax expert for some answers.
Len?
ANCHOR=Len 2 shot
SUPER=@Len1;


Mel, I'm joined by Bill Williams, a top executive at H & R Block Tax Services and former Deputy Commissioner of the I-R-S.
What are the principal changes in the federal tax laws for the 1996 tax season and how will they affect us?
SUPER=01-Bill Williams/Tax Authority;
( What kind of changes have taken place in the way we file?



Has the partial government shutdown affected the process, or will it, if we enter a third shutdown at the end of the month?

What are the most common errors by taxpayers who file their returns?
What tips do you have?

What about electronic filing?

What kind of red flags get you audited by the I-R-S?

How many taxpayers get refunds and what is the average amount?

Is it better to have access to your money all year, and pay a chunk? Or is it better to claim another deduction and get a refund? If so, isn't this like giving the government an interest free loan? )

(len toss to mel)


Virginia-Employment


ANCHOR=Melanie
NEWSCAST=noon
WRITER=cro
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Virginia's November unemployment was four-point-two percent, the lowest jobless rate for that month in six years.
The rate was down two-tenths of a percent from October's figures, and well below the national unemployment rate of five-point-three percent.
Wise County had the highest rate at 16-point-three percent.

ECONOMY


ANCHOR=Melanie
NEWSCAST=noon
WRITER=NOON
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GRAPHIC=national economy


The Index of Leading Economic Indicators has hit its lowest level in nearly two years -- after dropping three-tenths of a percent for November.
Some experts says that means the economy is headed for trouble, while others say the report isn't based on complete numbers.
Meantime, the nation's trade deficit registered its best showing in almost a year.
The Commerce Department says the trade gap narrowed two-point-five percent in October.
But the imbalance with Japan was dramatically worse.
It rose by eleven percent.

Stocks


ANCHOR=Melanie
NEWSCAST=noon
WRITER=cro
TAPE#none
SS=Stocks


Stocks are seesawing as investors react to the economic reports.
On Wall Street at Noon the Dow was DOWN five points.
tease#3

SPORTS MUSIC UNDER
ANCHOR=Melanie


Coming up, the Express plays checkers and gets crowned,
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VO-NAT

and Northside slam dunks the Salem Spartans.
High school basketball ball highlights, next, on News 7 at Noon.
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MUSIC UP FULL comm4

Interleague


ANCHOR=Melanie
NEWSCAST=noon
WRITER=cro
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Major League baseball has taken its first step toward interleague play.
The ruling executive council yesterday unanimously approved a measure to install interleague games by 1997.
Owners would have to approve the move before the Players Association takes it to a vote.

Bucs


ANCHOR=Melanie
NEWSCAST=noon
WRITER=cro
TAPE# none
GRAPHIC=buccaneers


Turning now to the N-F-L --
The "Tampa Tribune" reports that Tampa Bay Buccaneer officials have renewed talks with representatives in Cleveland in recent days.
The Bucs have said they would move out of Tampa if they can get a new stadium.

Express


ANCHOR=Melanie
NEWSCAST=noon
WRITER=twe
TAPE#-Ice-95
GRAPHIC=Express


The Roanoke Express is fifth in the east division after losing to the Charlotte Checkers.
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VO-NAT #eng
SUPER=03-Roanoke/Express vs. Checkers;


Last night Frank Anzalone was shooting for club victory number 100 in the season's fifth meeting with Charlotte.
Jason Clarke's shot hits the post, but Jeff Jestadt picks up the loose puck and scores for his 15th goal on the year.
But Charlotte answers. Matt Robbins finds Daryl Noren
SUPER=34-Charlotte/==6/Roanoke/==2;

to tie things up and the Checkers go on to beat the Express 6 to 2.
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ANCHOR=Melanie
SS=HOLD MATHCUP


The two teams meet again Saturday night in the Queen City.

Northside


ANCHOR=Melanie
NEWSCAST=noon
WRITER=twe
TAPE#s5-22
GRAPHIC=High school hoops


After a week of postponements, some area high school basketball teams were back on the hardwood last night.
Salem and Northside renewed an old rivalry in the Blue Ridge District race.
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VO-NAT #eng
SUPER=03-Roanoke/Spartans vs. Vikings;


Salem's Sammy Lazarro finds Herschel Thomas who finishes with the easy layin.
Then Northside's Adam Wimmer picks up the loose ball and puts it in, but the Vikings still trail at the half.
Salem extends the lead in the second half when Scott Hall scores.
But the Vikings go on a run.
Justin Porterfield makes the basket and Northside wins it 61 to 54.
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Charlotte


ANCHOR=Melanie
NEWSCAST=noon
WRITER=cro
TAPE# none
GRAPHIC=charlotte motor speedway


Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina will become a stop on the 1996 International Race of Champions circuit.
Neither series nor speedway officials would confirm it.
But sources tell The Associated Press plans were being made to hold an I-ROC race at Charlotte on May 17th.


wrap


ANCHOR=Melanie
NEWSCAST=noon
WRITER=amo
TAPE#none
GRAPHIC=NONE


Coming up on tonight's Health Check Report on NEWS-7 at FIVE--
There's more evidence that eating bran can help you avoid cancer.
Connie Stevens has more on the findings tonight on NEWS-7 at FIVE-- then Have a great day! Buh-Bye stick around for NEWS-7 at SIX.
by SS