Nine for Council, Data Centers Meet the Drought, and a Pipeline in Limbo

Full Transcript

Intro

Alex: Welcome to The Roanoke Weekly. I’m Alex.

Morgan: And I’m Morgan. This is your locally curated, AI-narrated rundown of what happened across the Roanoke Valley this past week, and what’s worth getting out for in the week ahead.

Alex: This week we leaned on the Roanoke Times, WSLS 10, Cardinal News, and WDBJ7 for the news, plus Visit Virginia’s Blue Ridge and the City of Roanoke calendar for events. If something here matters to you, go give those folks a click. They do the reporting we get to summarize.

Morgan: There’s a ballot question at the top that’s a lot closer to home than the headlines might suggest.

Alex: And the weather and the water are both kind of running through the whole week. Let’s get into it.

The Lead: Early Voting Is On

Alex: So if you blinked, you might have missed it, but early voting is already underway. In-person early voting opened Thursday ahead of an August 4th primary. It would’ve been Friday, but Friday was the Juneteenth state holiday, so the polls opened a day early.

Morgan: August feels far away. Why are we voting in the summer?

Alex: Good question, and the short version is redistricting. The primary got pushed back about six weeks this year after a long fight over Virginia’s congressional maps, a fight that, in the end, didn’t really change the maps at all. So the U.S. Senate and U.S. House primaries are both on that August 4th ballot too.

Morgan: Okay, but the part that caught my eye is the local race.

Alex: Right, and this is the one I’d really pay attention to. There are nine people running for three open seats on Roanoke City Council. Nine. For a city our size, that’s a crowded, interesting field.

Morgan: Walk me through who’s actually in it.

Alex: So the August primary itself is really the Democratic contest. Five Democrats are running for three nominations, and whoever wins those three moves on to November. That field includes two sitting council members, Peter Volosin and Vivian Sanchez-Jones, plus three challengers. Danny Clawson, who runs the Virginia Harm Reduction Coalition. Raekwon Moore, who’s on the Grandin Theatre board and works for Blue Ridge Behavioral Healthcare. And Harvey Brookins, a banking executive who also sits on the Western Virginia Water Authority board.

Morgan: And the folks who aren’t in the primary?

Alex: They skip straight to the November ballot. Three independents, including a couple of familiar names. David Bowers, the former mayor who narrowly lost to Mayor Joe Cobb back in 2024. Stephanie Moon Reynolds, a former council member. And Kathy Cohen, a rabbi emerita at Temple Emanuel who serves on the city’s Gun Violence Prevention Commission. There’s also one Republican in the mix, Amanda Marko.

Morgan: So even if you’re not a registered Democrat, this race is still coming for your November ballot.

Alex: Exactly. The primary narrows the Democratic field, but the full council race is wide open in the fall. The point for right now is just that the window is open. Early voting runs through August 1st, Election Day for the primary is August 4th, and you don’t have to wait. If you’ve ever grumbled about who’s running city hall, this is the cheap seat with the best view.

Morgan: A city council primary doesn’t get the fireworks a Senate race does, but these are the people deciding your trash pickup, your zoning, your pools. It’s the stuff you actually touch.

Alex: Couldn’t have said it better. The Roanoke Times has the full candidate list if you want to read up before you go.

The Rundown: News & Notes

Alex: Speaking of water and the water authority, let’s talk about what’s happening with ours. Google held a public open house Wednesday evening at Lord Botetourt High School in Daleville about the data center campus it’s planning in Botetourt County. Booths, project visuals, county and company staff on hand to field questions about zoning, revenue, all of it. County Administrator Gary Larrowe framed it as showing residents how the project shifts costs onto Google.

Morgan: But there’s a backdrop to that, right?

Alex: There is, and it’s the reason I’m pairing these. The same week, Governor Spanberger asked Virginians to start conserving water. The state is in what officials are calling the worst drought since 1941. And Carvins Cove, which is the Roanoke Valley’s primary water source, was sitting about thirteen feet below full pond. Roughly sixty-nine percent of capacity.

Morgan: And data centers are famously thirsty.

Alex: They can be, yeah. So you’ve got a big water question landing in the same news cycle as a big water shortage. Nobody’s saying those two things collide directly, but it’s worth keeping an eye on as the project moves forward.

Morgan: Okay, here’s one I’m genuinely excited about. The big mountain bike race is coming back. USA Cycling’s Endurance Mountain Bike National Championships return to Roanoke next month, July 12th through 19th, and they’ve already locked it in for a third year in 2027.

Alex: This has become a real fixture.

Morgan: It really has, and fast. The courses are spread across some of our greatest hits. Carvins Cove, Hollins University, Elmwood Park, and Explore Park. And the numbers are not small. Last year’s event brought about thirteen hundred riders to town and around two and a half million dollars in economic impact. Kathryn Lucas with Visit Virginia’s Blue Ridge said it helps cement Roanoke’s reputation as a premier cycling destination, and honestly, three years in, that case kind of makes itself.

Alex: It’s a good fit for the region. The trails were already here. Now the championships keep finding them.

Morgan: Mark mid-July if you want to go watch.

Alex: Quick practical one if you’ve got a pool day planned. Starting today, Monday the 22nd, the City of Roanoke is requiring clear bags at its public pools. It’s a safety measure, the same kind of thing you’ve probably run into at concerts and stadiums. So if you’re heading to a city pool this summer, the tote with everything in it might get turned around at the gate. Pack accordingly.

Morgan: Good to know before you’re standing there with the kids and a cooler. Now here’s a strange one out of Montgomery County. A planned natural gas compressor station has been brought to a standstill, and it’s because of a paperwork contradiction.

Alex: A contradiction how?

Morgan: So this is Mountain Valley Pipeline’s Swann Compressor Station, over in Elliston. It’s part of a larger project to push about twenty-five percent more gas through the pipeline. Back in the fall, the county attorney checked a box on a state environmental form saying the site was, quote, suitable. Then a couple months later, the Board of Supervisors passed a resolution formally opposing the project. So now the county is on record both ways.

Alex: And nobody can untangle it?

Morgan: The state told the county to pick one and reconcile the two documents. The county basically said no, we don’t have to, because this is a federal project and federal authority overrides us anyway. So the permit is just stuck. And the detail that stuck with me is why residents nearby are so worried. They say the only evacuation route out of their area is regularly blocked by trains, so if something ever went wrong at that station, they could be trapped.

Alex: That’s the part that lands. A permit fight is abstract until you realize the people closest to it are doing the math on how they’d get out. We’ll see whether the company can resolve it or whether it stays frozen.

Morgan: Right.

Alex: And one more from downtown Roanoke. A ministry that serves people experiencing homelessness has filed a lawsuit against the city. The group, called The Least of These Ministry, is challenging the city’s determination that some outdoor lockers and a portable toilet on its property violate zoning rules. So it’s a zoning dispute on paper, but underneath it is a real question about what kind of help a property is allowed to offer and where. WDBJ7 first reported the filing in Roanoke Circuit Court, and it’s one we’ll keep tabs on as it works through.

The Week Ahead: Events

Morgan: Alright, let’s talk about getting out of the house, because this week is stacked. We’ll go day by day.

Alex: Where do we start?

Morgan: Tuesday. The WBSC Senior World Cup opens, and it runs all the way through Sunday with games at fields across Roanoke, Salem, and Botetourt. That’s international softball, right in our backyard. And the same day, the Salem RidgeYaks host Myrtle Beach for a Camp Day game, first pitch at 12:05 in the afternoon at Salem Memorial Ballpark.

Alex: A noon ballgame is a very specific kind of fun. Bright sun, hot dog, no idea what the score is by the third inning.

Morgan: That’s the whole appeal. Wednesday is a fun one. There’s a BUZZ Watch Party at Big Lick Brewing, previewing a new show that features the Southwest Virginia Wildlife Center. Keep that one in your back pocket, by the way, because the wildlife center comes back around at the end of the show.

Alex: A tease. I see what you did.

Morgan: Then Thursday really opens up. The Delta Dental Party in Elmwood is back, beach bands in Elmwood Park, it’s free, runs five-thirty to eight-thirty. If you want something ticketed, Ella Langley brings her Dandelion Tour to town that night, with Dylan Marlowe and Gabriella Rose. And the Miss Virginia and Miss Virginia’s Teen competitions kick off Thursday and run through Saturday, with more than eighty thousand dollars in scholarships on the line.

Alex: That’s a real range for one night. Free concert in the park, a touring country act, and a scholarship competition.

Morgan: That’s Roanoke in late June for you. Friday, if you like cars, Star City Motor Madness starts with a kick-off party from five to nine, hosted over by the Virginia Museum of Transportation. Same evening, the Grandin Chillage takes over Grandin Village with a neighborhood concert, five-thirty to nine-thirty. And up in Buchanan, the Community Carnival opens. This is the seventy-second year for that one, and it runs all the way to the Fourth of July.

Alex: Seventy-two years. That’s the kind of thing where somebody’s great-grandparents went on a first date.

Morgan: Probably more than one somebody. Saturday, Motor Madness moves into the main event, a car show downtown from ten to four. Miss Virginia crowns its winners. And the RidgeYaks are still home. Then Sunday wraps it up with the RidgeYaks series finale against Myrtle Beach and the final day of the Senior World Cup.

Alex: That’s a genuinely full week. Cars, softball, baseball, country music, a carnival. There’s not a lot of excuse to stay in.

Morgan: None, really. Pick your lane and go.

The Closer: Wildlife Ambassadors

Alex: And we’ll end where Morgan pointed us earlier. The Southwest Virginia Wildlife Center has three new eastern screech owls, and they’ve got an unusual backstory. These three were taken from their nest when they were still eggs.

Morgan: Stolen as eggs. That’s a rough start.

Alex: It is, and because of how they were raised, they can’t really be returned to the wild. So instead of that being the end of the story, the center has given them a new job. They’re education ambassadors now. The idea is they’ll help teach kids exactly why wild animals belong in the wild, by being the living example of what happens when that goes sideways.

Morgan: There’s something kind of perfect about that. Three little owls that didn’t get the wild life they should’ve had, spending the rest of theirs making sure the next batch does. And if it’s got you curious, that’s the same wildlife center featured at Wednesday’s BUZZ party.

Alex: Full circle.

Close

Morgan: That’s the week. Thanks for spending a few minutes of your Monday with us.

Alex: If you got something out of it, send it to a neighbor who’d want the rundown too. That’s genuinely how this show grows.

Morgan: We’ll see you next Monday.

Alex: Take care, Roanoke.