Roanoke's Flock Backlash, a New Hokies AD, and a Scorching Fourth

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 in the Roanoke Valley this past week, and what’s coming up in the week ahead.

Alex: Everything we cover comes from local reporting. This week that’s The Roanoke Times, Cardinal News, WDBJ7, WSLS, and Visit Virginia’s Blue Ridge. We summarize, but they do the work, so go support them.

Morgan: We’ve got a story this week that started as a small mix-up and turned into a real conversation about who’s watching, and how much.

Alex: And it is a big holiday week out there. A lot to do, and it is going to be hot. We’ll get you ready for all of it. Let’s get into it.

The Lead: The Fight Over Flock Surveillance

Alex: So our lead this week. You may have heard the city had a problem with its new gunshot detection devices. The short version got a lot of attention. The longer version is more interesting, because it’s really about surveillance in Roanoke, and how most people didn’t know the program existed until something went wrong.

Here’s the background. Back in April, City Council voted five to two to approve a permit for seventy-five audio detection devices. They’re called Raven devices, and they’re made by a company called Flock Safety. The idea is they listen for gunshots and help police respond faster. They were supposed to go up at seventy-five approved locations around the city.

Then, according to The Roanoke Times and Cardinal News, the city found out a vendor had installed a batch of them in the wrong spots. The city says it was a data entry error when they put together the installation list. None of the misplaced sensors were ever switched on, and the city says it didn’t pay for that installation. But the whole rollout got paused while they pull the wrong ones down and re-check every location.

Morgan: And this is how a lot of people found out about it at all, right? Not from an announcement. From a pole showing up in their yard.

Alex: Exactly. WSLS talked to a Roanoke homeowner named Kaitlyn Vaughn, who noticed a mystery pole go up near her home on Carroll Avenue Northwest. She called the police non-emergency line to ask what it was. Turned out it was one of these sensors, on a lot she owns, at a spot that wasn’t even on the approved list. And the more she read about it, the more uneasy she got. She told WSLS she started wondering whether everyday sounds from her two young kids could set the thing off.

Morgan: Which is such a normal thing to wonder. And here’s the part that makes this bigger than one bad install. Flock, the company behind these, also makes the license plate reading cameras that are already around the area. So now you’ve got a group called DeflockRoanoke organizing to raise awareness about all of it, the cameras, the audio devices, the whole footprint of this one company in our city.

Alex: And it’s become a campaign issue. WDBJ7 actually went and asked the City Council candidates where they stand on Flock devices, which tells you this isn’t blowing over. The mayor has spoken to the removals publicly too.

Morgan: So where does it land right now?

Alex: Right now the rollout is on hold, the misplaced sensors are coming down, and the conversation has shifted. It’s not really about a data entry mistake anymore. It’s about what kind of surveillance Roanoke signs up for, and whether residents feel like they got a say. If you’ve got an opinion either way, your council candidates are the people to take it to. We’ll keep following it.

The Rundown: News & Notes

Alex: Alright, let’s do the rundown. Quick hits from around the valley.

Morgan: I’ll start with a big one for Hokie fans. Virginia Tech has a new athletic director. His name is Brian White, he’s forty-two, and he comes over from Florida Atlantic. And he was pretty blunt about his plan. He told the room at his Lane Stadium intro that growing the department’s resources is, in his words, his “number one goal.” He basically wants to run Tech athletics like a business and grow the revenue.

Alex: That’s the whole game now in college sports, with name-image-likeness and revenue sharing. It’s a money race.

Morgan: And at Florida Atlantic he did pull in record donations, so there’s a track record. But honestly my favorite part is the family. This guy is from an athletic director dynasty. His dad was a legendary AD, one of his brothers is the AD at Tennessee, and another brother coaches basketball at Georgia. And that brother, Mike, told The Roanoke Times that Brian might be the best shooter in the whole family.

Alex: So the AD might have the best jump shot in the building.

Morgan: Don’t tempt him to prove it.

Alex: Here’s one that touches every faucet in the region. We are in a drought. The state put almost all of Virginia under a drought warning this week, and the Roanoke and New River valleys are in what’s classified as severe drought. Some of our neighbors are worse off. Pittsylvania County, Lynchburg, parts of Bedford and Henry County are in extreme drought. We’re running about seven and a half inches below normal rainfall since October.

Morgan: So are we talking water restrictions?

Alex: Not yet, not in the Roanoke Valley. Bedford Water has asked customers to voluntarily conserve, based on the levels at Smith Mountain Lake. The next step up would be an emergency status, and that’s when you’d see mandatory restrictions. We’re not there. But it’s the backdrop for the long-term planning the Western Virginia Water Authority is doing about where our water comes from down the road. And worth keeping in mind this weekend, with the heat coming.

Morgan: Speaking of Smith Mountain Lake, this next one is my favorite story of the week. The lake has an invasive plant problem. It’s called hydrilla, it spreads fast, and it’s been clogging up coves and docks. So the commission that manages the lake just released two hundred grass carp into the water to eat it.

Alex: Fish as a maintenance crew.

Morgan: Fish as a maintenance crew. And here’s the twist, because this is round two. They tried this back in 2013, and those carp did the job a little too well. They ate the hydrilla, and then they ate basically all the native plants too. So now you’ve got lakefront owners who want the carp because their coves are choked, and you’ve got bass anglers who are nervous, because those native plants are where the fish hide. The carp this time are sterile so they can’t reproduce, but the debate is very real.

Alex: Fool me once. I’d be a little nervous too if I fished that lake.

Morgan: Right? Everybody wants a clean lake. Nobody agrees on the cleanup crew.

Alex: One more, and this one’s about something growing right here. Carilion Clinic hosted a research summit this week, working with Virginia Tech’s Fralin Biomedical Research Institute and researchers from around the world. The Roanoke Times reported it was a chance to show off the cancer research happening here as Carilion’s new cancer center gets closer.

Morgan: And this is real, cutting-edge stuff, not just a ribbon cutting.

Alex: It is. They talked about clinical trials giving brain and urologic cancer patients access to a newer kind of targeted treatment, very precise, aimed right at the cancer. One Carilion staffer made a point I thought was honest. He said people here can be skeptical of research, and his answer was basically that a trial only matters if it actually improves someone’s life. Good thing to have happening in your backyard.

The Week Ahead: Events

Morgan: Okay, this is the fun part, and this week it is stacked, because it’s Fourth of July week. Let me walk you through it.

Quick note before the holiday stuff. If you’ve been following the World Cup at the watch parties downtown, the knockout round is in full swing this week, so the round of thirty-two is on. Good excuse to get out of the heat and into the air conditioning.

Alex: Which, this week, is a genuine selling point.

Morgan: So, midweek. Wednesday, July first, the Salem Fair opens. This is the big one, the largest fair in the state, and it runs all the way through July twelfth. Admission is free, you just pay for the rides and the food and the games. So you can wander in, get your funnel cake, and go from there.

Alex: A rite of summer around here.

Morgan: Also Wednesday, if you want something with a little more history to it, the Grandin Theatre has a VA250 event. It’s called “Resolved to Live Free or Die,” part of the lead-up to the country’s two hundred fiftieth. There’ll be living history interpreters, local artists, a dance performance, and a screening of a Blue Ridge PBS film. A nice way to ease into the holiday.

Then Thursday, July second, this one’s for a very specific generation, and I am in it. The Pop2000 Tour is at Dr Pepper Park. The headliner is Chris Kirkpatrick from NSYNC, and the lineup also has O-Town, BBMAK, Ryan Cabrera, and LFO. Gates at six.

Alex: That is a deeply early-2000s evening.

Morgan: It’s my entire middle school CD collection on one stage. No notes.

And then the Fourth of July itself spreads across two days. Friday, July third, is the Freedom Festival and Fireworks in Roanoke. That’s PLAY Roanoke, Carilion, and VA250 teaming up, running five to ten in the evening, fireworks to close it out. And if you want a soundtrack with your fireworks, there’s a concert called Fireworks and GAK at The Alley that same night, looking at the same show.

Alex: So that’s your Friday night sorted.

Morgan: Sorted. And then Saturday, the Fourth, the Star City Fire and Light Fest. That one’s more of a neighborhood celebration, five thirty to ten, a nice community vibe to actually spend the holiday at.

Alex: And here’s where I have to play the weather guy for a second, which we don’t usually do. But this weekend earns it. It is going to be hot. We’re talking around ninety-nine degrees on Friday, ninety-eight on the Fourth, mid-nineties Sunday, with a chance of an afternoon storm popping up Saturday and Sunday.

Morgan: That’s serious heat for standing around waiting on fireworks.

Alex: It is. No official heat advisory as of now, but if you’re headed to the fair or the fireworks, the basics go a long way. Bring water, find some shade, keep an eye on the kids and the older folks. And it ties right back to that drought we mentioned, the valley is dry and hot right now.

Morgan: So between the fair, the fireworks, a little NSYNC nostalgia, and some Revolutionary War history, there is genuinely something for everybody this week. Just hydrate while you do it.

The Closer: Fincastle Raises a Cupola

Alex: Let’s end this week in Fincastle, where they had a pretty special day.

Botetourt County is building a new circuit courthouse, and this week they reached a big milestone. They set the cupola, that’s the little tower piece right at the very top, and the town turned it into an event. People lined the streets of Fincastle with camping chairs, eating ice cream in the summer heat, and watched it go up. The county administrator called it a magical moment in Botetourt’s history.

But the detail that got me was a resident named Angela Coon. The old courthouse on that site, the one from 1848, burned down back in 1970. And she was there for that, too. She told The Roanoke Times she stood on the corner and watched it burn, fifty-five years ago. And this week she came back to that same spot to watch the new one take shape. She said it’s a big day, and she’s just thrilled things are going to be back to normal, but better.

Morgan: Oh, that’s lovely. Same corner, two completely different feelings, half a century apart.

Alex: There’s still a lot of work to go, the building isn’t expected to be finished until the fall of 2027. But this week was the day the skyline of a little historic town changed, and people showed up with lawn chairs to see it. That’s about as Roanoke Valley as it gets.

Close

Morgan: And that’s The Roanoke Weekly. Thanks for spending a little of your week with us.

Alex: If you got something out of this, share it with a neighbor. That’s genuinely the best way to help the show grow.

Morgan: Stay cool out there, have a happy and safe Fourth, and we’ll see you next Monday.

Alex: See you next Monday.