By Tonia Moxley
The Roanoke (Va.) Times
Jan. 16, 2009
Summary: The issue over the First & Main shopping center is linked to a larger question about changes in local land-use rules.
RICHMOND — Three years of contentious public debate and legal wrangling about Blacksburg’s First & Main shopping center and a proposed big-box store widely thought to be [...]

By Tonia Moxley
The Roanoke Times
Oct. 22, 2008
Summary: Many in Blacksburg knew Teddy Henderson as the tall homeless man they passed on the street.
BLACKSBURG — They came Saturday to piece together the story of Teddy Henderson.
Forty people from all over town — ministers, doctors, professors and others crowded into the Blacksburg library community room.
Then came [...]

By Tonia Moxley
The Roanoke Times
Sept. 10, 2008
MOUNTAIN LAKE — Across what once was a 50-acre marine playground now stretches a startling vista more reminiscent of Arizona’s Painted Desert than of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
One small pool of water remains on the northwestern end of Mountain Lake’s bed, far out of sight of the hotel that [...]

By Tonia Moxley
The Roanoke (Va.) Times
Aug. 3, 2008
Summary: Amish families from across the country have settled in Giles County, opening more than a dozen businesses and contributing to the overall economy.
Note: View a .pdf version of this story, including a detailed map of profiled businesses.
WHITE GATE — Girls in bonnets and boys in hats and [...]

In writing this blog it’s tempting to only recount the successes, to post only photos of the beautiful finished dishes and regale you, gentle reader, with semi-authoritative recipes.
In short, it’s easy to make cooking look easy.
But cooking is not easy. Nor is it safe.
…
That’s when I saw the catfish in the Kroger seafood case.
And that’s [...]