Here’s a roundup of news briefs from around Southwest and Southside. Send yours for possible inclusion to news@cardinalnews.org.
Wythe County dairy to add butter production with $895K investment
Update 9:45 a.m. Dec. 13: This story has been updated with employment numbers from Duchess Dairy President Jim Huffard.
A Wythe County dairy will invest $895,000 and add a production line of churned butter alongside its current line of bottled milk, the governor’s office said Thursday.
Duchess Dairy Products makes about 7,000 gallons of milk each week, and it can be purchased in grocery stores across Southern and Southwest Virginia, according to a news release from Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
Duchess Dairy President Jim Huffard said the dairy employs eight people and the expansion is expected to create three to five jobs over a three-year timeline.
“This expansion project will help us meet growing consumer demand by increasing operational efficiencies, increasing production capacity, and adding a production line of fresh churned butter,” Huffard said in the release.
Youngkin approved a $25,000 state agriculture grant, which Wythe County and the town of Rural Retreat will match.
“The expansion of Duchess Dairy Products will benefit this entire sector by increasing the total production of dairy products and drawing more customers into and supporting businesses in the area,” Wythe County Board of Supervisors Chairman Brian Vaught said in the release.
— Matt Busse
Electric school buses heading to Roanoke through federal grant
Some Roanoke City Public Schools students will be riding to school in electric buses in the future as a result of a $16.7 million federal grant.
Claire Mitzel, director of communications and public relations with RCPS, said the district will get 50 electric buses total. Thirty-six will be funded through the federal grant, and the rest will be covered by a matching grant from Zum, a student transportation company that RCPS contracts with to provide busing. Zum will own the buses.
She said the grant also will go toward charging equipment and infrastructure necessary to make the switch. It’s not clear when the trade-ins will happen, and she said the school division should not incur any other costs.
The award is part of $32.5 million in funding announced Thursday that will be distributed to three localities in the state: Roanoke, Fairfax County and Henrico County.
This funding comes from the Clean Heavy-Duty Vehicles Grant Program through the Inflation Reduction Act.
“We’re thrilled to see this funding going towards ensuring that Virginia’s students are headed to school in new and nonpolluting school buses,” Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, both D-Va., said in a news release announcing the grants. “Laws like our Inflation Reduction Act and bipartisan infrastructure law continue to work together to make improvements that keep our air cleaner and our infrastructure stronger for generations to come.”
The division now uses 121 diesel buses and 11 vans, with 17 more diesel buses that were on backlog but will be delivered within the next two months, Mitzel said.
She said the RCPS strategic plan “specifically encourages green initiatives and a carbon footprint reduction, so these efforts are all in alignment with that goal.”
— Samantha Verrelli
Saltville to hold memorial for 1924 dam-break victims
A memorial service for the 19 people killed in an environmental tragedy called the muck dam disaster in Saltville — which happened 100 years ago on Christmas Eve 1924 — will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Town Commons.
Shortly after 8 p.m. on that Christmas Eve, a muck dam broke, releasing decades’ worth of caustic muck onto the homes below. In addition to those who died that night, many others were injured.
The dam break released a 100-foot-high, 300-foot-wide river of chemical waste from the Mathieson Alkali Works onto the Palmertown community, sweeping houses away.
The Museum of the Middle Appalachians and the Muck Dam Disaster Committee are asking local residents to join them for the service.
— Susan Cameron
VHSL names Anderson to sports hall of fame
Robert Anderson, a longtime Southwest Virginia sports journalist, is among the eight newest inductees into the Virginia High School Hall of Fame.
Anderson, who currently writes for Cardinal News, began his career at the Bristol Herald Courier in 1978 before moving to The Roanoke Times, where he covered prep sports until he retired in 2022.
Anderson is “a respected voice in Virginia sports journalism” who “chronicled, celebrated, and highlighted the achievements of generations of VHSL student-athletes,” the Virginia High School League said in a news release announcing the award.
The hall of fame honors coaches, athletes, journalists and others who have “made outstanding contributions to high school athletics and activities programs,” the release said.
The other 2025 inductees are:
Luther Bates, a three-sport athlete at Fluvanna County High School from 1987-1991 who earned all-district, All-Central Virginia, all-region and all-state honors.
Jerome Mathis, a track and football athlete in Petersburg who went on to play for the Houston Texans.
Jennifer Aubel, a gymnastics coach at Broad Run and Heritage high schools in Loudoun County whose career includes eight district titles and five region championships.
Mark Seidenberg coached his teams to multiple state title matches over the course of his career at Mills Godwin High School in Richmond and Douglas Freeman High School in Henrico County. He coached boys and girls tennis and basketball.
Wendy Wilson, field hockey coach at Tabb High School in York County, has a 412-31 career record, second in VHSL history, and her 11 state championships are the second most in VHSL history.
Willard Hunt was an educator, coach and athletic administrator from 1965 to 1979 in York County. His tenure included the implementation of Title IX in 1972 with the addition of girls’ sports. He died May 10, 2024.
David Rhodes has served in public school athletic administration since 1985, all in Virginia Beach City Public Schools, where he has held the positions of junior high school student activities coordinator, high school student activities coordinator and central office district athletic administrator.
Bob Seabolt was director of the VHSL State Debate Tournament, beginning when he was a first-year law student at the University of Virginia in 1978 and continuing through 1995.
The 36th Annual Hall of Fame enshrinement dinner will be held April 27 in Charlottesville.
Roanoke College announces new academic structure
Roanoke College will launch a new academic structure based around four schools, it announced Thursday.
The changes, which will take effect next fall, will organize the college’s majors in 16 departments under four schools. The college also announced the inaugural deans of the schools:
- School of Business, Economics and Analytics, led by Alice Kassens, the John S. Shannon Professor of Economics and director of the college’s Center for Economic Freedom.
- School of Communication, Culture and the Arts, led by Wendy Larson-Harris, chair of the Department of English and Communication Studies.
- School of Education, Government and Society, led by Marit Berntson, a professor and chairperson of the Department of Sociology and Public Health.
- School of Health, Science and Sustainability, led by Karin Saoub, the M. Paul Capp & Constance Whitehead Professor of Mathematics and chair of the Department of Math, Computer Science and Physics.
The new structure will not affect students’ day-to-day experience, the college said. Prospective students will still apply to Roanoke College as a whole and will be able to change from a program in one school to a program in a different school.
The changes follow two years of work that included community-wide town halls and a restructuring task force, according to the release. It was endorsed by the faculty and the Roanoke College Board of Trustees in April.
The changes represent “a conscious shift from disciplinary specialization to interdisciplinary collaboration and modernization,” according to the news release.
“Our exciting educational vision is deeply connected to what learners will need to thrive in the 21st century,” President Frank Shushok Jr. said in the release. “This isn’t just a new academic structure; it comes out of a conviction that learners of today and tomorrow must be exposed to multiple forms of knowledge, the skill to work with individuals from many different backgrounds, and the capacity to pivot and adapt as the world changes rapidly around them.”