everyone we spoke with agreed -- the internet is nothing like it was five years ago. the single computer in the family room has disappeared -- and is now every child's pocket with their phone. so, how do you keep track of it all? nats are you going to the gym tomorrow? yeah, i'm going after school. it can be difficult to carve out time at the steele house. taisha steele oh my goodness. schedules. crazy schedules. everybody's constantly going in different places at one time. while it can be a challenge to figure out where her kids are going after school -- taisha steele always knows where her kids are going... online. taisha steele i constantly ask them about what sites they're on. 00170824 and i constantly remind my kids that i'm here to listen -- i'm here to talk to you. the recent events surrounding nicole lovell's abduction and death only reinforce the lessons she teaches her kids about being safe online. taisha steele and i think that's one of the things that need to come out of this is that we need to make sure that we have relationships with our kids. steele is also a coordinator of school counseling services in roanoke

she says parents need to know what their kids are doing online. she suggests... taking the phone from them at bedtime... checking privacy settings... being friends with your kids on social media... and keeping a list of their passwords. taisha steele it's like the diaries when we were growing up. it doesn't mean that you have to go in and read it. just knowing that you have access when you want it and when you need it. 2019 steve anders, sgt. beford county sheriff's office technology has increased exponentially and the more powerful it gets the smaller it becomes. sergeant steve anders has been working with the internet crimes against children taskforce since 2008. steve anders, sgt. beford county sheriff's office my personal opinion is if a child can't sign the contract to get the phone, they don't need it. but i also realize that is not a realistic expectation or standard. he thinks the best piece of advice is having open communication. steve anders, sgt. beford county sheriff's office but as one of our former presidents said, 'trust but verify.' you need to go look at what your kids are doing. he also thinks more families should look at parental controls on cell phones.

can restrict calling and texting to certain the phone's locate your kids with the gps built into the steve anders, sgt. beford county sheriff's office but it's imperative for the parents to be proactive and educate themselves on the features available through their service provider. taisha steele and it's easy to just hand your child the phone and say have at it. do it your way and do your thing. but steele keeps time in her schedule to login and check out what her kids are doing. she hopes more will start keeping an eye on their kids' online as much as in person. taisha steele it's because i love them and it's because i care and i tell them that constantly. the parental controls seargent anders mentioned vary by service provider and phone. typically, they cost about $5 per month. we have a list of links for major carrier's features -- as well as information on how you can restrict an iphone. all that information can be found on our website. but, it's worth mentioning again -- parental controls aren't a silver bullet. they all say it's best

your kids. do you have questions about how to keep an eye on your kids or how to start that conversation? we have a live chat going on our website with taisha steele. she's here in the digital cafe to answer your questions until 7:00. log on and ask her what's on your mind by going to wdbj7.com christian heilman, wdbj7. cell phone privacy has been in the news this week as the federal government has tried forcing apple to make its devices more accessible for law enforcement investigations. virginia senator mark warner says government investigators need access to cell phone data to protect americans from threats. as the co-founder of cell phone company "nextel," warner says he also recognizes the importance of encryption technology. he's working with republican members of congress to form a committee of what he calls "experts," who can recommend a solution that satisfies concerns on both sides of the privacy debate. senator mark warner/(d) virginia: "there can be an answer, where we can both protect people's privacy and work with law

intel community." warner made his comments this morning during a town hall meeting at central virginia community college, where he talked about things like college debt and emerging career fields. happening now - a traffic alert tonight for drivers on interstate 81 in rockbridge county . state police just e- mailed us this picture of an overturned tractor trailer that has shut down northbound traffic at milemarker 192 - near the 64 west interchange. a detour is in place. state police say the road will be blocked for several hours. meanwhile, the cleanup continues on interstate 81 in wythe county where two tractor trailers crashed early this paint cans and tubs spilled onto the highway. the new river valley haz-mat team up the paint. the left lane of i-81 north is still closed drivers to avoid the area. new at six - a threatning message, purportedly from the isis terrorist group, has a virginia school on edge. academy has increased security

for the weekend after getting the threatening message tuesday. a weekend open house at the school in chatham has been canceled. the school's president says local and federal law enforcement officers are investigating. continuing coverage tonight of a threat made against northside high school. a school spokesperson says posts threatening violence were circulating on social media between yesterday and today. roanoke county police say there is no validity to the threat. officials stepped up police presence at both the high school and middle school this morning. classes were not canceled because authorities couldn't verify the threats. the superintendent has granted exempted absences for northside high students who missed school today. the number of power outages in western virginia continued to drop today. appalachian power is reporting fewer than 150 customers in roanoke are still without electricity tonight. among the last to get their service restored were residents of derwent drive in roanoke. a circle of more than a dozen homes lost electricity earlier this week, while the lights

street. steve okerman: always something to be lucky about. we had our fireplace and the wood. and neighbors across the street to charge our cell phones up. took a shower at a neighbor's house. so i am more conscious of the struggle of people when they don't have power, how much we depend on it. about 300 appalachian customers are affected by outages in west virginia, but the power company says most of the problems in virginia have now been repaired. beginall good news there and when the concert is tonight a little bit this evening be advised to temperatures again be dropping off is still a lot of water on the roadways from this melting snow to watch out for refreeze on that at the moment we're looking at forty in lexington rome up forty three in slipknot ronald 43 and slipknot mullican 44 in danville again cloudy skies giving way to clear skies were

today is the case of the clouds screaming by the area the upper-level winds arborists are still quite high but no storms are inbounded the moment so that's good news there what is imbalance is a warming trend and a significant warming trend as we go into the 50s on friday saturday sunday were still slated for the sixties of no complaints there may cowger plans nuggets things done an extensive wintry weather might be by the middle of nex as circuit court clerk she will not explain why she didn't re-hire four clerks. wdbj7's eamon new river valley newsroom. eamon, what is williams saying about the board of supervisors' questions? chris, williams says she was unaware of concerns about her work attendance and that she can't discuss her recent decision not to rehire four clerks becuase it's a personnel matter. the board of supervisors said last week they wanted answers or there may be financial reprecussions. a letter from williams' attorney to the board said williams can't answer concerns about her work

the request was too vague. but she did assure the board she spends countless hours in the office and outside normal hours to fulfill her duties. as for the issue of a high turnover rate in her office, the letter says "obviously personnel matters involving her current or former employees are confidential....mrs. williams will not discuss any personnel matter in any inappropriate and/or public forum." the board is expected to discuss this letter in their meeting on tuesday. numerous times in the letter, williams' attorney cites that the public likes the job she's doing because she was just re-elected in november. the letter also mentions an agreement signed by the county and williams 2008 that provides additional pay from the county. the board has threatened to pull that money, but williams' lawyer says the clerk's office is in full compliance with the terms of the agreement. we'll have both the letter and memorandum available on wdbj7

it's starting. the first television ads in the 2016 presidential race are now airing in virginia. the campaign of democrat hillary clinton is the first out of the gate, and wdbj7's joe dashiell reports other candidates could be following close behind. jean and chris, the clinton campaign announced a six- figure ad buy in virginia with the spots airing first in richmond. but one is now running here in western virginia as well. the world a president has to grapple with, sometimes you can't even imagine. that's the job, and she's the one who's proven she can get it done. the 30-second ad touts clinton's record on foreign policy, women's rights and other issues. roanoke college professor and wdbj7 political analyst harry wilson says at one point, the clinton campaign might have figured it didn't need to advertise in virginia, because the nomination would have been wrapped

march first primary. harry wilson/wdbj7 political analyst: so i'm assuming at this point in time, what the clinton campaign is essentially saying here is, we understand that this has now suddenly become an actual campaign and we need to be in this for the long haul. on the republican side, wilson says the candidates are taking it one state at a time. ben carson, john kasich and donald trump have all scheduled visits to virginia next week, and we should see a flurry of television ads after votes in south carolina this weekend, and nevada early next week. wilson says the blizzard will come in late summer or early fall, when the nominees begin their march toward the november 8th election. joe dashiell wdbj7 new at six------- " when i was their age, that's what changed my life, theater." cindy williams talks to students and us about her show, always, patsy cline tonight. after years of work and millions of dollars, progress is being made on a new elementary school in our area. i'm khiree stewart in

tonight at 11, hear from school leaders

expect. covington high school is putting on the production, "always, patsy cline" tonight. it's the story of the famous singer and her relationship with louise seger, a fan who met cline at one of her early shows. it's a special performance for the alleghany highlands; as cindy williams, of laverne and shirley fame, takes the stage as louise. wdbj7 anchor nadia singh reports. cindy williams/actress "if they had a theater at the end of every school

in this nation you would just see people flourish." these covington high school students got to hear words like that from veteran actress cindy williams, best known for her role as shirley feeney on laverne and shirley. we met up with her as she prepares to take the stage at curfman hall as louise in always patsy cline. cindy williams/actress "being on this stage in this auditorium, this theater it just takes me back to my high school and doing plays in high school." the play, written by ted swindley puts williams opposite jacqueline petroccia as the iconic patsy cline. jacqueline petroccia/actress "i did all kinds of research and read every book and i went to winchester and did my research there and went to nashville and did my research there and i really feel like i have a connection with her." both actresses believe that shows in smaller venues bring a certain feel to the production. cindy williams/actress "

different kind of energy and it's an enthusiastic, every one is really excited, i guess that's it and it excites us as performers." williams and petroccia are no strangers to the stage and had this to share with the students interested in performing. jacqueline petroccia/actress "you have to say yes to everything, and i would say learn as much as you can, as many parts of theater as you can. cindy williams/actress " it just helps you express everything that's going on inside of you." in covington, nadia singh, wdbj7. several donors including the alleghany foundation helped fund the performance. tickets are still available for tonight's 7-30 show. head to wdbj7- dot-com for information. sunny skies are nice. warmer temperatures would be even better.

for the 60s robin. here is a look at the highs, lows and precipitation at the regional airports. we are back with the complete first alert forecast after this break i think we should've taken a left at the river. tarzan know where tarzan go! tarzan does not know where tarzan go. hey, excuse me, do you know where the waterfall is? waterfall? no, me tarzan, king of jungle. why don't you want to just ask somebody? if you're a couple, you fight over directions. it's what you do.

fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. oh ohhhhh it's what you do. ohhhhhh! do you have to do that right in my ear? the world a president has to grapple with. sometimes you can't even imagine. that's the job.

...securing a massive reduction in nuclear weapons... ...standing up against the abuse of women... ...protecting social security... ...expanding benefits for the national guard... ...and winning health care for 8 million children... the presidency is the toughest job in the world and she's the one who'll make a real difference for you. i'm hillary clinton and i approved this message. nextday

citywide spelling bee and here's a cruel right after we have finished today asked the drill toppled nathan morrow woodrow wilson middle but he'll be the alternate two to leo kotz said madison middle. she managed torrential up and moved on to the next round in the regionals congratulations to everybody that was out there spelling a lot of a lot of good things today it's always good to have the words in front of you because some of those words were heartsick thirty seven rideout eagle rock elementary school are dewpoint temperatures are in the twenty soweto the chance to chill down a little bit tonight swooshes and so when this calming down and the windsor little bit lighter and see how the clouds are streaming across tonight no moisture associated with these just high-level clusters, dropping down those upper-level winds would owe strong progress recently but in general were going to go much warmer because the jetstream is can migrate a little bit more to the north this weekend look at how the warm temperatures surged all the way up in the central plains and with that westerly

share of those warmer temperatures with this as early as saturday looking for partly cloudy night ahead in some chilly conditions with lows in the twenties mainly in the mid twenties in most locations which of course is enough to refreeze anything that's liquid on the ground right now and it's little patches here and there please be extra extra careful tomorrow morning it will be a little bit slippery in some locations are forecast model though does show a fair amount of sunshine coming up for your friday doesn't look too bad and again the temperatures will be turned into something a little bit more comparable as early as saturday these of forecast highs across the region looking at fifties and sixties for tomorrow you see the southland's are warming up the most city by city were in the mid fifties from bluefield the marriott fifty four in martinsville in danville and forty degrees in lexington becomes that warmer weekend compliments of a southerly breeze will touch near sixty boldface in the rhone valley and against gaza be clear on saturday a little bit more cloudy. we think on sunday as we watch out for next weather

corner showers late on monday and possibly a wintry mix coming in on wednesday highs in the lower we'll hear from the highlanders about against in mercer and how their team is looking, coming-up next in sports. coming up tomorrow, we have animals in the studio live some times a recipe for disaster but at least it'll be cute. and we have your weekend planner plus whether you ski or snowboard we'll tell you where the best place to go is on our freeride friday snow

it all starts at 5am! good evening everyone, i'm karen loftus with your look at sports. the can am duels at daytona take the green flag at 7 o'clock tonight as the sprint cup drivers try to claim the best starting spot they can for sunday's daytona 500. while last saturday night's sprint unlimited was a fairly aggressive affair, tonight's 150 mile qualifying races should be a little more calm. thirty-eight drivers are locked into the field with 2 spots still up for grabs from the open teams. some drivers will choose to race, while others will just try to ride. joey logano/2015 daytona 500 champ: you know in the duels it's a completely different atmosphere because this is your best car and you don't want to crash this one, but you want to have a good starting spot. it is important. so you've got to kind of weight out the risk versus reward

would in the unlimited. ryan newman/2008 daytona 500 champ: the competition is gonna be a little bit different because there used to be more guys that were fighting to get in and now we've got less. we've got basically three or four teams per race and there used to be six, seven, or eight teams per race so that perspective of it changes a little bit but from our standpoint, we have to learn about our race car. virginia tech's men's basketball team fell to 500 on the year, with a road loss to 11th-ranked miami wednesday night. the hokies were actually up by one at the break, but in the second half, miami shot nearly 70 percent from the floor, while tech only managed a 30 percent shooting effort after the break. the hurricanes controlled the pace, scoring 19 points off the hokies 16 turnovers, to pull away and pick-up the 16-point victory. here's what buzz williams had to say about his team's performance that drops them to 5 and 8 in acc play. buzz williams, virginia tech men's basketball head coach, "i thought we kept them out of the paint ok. i don't think we got completely demolished on the glass. i thought our effort defensively in

good. and then obviously the diometrically opposed to that in the second half for sure. but we couldn't guard them no matter what we tried. we couldn't. we couldn't keep them out of the paint off penetration or off the glass. yeah, i always want to give credit to the opponent. i thought they were good. we didn't make shots either half. 25% of the time we turned the ball over. that's really hard to overcome anywhere, but particularly on the road." lots of spring sports are already underway at the college level, and the radford baseball team will get rolling themselves this weekend. the highlanders his the road for macon, georgia, where they'll open-up the 2016 season with a 3-game series against mercer. joe raccuia, radford baseball head coach, "it's exciting. they're picked to finish the top of their league. they have a first round pick that's going to hit in the middle of the order. it's a program like ours. it's a really

challenge us right away just like sanford did for us last year and i mean, it's here. it's here. so is the snow, so is the cold, but it's here." chris coia, radford senior infielder, "we look good. we look good. the chemistry is there. i think the confidence is there and the freshman have kind of picked-up as to wow, this program was really good last year. we kind of have to step it up and be just as good this year, if not better. so kind of knowing that we have that in our past and the expectations that are kind of held on us right now, brings us a little bit closer and makes us work a little bit harder every day." wall street ends the day with losses. the dow fell 40 points. nasdaq dipped 47.

for the latest weather anytime, turn to our webpage at wdbj7.com and be sure to follow us on facebook and twitter for weather headlines and more

thank you for choosing your hometown news >> pelley: now it's a holy war between trump and the pope. >> for a religious leader to question a person's faith is disgraceful. >> pelley: also tonight, two days before the nevada caucus, a personal side of hillary clinton. >> my mother met me at the door, and she said, "there is no room for cowards in this house." >> pelley: a hospital pays ransom to hackers to get its computers back.

>> i got good feet. >> pelley: a former nfl star pulls off the play of a lifetime it may sound odd, but all i care about is love captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. reporting tonight from las vegas. >> pelley: the odds-makers here at ceasar's palace never bet on this, but in a campaign that has seen just about everything, we now have donald trump feuding with the pope. it started when francis, on his flight home from mexico, said that if trump wants to build a wall on the mexican border, he is not a christian. then, all hell broke loose. major garrett is in south carolina. >> for a religious leader to question a person's faith is disgraceful. >> reporter: donald trump said mexico fed the holy father propaganda. >> so they met with the pope, and they, obviously, got to the