wsls 10's christina craig spoke to roanoke city fire personnel who are back on clean up patrol. what was today like for them... christina? in some areas trees are down on power lines and laying across roads blocking traffic. talk about hard labor! roanoke city fire department clean up crews are sure building up a sweat working to clear these fallen trees. the department says southwest roanoke was hit hard...and that's where many of it's crews are assisting where help is needed. the mixture of snow and ice weighing on branches -- fire crews are using everything from chainsaws, extra engines, manpower. department "whether it's fighting fire, e-m-s calls, car accidents... everything in our job is demanding one way or another so, you come to work knowing you could be working all day and all night long. that's the price we pay for the job we do." all the help they can get...because they're trying to clean up the roads as quick as they can work. crews have been out since 8 a-m and since we last checked -- clean up trucks are still working in southwest roanoke. christina, i understand c

in roanoke county, christina craig, wsls10. v-m-i freshman ... who are referred to as "rats" ... are one step closer to officially becoming cadets. the 450 rats recently finished a 20 mile march and other activities within the post. the next step is a "rat breakout" which is an all day event. stewart macinnis/vmi "they've been engaged in a series of events since they got here in august and the 20 mile march is one of the culminating the culminating events now." v-m-i would not say when the rat breakout will happen but say it will likely happen soon. still ahead -- general motors is recalling thousands of trucks. what to look out for to keep you if i want to go up... hello. or if i want to go down... no. but then if i want to come back again... yes. it's perfect. my favorite part is to be able to lift your legs up a little bit and it feels like i'm just cradled. (vo) change your sleep, change your life, change to tempur-pedic. more than 473- thousand g-m trucks are being recalled ... because of break pedal issues. the recall covers certain 2015 and 2016 chevrolet silverado h-d, g-

in blacksburg, christina craig, wsls10. in your w-s-l-s ten timesaver traffic report... drivers can expect easy travel this evening ... as there are no accidents or delays reported at this time. flint michigan's mayor takes a major step .. in ridding the city flint michigan's mayor takes a major step .. in ridding the city of lead- contaminated pipes. how much the project is expected to cost. but first ... here's a look at how some stocks of local interest here's a live look at our poor mountain sky cam. well, it was another cold day across the mainly in the 20s and 30s. the winds picked up as expected too. we continued to see some mountain flurries/light snow showers, with a little more sun farther east. the pattern does not look to change a whole lot through wednesday. tonight: mostly cloudy with light mountain snow showers still possible, blustery with lows in the lower 20s. wednesday: clouds west, more sun east with mountain snow showers hanging tough.bluster y still with highs in the lower 30s. thursday will see a mix of sun and clouds area-wide.and it looks to be a

in roanoke, christina craig, wsls10. helping hundreds of high school students better prepare for future technical careers. today ... the college held the district three virginia skills usa more than 200 high schoolers from fifteen different schools competed in everything from traffic stops to competing in welding says the competition is really helping him. spencer morris/welding competitor - "i've really been opened up to a new world. it shows me how to do better time management today even." winners from each event will compete at the statewide april. now a look ahead to stories that will be making headlines this weekend. patrick coming up this weekend on virginia today ... the editor of bridebook talks about the latest issue and what brides will find inside. she also unveils the new cover for the magazine. plus ... roanoke's rich railroad history will be on full display for one night only. how you can experience the star city's history through a unique ballet. join us this weekend on virginia today from six to eight a-m

in studio, christina craig, wsls10. jeff will have another check of your storm team 10 forecast outbreak across the region, it was nice to see a more tranquil day even though the wind was howling. let's talk about the two tornadoes confirmed: 1 evergreen in appomattox county ef3, winds: 136- 165 path width: 400 yds width of four football fields path length: 13 miles 7 injuries, 1 fatality 2 ararat in patrick county ef1, winds 95-105 path width: 0.5 miles path length: 1.75 miles no injuries our thoughts and prayers remain with all involved in yesterday's tornadoes. it was no doubt very windy on thursday, with some gusts over 50 mph. it will remain windy for us through friday. as a matter of fact, a wind advisory remains in effect for areas along and west of the parkway until 7:00a on friday. these are the locations that could continue to see wind gusts over 40 or 50 mph. in addition to the wind, we did have mountain snow showers today too. parts of the nrv and highlands did return to winter today, with slopes above 2000

wsls 10's christina craig explains. "whether it's clearing small branches or entire trees owner mark booth says his phone has been ringing off the hook non-stop since earlier this morning." owner mark booth of mark's tree and stump removal let our cameras shadow his clean up crews. everyone -- it's lifting heavy branches and requires hours on end in the cold. but, booth says before crews get chopping, first he appraises the damage. once booth gets a quote...which can run up to one-thousand- dollars, crews come out to to work. mark booth , owner mark's tree and stump removal - "we had big branches fall and you just have to get out and get it into small pieces where you can manage it. and get it into piles where you can manage the piles." booth says crews are dealing with scattered tree limbs and some even weighing on homes. it's a clean up process that can take several hours. "many clean up crews have been out since 8 this morning. booth says in total, he appraised nearly 20 homes...was able to clear half that and will c

wsls10's christina craig was able to talk to spencer's brother and joins us live. christina, i understand the brothers talked regularly? yes, i spoke with spencer's in fact, he was waiting right outside of the roanoke county public safety building at the same time as the news conference. spencer was hoping to find out more about his brother's death. while the brothers didn't live together, spencer says ... they talked about 4 times a week. the last time he spoke with his brother was just hours before the shooting. carl spencer, subject's brother: "that's what makes it so crazy. and, that's another reason why i came here, because this is not sitting right with me. i'll never be able to get over him until i find out what happened." spencer says his brother lived in an independent living program and prior to that was housed in a local department of social services. we are still learning more information about this roanoke county officer involved shooting. an internal investigation is underway to make sure protocol was followed. we also reached out to the school and liv

in roanoke, christina craig, wsls10. still ahead -- the weekend is almost here and you may be looking for some things to do. from ice skating to roller derby ... morning ted! scott! ready to hit some balls? ooh! hey buddy, what's up? this is what it can be like to have shingles. oh, man. a painful, blistering rash. if you had chickenpox, the shingles virus is already inside you. after almost 3 weeks, i just really wanted to give it a shot. you know, i'm not feeling it today. talk to your doctor or pharmacist today about a vaccine that can help prevent shingles. something to do, we have some ideas for you. wsls 10's patrick mckee gives us a look at what's going on round town. this weekend is your last chance elmwood park. hours are 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. friday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. saturday and noon to 7 p.m. sunday. admission is $6 with skate rental costing you $2. if you love girl scout cookies, head to north cross school for cookiefest. it's a family event featuring a cookie box creation, inflatables, karaoke, face painting,

in roanoke, christina craig, wsls10. ten-million dollars worth of renovations are being discussed in martinsville tonight. city council members will consider approving an ordinance which would improve the sewer system. city leaders say .. the upgrades are necessary... because parts of the line are old and need to be replaced. in all... the project would cost around 22- million dollars but the city has applied for state money to cover a majority of the bill. at one point... martinsville also considered raising sewer rates to cover the cost... but that idea has been tabled. tonight's meeting starts at 7-30... at the city municipal building. if council approves the measure... there will be another vote at the next meeting in two weeks. dealing with water issues of its own. school was cancelled at sheffey elementary due to a lack of clean running water. the district's superintendent says ... the school's water problem started with a water line break last week. at that time... the school was still able to turn water on and of

in roanoke, i'm christina craig, wsls10." a vinton man is behind bars following a child abuse investigation. 21-year old preston chewning has been charged with aggravated malicious wounding... abuse and neglect of a child... and child endangerment. he's being held without bond. the charges stem from an incident last week... when emergency crews responded to a call about an 11- month old hurt the child was taken to the hospital... where it was later found to have multiple fractures and internal injuries. a 15-year old on the run for more than two months is arrested. the minor now faces a series of charges... including reckless driving and felony eluding. police say it started december 5-th... when he walked away from a minimum security facility. officers were still searching for him last wednesday when he sped past a trooper on route 2-20. virginia state police say the teen refused to pull over and lead them on a chase... until the car crashed. the car's four passengers were hurt during the accident ... but the driver took off

in roanoke, christina craig, wsls10." a federal and state investigation is underway in maryland where a cluster of bald eagles were found dead on a farm. thirteen bald eagles were found dead saturday in federalsburg.. state officials believe the birds were poisoned ... but they don't know if it was intentional or an accident. glenn therres, former maryland bald eagle biologist -"it's the largest number of dead birds found in one location on a single day that i know of." a u-s fish and wildlife lab in oregon is trying to find out how they died. the bald eagle is no longer considered endangered but is protected under federal law. maryland state officials are offering a 10- thousand dollar tonight ... supervisors in botetourt county are reviewing a possible deal that would stop the move of 2 historic slave structures. the county already started the process this morning ... moving one of those buildings to a new resting place a quarter of a mile away. wsls 10's rob manch has the details for us from botetourt county. the frien

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wsls10's christina craig spoke to the firefighter who's now doing well. audio - "mayday, mayday, mayday! firefighter mauck has fallen through the floor." it's a call for help, for a firerighter in trouble. "im in the basement...i'm ok..." it was only a week ago, roanoke county fire fighter robert mauck fell through two floors in a burning home and was caught in the 24-28 "my captain immediately got on the radio. he yelled for me. i was attempting to yell back to me." suspended above the basement in sheetrock and electrical wiring and with half a tank of air left, mauck new he had to act quickly. "i could see around and i noticed in the basement, in the area i was, i could not see any fire. i didn't feel any fire coming down on me. i decided the best thing for me to do at that point was to try to get my own self out." and radio to the crew he was ok. he never had time to think, because training kicked in and fast. 1:05-1:14 "evertime crews gear up for a call they know the dangers and risks they're taking. and, that's why training is crucial. save a life."

wsls 10's christina craig is tracking damage in the star city. she joins us now live in roanoke. christina -- you followed a tree removal service during appraisals today. what did you see? the combination of snow and freezing rain weighing on tree limbs caused many to split -- creating a mess and put crews to work. branches or entire trees -- the owner of marks tree and stump removal says his phone has been ringing off the hook non-stop since earlier this morning. mark booth says it's hard labor, but someone's got to it. nat - chainsaw clean up crews are building up a fallen trees. nat - 14:01:59 "we've take it out of peoples living rooms before." the mixture of snow and ice weighing on branches -- is causing tree limbs to to split. that's lead to an influx of calls to clean up the mess, which means business for mark's tree and stump removal. "i'm getting ready to go look at some in salem. and, it's really a lot of trees and they're big in diameter...could be up to 20 inches to 5 foot in diameter sometimes." it's not a job for everyone -- it's lifting heavy branches and requires h

wsls ten's christina craig sat down with the better business bureau ... and roanoke city police ... to help ease your mind as april 18-th approaches. there are many different ways to file your taxes, but it doesn't have to be a challenging process. "for me i'm going to talk to people that i know. everybody has a friend or two who's like 'who do you use,who do you recommend, who do you trust. how many years have you used them'." detective dale brink file's online... working i-r-s fraud scams he knows the importance of finding a trusted website when filing his taxes and handing over his personal information. "where you want to start is on the i-r-s site and find which companies they recommend, which sites they have vetted and they make sure are secure." some filing websites, like the i-r-s' e-file or my free charge for people who make 62- thousand- dollars or less. united way of the roanoke valley launched a national program just this year; the organization says it's safe because they utilize a partnership with h-and-r block. "last year more than 200,000 people file through this syste

wsls10's christina craig has the story. 3-10 "we spoke to area neighbors who called for help and they told us this is typically a safe and quiet neighborhood. however, friday morning it was anything but that as neighbors said they heard several gunshots." police found shell casings and bullet holes in a nearby house. fortunately, nobody was injured. however, several neighbors awoke to the gunshots and called 9-11. 21-29 find out that there's gunshot in your neighborhood and nobody really knows what's going on. it definitely put some fear in you. it's a little scary" neighbors say this is typically a safe area. police have not named the suspect at this time. "police were in the delray neighborhood early friday morning talking to neighbors and gathering information which assisted in their investigation." the town of blacksburg joins several other localities, including roanoke and montgomery county, in "banning the box" on job applications. that means the town will no longer ask about criminal history when considering candidates. w-s-l-s 10's rob manch explains why the town is taking thi

in roanoke, christina craig, the better business bureau urges you use caution before hiring someone to clean up your storm damage. the group says .. scammers often come out looking to take advantage of homeowners needing help. the b-b-b offers some tips... be wary of people who show up unsolicited offering help. shop around for contractors and get everything in writing. don't pay for everything up front-- just a deposit. about 150 danville utilities customers are without power tonight. crews in the river city spent the day replacing downed power poles and power lines. their goal is to have power restored to all customers by midnight. earlier today .. a tree brought down three poles and several sets of lines on kennon drive. while about 750 community members were impacted by outages .. utility workers say they are glad this storm wasn't as bad as the one that hit this time last year .. when 25-hundred people lost power. technician "we knew that the ice was coming in and we were hoping we would be okay, but that wasn't the case. we've this one." we're told the highest concentration of ou

wsls10's christina craig breaks down the numbers. the roanoke city police chief is calling it a win for the city as overall crime is trending downwards. nat since 2014, property crimes have decreased by almost 400 cases. however, violent crimes including murder, rape and robbery have remained the same. "property crime is our problem. property crime is driven by some of the drug activity. let's talk about violence, let's talk about danger, i'll show you roanoke per thousand has a better violent crime rate than a lot of cities in our area, in our state, and in although some violent crime numbers didn't change, the number of malicious shootings -- which fall underneath the umbrella of violent crimes -- have increased. in 2014, police investigated 34 shootings.. one was deadly. this past year, there were 37 shootings... 8 people were killed in those. despite those numbers, chief perkins says it's still a record low. "when you start looking at the factors that go into it, even though it's level it's still at record lows, it's still at a 4

wsls10's christina craig follows up. roanoke county's police chief told us the incident leading up to friday night's shooting happened within center received a call from a citizen reporting a black male with a bandana around his face was waving a gun and pointing it at cars." taking a look at these pictures from patrol car video... it shows kionte spencer holding what turned out to be a bb gun in his right hand. officers ordered spencer to drop the weapon. he refused and that's when two officers deployed their tasers. when that failed, shots were fired striking spencer in the collarbone and hip. "i don't know at this point if this was a situation that could have been quote "de- escalated". this was a deadly force encounter despite the fact that we know know that this handgun was an air gun." after the news conference we spoke with spencer's brother carl. he says they were close and talked about four times a week. they even spoke the day of the shooting. "that's what makes it so crazy. and, that's another reason why i cam

wsls10's christina craig follows up. roanoke county's police chief told us the incident leading up to friday night's shooting happened within

wsls10's christina craig has the story. 3-10 "we spoke to area neighbors who called for help and they told us this is typically a safe and quiet neighborhood. however, friday morning it was anything but that as neighbors said they heard several gunshots." police found shell casings and bullet holes in a nearby house. fortunately, nobody was injured. however, several neighbors awoke to the gunshots and called 9-11. 21-29

neighbor's yard, and christina hodge, a cbs4 producer, sent us this on her way to work, and anthony's video is showing the wild ride that commuters dealt with a tornado over a busy highway, and craig setzer, el nino is to blame? >>> yeah. and a live picture right now of the sun just setting. the broward camera is looking west from downtown fort lauderdale. 73 in key west and the stickiness, 0. dry air swept in after the storms this morning and the heaviest rainfall amounts in broward. wind gusts anywhere from 24 to 74 miles per hour from the earlier storms. the high temperatures, normal, 78, and we were in the upper 70s to low 80s everywhere. the sun came out as predicted, and the storms moved out as predicted but what we didn't predict is how strong the storms were this morning. that was not expected but the storms showed up on schedule. the radar is quiet and the storms are gone. the first weak cold front tonight won't do a lot for us. tomorrow, looking great, nice and dry and upper 70sto low 60s. on thursday, the breeze picks up with the passage of the next cold front and winds will bring in a few clouds, low to mid-70s for highs, and on friday, maybe a spotty sprinkle on the o

wsls 10's christina craig spoke to one middle school principal who says it could increase interactive learning in classrooms. nat - typing it's all hands on... using computers to edit papers, create powerpoints and research in the classroom. nat - "are you ready to submit yet." at first glance it may look like a computer lab, but it's english class. 15-25 "recently we've been doing a research project. so, where they may have been limited to computer research before or bound to books in the library, they're able to choose whatever topics they're