Gene Marrano

Nicole Gray is a massage therapist by trade – but now she can call herself a muralist, after completing her first solo project, painting a Blue Ridge Mountain scene on the side of Ayres Hall at Roanoke College, at the corner of College Avenue and Clay Street in Salem. Gray studied drawing at Virginia Western Community College under Jon Murrill – a Roanoke College alum who has become a prolific mural painter in the Roanoke Valley. One of those challenges was a stretch of rain showers between mid July and mid August that led to some downtime – buy Gray completed the project just before Roanoke College students returned to campus. The mural is part of the school’s plan to reimagine campus Main Street corridor as a life-learn-work-play hub integrating the college with the City of Salem.

Wawa has been in Virginia for more than 25 years, with more than 135 of its convenience stores and fuel stations in the Commonwealth – but has only started to expand into the western part of the state. This morning they cut a ribbon on West Main Street in Salem, giving away free t-shirts and coffee. The Pennsylvania-based chain has plans to open 30 more Wawa’s in Western Virginia over the next five years. The opening this morning included a hoagie-building contests between local police and fire departments, and a donation made to Feeding Southwest Virginia. Wawa has plans for 60 stores in the I-81 market over the next 10 years, averaging more than 7.5 million dollars investment per location. Each store will employ around 35 associates on average. Kim Dowgielewicz is director of Wawa store operations in Virginia:

The loss of Medicaid coverage expected by new work requirements and funding cuts to SNAP – the food stamp program -could place more strain on local food pantries in Southwest Virginia – and on food banks like Salem-based Feeding Southwest Virginia. President and CEO Pam Irvine says they’ve started to see more people seeking assistance at the food pantries they service over 26 counties and in 9 cities, as components of the Big Beautiful Bill start to come online; many of those changes to Medicaid and SNAP in the budget bill were timed to go into effect after the mid-term elections. Governor Spanberger has signed an executive order called Keep Virginia Covered but acknowledges the Commonwealth won’t have all the funds needed to cover all the potential losses to the SNAP program that gives lower-income families more purchasing power when they buy groceries. More from WFIR’s Gene Marrano:

Mixed signals from the new Virginia Consumer Sentiment Report released by Roanoke College, showing that consumer sentiment fell sharply after modest gains were recorded in the first quarter survey. The new online poll taken with almost 600 respondents in early to mid-August reveals that Virginians f

In the past several weeks two towering, iconic women that impacted American culture and politics for decades have passed away. First Dolly Parton, and last week journalist, publisher and early second-wave feminist Gloria Steinem. A Virginia Tech professor who had a brief encounter with Steinem years ago at a conference remembers her. Dr. Bonnie Zare is professor of sociology and women’s studies at Virginia Tech, she recalls meeting Steinem at an airport. In the mid-60’s Steinem went undercover for about two weeks to work as a Playboy Bunny at Hugh Hefner’s place in New York, intent on exposing the conditions the women working there had to endure. More from WFIR’s Gene Marrano:

From the WFIR News room this is your Culture Calendar – With a look at some of the local events coming up this weekend and in the near future. Sponsored by the Roanoke Cultural Endowment. See more at Roanoke Cultural Endowment.org. This Saturday the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra kicks off the 2026-27

The Virginia Tech School of Performing Arts has released its Fall season-plus schedule, primarily featuring performances from talented students in the School of Performing Arts. A semester of events that are mostly free and open to the public will showcase talent from the Virginia Tech Community - s

Early voting for the mid-term election begins a week from this Friday on September 18th. In the 6th Congressional district Republican incumbent Ben Cline faces a challenge from Democrat Beth Macy; she’s the award-winning former journalist author of Dopesick and four other books, and for the last ten months she’s been out on the campaign trail. Beth Macy spoke with WFIR’s Gene Marrano recently about her uphill challenge, and here is a “Longer Listen”:

Around here we have Visit Virginia's Blue Ridge - and a few years ago southside Virginia in Danville and Pittsylvania County adopted a similar tag line, as a way to re-brand the region. It paid off big time in 2025 when it comes to tourism and the tax revenue generated. Visit SoSi - that's Southside

A solemn ceremony this morning at Roanoke-Blacksburg Airport in remembrance of the September 11th, 2001 hijackings and terrorist attacks that took down the World Trade Center Twin Towers in New York and hit the Pentagon, killing almost 3000 people. ROA executive director and CEO Mike Stewart recalled the first responders and others on that fateful day 25 years ago. Stewart was working at busy Chicago-O’Hare Airport on 9/11 2001, which like every other airport in the country was shut down for several days. This morning’s ceremony at Roanoke-Blacksburg Airport included a Wreath of Remembrance ceremony and “God Bless America” sung by all in attendance.