Today's News

Jefferson Forest High School was named one of the 1,600 best public high schools in the nation last week in the annual Newsweek rankings. Only 6 percent of all public high schools in the U.S. made the list.

    The ranking is based on how hard school staffs work to challenge students with advanced placement college-level courses and tests. A total of 95 Virginia schools were included on the list, including Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke and E.C. Glass High School in Lynchburg.

A group of Staunton River High School students had an eye-opening experience via Skype this spring. Skype is a software application that lets people make voice calls over the Internet.

    The five teens in Caris Jonas’ reading workshop class got to talk to students in a school in Kenya. The students attend Mercy Care Center School in the Mathare slum in Nairobi. The school is run by the Mercy Care Center Foundation which, according to its Web site at www.mercycarecenter.org, is a non-denominational Christian organization.

Authorities have obtained additional warrants for a Madison  Heights man involving sexual crimes with a minor.

    On June 8, Carlos Lamont Rose, 41,  was arrested and charged with two counts of carnal knowledge of a minor, and one count of use of a communications device to solicit a minor.

For the second time in its history, plans for Explore Park to become a multi-million dollar family vacation destination spot have fallen by the wayside.

    At the Park’s inception, the plan was for a $350 million Lewis and Clark-themed park with hotels, a zoo, retail and other attractions. The park would eventually take a different route, before falling on hard times in 2007. That’s when the living history portion of the park shut down because of a lack of funds.