Today's News

Virginia Cooperative Extension has released information to us about the ongoing tomato outbreak. The information sent from Elaine Lidholm, Director of Communication at the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Sciences and Rob Williams, Assistant Professor and Extension Food Microbiologist, Department of Food Science and Technology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, explains what tomatoes are safe, which ones are not and how to keep your family safe from the salmonellosis outbreak.

Last week our sports editor, Mike Forster, dealt with competitive eating contests and touched on the issue of corn-based ethanol. Mike went on to say that doesn't venture deeply into non-sports issues and stuck to the competitive gluttony contests.

The relationship between Shaquille O'Neal and the Bedford County Sheriff's Office has been severed as the result of a rap with obscene lyrics that O'Neal performed. The rap was performed in a New York City nightclub and has made its rounds on Internet video sites.

O'Neal has been a reserve deputy for the Sheriff's Office for several years and made public service announcements for the federal Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) program. Brown said he was ICAC's first celebrity endorsement and that he also recruited other celebrities, including Miss America to get involved.

The Bedford Area Chamber of Commerce held it's first town hall meeting over lunch at Liberty Lake Park last week.

Bedford Mayor Skip Tharp said that the number one issue for the city right now are talks with the county on the city's reversion to town status. He said that the talks are making positive progress and although residents of the town will get both a town and a county tax bill, he hopes that the combined total will be less than they now pay.

"Nobody has any secret agendas," he said.