The low roar of a delivery truck climbing the steep mountain grade to Aulbin and Catherine Pennington’s future home in Konnarock was heard long before it emerged into sight last Wednesday. Among the construction supplies on board were doors—simple wooden doors that should, in a matter of months, provide the couple entry into a new home and a dream years in the making.

The Town of Saltville recently announced a collaboration with a group that operates under the acronym, L.A.U.G.H. No, it is not a rehab group for people addicted to telling bad jokes. Neither is it an effort to promote a local version of Laugh-In or The Gong Show.

The signs are ominous, particularly the hand-written ones close along College Street in Marion. “MY SIDE,” and “HIS SIDE,” read two brown-paper squares pinned to boxwoods on either side of a walk leading from the street to Bob and Anne Shults’ front door.

You can hear all sorts of sounds in a church fellowship hall, from the sounds of singing to the murmur of conversation over a meal. On Monday afternoon, there was quiet conversation among a few women at one table and the pulsing whir of a sewing machine at another in the fellowship hall of Marion’s First United Methodist Church.

Restoring water quality in the impaired North Fork Holston River will be the focus of two public meetings along the river next week.

A place has been found for Project Crossroads to hold its Food Raiser benefitting area food banks next month – Marion Intermediate School.

Former Damascus Police Chief Tony Richardson faces up to 80 years in prison after pleading no contest last week to charges that he sold and conspired to distribute methamphetamine. And there are more charges to come.

The days of claiming competency in a trade have long vanished. These days, employers are looking craftsmen who have been certified by someone who isn’t related to them. It’s a process that can take a lot of time and effort. So a partnership between the Shaw group, an international contractor for craftsmen of all walks, and Virginia Highlands Community College looks to make the process much smoother.

A high school football rivalry is pulling Chilhowie’s largest Halloween trick.

Running from the law just got harder by a factor of three. That’s how many of Smyth County Sheriff David Bradley’s officers joined the ranks Wednesday of federal lawmen who can chase down fugitives across jurisdictions and state lines.