The Dish Network customer service call center in Christiansburg fired 30 employees last week. A company spokeswoman emphasized that the job cuts came in the normal course of hiring and firing and were not layoffs.
[Read](http://www.roanoke.com/news/breaking/wb/230560) (Roanoke Times)
*Merry Christmas, you’re fired!*
Giant-Carlisle, a division of Ahold USA, is expanding its presence in Virginia by acquiring Ukrop’s 24 Richmond stores and the Williamsburg store.
Joe’s Market in Richmond’s West End and a store in Fredericksburg are not part of the deal. The [Henrico Citizen][Henrico] is reporting that Joe’s Market and the Fredericksburg Ukrop’s will be closed. The [Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star][Star] has confirmed that the Fredericksburg will be closed.
The former Roanoke store wasn’t mentioned as part of the deal.
[Read][Dispatch] (Richmond Times Dispatch)
[Henrico]: http://www.henricocitizen.com/default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=1&twindow=&mad=&sdetail=1848&wpage=1&skeyword=&sidate=&ccat=&ccatm=&restate=&restatus=&reoption=&retype=&repmin=&repmax=&rebed=&rebath=&subname=&pform=&sc=1910&hn=henricocitizen&he=.com
[Star]: http://fredericksburg.com/blogs/bizbrowser/index_html?blogger_id=22&p=1261087360
[Dispatch]: http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/local/article/UKROPGATER_20091217-135001/312169/P10/
An employee at one of the Roanoke Valley Blockbuster locations confirmed that all of the local stores are shutting down by January 3rd. Employees were told about the closings this week.
[Read](http://www.wdbj7.com/global/story.asp?s=11688581 “Read the Article”) (WDB7)
*Merry Christmas, you’re being laid off.*
A month after Ukrop’s Super Market closed its Roanoke store, the grocer’s vacant real estate is in foreclosure.
The 58,000-square-foot structure on Franklin Road, which is owned by IMD Investment Group, is scheduled to be sold to the highest bidder at a public auction at 11 a.m. Dec. 7 in front of the store, according to a legal notice. The notice states that a potential buyer must close on the property by Dec. 31. It’s unclear how much money IMD owes on this property.
The adjacent Walgreens drugstore, open since August, is not included in this sale.
The Roanoke City school board decided in a closed session to cut fifty eight positions, including the jobs of fifteen teachers. Since then, the board has voted to give **ten administrative workers raises**.
Only one of the ten is a four percent raise, which is around the standard cost of living raise. The rest are anywhere from seven to **thirty two percent**.
The raises add up to more than $93,000.
[Read](http://www.wsls.com/sls/news/local/article/roanoke_city_schools_giving_raises_to_administrators_laying_off_teachers/36590/ “Read the Article”) (WSLS 10)
*$93,000 – I’d think that could have been the salary & benefits for one of the 15 teachers the school board plans to cut.*
The [ACC Women’s Lacrosse Championships](http://www.theacc.com/championships/09-womens-lacrosse-championship.html “ACC Women’s Lacrosse Site”) will be played at Virginia Tech on Thursday, Friday, and Sunday.
Roanoke College is hosting the [ODAC Women’s Lacrosse Championship Tournament](http://www.odaconline.com/odac_championships/2008-09/default.html “ODAC Women’s Lacrosse Site”). The Quarterfinals were played yesterday. The Semifinals will be played Saturday, and the championship is scheduled for Sunday.
The [ODAC Women’s Softball Tournament](http://www.odaconline.com/odac_championships/2008-09/default.html “ODAC Women’s Softball Site”) will be played at Salem’s [James I. Moyer Sports Complex](http://www.ci.salem.va.us/depts/parks_rec/complex.html “James I. Moyer Sports Complex”) on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
An investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security is planning an office in Salem,, VA according to records filed with the city’s building department.
Renovations for a proposed office of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have started on a one-story cinder block building at the corner of West Main and Academy streets. Construction drawings indicate the 6,300-square-foot office will include interview and conference rooms, workstations and what appear to be four holding rooms – including one marked “seclusion” on the plans.
Read (Roanoke Times)
An annual two-day free dental clinic that has treated more than 1,000 people a year has been called off for 2009.
For two years the Roanoke Mission of Mercy dental clinic has been a spring event at the Roanoke Civic Center, but scheduling conflicts with dental conferences forced organizers to cancel this year’s clinic and plan for Spring 2010.
Organizers face escalating costs and may change the location. Roanoke city officials have decided to charge Mission of Mercy part of the cost of using the civic center.
[Read](http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/197056 “Read the Article”) (Roanoke Times)
*The City of Salem should step up and offer use of the Salem Civic Center for free to Mission of Mercy.*
Wintergreen Resorts has been preparing for warm spells since November when temperatures first dipped into freezing. They’re making their own snow, pumping millions of gallons of water onto the slopes.
President’s Day weekend combined with Valentine’s Day are popular winter sports holidays, and Wintergreen doesn’t want the warm weather of the past week to get in the way.
They’re making as much snow as they can when it’s cold so they can survive a thaw.
Snowboarders say they were surprised to see so much snow on the mountain, since it’s been warm lately. There’s actually around 30 to 50 inches of snow on most slopes, and some snowboarders say it’s the best winter they’ve ever seen up here.
[Read](http://www.charlottesvillenewsplex.tv/home/headlines/39625117.html “Read the Article”) (CBS-19)
| Grade | Price 1/1 | Price 1/31 | $ Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regular | $1.429 | $1.759 | $ 0.33 | 23.1% |
| Mid | $1.529 | $1.859 | $ 0.33 | 21.6% |
| Premium | $1.629 | $1.999 | $ 0.37 | 22.7% |
| Diesel | $2.599 | $2.399 | $ (0.20) | -7.7% |
| Kerosene | $3.499 | $3.499 | $ – | 0.0% |
[Mill Mountain Theatre](http://www.millmountain.org/ “Mill Mountain Theatre”), once the flagship of Roanoke’s thriving arts and cultural community, is shutting its doors.
The theater, which has large and apparently mounting debts, has cancelled at least the rest of this season. 10 years of debt and declining revenues, most likely attributable to the current economy, made it impossible to continue.
Assuming the theater can meet production costs, the last play will be “Driving Miss Daisy,” which runs through Feb. 8 on the Waldron Stage. The play is scheduled to open tonight.
[Read](http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/191841 “Read the Article”) (Roanoke Times)
[Read](http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/191973 “Read the Article”) (A 2nd article from the Roanoke Times)
The Home Shopping Network has laid off 9 of its 900 employees at the its call center and order fulfillment facility near Bonsack.
The layoffs, announced Dec. 5, affected people across various departments, and the job cuts were attributed to tough retail business conditions.
[Read](http://www.roanoke.com/business/wb/188637 “Read the Article”) (Read)
A Roanoke County subdivision is scheduled to be auctioned off at noon today at the [Vinton War Memorial](http://www.vintonwarmemorial.com/main/index.php “Vinton War Memorial”).
Four houses and 38 lots in [Victoria Meadows](http://www.walker-inc.com/details.php?cId=116 “Walker Commercial Services’ Listing for Victoria Meadows”), which is near the [Blue Ridge Parkway](http://www.blueridgeparkway.org “Blue Ridge Parkway”), are up for auction.
The Victorian style homes are assessed between $277,900 and $297,500, but the [Stellar One Bank](http://www.stellarone.com “Stellar One Bank”) is asking for at least $200,000 for each of them.
The bank said the subdivision didn’t take off because of the housing slump.
[Read](http://www.wsls.com/sls/news/local/article/a_roanoke_county_neighborhood_is_scheduled_to_be_auctioned_off/22724/#When:15:30:08Z “Read the Notice”) (WSLS-10)
Update: The bids were so low that the bank decided not to sell any of the houses or the lots. [Read](http://www.wsls.com/sls/news/local/article/auction_of_roanoke_county_subdivision_is_a_no_sale/22751/#When:22:16:13Z “Read the Article”) (WSLS-10)
More layoffs are hitting the Roanoke area. The [Virginia Tech Transportation Institute](http://www.vtti.vt.edu/ “Virginia Tech Transportation Institute”), which is better known for operating the “[smart road](http://www.vtti.vt.edu/virginiasmartroad.html “Smart Road Site”)”, will eliminate 20 jobs by January 9.
Four full-time staff and 16 part-time, temporary wage staff positions will be eliminated. The layoffs will take effect for full-time staff by January 9, 2009 and for part-time, temporary wage staff positions by December 15, 2008.
The positions that are being eliminated include machinists, office support workers, a data collection worker and a mechanic.
[Read](http://www.everythingnrv.com/content/view/96347/530/ “Read the Article”) (EverythingNRV)
Lynchburg, VA based [Automated Conveyor Systems, Inc.](http://www.acsconveyor.com/home.htm “Automated Conveyor Systems”) laid off 20 of its employees last Friday as a result of fewer orders from its customers.
The layoffs affected 16 temporary and four permanent employees. The plant now has about 190 employees. This is only the third time in 34 years that the local company has had layoffs.
The company makes material handling systems, such as conveyors, that are used in factories. Some of its major customers are in the corrugated packaging and paper industries, which have decreased production.
[Read](http://www.wsls.com/sls/news/local/lynchburg/article/automated_conveyor_systems_in_lynchburg_lays_off_20_workers/22607/#When:13:13:13Z “Read the Article”) (WSLS-10)