Franklin News

It's unclear whether the Grand Jury will simply issue a report or if criminal charges will be part of it.

Lt. J.D. Williams had only been on the Newport News police force a few years on an autumn night in 1969, when police were searching for three men wanted for burglaries in Franklin.

With the spring 2010 closure of International Paper's mill in Franklin, the Isle of Wight County Board of Supervisors is delaying a request for a new rescue vehicle.

Franklin County was voted in as a full-fledged member Thursday of the Western Virginia Water Authority by the governing bodies that already made up the regional utility.

Franklin County joined Roanoke City and Roanoke County Thursdy morning as a member of the Western Virginia Water Authority .

By Jim Tuttle Smithfield Times Staff Writer Since the announcement that International Paper will close its operations in Franklin, 1,100 people, their families and the surrounding community have struggled to digest the news.

Isle of Wight Supervisor Phillip Bradshaw says International Paper Corp. will be billed for discharging millions of gallons of unauthorized wastewater through the county's sewer system.

Men get breast cancer , too. That's the message that George N. Williams Jr., 68, is bringing to any men who will listen.

The state is moving in to Franklin to help people find new jobs now that their biggest employer is closing.

The region is projected to lose an additional 2,400 jobs and $27 million in tax revenue when International Paper Corp.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate R. Creigh Deeds proposed boosting unemployment benefits for areas devastated by plant closings like the Virginia paper mill shutdown soon to leave 1,100 people jobless.

The county is looking for new ways to take out the recycling. Isle of Wight officials have been researching alternatives for when the Southeastern Public Service Authority ends its recycling services in the county on March 31.

Shock. "All the faces in the room dropped...I mean you could hear a pin drop..its was really really ba.") Fear.

Franklin and Isle of Wight County are taking care of workers when they lose their jobs and are helping to find them new ones, quickly.

International Paper's Franklin mill The Franklin operation was started by the Camp family as a sawmill in 1887.

By Jim Tuttle Smithfield Times Staff Writer International Paper will systematically shut down it's mill and all related operations in Franklin, putting about 1,100 people out of work.

Executives with the firm trying to buy all of SPSA's assets, operations and debt say they're sweetening their $331 million offer to the regional garbage agency and its eight localities.

"I figured I'd be back to work and pay it back within six months at the most," says Michael Hall, an out of work contractor.

Virginia's one-of-a-kind Illegal Whiskey Unit -- a team of agents dedicated to busting up bootleg stills -- has fallen prey to state budget woes, leaving southwest Virginia's elusive moonshiners without a full-time, dedicated foe for the first time in decades.

Friends of the man who died tell me his name was Roger Goad, and also known affectionately as "peanut." Watch WSLS starting at 5:00 p.m. for on-air coverage.