Franklin News Archives

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.

Weather permitting, starting Sunday, Oct. 4, nighttime lane closures may be in place for paving on the section of Route 40 east between its intersections with Route 706 and Route 655 .

A 16-year-old faces charges after police say he was riding his bike and flashing a gun.