Wise County News

Perhaps it was a "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" wannabe: Police were told that an "unoccupied vehicle with a door open" was found on Fairview Street.

A "suspicious" looking man in a white shirt and khaki pants was seen "going back and forth" to a home near the intersection of Euclid Avenue and Vance Street.

The Wise County and Norton school systems have $55 million in index savings laying on the table.

Tone down "Call of Duty," please: A neighbor said someone playing "loud music and video games" was keeping them awake.

Motorists who are involved in accidents and other incidents because of drunken or reckless driving may have to start paying the town of Appalachia for police department expenses incurred while responding.

A group of activists says as many as 45 inmates at Red Onion State Prison in Wise County began a hunger strike Tuesday to protest "deplorable conditions" there.

A man "prowling" near a bedroom window on Highland Avenue was later seen in the front yard, pulling "something" out of a bag.

Members of the Commonwealth Transportation Board say completion of the Coalfields Expressway is critical for southwest Virginia's economy.

Anyone interested in starting a Neighborhood Watch in Bristol, Va., should contact Nicole Slagle, crime prevention specialist with the Bristol Virginia Police Department, at 645-7281. Anyone interested in learning about the Neighborhood Watch program in Sullivan County should contact Leslie Earhart at 279-6042 or Capt.

Wise County Sheriff's Office Lt. Charlie Sanders, left, and Big Stone Gap Police First Sgt.

Wise County 2012 first-half real estate taxes are due on May 15, 2012. Taxes may be paid at the following banks: First Bank and Trust in Wise and Norton, all Miners Exchange Banks, New Peoples Bank in Pound, Esserville, and Big Stone Gap, and Powell Valley National Bank in Wise and Big Stone Gap.

DAVID CRIGGER/BRISTOL HERALD COURIER - Convicted murderer Bobby Gleason, who vowed to kill again after not being placed on death row following a conviction in the death of his cell mate, is escorted into a Wise County courtroom under heavy guard Tuesday.

The owner of an empty home got a call that someone was in his home "busting windows and taking things out." Anyone interested in starting a Neighborhood Watch in Bristol, Va., should contact Nicole Slagle, crime prevention specialist with the Bristol Virginia Police Department, at 645-7281. i Anyone interested in learning about the Neighborhood ... (more)

In a lawsuit filed in federal court Thursday, Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, the Sierra Club and Appalachian Voices allege that A&G is polluting a Wise County stream at an unpermitted level above state water quality standards.

A fight-in-progress call came in to police, and there was little information other than the woman "has her breast exposed." Anyone interested in starting a Neighborhood Watch in Bristol, Va., should contact Nicole Slagle, crime prevention specialist with the Bristol Virginia Police Department, at 645-7281. Anyone interested in learning about the ... (more)

Wise County 2012 first-half real estate taxes are due on May 15, 2012. Taxes may be paid at the following banks: First Bank and Trust in Wise and Norton, all Miners Exchange Banks, New Peoples Bank in Pound, Esserville, and Big Stone Gap, and Powell Valley National Bank in Wise and Big Stone Gap.

Dominion Virginia Power says that by this fall you could be paying the lowest rates for your home's power since the winter of 2009.