Blacksburg principal arrest, Botetourt County Google data center moves forward, and Iran war tensions escalate — WFIR News Express 3/27/26

It's Friday, March 27th. I'm Connor Arthur. Here's our top local story. Dr. Mark Crummy, principal of Kipps Elementary School in Blacksburg, has been placed on leave following his arrest on charges related to soliciting a prostitute. Montgomery County Public School Superintendent Dr. Kelly Gumpel said to message to families Wednesday evening, informing them of the arrest. Per division policy, Crummy is on leave while the school division investigates and cooperates with law enforcement. Glenn Chilcote will continue serving as the acting on-site administrator during this time. It's no longer just a proposal. Bottatide County is preparing to welcome one of the world's biggest tech companies. Google is officially moving forward with plans to construct a data center campus in the Greenfield area. County Administrator Gary LaRue says revenue was divided into three pillars, the initial property sale exceeding $14 million, a $4 million grant from Google, an ongoing annual revenue projected at nearly $30 million from the three data buildings combined. He adds that when the deal was negotiated, tax dollars the county would receive from the tech giant were the highest in Virginia, surpassing Loudoun County, which was the ultimate associated with revenues. We're a little higher than them on the first two years of a taxing cycle because there's depreciation involved. On the second two years of those taxing cycles, we were number two right behind Loudoun County and still north of all the other counties in the Commonwealth. LaRue hopes this project will encourage other localities to embrace data centers as an economic driver. It has been a all-hands-on deck. operation to actually be able to pull this off in a small community of 34,000 and with the staff that we have. But it has absolutely been everything that we could do to actually make this happen. And what we're doing is solidifying the economic future and the technological future for Bataatat and for this region. As for cooling the data centers, which would require 8 million gallons of water a day from Carvins Cove for the campus, Google says it is closely working with the Western Virginia Water Authority to explore other cooling options. WDBJ7 reports that court documents reveal 37-year-old Jeffrey Meadows and 35-year-old Kareem Katie Porter made arrangements to meet with someone in Roanoke, where they were found dead with gunshot wounds outside of refreshing church in Northwest Roanoke last month. Documents indicate it was to buy or sell drugs. Data from Katie Porter's Apple Watch, according to police, say the two were communicating with the phone number linked to Jamal Edward Crump, who has been named as a suspect.

Police found a gun in Crump's apartment after obtaining a search warrant. Franklin County Sheriff's deputies have arrested a suspect in connection with the death of 21-year-old Charles Arthur Smith Jr., who had been reported missing after last being seen on or about February 22nd. Smith's body was found on March 17th in the area of Power Dam Road. 43-year-old Terry Hodges, Smith's brother, is facing a charge of second-degree murder. Roanoke Indivisible is calling it No Kings 3, the third such rally tomorrow from noon until 2 p.m at the corner of South Jefferson Street and Elm Avenue at Elmwood Park. Rachel Gray is one of the organizers. She says the Roanoke rally is one of 3,000 No Kings events scheduled nationwide this weekend, protesting the Trump administration's policies on ice, the war in Iran, and other issues. People on both sides of the spectrum, looking and seeing now more than ever it is important to listen to your communities as a constituent. It is so important to stand strong on your morals and the things that you have run your campaign for. We're seeing both sides kind of pay attention to that, and especially with the midterm elections coming up. Tomorrow's No Kings 3 Elmwood Park rally at noon includes guest speakers and information tables from the League of Women Voters and other organizations. Roanoke Mayor Joe Cobb and the founder of The Least of These Ministry have responded to zoning violations issued to the nonprofit, acknowledging a disconnect between city staff and the ministry when its 2023 certificate was issued. This is a story we've been keeping you up to date on since Wednesday. T.LOT's founder and President Dan Sandoval tells WDBJ7 the city approved their operations previously. As far as we knew, the city... determined what we were operating as, gave us a certificate of occupancy, and we've been operating for five years. While recognizing the importance of services for homeless residents, Mayor Cobb said he cannot change zoning laws. T-Lot can update certificate, appeal by today, or request rezoning. The mayor said the city will work with T-Lot to help resolve the situation while continuing to serve approximately 100 regular clients experiencing homelessness. The U.S. Senate is scheduled to leave DC for a two-week spring recess today. barring another last-minute vote on funding the Department of Homeland Security from the House. Virginia's junior Democratic U.S. Senator offers his take on how to break the logjam over ICE reforms, as WFIR's Gene Morana reports. Security line wait times at major airport hubs stretching for three or four hours or longer. Flights missed while travelers wait in line. TSA checkpoints undermine as employees not getting paid, call on sick, some to make quick cash elsewhere in order to pay bills, and hundreds of agents nationwide just calling it quits.

Tim Kaine says his Republican colleagues can make this problem go away. We want ICE reforms, but go ahead and fund all of the other agencies, TSA. Fund them all. at the levels you just agreed to. Take yes for an answer. Don't make these people work without pay. Take yes for an answer by agreeing to funding at the levels that you yourself as the majority party in both houses and the White House negotiated. Kane noted yesterday that Immigrations and Custom Enforcement, ICE needs an overhaul in the way they interact with citizens during enforcement activities, like not wearing masks, having name badges visible and requiring judicial warrants before entering a home to make an arrest of someone they suspect is in the country illegally. I think the reform. that are needed in ICE are more fundamental. And so given the fact that they have the money to do what they are doing right now as we have the reform discussion, I would say set ICE funding aside, fund the agencies where we've reached an agreement, but who are not yet getting paid, and then we maintain the ICE reform discussion until we find a path forward. ICE is typically funded by DHS, but a separate allocation under the current fiscal year budget gave the agency access to a separate funding stream for now. Bernie Moreno, WFIR News. Iran dismissed an American plan to pause the war in the Middle East and launched more attacks on Israel and Gulf Arab countries. Iran's defiance came as Israel launched airstrikes in Tehran on Wednesday. and as the U.S. deployed paratroopers and more Marines to the region. Virginia U.S. Congressman Eugene Vindman tells MS. now he is unsure the Trump administration is aware of future consequences created by their actions. We're expending a billion dollars a day. We lost 13 soldiers, over 200 wounded, and each one of these casualties has a mother, brother, father, son. I met all the families, young children that don't have a parent. Right now, the American people have no idea why, no confidence that the leadership of this administration knows what they're doing, and frankly, it's chaos. Iran's foreign minister said on state TV that his government has not engaged in talks to end the war, quote, and we do not plan on any negotiations. Rono County Administrator Richard Kaywood awaits word on whether his son will deploy to the Middle East. First Lieutenant Andrew K. Wood, age 26, serves with the 82nd Airborne Division as an artillery officer alongside his wife, Gabriella, also a first lieutenant. The U.S. plans on deploying at least 1,000 troops from the division amid ongoing conflict in Iran. Their night fishing equipment is made locally by Elbit Systems. The man who will fill a newly created cabinet position in Virginia is looking to address rising energy costs for families. More from WFIR's Clark Palmer. Governor Abigail Spanberger has signed an executive order creating a chief energy officer, a cabinet-level position focused on addressing rising energy costs for families and meeting the Commonwealth's long-term energy needs. Josephus Allman has been appointed to serve in that new position.

During an interview with Axios last month, Allman said he sees solar and other forms of renewable energy as ways to ease financial burden on Virginians. If you've been paying attention in Virginia to the pushback that we've seen for utility scale solar at the rural level, shifting more development towards those built environment locations is really important, I think, for building acceptance of solar throughout the Commonwealth. Alman says prioritizing the deployment of more homegrown clean energy and battery storage will... ensure that our energy future remains sustainable, predictable, and affordable. If we're not building all of these clean resources to help meet this new need, then we're going to have to build new gas resources. And those are expensive, both in terms of the initial capital expenditure to build them, the financing costs to pay them off over time, but then for the fuel that they require for the full 35-year lifetime. Solar and wind don't. have fuel costs for their entire life. Alman says he wants to maximize the use of our existing grid, making sure high energy use customers are not driving up energy bills for everyone else. Clark Palmer, WFIRE News. Blacksburg has introduced Blacksburg Spark, a facade improvement program helping local businesses upgrade their exteriors through matching grants up to $20,000. Blacksburg Books, often unnoticed despite five years downtown, received $3,500 toward a $7,000 awning. Angie Marcolini, Blacksburg's Business Solutions Manager, tells WDBJ7 about the program. It's hard for small businesses to sometimes put in the money that they need to make those improvement. The idea is to bring a spark back to our community through the facade grant program, which beautifying the spaces of our businesses. Currently focused on downtown, the program will expand townwide if town council continues budget allocations. Applications are available on the town's website. Other localities, including Vinton, have offered facade upgrades on a matching grant basis in the past. That's the latest. Check back on Monday for our next update. Connor Arthur, WFIR News.