Salem Pastor Threat, Kids & Phones Warning, Kaine Presses CDC | WFIR News Express – 9/18/25

It's Thursday, September 18th. I'm Ian Price. Here's our top local story. Renook City Police say a motorcyclist has died after colliding with a truck in the 4,800 block of Melrose Avenue, Northwest. The biker died after being taken to a hospital following yesterday's incident. There's nowhere yet on the circumstances of the crash or any other injuries. Health advocates joined Roanoke County School officials in hosting a seminar about helping parents deal with children's smartphone usage. More from WFIR's Clark Palmer. William Bird High School yesterday played host to a community meeting that focused on reducing the amount of time kids spend on their smartphones and how that time on the smartphones impacts young minds. Consulting for kids in digital content, Emily Harriton tells WDBJ7. Smartphones give children access to information that she believes they may not be ready to handle, and that could have deadly consequences. This is about protecting little brains. Brain is not fully developed until 25. All the teenagers know that. And parents, we need to dial this back. We need to slow it down a little bit. We need to watch how much we're on our phones and let's protect these brains. Executive Director for the Partnership for Community Wellness Nancy Hans tells WDBJ 7. All parents focus on the physical risks their children may face. They should also worry about the threats to their mental well-being. We're seeing deaths from this stuff. We are seeing suicides. We are seeing young kids who are taking their own life because of what they've been exposed to and experienced online. And that needs to be something that we all collectively step up and go no more. The next community meeting about cell phone uses among children is scheduled for October 6th at Hidden Valley Middle School. Clark Palmer. WFIR News. Salem-based pastor Thomas McCracken claims police are investigating what he calls a credible threat against him. In a Facebook post, McCracken says he received a call from a man with a Florida number who said he's coming to get McCracken. McCracken's church is set to hold a vigil for slaying conservative activist Charlie Kirk tomorrow night at 6 p.m. Democratic U.S. Senator Tim Kaine was among those on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pension Committee, questioning the ex-CDC director, as WFIRS G. Morana reports. Susan Menares, who lasted 29 days at the CDC, says she was fired by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.. after she opposed pre-approving vaccine recommendations without refers to viewing scientific evidence. A month ago, Kane voted against confirming her, as did all the other Democrats in the minority on the Help Committee? I questioned you very significantly, not on your qualifications. You got over the qualifications bar easily, but my worries about the direction of HHS made me question you very significantly on your backbone, a trait that is not in long supply in this town. And then when I voted against your confirmation, I cited that as the reason. Again, no concern about your qualifications. I had concern about your backbone. And I was wrong. And I apologize to you for being wrong. I think it's important when you're wrong to admit you're wrong.

Advocates warned President Donald Trump's cuts to the Department of Veterans Affairs are affecting wait times at VA clinics across the Commonwealth and country. WFIRS Clark Palmer has that story. Some 700,000 Virginians are veterans and thousands more work at VA facilities across the Commonwealth, including at one VA medical center in Salem. The VA is on track to lose 30,000 employees by the end of the month through attrition. just a third of the originally planned cuts. The cuts are a reversal of the VA's hiring spree in the Biden era with more than 60,000 employees joining the agency, mainly in an effort to ramp up care following passage of the Pact Act. Mark Harris, a retired Army colonel, said cuts can only go so far before affecting care for veterans. At the hospital, you can only do so much with limited resources. You can't continue to do more with less. Eventually, you just get less with less. So that's one of the things that they're not taking into account. Trump administration officials had defended cuts to the VA arguing the agency needed overhauls to address efficiency issues and wait times. But in the year after the 2023 hiring effort, the agency saw wait times to climb by 11%. Clare Palmer, WFIRE News. The Washington Commanders Plan to return to the site of their former home at Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Stadium in D.C. cleared its final hurdle with the local legislature Wednesday when the District of Columbia Council approved the legislation. The bill passed by an 11-2 vote. It can now be sent to Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser, who negotiated the original plan with Commander's owner Josh Harris in April, with the team contributing $2.7 billion. In the city investing roughly $1.1 billion for the stadium, housing, green space, and a sports complex on land bordering the Anacosta River. September's National Recovery Month, the Renug Valley Collective Response, is using the designation to spark conversation and highlight available resources. WFIR's Denise Almenbrano has more. Director of the Roanoke Valley Collective Response, Bailey Madero, says National Recovery Month is all about hope. There is no cure for addiction, but recovery offers the chance to live a full life. The opioid epidemic was the catalyst that brought about the formation of the Roanoke Valley Collective Response. Medeiros says the RVCR shows addiction can touch any of us. We have first responders, Carillion Hospital, city council, it's parents and loved ones who have lost their kids. It's really a whole range of folks in our community and beyond localities from rural areas and Roanoke County and all over the place. The RVCR is a Roanoke Valley Allegheny Regional Commission program. It seeks to build, sustain, and support communities by responding to addiction and promoting recovery and wellness. Addiction does not just affect. the person experiencing addiction. It's a family disease. So if you are not the person in the grips of addiction, but you are facing challenges, you're loving someone through addiction. The Hope Initiative also offers supports. There's lots of things available to you as well because if we are ill as a family, we can heal as a family. The Hope Initiative assists individuals battling substance use disorders. Find a link to that and the RVCR at WFIR News.com.

Denise Allen Membrano, WFIR News. After eight years as superintendent of Reno County Public Schools, Dr. Ken Nicely has announced he will retire at the end of the 25-26 school year, culminating a 35-year career in education in 33 total years with RCPS. The Reno County School Board will begin the process of searching for a replacement superintendent in the coming weeks. Roanoke's Grandin Theater recently hosted a screening of the documentary, A Beast Touch the Mountain, which highlights the decade-long battle to stop the Mountain Valley pipeline. The film focuses on the women of Bent Mountain as they work to keep the pipeline from destroying their community in their words. The documentary will be available for streaming in November. That's the latest. Check back tomorrow for our next update. E.M. Price, WFIR News.