Gleaning For The World wants to bring Christmas to orphans and deserted children in Third World countries.

Want to make some wholesome autumn memories with the ones you love? Just say those three little words: Apple cider doughnuts.

Halloween is past. Before too long, that candy will be gone – if it’s not already. But the more ominous and spooky year-round junk food threat remains. Breakfast cereal.

Before double Doppler, computer-crafted weather forecasting and satellites with names like TRMM and QuikSCAT, there was folklore.

WYTHEVILLE, Va. – It’s the edge of sundown at Virginia City. On this night, after a sunny day of shoot-’em-ups, a dozen cowboys have literally taken a ride off into the sunset. Such might be soon said for Virginia City.

This is the time of year when many people head out to their garden to begin work on the annual fall clean-up. Fortunately, this is one task that I never have to start. Those of us who use their gardens as a means to enhance suitable bird habitat know that a “messy autumn garden” provides a wonderful welcome for all of our feathered friends.

Tree leaves are not garbage to be thrown away. Instead, they are a valuable source of carbon and other nutrients needed by your lawn. You can depend on a steady supply of leaves every autumn, delivered for free if there are any trees in your yard.

This story always begins the same way. It’s 1999, the year Shawn Dempsey died. He had been an artist and musician, part of a music scene in 1970s and ’80s that had its nexus in the Rivermont house where he — Dr. D — lived.

STUART - Eight young trees, two coolers and the long arm of an extendable fruit picker fill the backseat of Tom Brown’s Subaru station wagon.

I talked with Blue Ridge Cancer Care oncologist Dr. Bill Fintel for information about detecting ovarian cancer.

Thelma Dalmas, a naturalist, writes a weekly column for The News & Advance. Readers may e-mail her at

7916 Williamson Road or P.O. Box 9707
Roanoke, VA 24020-1707
540-362-6401 or 800-456-9595

The following set of guidelines is from a brochure dealing with roommate issues produced bv the Office of Residence Life and Housing at Randolph-Macon College.

221 College Lane
Salem, VA 24153
540-375-2270 or 800-388-2276

1971 University Blvd.
Lynchburg, VA 24502
434-582-2000

1501 Lakeside Drive
Lynchburg, VA 24501
434-544-8300 or 800-426-8101, ext. 8300

The message on the Virginia Union University coed’s T-shirt was meant to be humorous: got tuition?

Time management can be a serious issue for college freshmen.  What students do with free time, where they are going to eat, when they study for a test, and whether they are actually going to their next class are all decisions that students have to make when they are for the first time on their own without their families.

People sometimes joke about the fact that in today’s world students should start thinking about college when they enter kindergarten. That may be a stretch, but the college application process often does begin early in a student’s high school years.

For close to four years Piedmont Virginia Community College has used its viticulture and enology programs to school students in the ways of winemaking.

The national news was talking about wanting women to sign up for cancer research. I missed the e-mail address to register. Can you help?

ABINGDON - By the time we reached The Tavern, Donnamarie Emmert was on a roll. And, well, a little out of breath.

The basement of Julie Sites’ Forest home serves as a makeshift classroom for several types of learning.

The Shenandoah National Park has more than 500 miles of trails. Luckily, it’s not very far away at an hour or so drive. And the fall can be a good time for road trips.

Spanish poet Pedro Larrea will read his poetry in Spanish and English during “Poesía and Música” at Riverviews Artspace Oct. 16 at 7:30 p.m. His reading will be accompanied by a performance by solo guitarist and actor Sara Eshelman.

Phil Vassar is a country music superstar.  He’s sold millions of albums, released a slew of hit singles and has been named ASCAP’s songwriter of the year multiple times. But we, of course, know him best as one of Lynchburg’s hometown heroes.

Rebec Vineyards’ Virginia Wine & Garlic Festival is turning 18 this year. The popular area event is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Amherst winery, located off U.S. 29.

On Oct. 16, 1878, a service at Court Street Baptist Church turned deadly. The congregation, believing the church was about to collapse, erupted into panic. They rushed the front doors to escape, causing bodies to get trampled by the stampede. Others jumped from balcony windows, and did not live to tell about it.

It hit Logan Troyer during a recent Sunday evening rehearsal. “This is one freaky play,” says Troyer, who is starring in E.C. Glass High School’s latest production, “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.”

When Amy Cohen first saw Randolph College’s outdoor Greek theater, the Dell, she was in awe.