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Columnists

BOB BROWN: “Portraits of the Human Person”

On the night of June 21, 2025, President Donald Trump said all seven B2 Bombers had safely returned from an unprecedented successful attack on Iran’s fortresses of nuclear weapon...

BECKY MAUPIN: The After Bedtime Search

Picture this: You manage to get everyone fed and the dinner aftermath cleaned up. Then...

ROBERT L. MARONIC: Israel’s Second Sum Of All Fears

I first heard about a dirty bomb in early September 1993 when an IBM coworker,...

BOB BROWN: What Happened to Happiness?

We can quibble about the origin, even the definition or meaning of “happiness,” but I’m...

FRED FIRST: Homeward Bound

It would happen: the trip back to Floyd. And then it wouldn’t. And then it...

Windows of Opportunity

by Robert Adcox There are any number of opportunities for meals in the Roanoke valley. From supermarkets to fine dining overlooking magnificent views, one...

Is California A Window Into Our Future? I Hope Not

by Dick Baynton Governor Jerry Brown received news that California is #50 in a business magazine that ranks business climates of the states. The...

Made in the Shade

by Liza Field How’s your cooling system, this summer? “Down,” said a lot of hot people in early July, when extreme high temperatures kicked fierce...

Recipe of the Week: No Electricity needed – Creamy Avocado & White Bean Wrap

by Leigh Sackett What do you do when it is 100 + degrees and you have no electricity? Well you don’t find yourself in...

A High School Bluegrass Band: 1974-75

by Mary Jo Shannon Jim Parker, now living in Texas and a Patrick Henry classmate of my older son Harry, reads The Roanoke Star.com...

Memories of Mill Mountain Zoo

by John Robinson I can hear it now: the cheerfully wailing whistle, and the chug of the "Zoo Choo" as it circled the perimeter...