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Roanoke begins process to remove Lee memorial from downtown

ROANOKE, Va. — Officials in the Virginia city of Roanoke have started a process to remove a memorial marker to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

The Roanoke Times reports that the city council has unanimously approved a resolution to remove the 60-year-old granite shaft from a downtown plaza.

The memorial has stood in the city since 1960.

City officials are working under a new state law that took effect this month and gives local governments the ability to remove war memorial statues and markers.

Confederate monuments have been coming down in the wake of the Minneapolis police custody death of George Floyd in May.

School bus emergency? Fairfax County students have a plan to handle it

This story is part of WTOP’s 2026 Back to School coverage. The wheels on the bus will soon be going round and round again in Fairfax County, Virginia, and some of its young riders are learning what to do if there’s an emergency on the way to school. The annual Safety Patrol Training Camp, hosted by Fairfax County Public Schools' Office of Transportation Services, combined hands-on exercises with classroom lessons to teach students how to keep calm during emergencies on buses. The training can feel remarkably realistic, with overturned school buses on their side or completely upside down in the middle of the county bus depot. Other buses, right side up, fill with smoke that is water-based but mimics the intensity of a bus overheating.
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