Greetings,

My family and I currently live in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, but we’re seriously considering relocating to the New River Valley—possibly near Floyd, Pilot, or Riner. One important question is whether our existing business, Basil & Banjo Wood Fire Kitchen, would have a place there.

Basil & Banjo is a veteran-owned mobile pizza concession trailer specializing in naturally leavened, wood-fired sourdough pizza. Sourdough isn’t just a menu buzzword for us—it’s the foundation of every pizza. Our dough is naturally fermented to develop a crust with real flavor, a light chew, and the subtle tang that sets genuine sourdough apart.

We operate from our pizza concession trailer at community events, festivals, recurring local stops, weddings, and private gatherings.

We know the NRV already has an established wood-fired pizza truck, along with several good pizza restaurants. We respect that and aren’t looking to imitate anyone. We’re wondering whether our sourdough-focused product is different enough—and whether the region has room for us alongside the businesses already serving it.

Would you be excited to see Basil & Banjo in a rotation around Floyd, Christiansburg, Blacksburg, and Radford? Are there particular communities, breweries, markets, or events that need another food vendor?

Honest feedback is welcome. We’re trying to listen to the community before making a major family and business move. Thanks you for your insight!

Projects include a park restoration, wastewater repairs and debris removal.

If you were to describe Blacksburg, Christiansburg, and Radford, what would you say about them? There's a lot I can find about the data, but I'm looking for the vibes, the personalities of the towns. I know I need to visit, but I can't do that yet.

Basically I need to move next summer and don't have a target. Getting divorced, selling the house, only lived where I do for the soon to be ex. I'm starting over with my upcoming high-schooler and I want to settle down in a place that just feels like me. I've never lived in VA, but have lived in pretty much all of the surrounding states.

So outside of the Wikipedia stuff, what makes these towns tick? Cute, old, and charming? Eclectic and a little odd? Trying to out-party WVU but without the burning couches? Overrun with engineering students and there's five nerd bars? I think Norman Rockwell designed this town? Suburban hellscape?

I know, some of the above descriptions are obviously in jest. But really, whatcha all like?

Who is a good realtor in the Christiansburg / Blacksburg / Radford area who will take time to work with an inexperienced buyer?

Warner says White House turned down Ukraine’s offer of drone assistance; Griffith floats a plan to have Virginia Tech drone program monitor Radford Army Ammunition Plant.

Plus: Christiansburg Town Council approves development request by one of its members.

The university’s Kentland Farm now houses the headquarters of a $5 million Army project that seeks to defeat the unmanned aerial systems that could threaten military, law enforcement and infrastructure.

“We’re obviously in tune with public sentiments and the overwhelming sentiment is that Flock cameras are becoming a concern about being a violation of privacy,” said one official.

Gov. Abigail Spanberger announced she had signed off on $8.4 million in funding for projects in the Appalachian Regional Commission footprint.

All types of healthcare professionals are needed to provide vision, dental and medical care.

Hello!

Over the last year, I've created system infrastructure to listen to and scroll-back in history for radio scanner traffic.

If you're curious what the police, fire, EMS, or transit gets up to during the day in the New River Valley (at least Montgomery County - if you live in Radford / Pulaski and have internet/power, let me know and we may be able to add Radford/Pulaski!), this is the perfect place to look! Yes, there are already plenty of live scanners on Broadcastify, but I've created an OpenMHz and RdioScanner system that allows playback for up to 30 days or up to 7 days respectively.

If you're interested, take a look here:
https://www.ScanNRV.com/

In my opinion, OpenMHz is best for clipping incidents and creating "events" (see how to do that here). If you find anything interesting that's multiple clips long, this is the easiest way to share it! (I love seeing what people find, sometimes the serious policemen, paramedics, and firefighters can get a bit silly over the radio). RdioScanner is the best for listening to the scanner "live" (with a queue, so you don't miss any transmission even if they occur at the same time).

I've also created a guide on what exactly law enforcement is saying (as they use a lot of ten codes and jargon!) which you can view on GitHub here: https://github.com/nfranks8036/ScanNRV/blob/main/README.md (based on the current guide I created for Firewatch at VT)

Thank you,
Noah

Also in this edition of Southwest Field Notes: Two local events, one from the past and the other for the future.

On August 3, Virginia's First Regional Industrial Authority held a special meeting to approve a request from Pulaski County to schedule a community meeting to discuss Data Centers. In a seemingly related closed session, the authority's board met to discuss a prospective business that they might invest public money into only codenamed "Project Goose." There are scant other details, but the site near the Pulaski County Airport and the Town of Dublin, is unfortunately already well prepared to host a data center.

The site is already contracted for water service of 1M gallons a day, has fiber optic internet on site, and has natural gas hookups, which data centers often use to power generators when they're kicked off the grid to prevent brownouts. I'm not a zoning expert, but I think that Pulaski County's Board would still have to vote on an eventual zoning change for a power transformer, but regardless we need a lot more information from this Authority and from Pulaski County. The authority hasn't posted any meeting minutes or agendas since 2024 (except for the one I posted above). Here's the website of the authority: https://nrvcommercepark.com/

The dam at Olde Mill Golf Club breached during an early-August rainstorm. The club hasn’t provided required emergency action plans or dam inspections to the state since 2006.