The Blue Ridge Times

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry broke his right femur in a cycling accident in Scionzier, France, on Sunday morning, State Department spokesman John Kirby said. The injury is near the site of a previous hip surgery, so Kerry will return to Boston for treatment at Massachusetts General Hospital with his doctor who did the prior surgery, the spokesman said in a statement. Kerry, who was flown to a hospital in nearby Geneva, Switzerland, initially planned on flying back to the United States on Sunday but later decided to spend the night in the hospital as a precautionary measure, Kirby said. The spokesman said Kerry was in "great spirits and active" and has had a number of phone calls, including one with President Barack Obama. Kerry regrets that he won't be able to visit Spain as planned, and he also won't be able to attend the Paris counter-ISIL coalition ministerial meeting on Tuesday. He will participate in the Paris meeting remotely, Kirby said. (ISIL is ...

WASHINGTON: U.S. President Barack Obama visited Vice President Joe Biden and his family on Sunday to offer condolences after the death of Biden's son, Beau. Beau Biden, 46, who served eight years as attorney general of Delaware, died on Saturday after a recurrence of brain cancer. Obama and his wife, Michelle, went to the U.S. Naval Observatory, the vice president's official residence, to offer their condolences to the Biden family. The Obamas had been scheduled to host a reception at the White House on Sunday but it was canceled out of respect for the Bidens. Other Washington officials and politicians took to social media to express their sympathies over the death of Biden, who was married and had two children. Secretary of State John Kerry called him "a son any father might hope to raise" and recalled how Beau chose to continue serving in the military in Iraq rather than be appointed to the Senate seat his father was leaving to become vice president in 2009. S...

So much rain has fallen this May on flood-ravaged Texas that it could cover the entire state with 8 inches of water, meteorologists say. Every drop of rain these days is a drop too many in much of Texas, where 22 people have died and President Barack Obama has declared a major disaster. Over the weekend, a University of Houston student saw an object in Brays Bayou and reported it to campus police, who contacted Houston authorities, according to Houston Police Department Sgt. J.T. Parker. Police found a male body, and a preliminary investigation suggests the death is related to flooding, said Parker. Elsewhere near Houston, police evacuated residents from 20 homes in the suburb of Rosenberg on Saturday. Residents in at least 14 homes more were deciding whether to leave as the Brazos River threatened to rise, Lt. William Henry said. Several rivers in Texas were at flood stage at 108 locations, the National Weather Service said Saturday, but on Sunday the rain seemed to have let u...

Amidst controversies surrounding Josh Duggar's alleged child molestation as a teen, TLC reportedly hopes to save "19 Kids and Counting" popularity by creating a spin-off that will focus on the newlywed lives of Jill and Derick Dillard and Jessa and Ben Seewald. TLC may be considering launching a spin-off because of the high rating of episodes focusing on the lives of the young Duggars, People reports. A source said that, "The show had begun to focus more and more on the next generation of Duggars, anyway – mainly Jill and Jessa and their marriages and babies." The network enjoyed huge ratings for special episodes on their weddings and Jill's birth of son Israel David. TLC has pulled episodes of the show from the air over Josh Duggar's case from a 2006 police report alleging that he molested five girls, possibly including some of his sisters, back in 2002 and 2003. The network has still not confirmed whether the show has been officially cancelled fo...

TOKYO - A powerful earthquake struck near remote Japanese islands and shook most of the country Saturday evening, mbut it occurred well beneath the earth's surface and did not trigger a tsunami warning. Serval people suffered non-life-threatening injuries, and there were no reports of death or major damage.   The magnitude 8.5 off-shore quake strick off the Ogasawara island at a depth of 370 miles, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake had a magnitude of 7.8 and a depth of 421 miles.   The earthquake was not strong enough to generate a tsunami warning or close enogh to the isalnds to cause any significate damage or injuries, said John Bellini, a geophysicist with the U.S.G.S in Golden, Colorado. He said it is considered a separate seismic event and not an aftershock to the magnitude 8.5 quake that struck hours earlier.

Manila, Philippines - At least 15 people have been wounded in two separete blasts that hit a police camp in a restive southern Philippine province where Mislim militants operate, police said Saturday.   At least five civilians, including three children, and 10 policemen were wounded.   No group has claimed responsibility, but police suspect the Abu Sayyaf group, which has had links to al-Qaida.

Many of the alumnae had pointed questions about the school's planned closing and how to keep it going.         Pausing in the back of Babcock auditorium with her Sweet Briar reunion tour group, Gigi Mossburg looked out on empty seats and remembered them filled.      "You should have seen it when Jane Goodall was here," the alumna said. "And do you remember Sally Ride?"      Up at the front of the theater, someone had show tunes playing including "Seasons of Love" from "Rent."      "In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife... Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes, how do you measure a year in the life?"      This weekend's reunion, attend by about 1,800 people, caps a tumultuous school year for the 114- year-old college.      Board members announced in March their plans to close the women's college in August, citing financia...

     Bob Wiolletts peered through the windows of a passenger car at the crowd gathered across from Roanoke's East End Shops. "The spirit of Roaoke is back," he said, "and I think you see it out there."      Willetts was riding at the tail end of the train pulled by the newly restored Norfolk & western Class J 611 stema engine, which loosed its deep whistle in response to the cheers of thousands of onlookers gathered to celebrate its return.       Rail fans from all around the country followed the train's progress online, traveled to places all along the 200-mile route to capture new photos of the negine in motion, and even boarded the train fro a nostalgic ride.       "It's a historic engine. It has a beauty and a power that represents what railroads meant to the nation," said Dante Stephensen, a jazz pianist and retired rail worker from Atlanta who gave his age as "probably 80." Stephensen ...