In the sunken lawn at Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest, Bill Barker’s voice pierces the retreat’s serenity.

BEDFORD — The Bedford County School Board took its first steps Thursday to establish a long-range facility plan to address the school division’s needs over the next decade.

Eager to start building a new hospice but still looking to pin down a location site, Bedford Hospice House Inc. is interested in leasing Bedford County-owned land on Falling Creek Road.

BEDFORD — The Bedford County Board of Supervisors voted Monday to approve a zoning permit allowing a technologies research tower to locate in the New London Business and Technology Center on U.S. 460.

A Moneta man was killed in a trench collapse Friday afternoon, according to officials with the Bedford County Sheriff’s Office.

GOODE — A wreck on U.S. 221 in Bedford County on Thursday night killed a Forest man after his car crossed the center line and collided with a tractor-trailer, according to Virginia State Police.

Liberty High School has a new principal, Bedford County School officials announced Thursday.

Bedford County wants to hear from skateboarders on the design of a newly approved skate park.

A three-piece octagonal dining table believed to have belonged to Thomas Jefferson will be on public display Saturday at Poplar Forest.

The economy’s crippling effect on construction has led the Bedford County Planning Commission to scarcely review land use projects in 2009, according to mid-year report on activities and trends. The commission did not receive any requests this year from Jan. 1 to June 30 for rezonings, zoning text changes or special review projects and held only two public hearings on separate requests for special use permits.

The Bedford County School Board decided Thursday to hold a workshop Sept. 17 to discuss a long-term plan for facilities.

BEDFORD — An Appomattox man was sentenced to three months in jail Wednesday morning after pleading guilty to driving drunk in a May wreck that injured a Lynchburg prosecutor and killed her dog.

BEDFORD — After several years of debating a new use for a former nursing home building, Bedford County is seeking private ownership of the structure for an assisted living facility.

Plans for an expansive luxury housing development on Johnson Mountain have been scrapped and the owner, NASCAR Craftsman truck driver Stacy Compton, said he will sell off the land.

The Bedford County Board of Supervisors will meet for the first time tonight as a newly established broadband authority.