The Nest — #tshirts

Valentine’s Day is a great opportunity to first appreciate your spouse, celebrate what they mean to you, and to thank them for the day-to-day support and sacrifices they make on behalf of your family. It is also an opportunity to reintroduce romance back into your life. It comes in at a good time of year, when life has settled in for a long winter’s nap, the momentum of New Year resolutions has waned and it still looks pretty bleak outside. Valentine’s Day can a little color, a little romance, and a little kick into your relationship. Here are five ideas...

Fire Department paramedics are urging residents to practice heat safety wherever they are as temperatures continue to soar in the high 90s, with heat indexes in the 100s. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), heat is typically the leading cause of weather-related fatalities each year because of dehydration or overheating. Heat-related illnesses and deaths are preventable, so firefighters are offering tips to help people stay safe during the heat wave. Firefighter/paramedics say the best thing to do is to avoid being outside for prolonged periods of time during extreme heat, but if that isn’t possible, there are...

Five years ago, Jennifer Owens couldn’t manage to do a single pull-up. It kept her from passing a fitness performance test all police officers must complete as part of the police academy. But now she breezes through more than a dozen pull-ups. Last week she ripped off 18 of them. The 27-year-old Roanoke police detective can also do 70 sit-ups and can bench press 140 pounds, more than her body weight. Owens’ physical abilities have helped out her out at work, where she occasionally has to chase down criminals and restrain men whose size can dwarf her small frame, but...