
Bob Leweke
News Director / Morning Edition HostBob Leweke is WMRA's News Director and Morning Edition host.
Before coming to public radio in 2003, Bob had worked for The Roanoke Times as a circulation manager and writer. He later became a member of the communication faculty at Pikeville College in Kentucky, and at Bridgewater College in Virginia, where he taught public speaking, mass media law, communication theory and other courses. Bob holds degrees in communication and political science from Virginia Tech, and a doctorate in mass communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 2015 and 2016, the readers of the Daily News-Record voted him “Best Radio Personality.”
In his hours away from WMRA, Bob enjoys music, cycling, reading and movie-watching, and spending time with his family doing all of the above.
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A fire in a JMU dorm displaces hundreds of students, but no one is hurt… Many customers in southside Virginia are still without electricity, after this week’s ice storm downed trees and power lines… We review the latest from the General Assembly, and we have analysis of the week in Richmond from Jeff Schapiro….
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President Trump’s effort to cut billions in research funding sparks a heated debate in Virginia’s legislature... Meanwhile, Dominion’s CEO says he’s not worried that Trump may revoke permits for the company’s giant off-shore wind project... After last year’s defiance by two electoral board members in Waynesboro, a new state bill would clarify that certifying election results is a ministerial duty of local election boards....
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Virginia Tech’s president says that Trump’s cuts in cancer research and other scientific endeavors will cost lives… Millions of dollars in climate and infrastructure projects in Virginia are now on hold… Virginia is among states with the steepest increases in rent, and the General Assembly is running out of time to address the issue….
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The governor declares a state of emergency in advance of a major winter storm… Cases of respiratory illness in Virginia are high and trending upward… The Virginia High School League says it will ban transgender girls from playing in girls’ sports in compliance with President Trump’s executive order….
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Hundreds march in Harrisonburg in support of immigrant communities… The General Assembly considers bills to protect contraception, and to help prison inmates avoid extreme heat… Harrisonburg novelist Rebecca Kauffman is WMRA’s featured Books & Brews guest for February, and we preview her new book telling the same story through the experiences of multiple people….
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The brother of the Parkland, Florida school shooter is arrested for allegedly trespassing on school properties in Augusta County… Open ranger jobs at Shenandoah National Park are caught up in Trump’s hiring freeze… Jeff Schapiro surveys a busy week in Richmond….
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As state lawmakers prepare for federal job and spending cuts, anti-Trump protesters descend on Richmond… The General Assembly begins the second half of its session… We visit the orphaned bear cubs spending their first months of life at Waynesboro’s Wildlife Center….
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We launch a new series on medical cannabis in Virginia… As the General Assembly passes its halfway point, bills to protect access to contraception, and to reform campaign finance advance… The ACLU and other advocacy groups sue President Trump over his ban on gender affirming medical care….
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In the General Assembly, just days after a Trump order ending gender-affirming care for minors, legislation advances to protect those who give such care… Bills to toughen immigration enforcement fail… A bill by Senator Creigh Deeds of Charlottesville to help communities with solar projects is still alive….
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Both houses of the General Assembly release their proposed budgets… UVa’s and VCU’s medical systems stop providing gender-affirming care to patients under age 19 to comply with an executive order from President Trump… The NCAA settles a lawsuit with Virginia over its rules prohibiting NIL compensation for recruits….