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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Albemarle County residents and employees are just now finding out that their personal data may have been compromised in last month’s ransomware attack... UVa’s Jim Ryan serves his last day as president… We have a story that combines a love for ramps (a type of wild leek), breaking the law, and a cultural connection between Appalachia and Korea…. -
ICE arrests in Virginia have spiked compared to other states, with most seizures in northern Virginia… The state's massive wind farm is still being built, despite federal cuts to green energy funding… Virginia reexamines the possibly tainted work of a crime lab analyst from decades ago….
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Governor Youngkin sends two Virginia water rescue teams to help flood recovery in Texas… Conservationists launch a new river otter monitoring project on the Rivanna River in Albemarle County… In this election year, we compare the major parties’ different approaches to crime….
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Federal cuts in food assistance are having a big impact in Virginia… President Trump’s focus on rounding up undocumented immigrants could reopen closed prisons… Some Virginia counties share data from roadside cameras with federal authorities….
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Five people, including three children, are wounded in a late Independence Day shootout in Charlottesville… Staunton asks for public input on a flood resiliency plan… Even as federal funding gets cut, Virginia increases money to help farmers protect the Chesapeake Bay….
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New ICE data reveal more details about the undocumented immigrants being held in Farmville’s detention facility... One Charlottesville administrator is out, and the department he oversaw is absorbed by a different one... Jeff Schapiro discusses the history of statewide officials holding off on a run for governor, and instead running for reelection, as is Attorney General Jason Miyares....
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Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, published detention statistics for fiscal year 2025 last month. WMRA's Randi B. Hagi reviewed the data relevant to the Farmville Detention Center and spoke with Bob Leweke about what she found. -
The federal lawsuit brought by Shenandoah County students and the NAACP against the county school board gets its first evidence review hearing… Virginia’s attorney general opens a criminal investigation into the whereabouts of two baby giraffes missing from the Natural Bridge Zoo… Governor Youngkin insists those being removed from Virginia in cooperation with ICE are violent criminals, but the data tell a different story….
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Nearly 100 tires are illegally dumped along the Middle River in Augusta County… We profile one Staunton family who fled violence in their home country, and whose dad is now in ICE detention… Republican candidates for statewide office hold their first unity event….
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UVa’s faculty demands a meeting with the board of visitors to condemn the government pressure that led to President Ryan’s resignation… We have a profile of John Reid, the first openly gay candidate to run for statewide office in Virginia… On this first day of a new fiscal year, many new laws in Virginia have to do with moms….
