On Tuesday, WRAL News is getting a sneak peek at the new Caesars Virginia.

The casino is in Danville, Virginia, just over an hour away from Durham and an hour-and-a-half from Raleigh.

We’re now a week away from the casino’s long-awaited opening.

Many North Carolinians have already made the trip on Interstate 40 from Raleigh to gamble legally at its temporary setup in Danville. 

Caesars Virginia is a $750-million development from Caesars Entertainment and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Guests will find a gaming floor with 1,500 slot machines, 79 live dealer table games, a Caesars Sportsbook and a World Series of Poker Room. 

Caesars Virginia will become the third permanent resort casino to open in Virginia.

The doors of the resort, which also includes a 320-room luxury hotel, will open at noon on Dec. 17 – a delay from its initial opening date, which was scheduled for Friday.

BLACKSBURG, Va. (WDBJ) – Virginia Tech professor and poet, Nikki Giovanni, has died at the age of 81. She died peacefully with her lifelong partner, Virginia (Ginney) Fowler, by her side.

Yolande Cornelia “Nikki” Giovanni, born in Knoxville, Tennessee, on June 7, 1943, served as a University Distinguished Professor in the English Department at Virginia Tech. Giovanni, an honorary member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., is the recipient of hundreds of awards and honors. She was most recently awarded a 2024 Emmy for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking for Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project.

As a prominent figure of the Black Arts and Civil Rights Movements, she became friends with Rosa Parks, Aretha Franklin, James Baldwin, Nina Simone, and Muhammad Ali, and inspired generations of students, artists, activists, musicians, scholars and human beings both young and old.

Having battled cancer twice already, Giovanni refused to let a third bout interrupt her art. Just three weeks ago, she performed with saxophonist Javon Jackson at the Louis Armstrong House in New York City. Her forthcoming book of poetry, “The Last Book”, will be published in fall 2025.

“The poet Adrienne Rich wrote ‘…somehow, each of us will help the other live, and somewhere, each of us must help the other die.’ Renée Watson and I sat by her side, with Ginney, along with family and close friends, chatting about how much we learned about living from her, about how lucky we have been to have Nikki guide us, teach us, love us. We will forever be grateful for the unconditional time she gave to us, to all her literary children across the writerly world,” said Kwame Alexander.

Giovanni is survived by her wife, Virginia Fowler, her son Thomas Giovanni, her granddaughter, Kai Giovanni, two cousins, Haynes Ford and Allison (Pat) Ragan, and a nephew Christopher Black.

“We will forever feel blessed to have shared a legacy and love with our dear cousin,” said Allison Ragan on behalf of the family.

Copyright 2024 WDBJ. All rights reserved.

There are only two Power Four head coaching jobs that remain open – West Virginia and North Carolina.

Following the news late last night of Tulane’s Jon Sumrall telling school officials that he is staying with the Green Wave, both the Mountaineers and Tar Heels can officially cross him off their respective lists. Sumrall garnered a lot of interest this cycle, but bigger jobs are likely on the table for him in the near future.

Over the weekend, some surprising news came out about the North Carolina job as legendary NFL head coach Bill Belichick is not only interested in the position but according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, he met with UNC for five hours on Sunday. If UNC goes in that direction, West Virginia won’t have to worry about having to outbid anyone for their guy, and they may not have to anyway.

Penn State offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki, Jacksonville State’s Rich Rodriguez, and Army’s Jeff Monken are the three most talked about names for WVU at this stage. Ty Schmit, a member of the panel on the Pat McAfee Show, believes Rich Rod is the way for the Mountaineers to go.

“You want to get the right guy, but you want to win the cycle as well,” Schmit said on the McAfee Show Monday afternoon. “Obviously, if Bill goes to North Carolina that’s massive, and it’ll eat up a bunch of stuff. But there really hasn’t been that candidate that’s emerged that every school wants right now. Like usually, we have one or two of those guys when all these jobs open up. No disrespect to Barry Odom or anything like that, but you didn’t see Purdue fans going crazy when he got hired. If Rich Rod got hired by West Virginia, sure some of the limelight might get stolen by Bill potentially going to UNC but you would win this cycle.”

In two years at the FBS level, Rodriguez has coached the Gamecocks to an 18-8 record and a Conference-USA championship.

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