Norfolk-Virginia Beach

Kids compete in Suffolk beauty pagent

Ramsey Griffin has wanted to be a beauty queen ever since she saw a pageant on TV, said her mother, Tina Griffin. So Saturday, the blond, blue-eyed 3-year-old got her chance, taking the stage in the Million $$$ Baby Model Search Pageant at the Wha... - Posted on June 14, 2009

Problems at Wilson High

A school security officer smelled the smoke, then saw the cloud. Within minutes, he and a police detective were frisking a kid. Damon E. Cary watched as the two men uncovered several small bags of marijuana in the 17-year-old ninth-grader’s jean... - Posted on June 14, 2009

Students take learning to new heights

With two friends watching, Joi Parker folded a sheet of white paper once, twice, then a third time until it began to resemble an item typically not allowed in school: a paper airplane. "OK, perfect," Joi said as she finished. "Now we have to color... - Posted on June 11, 2009

Spring shad harvest: a ritual renewed

They return each spring, an ancient migration that slips upriver like a silvery plume of mercury. Once, the annual shad run meant full bellies after the lean of winter. Now, it’s more about extra income and the renewal of an old bond. A river ru... - Posted on June 10, 2009

Ancient writing tablet found in Jamestown

Archaeologists have pulled a 400-year-old slate tablet from what they think was an original well at Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America, a historic preservation group announced Monday. The slate is covered with faint... - Posted on June 9, 2009

Girl Scout project in mother's memory

A breeze rustles the blue long-sleeved blouse on the well-dressed scarecrow Patsy DeLacey and her mother crafted together years ago. Cucumbers, zucchini and hearty eggplant abound. A row of Silver Queen corn shows promise; the okra could use some ... - Posted on June 9, 2009

Linemen scale power tower, untangle osprey

A osprey whose foot was tangled in a mass of twine should be soaring free over Virginia Beach today, thanks to Dominion Virginia Power employee Dan Anzur. The bird was trapped in a nest atop a utility tower 110 feet above General Booth Boulevard t... - Posted on June 8, 2009

A chance for a summer job

The burgundy Expedition cruised along Newtown Road until Wesley Waites spied another target. "Hey, man, did you have a job last summer?" Waites asked. "Nope," 18-year-old Johntae Pinkney replied. "Want one this summer?" "Yep." Waites then delivere... - Posted on June 8, 2009

Surf shop connects with youth

Tom Brown's love affair with surfing and his wife both began at St. Leo University in Florida. That was in 1969. Brown, originally from Cleveland, Ohio, graduated from St. Leo in 1973, married his wife, Deni, in 1974, and went on to build a highly... - Posted on June 8, 2009

What's in a name? Commodore Theater

The Commodore Theatre, interesting in its own right as an art deco building designed by a leading architect of the 1940s, is even more intriguing for its namesake - Commodore James Barron. "James Barron had an interesting history," Dean Burgess, a... - Posted on June 8, 2009