Latest Norfolk Stories

By Jim Washington, The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va. Jul. 31--HAMPTON -- According to police Bryan Latre Carolina, wanted in connection with a shooting Tuesday on Doolittle Road, turned himself in Thursday. The shooting happened just before 5:30 a.m. in the 100 block of Doolittle Road. A 29-year-old woman was shot in the upper torso and was seriously injured. Another man, Antwaine Tyrone Leroy Pittman, 24, was charged in the shooting. Police had been seeking Carolina, 28, on charges of...

By Kristin Davis, The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va. Jul. 31--SUFFOLK -- The Great Dismal Swamp wildfire that once blazed out of control has been reduced to a 4,664-acre simmer, with firefighting efforts slashed to a fraction of what they once were. An information center that provided regular fire updates to the media closed Friday, turning the task back over to refuge officials, said spokesman John Calabrese. The blaze is now 95 percent contained, he said. "The fire's not moving,"...

By Scott Harper, The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va. Jul. 31--VIRGINIA BEACH -- An ecological project involving Back Bay and Lake Tecumseh is in jeopardy after its government sponsor pulled out, citing numerous concerns and questions from neighbors, sportsmen and boaters. The $200,000 project was intended to permanently separate the two bodies of water in southern Virginia Beach by building two weirs, or small dikes, which experts at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service believe would help...

By Jeff Hampton, The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va. Jul. 31--COROLLA -- Currituck County may pump water to a soundside pond to help relieve chronic flooding in Corolla's Whalehead Beach community. County and state officials have repeatedly debated how best to remedy environmental messes created by flooding. Located near the Currituck Sound, the county owns property along parts of the pond, said county manager Dan Scanlon. Other sections are owned by Food Lion or fall within the Corolla Bay...

By Warren Fiske, The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va. Jul. 30--RICHMOND -- Gov. Timothy M. Kaine was mum Tuesday as word spread across the nation that Democrat Barack Obama may be on the verge of asking him to run for vice president. "I'm just not going to talk about my conversations with the campaign," he said in an interview during his monthly appearance on WTOP radio in Washington. On his way out, he was swarmed by reporters on the sidewalk. "I have not sought it. I'm not running for it....

By Bob Molinaro, The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va. Jul. 30--At the Beijing Olympics, Michael Phelps could become the next Mark Spitz. Heaven forbid. When Spitz emerged from the 1972 Olympic pool dripping with seven gold medals, he immediately entered a life of awkward celebrity and endless motivational speeches. Almost four decades later, he remains a pitchman whose primary product is Mark Spitz. Root for Phelps to win eight gold medals but, for his sake and ours, may all comparisons...

By Scott Harper, The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va. Jul. 30--RICHMOND -- The intense environmental debate over a proposed power plant in Wise County in southwest Virginia turned on Tuesday from air pollution to fly ash. This round ended shortly after it began, with the State Water Control Board approving one of three permits that Dominion Virginia Power needs to construct a 330-acre landfill that would hold tons of the ash produced next door at a coal-fired power station. Unlike previous...

By Scott Harper, The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va. Jul. 30--RICHMOND It took nearly a year to draft, but state officials presented a plan Tuesday to better protect water quality on Virginia's Eastern Shore -- as well as the many clam and oyster farms that demand clean water to survive. Clam farming, especially, has become a major economic force on the Eastern Shore and now ranks as the wealthiest such industry in the nation, generating more than $50 million per year in sales. But farmers...

By Warren Fiske, The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va. Jul. 29--RICHMOND -- Gov. Timothy M. Kaine this morning refused to discuss growing reports that Barack Obama may be on the verge of asking him to run for vice president this fall. "I don't talk about my conversations with the campaign," Kaine said during a interview on his monthly appearance on WTOP radio in Washington. Kaine repeatedly declined to promise he would serve out his term as governor, which expires in January 2010. He also...

By Lauren Roth, The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va. Jul. 29--VIRGINIA BEACH -- In six years as head of Virginia Beach Friends School, Jon Alden has helped implement a more rigorous curriculum, improved billing and budgeting and gathered community concensus the Quaker way. This fall will be his last at the school, which is based on Quaker tenets. He said it's time for a leader who can oversee a capital campaign and the construction of an eco-friendly campus on a new site. "I feel like I...