Buffett hasn't reached out to Landmark

Warren Buffett hasn’t called Landmark Media Enterprises LLC – yet.

Buffett’s company, Berkshire Hathaway Inc., announced a week ago that it would purchase 63 newspapers from Media General Inc., based in Richmond, including the Richmond Times-Dispatch. It will pay $142 million for them.

In a memo posted online Thursday, Buffett wrote that "Berkshire will probably purchase more papers in the next few years."

Landmark, which owns The Virginian-Pilot and other publications, plans to divest of its holdings when the economy improves, executives have said.

No one from Berkshire Hathaway has contacted Landmark, Rusty Friddell, executive vice president of the company, said in an email Friday. He added: “Whether we would consider an offer (from Buffett) depends on what the offer was.”

- Philip Walzer  

Free ice cream today for 100 customers at Doumar’s

Doumar’s Cones & BBQ plans to give away free ice cream cones to the first 100 visitors at 2 p.m. to launch a new Virginia tourism campaign that touts “Old School” destinations for travelers.

The landmark Norfolk drive-in diner,at 1919 Monticello Ave., is one of eight stops on the new Old School Eats page of the Virginia Tourism Corp. website, www.Virginia.org. The site highlights more than 30 road trip ideas for visits to old-fashioned diners and drive-ins, small towns, music sites, “roadside wonders,” and wineries, breweries and spirits distilleries.

Besides Doumar’s, Old School Eats includes Adams’ Peanuts and Country Store in Waverly and Skeeter’s Restaurant, “Home of the Skeeter-Dog,” in Wytheville. The Roadside Wonders page suggests the Dinwiddie County Fair in Petersburg, the Assateague Lighthouse on Chincoteague Island and the Mariners’ Museum in Newport News.

-- CarolynShapiro

New gelato shop to open Friday in Ghent

Some opponents have fallen, but the Ghent iced-treat war wages on.

Now, Donnie Fry is suiting up for battle. His weapons: 100 recipes for homemade gelato flavors and fresh-fruit smoothies.

He and partner Heather Wynn plan to open Strawberry Fields Smoothies & Gelato on Friday at 1510 Colley Ave., the small space where frozen-yogurt shop Swirls made its last stand before closing at the end of last year.

That puts Fry’s business directly across the street from the gelato cases inside YNot Pizza & Italian Cuisine. And though the nearby Dairy Queen and Rita’s Italian Ice have recently closed, in addition to Swirls, other competitors in the Norfolk neighborhood still sell chilly desserts.

Fry has no fear. He and Wynn have concocted gelato and smoothies for Wynn’s family’s business, Lighthouse Bagels & Deli in Corolla, N.C., for the past three years. When the bagel shop dropped those items, the local partners took the equipment and set their sites on Ghent, where Fry lives.

The Virginia Beach native said the gelato selection across the street “wasn’t enough to keep us from going in what is otherwise a pretty cool location.”

– Carolyn Shapiro

Farm Fresh customers "round up" $300,000 for CHKD

Farm Fresh has donated $300,000 to the childhood cancer program at Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters, mostly from customers’ contributions during its annual Round-Up campaign.

The Round-Up program encourages Farm Fresh shoppers to pay an additional amount on their total grocery bill to reach the nearest dollar or add more money to benefit CHKD. It raised more than $210,000 this year, and Farm Fresh’s Charitable Foundation added the rest.

Farm Fresh, based in Virginia Beach, has supported CHKD’s cancer program for at least 12 years. In that time, the program has received more than $6.9 million from the retailer, Jim Dahling, the Norfolk hospital’s president and CEO, said in a written statement.

– Carolyn Shapiro

Hampton Roads Bankshares takes a hit

Shares of Hampton Roads Bankshares Inc. took a dive today, a day after the bank holding company disclosed a plan to raise up to $95 million in fresh capital.

The stock, ticker symbol HMPR, dropped 46 cents a share to $2.86, a fall of nearly 14 percent, in Nasdaq trading today.

On Monday, the Norfolk-based parent of Bank of Hampton Roads and Shore Bank said it reached an agreement with its three largest shareholders to sell them a total of $50 million in new stock at a price of 70 cents per share. That equated to about a 79 percent discount off Monday's closing price of $3.32 a share.

In addition, Hampton Roads Bankshares said it would conduct a public offering  that would allow its investors other than the three largest to add to their holdings. It valued that rights offering at $45 million.

The company warned in a regulatory filing that the capital-raising plan carried with it the risk of a significant dilution in the value of the stock now owned by many of its shareholders.

Hampton Roads Bankshares has has been struggling for several years to overcome the weight of loan losses. Under pressure from regulators, it raised $255 million in fresh capital in 2010.

- Dave Mayfield

AAA predicts 1.2% increase in Memorial Day travel

AAA predicts a 1.2 percent increase in the number of people traveling by car in Virginia over the upcoming Memorial Day weekend. That’s in line with AAA’s nationwide forecast.

AAA said more than 923,000 people are expected to drive more than 50 miles from home to a Virginia destination over the weekend.

“This year’s Memorial Day forecast reflects the continued slow and steady economic recovery in the commonwealth and across the nation,” Georjeane Blumling, vice president for AAA Tidewater Virginia, said in a statement.

Although AAA has forecast an overall increase in travelers, it said the percentage expected to travel by plane in Virginia will decline by 5.6 percent this year because of higher air fares.

- Philip Walzer

Gas price drop bodes well for holiday traveling

More good news for drivers as the Memorial Day weekend approaches: Gas prices in Hampton Roads have dropped another 6 cents on average over the past week, according to AAA’s Daily Fuel Gauge Report.

The local price of $3.53 a gallon for regular unleaded today is down from $3.84 a month ago. A year ago, the local average for regular also was $3.84.

While prices in Hampton Roads are well below the national average of $3.68 today, they’re far from the lowest in Virginia. So waiting to fill up out of town might be worth your while if you’re headed points west or north.

According to AAA, regular gas has dropped to $3.36 a gallon in the Roanoke area, $3.44 in Charlottesville and $3.50 in the Richmond area.

The average for the Washington area, including Northern Virginia, is $3.68.

Prices are generally higher in North Carolina, but Greensboro is one market in that state that’s cheaper than Hampton Roads. Regular gas in the Greensboro area is going for an average of $3.51 a gallon, according to AAA.

- Dave Mayfield  

Conference aims at disabled-vet-owned businesses

Opportunities for businesses owned by disabled veterans will be the focus of a conference Wednesday and Thursday in Hampton.

The East Coast Service Disabled Veteran Owned Business Conference and Expo will be held at the Hampton Roads Convention Center. The keynote speaker, at a luncheon Thursday, will be retired Marine officer Oliver North.

The conference is being presented by the Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business Council in cooperation with the city of Hampton and the Hampton Roads Veterans Business Outreach Center at Old Dominion University.

More information is available at www.sdvconference.com.

– Dave Mayfield

ODU economists still predict 2% growth this year

Hampton Roads’ economic output, or gross regional product, is still on track to increase 2 percent this year, Old Dominion University economists said Thursday.

They offered an update to their annual forecast based on national data through April of this year.

The university’s Economic Forecasting Team also predicted that the region’s hotel revenue and cargo traffic at the Port of Virginia would increase during the second quarter and that the unemployment rate would continue to drop and remain below the national average.  

- Philip Walzer

Job fair for veterans Thursday at Sandler Center

A job fair geared to veterans will be held Thursday at the Sandler Center for the Performing Arts in Virginia Beach.

The fair, which will run from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., is being sponsored by RecruitMilitary and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Veterans, people who are exiting the military, members of the National Guard and Reserves, and spouses and other relatives of military personnel are invited to attend.

Among the employers that RecruitMilitary expects to be represented are Home Depot, the Casey Auto Group and State Farm Insurance.  

- Philip Walzer