VIRGINIA BEACH
By Selene D. Guerrero
A new year often brings changes, opportunities and new beginnings. For the Virginia Beach branch of the NAACP, January ushered in a significant change in leadership.

VIRGINIA BEACH
As an artist, Carol Chewning wears her muse on her sleeve – or rather on her dyed fabric art.
 

By Liz King VIRGINIA BEACH A three-bedroom home on Knotts Island, N.C., surrounded by wooded acres and a marsh is the peaceful retreat Toni Enright and Jamie Cochran call home – a home they share with their 53 “kids.” From pit bulls to Chihuahuas, the pair rescue dogs with behavioral issues and rehabilitate them at Forever Home Sanctuary.

VIRGINIA BEACH The stores and restaurants are great, but something has to be done about the roads.

The stores and restaurants are great, but something has to be done about the roads. That was the consensus of about 100 area residents who weighed in on existing conditions at Hilltop at a public meeting Jan. 26. It was the first of three planned public meetings designed to establish a plan for Hilltop, which is one of eight “strategic growth areas” designated by the city.

VIRGINIA BEACH   Kathy Harrison heard about the children in Afghanistan who were using two sticks and a plastic bag as a makeshift kite. She also learned they had no school. “That sealed it for me,” Harrison said. “I had to do something.” She decided on a care package. Of kites.

VIRGINIA BEACH

Planning is under way to narrow a roadway for safety reasons in a neighborhood where a family was struck by a pickup about two weeks ago. South Plaza Trail will be shrunk from four lanes to three between Interstate 264 and Continental Street, likely after July 1, said Drew Lankford, a spokesman for the city’s Department of Public Works.

VIRGINIA BEACH

A barren lot at the entrance to the Laskin Road Gateway project will soon be fertile ground for a public park.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Mike Hixenbaugh covers city government for The Virginian-Pilot. This piece was one of his "Above Board" columns published in the Beacon section of The Pilot. Ask most members of the City Council and the mayor if they want to raise property taxes this year, and you’re likely to hear variations of the same answer: “Of course not.”

The "Today" show, "World News with Diane Sawyer," the Princess Anne High School faculty - everybody wants a piece of Huff the Great Dane and Jonathan Friedman, the local man who won $1 million with his Doritos commercial during the Super Bowl.