NORFOLK Two hundred and thirty current and former workers have sued Smithfield Foods Inc., saying they weren't paid for 30 to 45 minutes of daily overtime at its plant in Smithfield. The suit, filed Friday in U.S. District Court and made public Monday, alleged two types of violations of the U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act:

Dominion Virginia Power customers and others who want to comment on the company's proposed fuel rate increase may do so during a public hearing scheduled for 10 a.m. June 24 in Richmond.

Dominion Virginia Power customers and others who want to comment on the company’s proposed fuel rate increase may do so during a public hearing scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday, June 24, in Richmond. Dominion has proposed to raise its fuel rate on July 1, which would boost bills by $16.61, or about 18 percent, for households using 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per month.

Last week, Dominion Virginia Power announced it would seek a rate increase that would boost the average bill for residential customers locally by about 18 percent, raising household electricity costs in many instances by $200 or more a year. It was one more sign of the building pressures of inflation on the economy.

VIRGINIA BEACH With a couple of toddlers and an infant in tow, two Virginia Beach moms entered a Pungo strawberry field at 8 a.m. Thursday Dark clouds filled the sky. Raindrops threatened. But, before 10, the women had picked 97 pounds of berries and were headed for home.

When Regent University awards master’s degrees in business administration today, more than one in five recipients will be black. That 22 percent figure makes Regent a virtual beacon of diversity in MBA education.

Dollar Tree Inc. announced that sales for the first quarter of 2008 topped $1 billion, up 7.8 percent from the same period last year and exceeding the company's projections.

NORFOLK The $450 million APM Terminals cargo facility that opened last July in Portsmouth does not pose a threat to the International Longshoremen's Association, the head of the dockworkers union said Thursday. APM's facility is one of the world's most automated terminals, with computer-controlled cranes and other labor-saving equipment.

NORFOLK Norfolk Southern Corp. will go to trial if necessary to fight a federal environmental lawsuit filed against it because of a deadly January 2005 train wreck in Graniteville, S.C., the Norfolk-based railroad's top executive said Thursday.

VIRGINIA BEACH Amerigroup Corp., whose growth was driven by serving low-income mothers and children without health insurance, will devote greater attention to programs for the elderly, blind and disabled, its president and CEO said during the company's annual meeting Thursday.