Norfolk Police Chief Bruce Marquis advises that, "First and foremost, it goes back to the family, or lack thereof." James Church, 43, Chesapeake auto dealer and former pro football player, says teens need to "think of the consequences of things happening, that might be beyond your control, at 11 o'clock or 12 o'clock" at night.

Supporters of Barack Obama have more reason for hope, barely a month from the presidential election, that their candidate could be the first Democrat to turn Virginia blue in 44 years. Four polls of state voters released in the past several days show the race a virtual dead heat in the commonwealth; Obama led in two polls, and Republican nominee John McCain led in the other two.

Fan fondness for insensitive racial terms has reared its ugly head once again. Virginian-Pilot writer Catherine Kozak reports that a former member of the North Carolina Board is urging school districts in the state to rid itself of Indian mascots. Eddie Davis has taken aim, in particular, at those schools that still use terms such as "Redskins," as offensive a moniker there is.

My chruch  has a ritual that's among the most moving experiences I've witnessed there.

Police chiefs don't make the law. They're not supposed to ignore some at the expense of others. They have to enforce them all.

Iti, in a word, bizarre: Recent news articles say "Mary McFate," a longtime gun-control activist who had aggressively sought a board position with the nation's pre-eminent group opposing gun violence, was possibly a paid spy for the largest gun-rights organization in the country.

The news out of Washington on homelessness was encouraging. So it seemed. The number of "chronically homeless" people nationwide had dropped a whopping 30 percent in just two years, from 175,914 to 123,833. From 2005 to 2007, according to federal housing officials, tens of thousands more people had stable homes and were out of shelters or off the streets.

IT'S BEEN hovering in the 90s lately, but John Skirven already fears the 30-degree temperatures we'll see this winter.

Did he  really just take a swing at me? It was 30 years ago, spring 1978, and I was leaving the indoor basketball courts at the University of Maryland in suburban D.C. A guy from the other team - which had lost when I'd sunk the winning hoop - approached me as I was leaving the gym. "You undercut me!" he shouted. "Let's go!" he added, challenging me to a fight.

Two sides of the gun issue played themselves out in stark contrast in our region within days. We saw gunfire devastate the family of an 18-year-old Oscar Smith High School graduate, who was found on a Chesapeake lawn. We witnessed the heroic actions of a pizza owner in Virginia Beach who killed a suspected robber, saving himself and his employees.