PORTSMOUTH

The Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth is operating at a heightened level of security as a result of the shootings at Fort Hood in Texas.

TowneBank reported Thursday that its net income rose 11 percent to $7.1 million in the quarter ended Sept. 30, up from $6.4 million in July-to-September last year.

PORTSMOUTH A second man has been charged in connection with the shooting of a 13-year-old boy in Portsmouth on Sept. 4, police said today.

Jerrit S. Allen, 18, of the 800 block of Lincoln St. was charged with malicious wounding and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. The teen was shot about 1:15 p.m. in the 1500 block of Lansing Ave. and was treated at a hospital.

PORTSMOUTH A man with a knife robbed the Wachovia bank at 5820 High St. W. this morning.

He held the knife while demanding money from a teller at 10:38 a.m., police said, and was described as white and in his 40s. No one was reported injured.

Police asked that anyone with information call the Crime Line at 1 (888) LOCK-U-UP (562-5887).

PORTSMOUTH

Detectives have named a suspect in the Sunday shooting death of a 45-year-old city man. They’re looking for Gary Lorenzo Haile, 44, of the 20 block of Linden Ave., police announced today in a news release. They have taken out arrest warrants charging him with murder, using a firearm in a felony and possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.

PORTSMOUTH An effort to recall Mayor James Holley got a boost this week with the gathering of more signatures and the formation of a political action committee. About sixteen volunteers fanned out at precincts around the city and gathered 2,415 more signatures on Election Day, according to Pat Simons, one of the organizers.

PORTSMOUTH A former metal scrap facility along Paradise Creek will be added to the national Superfund program today, becoming the ninth contaminated site in South Hampton Roads on the Environmental Protection Agency's hazardous properties list. The designation mandates that either the owner or the EPA create a plan to clean up the land, by removing or containing pollutants and contamination.

PORTSMOUTH Developers and builders looking to work in this city deal with more than 200 pages of city code - most of it telling them what they can't do. City leaders want to change that.

PORTSMOUTH The developer of a delayed downtown hotel project has been granted a construction extension. The Planning Commission voted Tuesday to allow Jay Barot of Old Towne Hospitality LLC another year to build a five-story Holiday Inn at 219 Pavilion Drive, by the entrance to eastbound Interstate 264.

PORTSMOUTH Incumbent Sheriff W. O. "Bill" Watson won a second term Tuesday by an almost two-to-one margin over independent challenger David Lee Cherry Sr., according to unofficial vote totals from the city.