PORTSMOUTH The last thing Joseph Combs said to his wife as a police officer led him away from his home was that he was ready to go to the VA hospital.

PORTSMOUTH These days, Warren Swain has to admire his heavenly creation from afar. When relatives are in town during the holiday season, the retired sheet-metal worker drives them to downtown Norfolk and points to the giant, lighted star atop Portsmouth Naval Medical Center. "I say, 'See that? I built that,' " the 66-year-old said, beaming with pride.

PORTSMOUTH Residents and business owners from one of the areas hit hardest by the recent nor'easter met Thursday to vent frustrations and discuss how to get the city to pay for solutions in their flood-prone neighborhood.

By Judy Bander
Correspondent
CHURCHLAND
When you enter Nix Restaurant in Churchland there is a "Mayberry Mentality," meaning the staff and patrons are like family who care about each other.

Here's information on how storm debris will be collected in cities around Hampton Roads:  Norfolk The city has added a fifth debris and bulk-waste drop-off site for residents cleaning up from last week’s nor'easter. It will open Wednesday at East Ocean View Avenue and Shore Drive, on the east side of the Ship’s Cabin restaurant.

PORTSMOUTH Construction of the new Simonsdale Elementary will come in more than $1.5 million under budget, according to the winning company's bid. In a vote of 5-3 on Monday, the School Board awarded the contract to McKenzie Construction Corp. The company is slated to build the school for about $14.1 million. That was the lowest bid from the 10 businesses vying for the work, officials said.

PORTSMOUTH

City residents can set out bulk and brush debris from last week’s nor’easter for pickup.

The city will collect bulk and brush piles on normal trash collection days for all neighborhoods. Residents should have piles on the curb by 7 a.m. on their collection day.

Wise men - and Wise women - have lived in Virginia since at least 1635, when a teenage John Wise landed on the Eastern Shore, according to an online copy of "Col. John Wise of England and Virginia," a family study by Jennings Cropper Wise.

Virginia National Guard soldiers helped firefighters rescue nine people from flood waters overnight in Portsmouth and helped today with damage surveys and inspections in Gloucester.

The overnight rescue included a mother whose daughter had a high fever, according to a statement released today. The child was taken to Portsmouth Naval Medical Center.

PORTSMOUTH The storm tore away one of 13 sections of the roof at Ntelos Pavilion, said Ken MacDonald, manager of the facility. It was the same section that tore away in a 2006 storm, he said. The roof is designed now to fail in sections, rather than as a whole, as it did during Hurricane Isabel in 2003. “It failed the way it’s supposed to fail,” he said.