SUFFOLK Bulk refuse collection is free again, and this time the city threw in something extra for neighborhood clean up efforts. The City Council on Wednesday removed the fee it put on the service earlier this year to help the city balance its budget. Some residents heavily criticized the new fee, prompting the council to use part of a budget surplus to reverse course.

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Police are looking for a man who cashed in a winning lottery ticket that was stolen during a store burglary.  

The ticket was stolen last month during a burglary at the Holiday Food Store in the 3600 block of Pruden Blvd., according to a city news release.

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Utilities crews are planning to close part of Highland Avenue for four weeks for sewer work.

The road will close Nov. 30 from Kingsboro Street to Lakeside Street, a city news release says.

Residents who have questions can call (757) 514-7000.

SUFFOLK The City Council on Wednesday discussed new, local ways to pay for road projects as state funding becomes increasingly scarce. One possibility is to build a reserve fund with the extra tax revenue the city reaps each year from new construction, said Anne Seward, the city's budget director.

SUFFOLK Ron Trimyer, 51, bought a golf cart last month to drive around his Chatham Woods neighborhood. "It's really fun just driving around, just putt-putting and looking at everything," he said. There's only one problem. Golf carts aren't legal on public streets in the city, despite an assurance that Trimyer said he got from a police officer before he bought his cart.

Police charged a student in the city’s alternative school with possession of a weapon on school property Tuesday.

The 16-year-old girl is accused of bringing a steak knife to Turlington Woods School, spokeswoman Debbie George said. Another student mentioned the weapon to a teacher, who alerted school administration.

For all of the sparkle and shine of its new Portsmouth campus, Tidewater Community College is sitting on a gem of another kind - one of the last undeveloped waterfront properties in Hampton Roads.

Hampton Roads' favorite community theater company presents the timeless story of Joseph and the Coat of Many Colors.

With book and music by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber, Joseph is a modern musical classic for the whole family.

For more details, check the HamptonRoads.com event listing.

An old hymn says the winter storms don't begin until after all the crops are gathered in.
It's not winter, but farmers this week were surprised when a nor'easter blew through the area. Drenching rains pooled around soybeans and cotton still in the fields.
The estimated 12 inches or more of rain may have washed away thousands of acres of winter wheat already planted this fall.

SUFFOLK Eight months after state officials announced San Diego-based Sparta Inc. would bring a major operation to the city, the company finally signed a lease. Sparta Inc. has leased 73,500 square feet of industrial space at a warehouse on Harbour View Boulevard, according to a news release from commercial real estate firm Thalhimer/Cushman & Wakefield.