When her 18-month-old son was burning up with a fever that left him unconscious, Hilda Stewart did the only thing she could do. She left her home on Indian River Road and drove 45 minutes to the closest hospital. Norfolk General was the only option. It was 1964.

Billy McConnell’s students may be sitting at their desks when you walk into his classroom, but they won’t be there for long.
Last week, switching from reading to a fractions lesson, this year’s Teacher of the Year in Chesapeake had his fourth-graders get to their feet.

CHESAPEAKE His mother calls him Superman. His father says he's a miracle. Nearly two years after being struck by lightning, 13-year-old Noah Addesa continues to amaze. He smiles often. He laughs hard. His hands move. His dark-set eyes communicate with an unquestionable level of alertness.

Grassfield High School senior Denita Whitefield uncovered a knack for wielding a gavel. School board clerk Alan Vaughan discovered, in his own words, “how easily (he) could be replaced.” And students who attend the city’s schools every day found out how the decisions are made that affect their lives.

Ready, set, cook. Twenty-one Hampton Roads high school students, all wanna-be chefs, had two hours to prepare a two-course French meal last week in the Careers through Culinary Arts cookoff. No peeking at the recipe.

Nobody is a bigger NASCAR fan than Nick Deweese.
OK, maybe there’s one.

Marianne Chalk recalls the anxiety of a female inmate incarcerated at the Chesapeake Correctional Center.

CHESAPEAKE
Carol and Maury Phillippi loved their dogs like they might have loved their children, if they'd had them.
There was Dusty, a puli that looked like mop strings, and Puff-n-Stuff, a furry black mutt with tufts of white.
Kismet was the last - "a little black, fuzzy ball of life and love" - who died after 17 years and left them broken-hearted.

 CHESAPEAKE
Steve Vutsinas has a vision, and it looks – or rather, sounds – a little something like this:

A whim and a mass mailing led to professional photographer Glen McClure's career that went on full display last week at the Portlock Galleries at SoNo.
"So Far" showcases the 54-year-old Norfolk native's black and white and color photographic output from 1994 to the present. The one-man show will be on display at the South Norfolk arts center through April 5.