SUFFOLK On the chilly night of Feb. 12, two inspectors from the state Department of Environmental Quality rode the back roads of Suffolk in search of the mysterious, nasty smell that has drifted over parts of the city for months. It didn't take long.

CHESAPEAKE SPSA, the troubled regional garbage authority, expects to shed 249 jobs later this year, more than half of its work force, according to budget documents released Wednesday.

VIRGINIA BEACH Finding a second representative to serve on the region's trash authority has become something of a political challenge for the city. When the Southeastern Public Service Authority's new board of directors met last month, John Barnes, Virginia Beach's waste management administrator, flew solo. All the other member cities had two representatives.

CHESAPEAKE "You'll find very quickly that nothing is simple here," SPSA's financial director, Liesel De Vary, instructed her new board of directors on Wednesday. She was describing how the Southeastern Public Service Authority has five layers of debts, total ing $228 million (not counting interest), and how the agency is supposed to pay off its loans in the next eight years.

SPSA, the region’s struggling trash authority, has a new board of directors.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine announced today the names of the people he appointed to the board. By law, no elected officials were allowed. The previous board was made mostly of elected officials.

CHESAPEAKE At its final meeting before new state rules take effect, SPSA's board of directors moved Monday to calm nervous creditors about a proposed deal to sell its trash-burning power plant to a private company for $150 million.

SUFFOLK The Southeastern Public Service Authority, the regional waste authority, said Monday that a foul smell coming from the regional landfill in Suffolk is harmless to neighboring residents but should last two or three more days.

PORTSMOUTH The sale of SPSA's biggest asset faces a potential stumbling block because of environmental and community concerns that the regional waste authority has so far ignored, city leaders said.

SPSA was hoping to get a state lending agency's blessing Tuesday on a $150 million deal to sell a trash-burning power plant. Instead, the regional trash authority got a list of new demands that could slow its push to finalize the sale of a Portsmouth trash-to-energy plant.

A state agency that's owed millions by SPSA is again frustrated with the regional trash authority.
The executive director of the Virginia Resources Authority said Friday that the Southeastern Public Service Authority has failed, despite repeated requests, to provide basic information about a $150 million deal to sell a power plant.