With Wegmans announcing this week that plastic bags would no longer be available at its Virginia Beach location â part of its effort to end use of them in the commonwealth and North Carolina by the end of the year â regional environmental activists see an opportunity to convince more local governments to tax plastic bags. From 2015 to 2020, plastic bags were the fourth most common type of litter found during the International Coastal Cleanup, conducted by Ocean Conservancy. In 2020, the Virginia General Assembly passed House Bill 534 which allowed any county or city to impose a âtaxâ â activists say itâs more like a fee because it can be avoided by using reusable bags â of $0.05 for each disposable plastic bag provided to a customer. Local governments began discussing the ordinance in earnest in May 2021, and since then only eight communities have approved it: Roanoke, Fairfax County, Alexandria, Arlington County, Fredericksburg, Falls Church, Loudon County, and Albemarle County. Read more in the Sunday Main News section 
The Barry Art Museum at Old Dominion University will receive 165 glass sculptures from the Leah and Richard Waitzer Foundation, which will more than double the museumâs glass collection. The pieces â 20th century and contemporary glass â come from the late coupleâs three sons, Eddie, Brad and Scott, directors of the Waitzer foundation. The elder Waitzers were prominent philanthropists and civic leaders, and avid patrons of the arts. They gave generously to the Chrysler Museum of Art, Virginia Symphony and Eastern Virginia Medical School. Richard Waitzer died in 2019; Leah Waitzer died in 2021, months after a building named after the family opened at EVMS. Read more in the Sunday Break section Before Samella Lewis founded a museum dedicated to promoting Black arts, before she started a magazine to do the same, before she became known as the âgodmother of African American Art,â she was a proud graduate and supporter of Hampton University. Lewis, 99, died May 27 in California. Her memory, however, remains strong at Hampton, which in 1945 awarded her bachelorâs degree in art history and for decades worked closely with her. âA lot of African American artists would not be who they are â not only as an African American artist, but as artists â if not for Samella,â said Vanessa D. Thaxton-Ward, who is director of the Hampton University Museum and has worked there since the 1990s. âShe helped African American artists find their place in the art world.â In 1976, Lewis founded Los Angelesâ Museum of African American Art. Its executive director today, Keasha Dumas Heath, notes her wide-ranging impact. In an email, she called Lewis âa leading voice in the scholarship on Black art, and a promoter of new pathways for Black artists.â Read more in the Sunday Break section A new aquatic center under construction honors the legacy and vision of the late Michael âBig Mikeâ Hillier, founder of Lynnhaven Dive Center. Hillier died in July 2021 at age 74 following an 18-year battle with metastatic cancer. He started the Virginia Beach-based business in 1978 and passionately nurtured it from a small two-person operation to become a fundamental part of Hampton Roadsâ diving and swim community. An avid diver, Hillier was known to love the underwater world and wanted to share its beauty with everyone. Ten years ago, the torch was passed to Hillierâs daughter, Lindsey Hillier Hotchkiss, and her husband, Scott. She said they planned and dreamed of a new center for years â as her late father did. âOur community needs a larger indoor year-round facility to save more lives and foster not only the love of the water, but also safety,â she said. The new facility, featuring a 9,000-square-foot aquatic and dive center, is under construction by Axis Global Enterprises with completion slated for the spring of 2023. It will be at 1413 N. Great Neck Road, directly behind the original existing center at 2204 Poplar Point Road. Read more in the Sunday Work & Money section
Kyle Stowers always had it in the back of his mind as he went through his day-to-day work with the Falmouth Commodores of the Cape Cod League in 2018. He had arrived as a temporary player, filling a roster spot until the College World Series ended and some of the best players around college baseball reported to their summer league destinations. The thing was, Stowers had no intention of leaving. The then-Stanford outfielder was determined to stake his place, and he did so behind a team-leading .326 batting average and a .926 OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage). Around midseason, when the cutoff date arrived for coach Jeff Trundy to decide which temporary players would stay and which would depart, he hardly gave Stowers a second glance. âHey, by the way,â Stowers recalled Trundy saying, âobviously youâre staying the rest of the summer.â Stowers had done more than enough to earn his place with the Commodores, setting himself up well to become a second-round selection for the Orioles in the 2019 draft. Now heâs with Baltimore in the major leagues, and he finds himself in much the same situation he did that summer on the Cape. The 24-year-old outfielder joined Baltimore in Toronto as a replacement player, filling in for outfielder Anthony Santander, whoâs on the restricted list. He had one more game with the Orioles on Thursday before Santander returns and Stowers likely heads to Triple-A Norfolk again â at least for the time being.
Read more in the Sunday Sports section
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