| State Sen. Louise Lucas reached a milestone in the Twittersphere earlier this month. The Portsmouth Democrat hit 60,000 followers, no small feat for a state politician, and she asked them how she should celebrate. She offered four options: Hosting a cannabis festival, launching merchandise, dunking on Gov. Glenn Youngkin or all of the above. More than 2,000 followers voted and most selected the latter. Richmond City Councilwoman Ann-Frances Lambert commented on the post and shared an image of Michael Jackson eating popcorn and grinning. âWhen you dunk on the governor this will be me,â Lambert wrote. It would have been hard to imagine back when Facebook was primarily a platform for college students and Twitter had yet to take off, but politicians now routinely turn to social media to communicate with constituents â or to take shots at their political opponents. Some political and communications experts warn that social media may encourage divisive rhetoric, which was on display in Hampton Roads during the recent General Assembly session. Read more in the Sunday Main News section The General Assembly adjourned last week after a 60-day legislative session that may be remembered most by what wasnât accomplished. A slew of bills, including measures about guns, abortion, voting rights, same-sex marriage and the sale of marijuana, were killed off due to partisan gridlock in the newly-divided Capitol. A handful of other measures â including the state budget â remain under debate in conference committees that House and Senate members use to reconcile differences. â(The two parties) certainly eliminated the more extreme measures by either side. Each chamber sent a clear message to the other,â said Sen. Monty Mason, D-Williamsburg. But thatâs not to say legislators didnât find any middle ground. More than 840 bills were passed by the General Assembly and are awaiting a veto or signature from the governor, according to an aide for Gov. Glenn Youngkin. Hereâs a look at some of the measures that made it through: Read more in the Sunday Main News section The best-selling author of the book âHidden Figuresâ will speak at Christopher Newport University in Newport News on Tuesday. Margot Lee Shetterly, a Hampton native and Phoebus High School graduate, will speak at 7:30 p.m. at the Diamonstein Concert Hall, 1 Avenue of the Arts. The 2016 book details the accomplishments of Black women mathematicians at Hamptonâs NASA Langley Research Center âwhose grit and determination in the face of discrimination helped America win the space raceâ in the 1960s, according to a flyer promoting the event. Read more in the Sunday Main News section
Like competitors at the Olympics, the dancers with American Ballet Theatre perform astounding feats that make audience members gasp. A man hoisting a ballerina with one arm! A dancer spinning with one leg out, then up in a near-vertical split, while en pointe! Yet they are great artists, not medal-winning gymnasts. âThese dancers could go anywhere in the world,â said Kevin McKenzie, artistic director of ABT since 1992. âTheir level is so high itâs ridiculous.â He is sending a crew of about 130, including 90 dancers, to Norfolk to open the 25th anniversary season for the Virginia Arts Festival. Performances of the companyâs comic ballet âDon Quixoteâ are set for March 25 through 27 at Chrysler Hall. The tale, drawn from Miguel de Cervantesâ novel, centers on a befuddled old knight errant intent on finding his vision of an ideal woman, Dulcinea. Along the way, he encounters a young couple foiled in love: a tavern keeperâs daughter, Kitri, and her beau, Basilio, a poor barber she is forbidden to marry. The setting is Spain. Music is by Ludwig Minkus.
Read more in the Sunday Break section
Massimo Zanetti Beverage USAâs new warehouse complex in Suffolk extends the length of four football fields. Thatâs a whole lot of coffee. Named for its founder, chairman and CEO, the company recently relocated its distribution center from Court Street in Portsmouth to a newly constructed building in Virginia Port Logistics Park. Brands such as Chock full oâNuts, Hills Bros., Kauai Coffee and Segafredo Zanetti are delivered, stocked and dispersed to multiple merchants, including Walmart, Amazon and Costco, from the bustling East Coast hub.
The 355,933-square-foot facility, including offices, a conference room and training center, is about 10 miles from Massimo Zanettiâs corporate headquarters and primary roastery in Wilroy Industrial Park. Read more in the Sunday Work & Money section
Obstacles are more slight hindrances than impasses for Jackson Doane. Born with a bilateral cleft lip and cleft palate, Doane, a senior at First Colonial High in Virginia Beach, has had 11 surgeries to alleviate the condition, with the most recent coming last August. That surgery was meant to help his breathing, which was operating at about 20%, Doane said. It hasnât stopped Doane from being a four-year member of First Colonialâs cross country team, and heâll attempt his first marathon Sunday at the Yuengling Shamrock Marathon at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront.
Read more in the Sunday Sports section
It was a memorable high school basketball season on the Peninsula, capped by Menchvilleâs girls basketball state championship, the first for a Newport News school in 14 years. Turns out 2021-22 has another act left. The inaugural City All-Star Basketball Classic, featuring Newport News vs. Hampton girls and boys all-star games, begins at 3 p.m. today at Woodside High. The event is so highly anticipated by Peninsula hoops fans that it sold out the Wolverinesâ nearly 1,000-seat capacity gym a week in advance, and for good reason. Rather than a seniors-only game, Tommy Reamon Sr. and Tommy Reamon Jr., founders of the City On My Chest Sports Academy conducting the event, sought permission from the Virginia High School League to allow freshmen, sophomores and juniors to compete. They got it. Read more in the Sunday Sports section Double Trouble - Channing Tatum and Sandra Bullock Parade Picks - Beatlemania Forever
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