| From inside the room where Newport News Shipbuilding and its biggest union try to settle on a contract, the key issues feel like other labor negotiation: How hard is it for shipbuilders to stretch paychecks to cover ever-rising prices and how much would how big an increase hit company earnings? From outside, the stakes look a lot higher than in most labor contract talks. United Steel Workers Local 8888 has repeatedly said it is preparing for a strike -- preparations that it has said mainly focus on briefing members, half of whom werenât around the last time the union talked out in 1999. A walkout could have huge local and national effects.  Read more in the Sunday Main News section A 10-year-old who later died of COVID-19 complications accompanied a student to the nurseâs clinic for an injury and an inhaler two days before she reported a headache to the nurse, according to an investigation completed by Suffolk Public Schools. Teresa Sperryâs parents, Nicole and Jeff Sperry, obtained the three-page report via a Freedom of Information Act request. Suffolk Public Schools officials looked into whether a Hillpoint Elementary School teacher had Teresa Sperry escort sick students to the nurseâs clinic, against the staffâs COVID-19 protocol, the week leading up to her death. Read more in the Sunday Main News section Over 15 people sat in the boardroom Friday in David Student Union, starting the one-year process to find Christopher Newport Universityâs sixth president. During its second meeting, the universityâs presidential search committee met to roll out initial plans for the next 12 months. Board of Visitors Rector Robert Hatten appointed 15 people â including board members, faculty, staff, alumni and students â in December to serve on the committee. They are expected to seek applicants from across the country, at CNU and other institutions. The university hired consultant Martin Baker to assist in finding a replacement for Paul Trible following his retirement after 26 years as CNUâs president. Read more in the Sunday Main News section
A federal court has ordered a Norfolk medical staffing agency to pay more than $7.2 million in back pay and damages after an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor. Steadfast Medical Staffing, a Norfolk-based staffing agency for nurses and nurseâs aides, has been ordered to pay around $3.6 million in back wages and another $3.6 million in damages after the company intentionally misclassified employees and denied them overtime pay. âWhen employers misclassify employees as independent contractors and fail to pay workers their hard-earned wages, the U.S. Department of Labor will hold them legally accountable,â said U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh in a news release. Walsh said the company violated the law and shortchanged 1,105 registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and nursing aides of their rightful wages. According to the Department of Labor investigation, Steadfast willfully misclassified the workers as independent contractors since at least August 2015. By misclassifying the employees, the company paid them regular wages instead of time-and-a-half overtime pay.
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A prayer cap. Prayer beads. A sponge. Cardboard. For the average person, these items are easy to come by. That wasnât always the case for Moath al-Alwi, a Yemeni citizen and prisoner at the Guantánamo Bay detention camp at the U.S. naval base in Cuba. He had been captured near the Afghanistan border in December 2001, a few months after 9/11, and arrested but never charged with a crime. He was suspected of working for al-Qaida. While imprisoned, al-Alwi and other detainees sang, and some taught themselves how to draw, paint and build furniture. Al-Alwi used prayer caps, cardboard and acrylic paint to create intricate miniature ships; some of the materials were traded among prisoners, said Cullen Strawn, Old Dominion Universityâs executive director for the arts. The work of al-Alwi and five others is part of âArt from Guantánamo Bay,â a show at the universityâs Baron and Ellin Gordon Art Galleries on view through May 7. The show includes 101 pieces from al-Alwi and Ahmed Rabbani, who are current detainees, as well as former ones.
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Jerome Ellis stutters the most when he says his own name. So heâs given himself the moniker âJJJJJerome Ellis.â The poet, composer and writer sings, plays the saxophone and flute, and researches Blackness, speech, divinity and nature, and how they intersect for his work. Ellis, a Virginia Beach native who lives in Norfolk, is one of 63 people selected for the 2022 United States Artists fellowship program. For Ellis, that means an unrestricted $50,000 grant to further his work. The news was announced Wednesday. Since 2006, the Chicago-based arts group has given $36 million to artists across disciplines including architecture and design, media, music, theater and performance. Read more in the Sunday Break section  America's Curling Heroes Parade Picks - The Curling Craze Walter Scot Asks... Alan Ritchson
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