| Itâs old, hard for many area veterans to reach, and significant numbers of it beds are unused, so after 80 years at the tip of the Peninsula, the Hampton Veterans Administration Medical Center is facing an uncertain future. Earlier this year, the VAâs study of its nationwide health care system recommending closing Hampton down and replacing it with new centers in Norfolk and Newport News, while sending more veterans for medical and surgical inpatient care to the Naval hospital in Portsmouth and moving its spinal cord injuries cases to Richmondâs VA center. On the other hand, a group of a dozen Senators, led by Veterans Affair Committee chairman Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., this week pledged to block the commissionâs recommendations. While the study proposed closing 17 facilities nationwide, Hampton is unusual in being replaced by two new centers. On the other hand, the study recommended a new New Jersey facility to fill any gaps from the proposed closing of two New York City VA hospitals, in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Read more in the Sunday Main News section
A couple days after Portsmouth Police Chief Renado Prince was fired from his job, Pastor Bobby Randall voiced concern. At a time of rising crime in the city, Randall said Thursday morning, the police department simply canât afford more leadership turnover in its upper ranks. âFor the chief of police to be fired after just under a year of serving ... I think it was done prematurely,â Randall said. âWe need to give our officers hope, by steady, consistent leadership, and without steady, consistent leadership, the bottom will crumble and fall.â But the pastor sounded much different hours later, after Interim Police Chief Stephen D. Jenkins spoke at an anti-violence event at New First Baptist Church. Flanked by Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares and Portsmouth Sheriff Michael A. Moore, Jenkins drew multiple rounds of applause from the crowd of more than 125 people with his forceful delivery on a range of topics. Read more in the Sunday Main News section Starla Baker was ready for her baby brother to come home. After 14 years in prison, William âMannâ Barco â an inmate at Greensville Correctional Center â was slated to be released July 5. Baker lined up a job for him in construction and prepared a bedroom at their motherâs house in Norfolk. She bought items he would need, like clothing and a cell phone. Their family even had a âWelcome Homeâ party planned: They bought balloons and banners and another sibling booked a flight from Tennessee. Then about two weeks ago Barco, 30, called with an update: He wasnât getting out. âI was pulling in my driveway and he called and told me and I literally thought he was pranking me,â Baker said. But it wasnât a joke. Barco and hundreds of other Virginia state prisoners are no longer eligible for early release, due to a budget amendment from Gov. Glenn Youngkin, passed by The General Assembly last month, that restricted which inmates are eligible for early release through a program that lets people earn time off for good conduct. Now the prisoners who were slated to go home this summer will remain in custody, leaving many angry and confused. Lawmakers in favor of the new policy argue it will keep communities safe, but some human rights advocates fear it could have the opposite effect. Read more in the Sunday Main news section Betsy Hardy woke up early June 29, the weight of five generations on her mind. Three hours later, she stood in the parking lot of the TowneBank Pavilion Center II building. She watched as the outdoor pedestal clock that had been a fixture in the familyâs jewelry business since 1884 was loaded onto a trailer bound for Tennessee. âIâm going to keep my glasses on,â said Hardy, holding back tears as the crane operator prepared to lift the 650-pound piece. For years, the black metal clock greeted drivers as they entered the resort area. Before that, it lived in front of her fatherâs store at Wayside Village Shoppes on Virginia Beach Boulevard. But its heyday was in the early 1900s as a fixture on downtown Norfolkâs Granby Street in front of four iterations of the jewelry store. Hardy has managed the business since 1993. She moved the clock to her gallery, Hardyâs The Art of Jewelry, in 2010. Read more in the Sunday Break section
When Clayton Echard was in the seventh grade, he became hyperfocused on his body, pinching his stomach every time he passed by a mirror because he didnât like the way it looked. It was years before the âBachelorâ star could put a name to what he was experiencing â body dysmorphia, a mental health disorder that involves obsessively focusing on a perceived physical flaw. Now heâs trying to help others who are struggling with the same. After the show finished airing in March, Echard opened up about his struggles, posting resources and tips online. âGoing on the show was a catalyst for me feeling as though I can do this,â Echard, 29, said. âItâs something that Iâm passionate about, and I want to be able to impact others.â Echard is known as the dimpled, buff, 6-foot-5 star of the 26th season of âThe Bachelor,â but now heâs rebranding himself as a mental health advocate. This, he believes, was the only path forward after the filming ended and he sank into depression. Read more in the Sunday Break section
Hampton Roads airports are working to accommodate industry challenges, but the region isnât experiencing the long lines, staffing shortages and delayed and canceled flights that other cities are experiencing, airport leaders said. Norfolk International Airport has been busier but well-staffed, and both vendors and the Transportation Security Administration were prepared for Fourth of July demand, said Charlie Braden, director of market development at Norfolk Airport Authority. âWith regards to cancellations and delays, weâre really sort of at the whim of the airlines,â Braden said. So far this summer, Braden said the Norfolk airport is experiencing a 10% reduction in departures compared with the summer of 2019 along with an 11% increase in seats. And 2019 was the airportâs highest passenger growth year on record, Braden noted. Read more in the Sunday Work & Money section
In an instant late last week, the ACC went from a period of relative stability â yet one not without significant questions about its long-term future â to prognostications of doom and visions of worst-case scenarios. Pick a related metaphor and they all fit the perception that suddenly surrounds the ACC: A sinking ship; the Hindenburg engulfed in a fireball; the grim reaper knocking on the door, toting a scythe. The ACC isnât quite there, not yet anyway, but the vibes are not good. The revelation that USC and UCLA intend to depart the Pac-12 for the Big Ten has reinforced a truth that is not new, necessarily, but one that is becoming more difficult to ignore. And that truth is this: In major college athletics, there is no longer any such thing as the Power Five. Read more in the Sunday Sports section See America - Summer 2022 Parade Picks - Passport to Paris What America Eats - Summer's Best Steak Salad | 