| Norfolk Realtor Kathryn Kramer has seen prospective homebuyers try many tactics to secure a contract in the midst of the booming residential real estate market, but one sticks out in her mind. During a competition for a home this month, the second-highest bidder asked the person with the top bid to walk away in exchange for $30,000 cash. The person refused because they didnât want to venture back out into the current housing market, Kramer said. A record low inventory of homes on the market, combined with low interest rates, translated to a great 2020 for area real estate companies. In the midst of an economy-shrinking pandemic, residential housing has remained a bright spot locally. âThe houses right now are flying off the shelves, and thatâs a supply-and-demand study for the ages right now,â said J. Van Rose Jr., principal owner of Rose & Womble Realty. Â Read more in this Sunday's Main News section. If you live in Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth or Virginia Beach, every time you take out the trash, youâre probably contributing to national defense. Unlike most other Americansâ trash, the vast majority of waste from those cities doesnât end up buried in a landfill. Itâs burned at a waste-to-energy facility in Portsmouth that creates steam the Norfolk Naval Shipyard purchases. Thatâs right. All the pizza boxes, takeout containers, broken furniture and casualties of annual spring cleaning that you toss out become a power source for shipbuilders at the U.S. Navyâs oldest shipyard to build and repair vessels that roam the high seas. Read more in this Sunday's Main News section
Easter was the first major religious holiday affected by the pandemic, and no one figured weâd still be dealing with it a full year later. Checking with churches/etc to see how theyâre handling things.
Read more in this Sunday's Main News section
As the weather warms and pandemic restrictions ease, the Virginia Arts Festival is adding events to its 2021 calendar â more concerts, live theater, and opera performances.
Read more in the Sunday Break section Walk the fields of Suffolk on a windy day, and the fields blossom with the aroma of cracking beans from the massive Massimo Zanetti roasting facility on the shores of Cedar Lake â bound for tins of Hills Bros. and Chock full oâNuts sold all over the country. Warehouses near the Port of Virginia might stock tens of millions of pounds of green coffee, in canvas bags earmarked for shipment up and down the coast. Norfolk Coffee and Tea Co., a century-old roaster, sends its beans to Eastern Virginia Medical School and small restaurants around the region. But while the port has long made us a commercial waystation for caffeine, a recent surge of specialty roasters and cafes marks a sea change in local coffee culture. This is most apparent at the southern edge of Norfolkâs Park Place neighborhood, where cafes and roasters have arrived in dizzying density.  Read more in the Sunday Break section. Yorktownâs Riverwalk Landing will be the site for the return of two popular events during the first weekend in May. The festivities start with the Blues, Brews & BBQ Festival on May 1, followed by the Art at the River Juried Art Show on May 2, according to a York County news release.  Read more in the Sunday Break section. Longtime football coach Cadillac Harris retired after nearly 40 years of teaching and coaching. He touched many lives along the way. When he was hired as the head football coach at Green Run High in 1988, he was the first Black head football coach in Virginia Beach. Now there are six Black football coaches. Many talk about what Harris meant to their careers.             Read more in the Sunday Sports section.
    Note to Readers: Parade Magazine IS NOT scheduled to publish Sunday,Â
    April 4, 2021. Parade will return on Sunday, April 11, 2021 - preview below.
5 Ways to Help the Planet TODAY! Stay Healthy - Spring Clean Your Brain What America Eats - Teigen Family Stir-Fry | 