Hampton University President William R. Harvey has spent 44 years making decisions using one guiding principle: Do whatâs right and best. Not all of his decisions have been popular, but his choices helped turn a once-struggling Hampton Institute into Hampton University with Virginiaâs first proton therapy cancer treatment center and the first historically Black school to lead a NASA mission, launching a satellite into space to study clouds. Harvey will retire from the university in June after graduating nearly 40,000 students, adding 92 academic degrees â including 12 doctoral programs â and 30 buildings to the campus over those four decades. He also oversaw the growth of the universityâs endowment from $29 million to $400 million. Read more in the Sunday Main News section 
The cover of a recently published social studies textbook shows a photo a Black Lives Matter protest outside the U.S. Capital. Signs shown in it read âSilence is violence,â âNo justice no peaceâ and âStop killing Black people.â Because of that, some community members say it never should have been considered for use in Williamsburg-James City County Public School classrooms. Even amidst complaints the textbook promotes âdivisive teachingsâ and teaches critical race theory, the school board followed the textbook adoption committeeâs recommendation to adopt âGovernment in America: People, Politics and Policy 2020 Presidential Election Editionâ for the Advanced Placement United States government and politics course, as well as texts for other social studies classes. The back and forth on this decision started in April when the board voted against ordering the textbooks for the upcoming academic year. This meant several social studies classrooms would continue using texts adopted more than 10 years ago. Read more in the Sunday Main News section More than 40 feet up on the tower at Fort Jackson, Army recruit Robert Smith missed setting his feet on the 4-by-4 plank from which he was to start rappelling down. âI said: âSergeant,â what should I do?â I was kind of scared. And sergeant said: âTrust your equipment. Now straighten your legs.â Then he said: âNow wave at me,â I waved. ...âIâm going to remember that for the rest of my life.â Smith made it down, Army style. Waving was not a dare or an act of bravado, his drill sergeant, Staff Sgt. Joseph Flanagan said later. Rappelling -- walking down a wall or cliff with a safety rope -- involved two hands. One is keep behind the rappellerâs back. Itâs a brake, basically, The other is used to manage how quickly the rope moves as the rappeller walks down. Waving with that hand is meant to demonstrate how securely the brake hand holds you safely in place. Smith was new to the Army -- about two weeks in, and the tower came the first day he came out of the Armyâs new âYellowâ phase. Yellow phase is the result of a reordering of basic training schedules during the pandemic, the latest in a series of rethinking by the armed forces of how a select group of NCOs should bring tens of thousands of youth in their late teens and early 20s coming from an uncountable mix of civilian backgrounds to the tightly-disciplined world of the military. Read more in the Sunday Main News section As I entered the room at the Sandler Center for the Performing Arts, the upbeat sounds of a jazz quartet caught my ear. They made me want to shake a white handkerchief in the air to the beat. I settled on a two-step. It set my mood for a Saturday afternoon of fruity teas, finger foods and fashion, the Virginia Beach History Museumsâ Elegance & DiviniTea. This was the latest in the museumsâ annual tea events. The first, in December, was Victorian themed, with Christmas carolers in ankle-length skirts and festive capes. This tea, on May 14, was hat-inspired and grounded in African and African American culture. Read more in the Sunday Break section
A love story this epic needs to be told in an epic way. Thus, the story of Mildred and Richard Loving, a Virginia couple whose case overturned statesâ laws banning interracial marriage, will be told through a major opera, the Virginia Opera announced May 16. The opera and the Richmond Symphony have commissioned âLoving v. Virginia,â which will premiere in spring 2025, marking the operaâs 50th anniversary. A work of this magnitude will take three years of workshopping the lyrics and music, set design, costumes and rehearsals, said Amanda Ely, the operaâs marketing director, in a news conference at Norfolkâs Harrison Opera House.
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Jeannie Hunt had no indication this chapter of her life was coming to an end. Hunt, owner of Jeannieâs Used Books at 3202 High St. in Portsmouth, is being forced to relocate her business and the 270,000-plus books within it. For the past 22 years, she has leased the 1,800-square-foot space, but received a letter from Kline Realty Co. telling her she needed to vacate. âI got a letter in the middle of April saying I needed to be out by the end of May,â Hunt said. A new landlord purchased the shopping center about a year and a half ago and wants to reconstruct her space, she said. Read more in the Sunday Work & Money section 
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