The most recently released data from the U.S. Department of Veteranâs Affairs says the fewest veterans since 2006 died by suicide in 2020, according to the 2022 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report released on Sept. 19. The data also showed that 2020 was the second year in a row the number of veterans who died by suicide decreased. In 2019, veteran suicides dropped by 307 while in 2020, the veterans who took their own lives decreased by 343 â which was the largest rate and amount drop since 2001, according to the report. In 2020, 6,146 veterans died by suicide, an average of nearly 17 for each day of the year. âThere is nothing more important to VA than preventing veteran suicide â itâs our top clinical priority,â said Denis McDonough, VA secretary in a September news release. In Virginia, 181 veterans died by suicide in 2020 with four of five using firearms, according to the VA. Read more in the Sunday Main News section 
Strange things have been happening since a lawsuit was filed last month against Chesapeake City Council candidate that accused her of mistreating and stealing from two elderly relatives. It all began with the clerk of the court hand delivering an unsolicited copy of the lawsuit - along with accompanying sealed medical records - to the vice mayor, the vice mayor sending it back with a letter, then his letter getting filed, sealed, and then removed from the court file. Read more in the Sunday Main news section Our plan was simple: Spend a weekend commemorating the death of Edgar Allan Poe â on Oct. 7, 1849 â by checking out sites related to him within a short drive of Norfolk. One of Americaâs greatest poets and short story writers, Poe produced such unforgettable works as âThe Raven,â âAnnabel Leeâ and âThe Tell-Tale Heart.â He is credited as the inventor of detective fiction and was a pioneer in science fiction. Lots of places claim him. He was born in Boston, died in Baltimore at age 40, had a cottage in the Bronx, and lived in Richmond for most of his life. But Norfolk and Hampton have a claim, too. Poe lived in Norfolk briefly as a child, and his younger sister was born there in 1810 in a boarding house on Brewer Street, near present-day MacArthur Center mall (neither the house nor the street still exists). The children were orphaned in 1811. Edgar was raised in Richmond by foster parents John and Frances Allan. As a young man, he served in the Army at Fort Monroe. And just weeks before his death in 1849, he gave a very successful reading and lecture at the Old Academy Building on St. Paulâs Boulevard in Norfolk. And thatâs where my wife, Carol, and I started our trip.
Read more in the Sunday Break section At home in Florida, a woman knew she needed to find the two Hampton Roads runners. Sheâd read about them â best friends Julia Prendergast and Tyme Fiedorczyk, who love to run together, with Julia pushing Tyme in a special chair. Tyme has cerebral palsy, and Julia is her caregiver, driving each day from Virginia Beach to Chesapeake to see her. Theyâve been relying on a loaner push chair, and started raising money to buy their own. The loaner weighs 30 pounds; Tyme, 105. And sometimes the women travel to races. A lighter, foldable chair would help. When Irene Koumendouros, in Tarpon Springs, read a Virginian-Pilot story about them, she knew she had the help they needed. She wanted to give them her nephewâs running chair. âItâs as if I heard the Lord say to me, âYou will be a double blessing to them,â â she says now. The chair â a practically brand-new, high-end 2017 Hoyt Blade Racer â sat idle in a spare room of the familyâs home. Itâs aluminum, it disassembles, and it supports the body well. Koumendouros purchased it several years ago for her nephew, Alex Boudreau, whoâs now 22. Like Tyme, he has cerebral palsy and is nonverbal. Read more in the Sunday Break section South Hampton Roads and the Peninsula have different stories when it comes to the growth of warehouses, but both are seeing an increase in demand for industrial real estate. Clay Culbreth, senior vice president for industrial properties with Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer, said South Hampton Roads has seen an explosion of warehouses with more to come. He said the Peninsula, with about 35 million square feet of the entire 110 million-square-foot market in Hampton Roads, has now left the starting gate. Of that, Culbreth said they are tracking at a sub 2% vacancy rate. âSo, itâs easy to ascertain that because the vacancy rate is so low and the demand continues to maintain the velocity it currently has, weâre seeing a rise in both rental rates, which is translating into developers stepping in to finally start to build new product,â Culbreth said. âItâs a good sign that we now have product that will facilitate the needs of those looking to go to points west.â Read more in the Sunday Work & Money section
 Baseball Memories Live Smart - Medicare 2022 Walter Scott Asks ... John Stamos | 
