VIRGINIA BEACH
Citing information he says is from God, Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson said Friday that America is headed for veritable socialism as well as an economic rebound under President-elect Barack Obama in 2009.

VIRGINIA BEACH
For Seko Varner, Kwanzaa always felt like something of a niche holiday. He celebrated with his family and friends every year while growing up in New York, but it was the same few people each winter, he said.

She grew up attending Ohef Sholom Temple and its Jewish Sunday school. But since her confirmation ceremony at 16, Amy Shroyer, a college freshman, has been less active in synagogue.

PORTSMOUTH A year ago today, members of Zion Baptist Church woke to the news that their historic church was engulfed in flames. Many rushed downtown, then stood together watching helplessly as firefighters sent plumes of water over the ruins of the church. Today, they will observe the anniversary by gathering across the street from the church site in an annex building that survived.

NORFOLK Chabad of Tidewater will hold a memorial service tonight at 7 p.m. in remembrance of the Jews and other victims killed in last week’s terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India. Chabad Lubavitch is an international Orthodox Jewish organization; its Mumbai branch rabbi, Gavriel Holtzberg, and his wife, Rivkah, as well as their Jewish guests were victims.

Buddy Rau says two things nudged him into tying the knot earlier this year: his 40th anniversary with gay partner Kila Chong and the 2006 state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Two years after Virginians passed the amendment, the measure hasn't stopped some same-sex couples from celebrating extra legal holy union or commitment ceremonies at liberal churches.

The Rev. Jake Manley had seen all kinds of hurt in 32 years of pastoring. There were girls who exchanged sex for drugs and men who toted guns on neighborhood streets and got high while their families went hungry. There were mothers who buried teenage sons and mothers who testified for sons who stood accused.

NORFOLK Plenty of holiday cooks fret about the Thanksgiving meal, but Leslie Harris was calm Thursday even though she was cooking for a larger-than-average crowd - about 750 people expected at Calvary Revival Church's Feed the City dinner.

When President Bush launched his faith-based initiative in 2001, the Rev. Geoffrey V. Guns thought it would open a floodgate for federal grants for church-run social programs. But seven years later, Guns says the initiative is a flop as far as congregations are concerned.

Frank Roberts EDENTON, N.C. About a dozen people are working hard, and praying hard, to establish an Orthodox church in a 1902 Suffolk Carolina Railway Co. passenger depot.