VIRGINIA BEACH A state constitutional amendment that would allow local governments to exempt up to 20 percent of a home's value from real estate taxes would help businesses, three Hampton Roads tax-relief groups said Saturday.

By John Streit Correspondent VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON Bill Ripley knows that diving in Hampton Roads isn't as glamorous as it is in tropical climates. He trades images of clear water, colorful coral and exotic fish for chilly, often murky, seas and rusty shipwrecks. But that's how Ripley and the rest of the Virginia Beach Technical Divers' Group like it.

By Staci Dennis Correspondent VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON Grab a paintbrush or warm up your singing voice for the eighth annual Kids Arts Palooza. The Virginia Beach Arts and Humanities Commission and the Sandler Center for the Performing Arts will present the free event for preschool to middle-school-aged children Saturday.

When a club's main objective is to have fun, any accolades are icing on the cake. That cake got a whole lot larger when TriPower Cycling Club won 2007 USA Cycling Division II Club of the Year.

VIRGINIA BEACH Someday, when the kids are older and grown, you can tell them, “We used to sled on Mount Trashmore.” But that was a decade ago. That was before The Year The Sledding Stopped. And the sledding won’t come back – not for many, many years. Not until Mount Trashmore II is completed, and nobody really knows when that will be.

On a recent Sunday, members of Faith Christian Fellowship United Church of Christ walked across a rare snowfall, headed for what also might seem unusual: a Protestant worship service for a mostly Filipino congregation.

A man and woman from Virginia Beach have been arrested in connection with the robbery late Wednesday of a New Hampshire store. Lt. Joe Faia of the Conway, N.H., Police Department said Gladstone Alpheus Edwards, 38, has been charged with armed robbery after he allegedly threatened to shoot a teenage clerk at the Wal-Mart in the first block of North-South Road in North Conway.

VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON Les Fortune has taught A.P. Government for the past 10 years at Tallwood High School. His sonorous voice resonates with a deep affinity for the country about whose government and history he teaches: America is a great nation "because we've tapped into the potential of all the many types of people in this country."

By Shirley Brinkley Correspondent SUFFOLK SUN When Nancy Dempsey was invited to be honorary chairman and featured artist in this year's Nansesmond-Suffolk Academy Art Show & Sale, she rolled up her sleeves and got busy.

To say working at First Colonial High School is like being with family isn't just lip service. The school has an "All in the Family" philosophy that even a grumpy Archie Bunker would appreciate. Over the years, the staff has included brothers working with sisters, mother-in-laws who have taught with daughter-in-laws and cousins instructing alongside cousins.