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A suspicious package in Norfolk turned out to be a spit can! Norfolk Police, Fire, and Bomb Squad spent the morning investigating the suspicious package at the intersection of East Little Creek Rd and Old Ocean View Rd. Chris Amos of the Norfolk Police Department said the package was found in front of a bus stop. That section of Ocean View was blocked off to traffic while they sent in a robot to check out the package. Surrounding buildings were evacuated. The spit can was detonated and no one was injured!

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is calling for sweeping reforms and an end to cruelty to race horses after the filly Eight Belles was euthanized at the Kentucky Derby on Saturday. The horse was euthanized on the track after breaking both front ankles and finishing second in the race, according to the Associated Press. The news service had reported yesterday that PETA was calling for the suspension of the horse’s jockey, Gabriel Saez. The animal rights group faxed a letter Sunday to Kentucky’s racing authority claiming the horse was “doubtlessly injured before the finish” and asked that Saez...

MANATEE COUNTY - Prosecutors are moving ahead with a case against one of two 93-year-old men picked up during undercover prostitution stings. In the case of Frank Milio, prosecutors have issued subpoenas and plan to take him to trial in April. Milio, according to police records, tried to pay $20 in November to an undercover officer on 14th Street West. Milio recently told the Herald-Tribune he was only flirting with the woman. "I haven't had that in years," he said. "Ninety-three is kind of old." Carlos Underhill, 93, will not be charged, although he does not deny stopping to chat...

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (AP) -- Gene Nichol, who resigned as president of the College of William and Mary last month, is heading back to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to teach law. W. Taylor Reveley III, William and Mary's interim president, offered his best wishes to Nichol in a statement Thursday. Nichol's wife, Glenn George, also will teach at UNC. She has been teaching law at William and Mary. Nichol resigned abruptly on February 12th after learning the Board of Visitors did not plan to rehire him after a series of controversies, including the removal of a cross...

National Democratic leaders have chosen Virginia Sen. Jim Webb to deliver their party's nationally broadcast response to President Bush's State of the Union speech next week, Webb's office announced Tuesday. "I am honored to have been selected... " Webb said in a statement. Webb will be the second Virginia Democrat in a row selected for the high-profile assignment; Gov. Timothy M. Kaine delivered the party's response last year.

Police were searching for a man who escaped arrest early Thursday morning by stealing a Currituck County patrol car. About 12:30 a.m., a deputy in Moyock stopped to help a motorist with a disabled vehicle. Inside was Johnnie Ray Mizelle, 33, who was wanted in Chowan County on several counts of breaking and entering, a Currituck County news release said. When Mizelle was identified, he was handcuffed and taken into custody by the deputy. Mizelle was placed in the back of the patrol car, and the deputy helped a wrecker driver impound the disabled truck. Meanwhile, Mizelle worked his handcuffs...

PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) - Hundreds of Navy veterans who grew to love the famed aircraft carrier USS Oriskany will see their old ship off on her final voyage - a trip to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, where she will become a massive artificial reef. Many, like Boyd Tong of Phoenix, plan to rent boats and watch as the Oriskany is sunk 24 miles off Pensacola Beach on Wednesday morning. "I expect it will be a little emotional," Tong said as a Navy band played "Anchors Aweigh" at Pensacola Naval Air Station tribute for the Oriskany on Saturday...

NORFOLK — The Navy will send an aircraft carrier strike group, with four ships, a 60-plane air wing and 6,500 sailors, to Caribbean and South American waters for a major training exercise, it was announced Monday. Some defense analysts suggested that the unusual two-month-long deployment, set to begin in early April, could be interpreted as a show of force by anti-American governments in Venezuela and Cuba. “The presence of a U.S. carrier task force in the Caribbean will definitely be interpreted as some sort of signal by the governments of Cuba and Venezuela,” said Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute,...

Let's remember our friends and family in the military who are serving away from home this Christmas.

NORFOLK — Cindy Sheehan, the anti-war activist who made headlines by demanding to meet with President George W. Bush and setting up camp outside his Texas ranch this summer, is coming to Norfolk. Sheehan became an outspoken opponent of the war in Iraq after her son died there. She is scheduled to hold a press conference at 5 p.m. Tuesday at the corner of St. Pauls Boulevard and City Hall Avenue downtown. Her “Bring Them Home Now’’ tour will present speakers at the veterans memorial in Town Point Park at 7 p.m., according to a press release.

What are the best and worst John Wayne movies? What are the best and worst Humphrey Bogart movies?

Massive Hurricane Katrina roared ashore yesterday with destructive fury. Winds topping 140 mph and torrential rainfall inflicted widespread damage and flooding along the U.S. Gulf Coast. At least 50 people are reported dead. With urgent needs continuing to emerge, Operation Blessing's disaster relief team is readying a large-scale response throughout the affected areas. Six of Operation Blessing’s tractor trailer trucks have been dispatched to pick up food, cleaning kits and relief supplies for delivery to those impacted by the storm. As damage assessment continues, OBI is working with local churches and other nonprofits to determine strategic and effective ways to...

It was a brutal murder. Laura Skinner was hit on the forehead with a belt buckle and strangled. Her body was then burned and dumped. Now, the sailor who took the young woman's life will spend life behind bars. 21-year-old Laura Skinner, a sailor assigned to the U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt, was murdered in May 2004 in Virginia Beach. Fellow sailor and roommate, Jarred Swartzmiller, is the one who killed her. On Tuesday, a judge handed down the maximum sentence. More than a dozen family members of the victim were in court. "What kind of traitor can kill a fellow sailor,"...

I'm looking for movies that show a good amount of modern (80's to current day) aircraft carrier operations. Already have "Top Gun" and "The Final Countdown."

SUFFOLK — Penny Wood wanted to get her hands dirty and help build somebody a house during her vacation. Instead, the first-time Habitat for Humanity volunteer from Chicago walked away from a Suffolk job site June 4 feeling less than charitable. A simmering dispute between members of South Hampton Roads Habitat for Humanity and leaders of the Suffolk chapter boiled over. Leaders from the regional group changed the locks at the almost-finished house to keep Suffolk workers out. Crews from both sides stood around in tense clumps trying to figure out what was going on and who was in charge....

WASHINGTON — The Navy on Thursday disclosed plans to essentially deactivate the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy by June, and a key lawmaker complained that the fast-track schedule may pre-empt congressional efforts to save the 37-year-old ship and preserve a 12-carrier fleet.

The Yorktown Battlefield has sat silent for over a century. But now it may be the site of another skirmish. A group calling itself the largest Nazi Party in America will hold a rally at the battlefield this summer at the height of tourist season.

TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS There is one Christmas Carol that has always baffled me. What in the world do leaping lords, French hens, swimming swans, and especially the partridge who won't come out of the pear tree have to do with Christmas? Today I found out, thanks to the Internet. From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics. It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church....

(Hampton, VA, December 14th, 2004, 6:54 a.m.) On the Peninsula, it's the bad guy lying in a hospital bed, while his intended victim is unscathed. Your NewsChannel 3's Kathleen Carey has the story of the victim that fought back. Hampton Police say it's a case of an armed robber going after the wrong guy. Instead of a Hampton man becoming the victim of an armed robbery, Hampton Police say he turned the tables on his attacker. In the parking lot behind the "Treasure Chest" nightclub on East Pembroke Avenue, police drew circles around empty shell casings, drawing the conclusion that...

After 25 years of serving in the military, Lake Havasu City resident and Army reservist John Patterson thought it was time to retire. The Army had other plans. As the 50-year-old Army medic waited for his retirement paperwork to go through, he said he was taken aback when he instead received orders that would send him to Afghanistan for more than a year. "The worst part of it was that I put in my retirement papers at the end of June," he said. During his tour, he is slated to teach medic courses to Afghan soldiers.