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Huntington Ingalls Industries announced Monday a milestone in the construction of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) with the addition of the ship’s upper bow section at Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS) in Virginia. The upper bow completes the ship’s flight deck and extends the overall length of the carrier to its full size, which measures 1,106 feet. “Placement of the upper bow gives our entire shipbuilding team a great sense of accomplishment,” said Rolf Bartschi, NNS’ vice president, CVN 78 carrier construction. “We have now structurally erected the flight deck to its full length.” The 787 metric...

BOSTON — A new WBUR poll (PDFs – topline, crosstabs) of the special Massachusetts U.S. Senate election finds it wide open on both the Democratic and the Republican sides. U.S. Rep. Ed Markey, of Malden, leads his Democratic rival, U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch, of South Boston, by 11 percentage points. On the Republican side, former U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan, of Abington, has the lead over both Norfolk state Rep. Dan Winslow and Cohasset private equity manager Gabriel Gomez.

Police hunt for men dressed as Oompa-Loompas after attack on 28-year-old as he left kebab house • Man was left with cuts to his face, nose and lip, as well as two black eyes • Police are now hunting the two men dressed as the fictional factory workers Two men dressed as Oompa-Loompas from the film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory are being hunted by police after they allegedly attacked a man on a night out. The pair - who had painted orange faces and dyed green hair and were wearing hooped tops like the characters in the 1971...

The World's Largest Naval Station Is Packed Tight For Christmas Robert JohnsonDecember 24,2012 The Navy does its best to get troops home for the holidays when it can, but this display at Norfolk Naval base is still more the exception than the rule. Nine "Flattops," five aircraft carriers, and four amphibious assault ships, are crammed together here at Norfolk among smaller ships and nuclear submarines from December 20, Navy photos. The nine flattops alone, number more than all eight battleships at Pearl Harbor in 1941. The aircraft carriers USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69), USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77),...

U.S. Navy sends ships to sea ahead of "Frankenstorm" By Phil Stewart | Reuters – 41 mins ago WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy on Friday ordered all ships in the Norfolk, Virginia, area - including the nuclear-powered USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier - out to sea beyond the reach of approaching Hurricane Sandy. It was just one of the storm precautions being announced by the Pentagon, which said around 61,000 members of the National Guard were ready to respond, if needed. Sandy, dubbed a "Frankenstorm" by one government forecaster, has begun merging with a polar air mass over...

Thank you Governor Romney, Ann. I am deeply honored and excited to join you as your running mate. Mitt Romney is a leader with the skills, the background and the character that our country needs at a crucial time in its history. Following four years of failed leadership, the hopes of our country, which have inspired the world, are growing dim; and they need someone to revive them. Governor Romney is the man for this moment; and he and I share one commitment: we will restore the dreams and greatness of this country. I want you to meet my family....

This Saturday morning there will be a Romney rally in Norfolk, Virginia at Nauticus. Any Freepers in Tidewater Virginia are especially welcome.

(Reuters) - Former top executives of a failed U.S. bank in Norfolk, Virginia, have been indicted by a federal grand jury on bank fraud and other charges for hiding loan losses in a scheme that allegedly led to the bank's demise, officials said Thursday.

Those who depend solely on the mainstream media for their news might be surprised to know that there has been a major spike in racial crime in America this year. Media observers state that when it comes to news reports on the subject, citizens are rarely informed of the seriousness of the racial tension, except when it is a certain type of racial tension. When whites attack blacks the media is quick to report it. But according to national columnist Thomas Sowell, when blacks attack whites, somehow those particular news stories never see the light of day. Fox News personality...

Norfolk-May 8: E.W. Jackson will be holding a press conference at the corner of Brambleton and Church Ave in Norfolk (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Plaza) near the site of the Norfolk Mob attack on two innocent Virginian Pilot reporters on April 14. Bishop Jackson will be challenging the community, the media and all levels of government from the President to City Council and School Board Members, to combat the “racializing” of incidents and the exploitation of those incidents for political purposes. He is inviting religious and political groups to unite in a vision of America where violence against innocent...

I Guarantee to Keep This Pledge to You… I will not vote for a budget that increases America’s debt nor will I vote to increase the debt ceiling. I will help lead the fight to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, known as ‘Obamacare’. I will vote against any increase in taxes and lead the fight for a more simplified and fair tax system. I will only support nominees to the Supreme Court and other federal courts who are strict constitutionalists. I will vote against legislation which allocates power to the federal government that is not given to...

Video at link.

Wave after wave of young men surged forward to take turns punching and kicking their victim. The victim's friend, a young woman, tried to pull him back into his car. Attackers came after her, pulling her hair, punching her head and causing a bloody scratch to the surface of her eye. She called 911. A recording told her all lines were busy. She called again. Busy. On her third try, she got through and, hysterical, could scream only their location. Church and Brambleton. Church and Brambleton. Church and Brambleton. It happened four blocks from where they work, here at The...

There’s outrage in Norfolk, Va., today after a white couple was attacked by a group of 100 black teenagers, and the local newspaper did not report on the incident for two weeks, despite the victims being employees of the paper. Even today, the Virginian-Pilot did not cover the crime as news, but rather as an opinion piece by columnist Michelle Washington. “Wave after wave of young men surged forward to take turns punching and kicking their victim,” Washington wrote, describing the onslaught that began when Dave Forster and Marjon Rostami stopped at a red light while driving home from a...

Wave after wave of young men surged forward to take turns punching and kicking their victim. The victim's friend, a young woman, tried to pull him back into his car. Attackers came after her, pulling her hair, punching her head and causing a bloody scratch to the surface of her eye. She called 911. A recording told her all lines were busy. She called again. Busy. On her third try, she got through and, hysterical, could scream only their location. Church and Brambleton. Church and Brambleton. Church and Brambleton. It happened four blocks from where they work, here at The...

NORFOLK The two men parked at McDonald's must have looked like good targets for a stickup. It was 10:53 p.m. Both vehicles were backed into parking spaces at the restaurant on Campostella Road near its intersection with Indian River Road. Armed with handguns and with their faces covered, two men approached the cars and pointed their weapons at the drivers in an attempt to rob them. "Give it up," one of the men said. But then the intended victims drew weapons and began firing. The robbers ran from who they would later learn were officers with the Norfolk Police Vice...

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) - Norfolk fire crews are on the scene of a large fire at a medical complex. The Fort Norfolk Medical Complex is located at 301 Riverview Ave. Norfolk dispatch says the call came in at 6:40 p.m. There are no reported injuries.

See the Facebook page for the Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNSY): https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150598087817799&set=a.10150165103967799.309139.200008567798&type=1&theater&notif_t=photo_reply NNSY statement: AGREE OR DISAGREE--WHY/WHY NOT? Business should be treated as a HUMAN COMMUNITY? NNSY picture post with a variation of this quote: "For a human community, profit is the consequence of being effective in pursuit of your purpose or mission. Or, is a company first and foremost a machine for making money, and the people and relationships among them is secondary, they are simply "human resources" needed by this machine. It's not surprising that if we think in machine-like terms, we are going to be rather toxic to...

A Lesbian couple have become the first to share in the US Navy tradition of the 'first kiss' since the repeal of the American military's "don't ask, don't tell" rule. (Petty Officer 2nd Class Marissa Gaeta (L) kisses her girlfriend of two years, Petty Officer 3rd Class Citlalic Snell at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek in Virginia Beach Photo: AP)Petty Officer 2nd Class Marissa Gaeta of Placerville, California, descended from the USS Oak Hill amphibious landing ship and shared a quick kiss in the rain with her partner, Petty Officer 3rd Class Citlalic Snell of Los Angeles. Gaeta, 23, wore...

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) -- A Navy tradition has caught up with the repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" rule on gays serving openly in the U.S. military. The Navy said two women shared the coveted "first kiss" Wednesday when the USS Oak Hill returned home to its Virginia base. Marissa Gaeta of Pacerville, Calif., descended from the ship and shared a quick kiss with her partner, Citlalic (SEET-lah-leek) Snell of Los Angeles. The crowd screamed and waved Navy flags around them. Both women are fire controlmen in the Navy. They met at training school and have been dating...

NORFOLK Police arrested six protesters this morning while disbanding the Occupy Norfolk campsite at Commercial Place downtown. The protesters' tents were removed in a move by the city that they said was unexpected. The arrests were peaceful, although some protesters taunted police in riot gear while officers blocked off the park so public works crews could take down tents and clean it. Shortly after 9 a.m., two people were placed into handcuffs as protesters shouted at officers who would not allow them back into the park.

BALTIMORE (AP) -- A Maryland congressman says his nephew was killed in a random shooting near Old Dominion University in Virginia. Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings of Baltimore in a statement Sunday talked about the death of Christopher Cummings in his off-campus apartment. He says his nephew's roommate, Jake Carey, was critically wounded in the attack Friday. Both were students at the university in Norfolk. The congressman urged the community to cooperate with police. He says his family remains in shock over the "senseless tragedy."

Nonpartisan Redistricting Commission to Hold Hearing Tonight in Norfolk at Norfolk State University, 7:00 PM Dear Constituents, I would like to call your attention to an important hearing tonight in Norfolk that will directly impact the future of our state's legislative districts and who will be your next representatives to Congress and the General Assembly. An independent, bipartisan commission on redistricting will hold it's only Hampton Roads hearing tonight at Norfolk State University in the New Student Center, Ballroom 149, beginning at 7:00 pm. I hope you will consider attending this meeting and letting your voice be heard by those...

NORFOLK Thirteen Somalis and one Yemeni captured after four Americans were killed aboard a yacht last month are scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Norfolk this afternoon on piracy, kidnapping and gun charges. The men were brought into the federal courthouse in downtown Norfolk this morning. The group was turned over to the Justice Department on Wednesday after being held aboard the carrier Enterprise since the Feb. 22 shooting deaths of the Americans. A Navy spokesman said the Somalis were removed from the ship by Department of Justice officials. A federal grand jury indicted 14 suspected pirates, the...

A former Norfolk Community Services Board employee who collected about $320,000 in pay and benefits over 12 years even though she did not show up for work will not be prosecuted for fraud by the Commonwealth’s Attorney, said three sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Police found no evidence of wrongdoing by Jill McGlone, the sources said. McGlone, who had worked at the agency as an office assistant, was fired in last May after officials learned she collected pay while sitting at home. Police learned that she attempted numerous times to return to work after being suspended in...

NORFOLK - Christine Boone wasn't about to miss an opportunity to meet Sarah Palin. The Plainview woman camped out overnight at Hastings Entertainment in Norfolk to get an autographed copy of the former vice presidential candidate's new book "American by Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith and Flag." Boone was part of a large crowd of more than 1,000 people who gathered at the store for the Saturday book signing. Her long, overnight wait was worth it, she said, even though she only got to spend a few seconds with Palin. "I was up there crying. She (Palin) stood up and...

NORFOLK Four Community Services Board [1] executives and an assistant who knew an employee was collecting a salary with benefits for 12 years without showing up for work have been fired or forced to resign, the head of the agency said Friday. The agency is turning over its findings to the FBI, state and city police for their investigations, CSB Executive Director Maureen Womack said. The agency found no evidence that other staffers collected any of the money Jill McGlone received, Womack said. No additional firings are expected for now. Depending on additional evidence found by law enforcement agents, there...

NORFOLK The FBI has joined a growing list of law enforcers trying to figure out how a woman who didn't show up for work at a community services organization for 12 years continued to be paid and to what extent others might be involved. City Attorney Bernard Pishko said the employee is no longer on the payroll and that others in the organization are being questioned to see whether they had any involvement in a scheme to funnel money. As of Tuesday, no one else with the Norfolk Community Services Board had been suspended or fired. "These are people that...

Virginia officials reacted with bipartisan dismay on Monday to Defense Department budget shifts that will cost the state thousands of jobs in coming years and will dramatically impact the economies of the Norfolk area and Northern Virginia. Most of the immediate reaction revolved around Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates's proposal to close the U.S. Joint Forces Command. It is a major employer in Hampton Roads, including Norfolk and Virginia Beach, whose elimination could translate into the loss of 6,100 military, civilian and contractor jobs in the region. But a proposal to slash the Pentagon's budget for military contractors over the...

WASHINGTON -- Officials briefed on the decision say Defense Secretary Robert Gates plans to eliminate a major military command in Norfolk, Va., and try to cut the Pentagon's use of outside contractors by 10 percent next year. The plan was to be announced at a Pentagon press conference on Monday. It is part of a broader effort to trim $100 billion from the military's mammoth budget in the next five years, as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan begin to wind down and Congress turns its attention more to domestic priorities.

NORFOLK -- They wake each morning to pray the Liturgy of the Hours and chant it again before they go to sleep. They pray the rosary, spend time in contemplative prayer and gather each Sunday to discuss the Gospel. In almost every way they are like the members of other chapters of the Lay Fraternities of St. Dominic, except they are incarcerated. The chapter, located at Norfolk State Prison, has about 35 members, 17 of whom have made their final profession in the Dominican order. It is the only Dominican chapter in a prison. Ruth Raichle, the Catholic chaplain...

Four underwater unmanned vehicles went missing Sunday during training to conduct search, classify and map missions. The Navy, Coast Guard and local authorities were searching for the missing vehicles in the Thimble Shoals Channel between the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, a Navy news release said. Communication was lost with four of the 13 unmanned vehicles Sunday about 1 p.m. while the vehicles were using bottom-mapping sonar to look for mine-like contacts in the water as part of the training. Search and recovery operations began immediately. Efforts continued Monday using small-craft, shore-based teams, air assets and marine...

"Some people think that my life began at birth, but my life's journey began long before I was born."

Final Navy Seal charged in the "fat lip" of an Iraqi terrorist found not guilty, breaking on FNC per Brett Bear.

Virginia military jury found a Navy SEAL not guilty on charges of punching a suspected Iraqi terrorist. Matthew McCabe, a Special Operations Petty Officer Second Class, was facing three charges: dereliction of performance of duty for willfully failing to safeguard a detainee, making a false official statement, and assault. The suspected terrorist McCabe was accused of punching is Ahmed Hashim Abed, who is the suspected masterminded the grisly killings of four American contractors in Iraq six years ago. This follows four days of pre-trial motions, jury selection and testimony before a Judge Advocate General, Captain Moira Modelewski, at the Naval...

In a story you won’t see on MSNBC, for the second time in 2 days, a Navy SEAL was acquitted of charges in the infamous terrorist-with-a-fat-lip case. After a day-long trial, a Navy judge took 2 hours to come back with a verdict of not guilty of dereliction of duty for Petty Officer 2nd Class Jonathan Keefe of Yorktown, Va. No word on what the judge did for the other hour and 58 minutes he spent in chambers after giving the evidence the consideration it deserved. The judge, a model of decorum, managed not to use the words “insane,” “bulls**t,”...

Note: The following text is a quote: Alleged Somali Pirates Indicted for Attacks on Navy Ships NORFOLK, VA—Federal grand juries in the Eastern District of Virginia have returned two separate indictments charging 11 men from Somalia with engaging in piracy and related offenses pertaining to attacks on two Navy ships. The indictments charge separate attacks by separate groups on the U.S.S. Nicholas and the U.S.S. Ashland. Neil H. MacBride, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; George Venizelos, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s New York Field Office; Alex J. Turner, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s...

BAGHDAD (AP) — A U.S. military judge on Friday cleared a Navy SEAL of any wrongdoing in the alleged beating of an Iraqi prisoner suspected of masterminding the grisly 2004 killings of four American contractors. The Blackwater contractors' burned bodies were dragged through the streets and two were hanged from a bridge over the Euphrates river in the former insurgent hotbed of Fallujah in an attack that shocked Americans and galvanized U.S. support for the war. After a daylong trial and fewer than two hours considering the evidence, Navy Judge Cmdr. Tierny Carlos found Petty Officer 2nd Class Jonathan Keefe...

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) -- Eleven Somalis accused of attacking two navy ships off the coast of Africa appeared in Virginia federal court Friday shortly after being indicted on charges of piracy.

NORFOLK Luzel Watson stepped into the Square Deal Barber Shop on Monday. "I just wanted to see if you were taking up a collection for Mr. Mac," Watson said. "Mr. Mac's been doing my hair since I was 16, and now I'm 60." Mr. Mac was Henry McIntosh, 86. He was shot on Saturday during a robbery at his store. He died on Sunday. From city politicians to the poorest person on the street, McIntosh was at home with all of them. "He was here for the neighborhood," Watson said, tears welling up as he gave cash to McIntosh's son....

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After looking for a decade to buy a dark place in the country to practice landings of its noisiest aircraft, the Navy has decided to look at renting airport space for quieter aircraft landing practice and to keep the big jets working at home. Navy Fleet Forces Command in Norfolk, Va., announced Friday that it will survey public and private airfields within 90 nautical miles of Norfolk Naval air station for interest in renting landing strip time for its turboprop planes to practice. The Navy has not abandoned its search for an outlying landing field, said Ted Brown, spokesman for...

Suspected Somali pirates fired on a U.S. Navy warship off East Africa early Thursday in what appeared to be a ransom-seeking attack on an American guided missile frigate, officials said. The USS Nicholas returned fire on the pirate skiff, sinking it and confiscating a nearby mothership. The Navy took five pirates into custody, said Navy Lt. Patrick Foughty, a spokesman. International naval forces have stepped up their enforcement of the waters off East Africa in an effort to thwart a growing pirate trade. [Snip] Thursday's attack came just shy of a year since pirates attacked the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama...

NORFOLK Prosecutors handling the courts-martial of two local Navy SEALs charged with not stopping a teammate's alleged assault on an Iraqi detainee faced another setback Friday. Cmdr. Tierney Carlos agreed to exclude a statement made by one of the SEALs to the special agent investigating the allegations in September because the agent didn't advise him of his right to remain silent. As a result, one of two charges against Petty Officer 2nd Class Jonathan Keefe likely will be dropped. The charges against the three SEALs have sparked protests and calls from some in Congress for the cases to be dismissed....

NORFOLK (NNS) -- The commodore of Helicopter Sea Combat Wing Atlantic held a press conference with local media to announce all 17 personnel on board the Navy MH-60S Nighthawk from Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 26 based at Naval Station Norfolk, were successfully rescued from the aircraft. The helicopter crashed yesterday shortly after 1 p.m. on the side of a mountain in West Virginia in more than four feet of snow. "Our primary focus has been the safe evacuation of all the aircrew and passengers," said Capt. Steve Schreiber, commodore, Helicopter Sea Combat Wing Atlantic. "As of this morning all personnel...

CHARLESTON, W.Va., Feb. 19, 2010 – Thirteen of the 17 passengers stranded in a remote region of West Virginia’s Pocahontas County have been evacuated from a Navy MH-60S Knighthawk helicopter that was forced to land in the area yesterday, National Guard officials said. Rescued passengers are being evaluated by emergency services agencies and transported to a local hospital for further evaluation and treatment. West Virginia Army National Guard medics still are at the landing site and are working with emergency crews to evacuate the remaining passengers, said Mike Cadle, the state public affairs officer. The helicopter reportedly was carrying passengers...

Now that the Department of Defense has made clear its intent to move a Norfolk-based aircraft carrier to Mayport, Fla., the battle between Florida and Virginia shifts to Congress. Members of the Hampton Roads congressional delegation have pledged to fight tooth and nail to block any more money for the project. They’re taking on Florida’s congressional delegation, who outnumber the Virginians by more than two to one and are already claiming victory. Hampton Roads representatives said they are not ready to talk about what might happen if the carrier battle is lost. “We have to continue to have a united...

The Navy is willing to make trade-offs to pay for its strategic decision to move a nuclear aircraft carrier to Florida, according Rear Adm. Bill Burke, who ran the Navy’s portion of the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR). Burke told reporters this week that the QDR, a sweeping review of military strategy and capability, reached the same decision the Navy reached a year ago, because it makes “good sense.” It also made “good sense” at the highest levels of the Pentagon, Burke added. To pay for the move, the Navy could have to make some tough financial decisions down the line....

Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim has challengers, but it remains to be seen if any of them are a threat to his office. The least likely challenger is 20-year-old ODU junior Ryan Cooper, who plans on running in the May 4 mayoral election. AltDaily spoke via email to the ambitious young man about his chances of winning, how he plans on fighting crime, and how being a door-to-door salesman prepared him to be the next mayor of Norfolk. AltDaily: Let’s start with the blunt, obvious question: You’re a 20-year-old ODU student taking on an incumbent of some 16 years. Do you...

NORFOLK Thousands of Hampton Roads sailors received orders this morning to prepare to deploy to Haiti as part of a massive U.S. effort to deliver humanitarian assistance in the wake of Tuesday’s devastating earthquake. At least four Norfolk-based ships are getting ready to leave for the impoverished country, said Ted Brown, a spokesman with Norfolk’s Fleet Forces Command. The amphibious assault ship Bataan, the guided missile cruiser Normandy and the dock landing ships Fort McHenry and Carter Hall will likely leave port by Friday, the Navy said. Expeditionary forces based at the Little Creek campus of the Joint Expeditionary Base...