WAVY/FOX43 team at GOTR 5k

The WAVY/FOX43 team had a blast at the Girls on the Run Spring 5k Saturday (see pic)!

This was my second year as the emcee of the event and I was so impressed by the growth year to year! My history with the organization started by chance. Last year, the emcee had to cancel at the last minute and I was the fill in! I remember the race started behind the MacArthur Center in downtown Norfolk. And though the girls were just as excited, the venue was smaller and indicative of a start up.

Not this year.

GOTR of South Hampton Roads has a new executive director and she brought the event to Town Point Park. The venue was fabulous. Zumba teachers were giving free lessons on the stage, runners and their families got some grub at the Pita Pit food truck, and every school had meeting places denoted by signs in the grass.

I don’t know the official numbers but it seems like there were at least double the participants. I saw Portsmouth Mayor Kenny Wright cross the finish, and I heard Virginia Beach Mayor Will Sessoms also ran the race! That’s right we’re big time now!

I adore this organization because it actually works! All the girls are assigned running buddies to help them complete the course. All of the money goes right back to the girls in the form of scholarships. But more importantly, GOTR gives the kids someone to look up to, someone to talk to and someone to show them incorporating healthy habits into your every day life can be fun.

At the race, our photographer interviewed some of the girls about why they love GOTR. Here is what they said:

“It’s about getting girls up in motion and how to respond to like, bullies and stuff…and the lessons behind it are very important.”

Another girl told our photographer this: “You talk about how to deal with bullies and friends and making the right decision.”

Not to mention some of these girls can really run!

The first female to cross the finish line was Isabella Cooke. Isabella was third overall. Oh, and did I mention she is just nine years old! Isabella ran with her dad and they got a time of 22:30. That’s 7:15 min/mile! After the race, I ran into them and asked her dad if she is into running. His response? “No, but she plays soccer.”

Cross country coaches of Hampton Roads…consider yourself warned!

See the story that aired on the 11pm news! Click here: http://www.wavy.com/dpp/news/local_news/norfolk/hundreds-attend-girls-on-the-run-5k

It started with an ad campaign on television and in print asking folks to gather up non-perishable goods to donate to the local needy for the big food drive.

Then, the big day was Saturday, May 4th.  The Face of Fox 43, Rhonda Arrington and I  joined the Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast for the Helping Hands Food Drive.

  People dropped off non-perishable food items to Walmart

collection sites where the donations were sorted and loaded onto trucks for the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia andother area foodbanks.  It was cold, windy and rainy day, but we bundled up and huddled close and got the job done. They collected thousands of pounds of food to be distributed to help feed the hungry in our community. Some of the girls earned their Girl Scout Gold Award for help organizing projects devoted to the issue of hunger. I never got to participate in a project like this when I was a Girl Scout, but I’m happy to see how this group came together to help out.  WAVY and Fox 43 TV were among the sponsors of this event. Thank you to all who stopped by to say hi and support the cause.  If you missed us at the food drive, you can always help local food banks by volunteering your time or donating canned/boxed goods and of course money always helps, too.

Another year of celebrating hospitality workers in Norfolk and another great (and loud) rally at Half Moone Cruise and Celebration Center downtown.

The Booker T. Washington High School band provided the welcoming beats and the area mascots gave hugs and put smiles on our faces.

The Champions of Hospitality Rally is put on by VisitNorfolk as part of National Travel And Tourism Week.

We never forget our dear Uncle Pete Decker who was one of Norfolk’s biggest cheerleaders and the star of this show for years. His sons Paul, Peter and Phillip have taken over for the late great local legend who died last year.

Norfolk Airport Hilton won for large group most spirited. They’re employees put on a quite a skit with a boxing theme.  The Downtown Norfolk Council won for small group. They consist of those always helpful ambassadors who greet visitors to the city and guide us all in the right direction. The competition was fierce and one thing is  certain, there are a lot of hospitality workers in Norfolk who absolutely love what they do!

My  co-workers Bruce Rader, Tom Schaad and Stephanie Harris joined me on the judging panel for most spirited – along with Old Dominion University’s football coach , Bobby Wilder.

Here’s the complete list of winners:

Admissions/Box Office – Megan Gullickson of the Virginia Stage Company & Virginia Arts Festival

Audio Visual – Everett White of Norfolk Special Events

 Banquets – Lenora Southall of Norfolk Waterisde Marriott

Bartender – John Queen of Kincaid’s

Concierge– Ellie Porambo of Hilton Norfolk Airport

Front Desk – Amelita Avendano of Navy Gateway Inn & Suites and Loleta McGary of Navy Lodge

Host – Mikah Haydu of Shula’s

 Housekeepers – Quenella Somerville of Courtyard by Marriott Downtown and Mary Matthews of Residence Inn Downtown

 Kitchen – Mary Hearvey of Holiday Inn Airport and David Moore of Sheraton Norfolk Waterside

 Maintenance – Rafael Rosado of the Ted Constant Convocation Center

 Military Tourism Ambassador – Gregory Bell of USN

 Parking Attendant – Ruth Jones of MacArthur Center

 Public Service Ambassador – Marcia Oubre of Norfolk Botanical Garden

 Receptionist – Sarah Gilbert of Ted Constant Convocation Center

 Retail – Elizabeth Joseph of Nauticus

 Server – Mark Montgomery of 219 An American Bistro

 Valet – Marcus Watterson of Byrd & Baldwin

 Volunteer – Don Pipes of Nauticus

 Zoo Keepers – Aubry Hall of Virginia Zoo

 Zoo Ambassador – Oscar the Red Panda

This little trip to a chilly riverfront Norfolk is more about a festival than the wine for which it is named.   More than two dozen Virginia wineries descended on Town Point Park to inject a little spring into an otherwise dreary impression of May.  I tried to capture some of the humanity who is falling in love with Virginia’s fruit of the vine.   The Commonwealth ranks 5th in US wine production, and much of it quite good!   See my pictures here.

Hand of producer pushing button to talk to anchor on the set.

   With the rise of the online world and social media, more information is available to us than ever before.   You are gracious enough to let us into your homes daily, but you don’t always get that extra look at how information gets to you.  Here then is a look behind the scenes; pictures I snapped around the station, to provide an additional angle of the news and a candid look at just some of the journalists and production specialists  on which you depend daily.  That’s 10 on your side.

A special honor for Virginia Beach’s former mayor and I was honored to be a part of it.
The Diocese of Richmond and Catholic Charities of Eastern Virginia presented its Bishop’s Humanitarian Award to Meyera Oberndorf on March 4, 2013.

According to the program, “The award honors those whose service exemplifies the ideal that society is worth improving and that sharing and caring are part of a well-lived life”.  Mayor Oberndorf certainly fits the description.

Her daughters, friends, and colleagues attended the luncheon at Beth Sholom Village.
The event was originally planned for last fall, but her husband Roger passed away around that time.
Oberndorf is now battling Alzheimer’s disease, but I can tell you- she’s as witty as ever. Speakers included Rabbi Israel Zoberman, The Reverend James E. Parke, Mary Russo, Joel Rubin and others.

All praised her for her work before during and after her term to help the community- particularly children and families. As always, she was very gracious and shared stories about her family and how they supported her through her busy days as mayor.

My mom Becky, dad Henry, Meyera and me!

So, how do I know “Auntie Meyera” so well?
She and my grandfather John Perry served on Virginia Beach city council together in the late 1980′s.  Her daughters Heidi and Marcie were in school with me at Kempsville, too.

Mayor Oberndorf at my high school graduation (That’s my Nana on my left)

In fact, here’s a picture of her at my high school graduation.  Small world, huh?

Air Quality is vital to our everyday and long term health. Over the years, scientists have been able to develop satellites that observe the composition of the air in the upper levels of the atmosphere. The problem is, we don’t live there. We live here on the ground, so in 2011 NASA started DISCOVER-AQ (Deriving Information on Surface conditions from Column and Vertically Resolved Observations Relevant to Air Quality.)  This program’s headquarters is right here in our backyard at NASA Langley Center in Hampton, VA.  For the missions NASA used a P-3B to measure the air quality.

P-3B, Credit: NASA

2011 Flight Path, Credit: NASA

The P3-B flies in a circular pattern to measure the air quality. It flies at various levels from 10,000 ft to as low as 1,000 ft off of the ground. The path took it from the NW corner of D.C. to Baltimore.  This year the mission continued its 2nd tour in California.

A View from the P-3B, Credit: NASA

Fresno, CA Haze, Credit: NASA

There are several instruments on board the aircraft, but ground instruments are also used such as PANDORA. That instrument can measure different levels of substances in the lower levels of the atmosphere.

Scientists on the mission discovered that some of the pollution would be trapped in the lowest levels that they measured. The pollution (or areosols) can’t really be measured by satellites because they have trouble distinguishing what they are looking at. DISCOVER-AQ’s data from this recent mission is going to be available soon. So we can better learn what is only a few hundred feet above us in the air.

This was the second stop of the 5-year, $30 million mission to measure air quality. The research will be used to develop better satellites to measure the air we breathe.

To see even more about the mission visit their website: http://discover-aq.larc.nasa.gov/

Meteorologist Jeff Edmondson

Alveta Ewell announces her retirement from WAVY-TV

It was one of our first discussions.  We reported a story involving a child–the details of which matter little five years later.  I wrote a line that described his disability in a way which drew a piercing look from my new co-anchor.  During the commercial break which followed, she politely took issue with the term, “autistic” in reference to the boy’s disability.

“Did you write that?”  she asked.

“Yes.”  I answered, slightly annoyed, with a dash of defensiveness in anticipating a bigger discussion that could only last for the next ninety seconds.

“Autistic–that’s not right!”

Now we hear the camera operator/floor director, “ONE MINUTE.”

“What do you mean?  He has autism!”

“That’s right,” nodding with a wide smile, as if a teacher senses her student is starting to finally get it.

Before I could answer, she looked to the bright studio lights carefully searching for the words to make that gentle “correction.”

“30 SECONDS!” 

“When you say someone is autistic. you’re letting the disability define the person.  It’s better to say, he ‘has autism’ because that is only a small part of who he is.”

“STAND BY!”

We came back to a ”two shot” as I was nodding slightly.  My brain then shifted to the next story, as my co-anchor smiled as if to say, “now you understand.”

That is Alveta Ewell.

She makes her point in a kind manner, but don’t mistake the softly spoken words for a lack of passion.  Alveta has compassion for the underdog,  and while most of us shake our heads over a man convicted of murder, and speak of the family he wronged,  Alveta will also think of others  burdened by a criminal’s choices.   After one particularly violent case,  she once said to me in a solemn tone, “Just imagine what his (the killer’s) mother must be going through.”

Alveta Ewell shares a lighter moment with Nicole Livas on the set

Maybe it’s her ability to see  beneath various racial, political, and religious backgrounds  which define mere segments of who we really are.   On the day Andy Griffith passed away, the newsroom was full of stories about Griffith’s life on the Outer Banks, his immense talent as a storyteller, and his underrated ability as a dramatic actor.  Alveta and I settled into a discussion about the iconic land of Mayberry, and its idealized vision of a small rural American town in the 1960′s.  I asked about her impressions of that show growing up, and its portrayal of a friendly, unarmed sheriff in North Carolina during the often violent struggle for equality faced by blacks in the south during the Civil Rights era.   The answer was classic Alveta Ewell.

“The Andy Griffith Show wasn’t about black or white.  We saw it as just people.  They went through situations and learned lessons all of us could relate to.  It didn’t matter that the show didn’t have black characters.  Nobody did then.  That show was about humanity–not white people or black people”

Leave it to Alveta to find a common thread with which to include everyone.   She doesn’t view the world in black, white and other labels we attach to people as defined by skin color or ethnic background.   Some traits run through all of “humanity,” and Alveta sees the world through that prism.  That quality made her a special member of the WAVY family.  I’ll miss her compassionate storytelling,  and monster smile that always made the WAVY newsroom a brighter place.

When she announced her decision to leave WAVY after nearly 25 years, we shared a few tears, and I told her that I will be forever grateful for her kindness during my first years in a new place.  Alveta’s  acceptance of me helped me connect with many of you.  It’s how kindness works; it spreads through example–one which we see everyday at WAVY through the humanity of  Alveta Ewell.

After years of talks, over a million dollars spent on consulting reports, and most recently an NBA team looking to relocate, time has run out for now regarding plans to build a new arena in Virginia Beach with the Sacramento Kings as the building’s main tenant.

Today, Virginia Beach Mayor Will Sessoms and Peter Lukko, the president of Comcast Spectacor, acknowledged they are no longer hopeful a deal can be made with the next week or so to bring a major league sports team to Virginia, that team being the Kings.

“Both parties remain committed to the concept of an arena in Virginia Beach and to continuing discussions with a potential anchor tenant. That said, we have not reached a level of progress that will allow the city to go before the General Assembly to request the necessary funding.”

So, the Kings will not be signing an agreement to come to Virginia Beach.

I spoke with Mayor Sessoms today and asked him if he was disappointed. He said, “Yes, but at the same time looking ahead to the future, and seeing opportunites like this again we know what to be prepared for. One city can’t do this alone in the Commonwealth of Virginia. I think we will have an opportunity like this again, hopefully in the very near future. Based on our experience I believe we will be able to negotiate better, have our partnerships in place with whoever we do this with ahead of time, and get out to the community ahead of time.”

Without that agreement with the Kings, Virginia Beach will not ask state legislators for the 150-million dollars they need to finance the deal.

Thus the Kings, who have never publicly admitted they were considering the move to Virginia, will most likely explore other options. Whether it be selling the team to folks in Seattle, perhaps working a deal to move the team to Anaheim, or just staying put in Sacramento.

There is no way to tell today just how far apart the various parties were from agreeing to a deal–Beach officials were adamant they would not build the arena unless they could guarantee no risk to the taxpayer. And the Kings obviously weren’t going to make the move unless they were convinced it was a good deal for them.

Time has run out, the city needed a deal to take to the state, saying the $150 million was critical to make the project happen.

If there is a positive to the arena talks–it re-energized the entertainment complex planned for the old Dome site at the Oceanfront. That project, to be built by producer Michael Jenkins, using $120 million of his own money, should be finalized soon.

I’ll have more on the Mayor’s arena statement later today, and on WAVY News 10 at 6pm.

Time for the next step, as Virginia Beach continues it’s quest to build a new 18,000 seat arena and lure the NBA Kings from Sacramento as the building’s anchor tenant.

Tomorrow, December 11th, the Beach City Council is expected to vote overwhelmingly to continue negotiations on the project giving state leaders the confidence that from a local level, everybody is on board.

For now.

City leaders including Virginia Beach councilman Glenn Davis and the city’s finance director Patti Phillips traveled to Dallas late last week to continue talks with Comcast-Spectacor, along with Kevin Taylor the project manager at consultant HKS, Inc. On it’s website, HKS quoted Sims Hinds, managing director of HKS World Events as saying, “We believe that Virginia Beach and Southeastern Virginia represents the last untapped major sports and entertainment market in the country.”

HKS World Events has been working with the Virginia Beach Development Authority on the arena project for more than two and a half years. HKS designed the new Cowboys Stadium, Dodgers Stadium, along with NBA arenas in Dallas and Indianapolis.

But all the talking in the world is not going to come up with the money needed to build the arena and pay moving expenses for the Kings.

Next up, trying to convince members of both houses of the Virginia General Assembly to kick in $150 million to help with the costs.

The state session begins on January 9th. Because the request for state money came in so late, it was not included in the budget introduced by Gov. Bob McDonnell. So now it is up to local Delegates and Senators to submit a budget amendment to the House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees. That must be done by Friday, January 4th. Local Senator Frank Wagner is expected to carry the legislation to Richmond but neither he nor Beach Senator Jeff McWaters have yet to endorse it. Delegates Ron Villanueva, Chris Stolle, Sal Iaquinto, and Bob Purkey are believed to have been briefed on the proposal but none of them have made any public comment.

Longtime Delegate Bob Tata, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, was quoted by Aaron Applegate in the Virginian Pilot last month calling the arena concept, “pie in the sky.” But sources say skepticism by the local delegation in Hampton Roads came before they were given details of the proposal.

After the budget amendment has been submitted, it will have to go before a subcommittee, then the House Appropriations Committee, and then to the entire House of Delegates before it can be adopted. When, and in this case (a big) if this happens, the House budget is sent to the Senate for consideration.

One noticeable stumbling point in the state request may be that Virginia Beach wants to use $80 million of the $150 million to pay the owners of the Kings for moving costs, the anticipated 30 million dollars demanded by the other NBA owners in what they call a “relocation fee”, and loss of revenue the team expects to suffer while having to play in smaller arena’s in Virginia during the two years it will take to build the new building at the beach.

Negotiators may be better served finding another way to come up with the $80 million for the team–using the state money instead for construction and other costs.

Asking for state funds to pay the owners of the Kings George and Gavin Maloff, may be a deal breaker, and this deal is fragile enough.

It’s doubtful the arena can be built without help from the state, so the support of local legislators and eventually law makers from around the state are going to be paramount for this to happen.

Next Tuesday, the newly formed Citizen Communications Committee for the proposed project will hold a public Town Hall meeting at the Virginia Beach Convention Center to gather input from citizens.

So while the arena and the relocation of the Kings is far from being a done deal, it will all be over soon one way or another. The state General Assembly session is only 45 days long, meaning it ends February 23rd.

And the many people associated with the project that I have talked to say there does not seem to be a chance the arena can be built without both the state money and without a long term lease signed by the Kings.

Stay tuned.