2008 Woodie Awards
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) _ Old Dominion University and the city of Norfolk are hoping to ease fears about a rise in violent crimes in campus-area neighborhoods, including a shooting death. University and city leaders said Friday that they plan to work together to increase patrols and cooperate on investigations, and officials may consider putting a police station or substation nearby.
NEW YORK (AP) _ Stocks are down, down, down. But student interest in economics appears to be trending upward. The financial crisis has made "the dismal science" more relevant and immediate to many high school and college students, and they are suddenly paying closer attention in class.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Virginia Commonwealth University's board of visitors on Thursday tightened its academic policies to make it easier to revoke degrees such as the one wrongly granted to former Richmond Police Chief Rodney Monroe. The board changed the rules at its regularly scheduled meeting without mentioning Monroe, who was awarded a bachelor's degree from VCU in interdisciplinary studies in 2007 despite not having earned enough credits at VCU.
ROANOKE, Va. (AP) _ In dismaying detail, legislative budget writers got their fullest look Tuesday at a darkening fiscal crisis that will soon force them to cut government priorities once held harmless. "You are at the juncture where all the low-hanging fruit is gone," members of the House Appropriations Committee learned from the chief of the committee staff, Robert Vaughn.
DETROIT (AP) _ General Motors Corp. will extend its holiday shutdown or make other production cuts at five factories at as it deals with a continued U.S. auto sales slump and fights to stay solvent. Also Friday, the company announced changes at five other factories that could increase production of some models, all based on a volatile U.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Former NFL star Michael Vick is back in Virginia to plead guilty to state dogfighting charges, a move he hopes will expedite his return to society and, eventually, pro football. The former Atlanta Falcons quarterback is being held in protective custody at the Hopewell Regional Jail, superintendent Darnley Hodge said Friday.
WASHINGTON (AP) _ President-elect Barack Obama promoted an economic plan Saturday he said would create 2.5 million jobs by rebuilding roads and bridges and modernizing schools while developing alternative energy sources and more efficient cars. "These aren't just steps to pull ourselves out of this immediate crisis.
The election of Barack Obama as America's 44th President had an effect on not just Americans, but also people around the world. Everywhere from the Philippines to India, people rejoiced as this election symbolized not just a change in American society, but also served as a symbol of hope for their own societies.
CHICAGO (AP) _ Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has engaged a team of prominent lawyers to help President-elect Barack Obama vet her candidacy for secretary of state even as some insiders criticized the pick and advisers to the former first lady said she was weighing whether to take the job if Obama offered it.
WASHINGTON (AP) _ President-elect Barack Obama's top choice for attorney general is Eric Holder, a former No. 2 Justice Department official in the Clinton administration and Obama campaign aide who would become the first African American to serve as the nation's chief lawyer.
NEW YORK (AP) _ Bonnie Rabin is fond of saying that divorce lawyers are a bit like liquor stores. They're busiest in the really good times, and the really bad. These, of course, would be the bad times. After all, "Money is THE great source of stress in relationships," says Rabin, one of five partners in a Manhattan matrimonial firm, who speaks with the quiet authority of someone who's spent two decades speaking to troubled spouses.
NEW YORK (AP) _ The first time Steve Kroft went to Barack Obama's house to interview him two weeks before his presidential campaign kickoff, Obama's daughter Sasha answered the door. Don't expect that to ever happen again. Life has changed dramatically for the Obama family, as Kroft learned Friday in Chicago when he conducted the first postelection television interview with Obama.
You look on, stunned by the picture of Thomas Beatie, 34, a man with an enlarged abdomen, and question if the picture is some type of hoax. Beatie made international headlines when he became the first transgender man in the world to have a baby. He had his first baby girl, Susan, last June.
Beatie and his wife Nancy are expecting again, reports ABC News.
Beatie was naturally born female but, started the process of changing his sex in 1998, feeling that he identified himself more as a man. He received testosterone treatments, surgically removed his breasts and legally switched into the life of a man.
WASHINGTON (AP) _ John Podesta, a leader of President-elect Barack Obama's transition team, was the Clinton administration official who worked to douse scandals, outmaneuver Republicans and keep Bill Clinton popular even through impeachment. He's now in charge of a 450-person staff whose experts - including Podesta himself - aren't always in sync with those of his new boss.
Many gathered on Veteran's Day at Norfolk State's Library Greens Field to remember those who served. The field was decorated appropriately for the day's holiday and an added bonus to the festivities was the attendance of NSU's ROTC department. The event was lead by Army ROTC Cadet Battalion Commander Darrell Whiting, the master of ceremony.
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) _ Hampton Roads Transit officials have awarded a $10.9 million contract to build a light rail vehicle storage and maintenance facility near Norfolk State University. The contract, like the entire project, is over budget. Transit officials say the contract will have to be amended after changes to the facility's design are finished, increasing the price.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) _ Have a pacemaker or an implanted defibrillator? Don't keep your iPod earbuds in your shirt pocket or draped around your neck - even when they're disconnected. A study finds that some headphones can interfere with heart devices if held very close to them.
MIAMI (AP) _ In a desolate, weed-filled lot in a neighborhood nestled just beyond Miami's glass-and-steel skyscrapers, business was brisk at Earl Quinn's makeshift T-shirt shop. As soon as he could print them, T-shirts with President-elect Barack Obama's name in glitter and his face in silver studs were sold.
Norfolk State University held an election watch party on Election Day in the Godwin Center Ballroom for the public to view coverage of the election on CNN. While this party was open to the public, many participants were students of NSU. Dr. Carol Pretlow, a political science professor at NSU, organized the event with the assistance of Maurice Hawkins, Associate Director of Alumni Associations.
NEW YORK (AP) _ Circuit City Stores Inc., the nation's second-biggest electronics retailer, filed for bankruptcy protection Monday but plans to stay open for business as the busy shopping season approaches. It filed under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code, which will allow it to hold off creditors and continue operations, while it develops a reorganization plan.
NSU students celebrated Barack Obama's historic win on election night and the Spartan Echo's Joe Cook was there to document it with this video report.
WASHINGTON (AP) _ Barack Obama was elected the nation's first black president Tuesday night in a historic triumph that overcame racial barriers as old as America itself. The 47-year-old Democratic senator from Illinois sealed his victory with a string of wins in hard-fought battleground states.
WASHINGTON (AP) _ Democrats broadened their control of Congress in Tuesday's elections, though in the Senate they fell short of the 60 votes needed for a filibuster-proof majority that would have given them almost unbridled power over legislation. Voters ousted Senate Republicans in North Carolina and New Hampshire and added three seats held by retiring GOP incumbents to the Democrats' fragile 51-49 majority.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Voters were lined up by the hundreds Tuesday as polls opened in Virginia, and reports quickly began to mount of malfunctioning voting machines and polling places opening late. The State Board of Elections said at a briefing there were no "widespread problems" and blamed human error and the rain for those problems that were reported.
Centuries after a nation was founded on freedom but enslaved its own, 143 years after race tore it in half, 45 years after King dreamed and 40 after he died, Americans had the opportunity to elect the son of a Kenyan and a Kansan as leader of the free world.
Presidential hopeful Barack Obama received the devastating news of his grandmother, Madelyn Payne Dunham, passing away early Nov. 3, just one day before the election. Obama got the notification he had been dreading since he discovered that his grandmother was unwell only a short while ago.
Chris Rock spoke to democrats in Norfolk at the Get-Out-The- Vote rally held at the Harrison Opera House Saturday, Nov. 2. The function was free of admission. The doors opened at 6 pm and the event started around 8:30 pm. Loyal Barack Obama supporters gathered in a massive line to see the comedian, Chris Rock talk about this year's election.
On Oct 10, Terrance Allen Ross learned his fate after his conviction in early August where he pleaded guilty to one count of voluntary manslaughter in Norfolk Circuit Court. He will serve two years and six months for the death of Norfolk State University student Sean Williams.
Barack Obama returned to the battleground state of Virginia Tuesday night, Oct. 28. He spoke at Harbor Park baseball stadium where thousands stood in near freezing temperatures wearing all kinds of Obama paraphernalia just to hear and see Barack Obama.
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) _ Increasing demand for services is forcing some free health clinics in the area to tighten their eligibility requirements. Others are trying to recruit more doctors and health-care providers to reduce wait times. The culprit: the downturn in the economy.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ The Virginia NAACP sued Gov. Tim Kaine on Monday, Oct. 27, arguing that the state has failed to prepare for an unprecedented voter turnout in next week's presidential election. Gov. Tim Kaine says Virginia has enough poll workers and voting machines to handle next Tuesday's election.
CONWAY, Ark. (AP) _ The head of the University of Central Arkansas said Monday, Oct. 27, that campus was safe after a shooting left two students dead and a third person wounded. Police said the killings did not appear to be acts of random violence and that there was no remaining threat on the 12,500-student campus.
WASHINGTON (AP) _ With or without a formal title, Colin Powell will have Barack Obama's ear if the Democratic presidential candidate wins the White House in the Nov. 4 election, the candidate said Monday, Oct. 20. "He will have a role as one of my advisers," Barack Obama said on NBC's "Today" in an interview aired Monday, a day after Powell, a four-star general and President Bush's former secretary of state, endorsed him.
Nebraska now has a unique and new safe-haven law, which allows caregivers to abandon babies and teenagers at Omaha, Nebraska, hospitals without fear of prosecution. The law, originally intended to protect infants that would otherwise end up as "dumpster babies," was expanded in a legislative compromise to protect any "child," meaning anyone younger than 19 years old.
In this election season, Obama supporter Karen E. Ransom of Virginia Beach warns voters: "Please, please, please advise everyone you know that they absolutely can not go to the polls wearing any Obama shirts, pins or hats" because, Ransom goes on to say, "It is against the law and will be grounds to have the polling officials turn you away."
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ It's OK to be fired up about voting for your candidate next month. Just don't wear your feelings on your sleeve. Or your hat, or your lapel or anyplace else when you show up at the polls. The State Board of Elections on Tuesday, Oct. 14, voted 2-1 to ban clothing, hats, buttons or other paraphernalia that expressly advocates the election or defeat of a candidate or issue inside polling places.
Monday, Nov. 17 at 7:24 p.m. Weapon Law Violation James D. Gill Gym An NSU student came to police headquarters to report that an unknown persons threatened him with a weapon during an intramural basketball game. There will be further investigation. Tuesday, Nov.
Monday, Nov. 10 at 11:21 p.m. Information Only (Sexual Assault) Phyllis Wheatley NSUPD and a counselor spoke to a female student who was sexually assaulted over the weekend. A report for information only was taken. Thursday Nov. 13 at 1:22 p.m. Harassment Twin Towers A student came to headquarters to report four male students harassing her.
Saturday, Nov. 1 at 6:03 a.m. Explosive-Bomb Making Samuel Scott Hall A Residential Housing Staff reported a loud noise that sounded like gunshots within the dorm. NSUPD officers were dispatched and responded. They found what appeared to be some type of home-manufactured bomb.
Sunday, Oct. 19 at 9:07 p.m. Overdose/Possible Suicide Attempt Lee Smith Resident Hall Norfolk State Police Department Head Quarters received a call from Norfolk Fire & Rescue regarding a 911 call from NSU's dorms reporting a possible overdose. On call counselor arrived.
Current