A Midlothian fine dining bistro born out of the pandemic was recently named “Best Locally Owned Restaurant in Virginia” by Southern Living Magazine as part of its annual “Best of the South” issue. The award went to 21 Spoons, a restaurant in the Brandermill area started in 2021 by local entrepreneur Ann Butler. Butler also owns Edible Education, a program geared towards getting kids excited about food and cooking.
A Midlothian fine dining bistro born out of the pandemic was recently named “Best Locally Owned Restaurant in Virginia” by Southern Living Magazine as part of its annual “Best of the South” issue.
The award went to 21 Spoons, a restaurant in the Brandermill area started in 2021 by local entrepreneur Ann Butler. Butler also owns Edible Education, a program geared towards getting kids excited about food and cooking.
After a year plagued with violent crime, Hopewell is looking to see if a group violence intervention program offers a glimmer of hope.
Project Safe, Alive and Free (SAF) — spearheaded by Richmond-based rehabilitation center Real Life — launched on June 1. The center is working with Hopewell police and other city and state partners to reduce violent crime in Hopewell.
For the effort, Real Life worked with the police department to compile a list of people who they believe are likely to shoot or be shot.
“This is intervention. The goal is actually to decrease arrests,” Sarah Scarbrough, Real Life’s director, said.
The list has about 30 people on it so far.
“The police involvement is to know the who, what, when and how to prevent and reduce gun violence in the city,” said Hopewell’s interim police chief Gregory Taylor.
Taylor said they used the help of investigators, crime analysts and school resource officers to consider people who were previously involved in gun violence and criminal activity.
Maurice Washington, a violence prevention coordinator for Project SAF, said the ages of the people on the list range from 14 to 28 years old.
“Several of my friends have been murdered and I’ve been around a lot of different shootings my whole life,” Washington said. “I’ve seen a lot of people get shot and been involved in different things myself, so I see this is something that can actually help people.”
Hopewell saw a 70% spike in violent crime in 2022. Real Life said its goal is to reduce the number of shootings in Hopewell by half, compared to last year’s number, by September.
Chesterfield police are looking for the vandals responsible for damaging the property of a youth athletic league twice in a month.
A new law in Virginia could allow families to be awarded a posthumous diploma for their late student.
Delegate Dawn Adams (D-Richmond) introduced a measure allowing high school seniors who’ve died before their graduation to still receive a diploma.
The bill was signed into law this year, requiring the Board of Education to waive certain graduation requirements when it takes effect on July 1. The new law will allow parents to request a posthumous diploma if the student was in good standing before graduation.
A new law in Virginia could allow families to be awarded a posthumous diploma for their late student.
Delegate Dawn Adams (D-Richmond) introduced a measure allowing high school seniors who’ve died before their graduation to still receive a diploma.
The bill was signed into law this year, requiring the Board of Education to waive certain graduation requirements when it takes effect on July 1. The new law will allow parents to request a posthumous diploma if the student was in good standing before graduation.
The first Shake Shack in the Richmond area, the first in Virginia with a drive-thru, is opening on June 9, according to a company spokesperson.
(Made on Lumen5)
As the opioid epidemic continued to spiral out of control, fentanyl took a record number of lives in overdoses across Virginia.
In a quarterly report published by the Virginia Department of Health (VDH), drug overdoses remain the leading cause of unnatural death in Virginia — more than gun-related and motor vehicle-related deaths combined.
https://www.wric.com/news/virginia-news/what-is-the-likelihood-of-dying-from-fentanyl-virginia-quarterly-report-paints-grim-picture/
Petersburg Police arrived on Talley Avenue at 8:54 on Saturday after residents had called and reported hearing gunfire.
"I mean, like a tap gun going off a lot. Like it had a pop, pop, pop, pop."
When police got to the scene, they found the victim, identified as Tewana Williams, a Petersburg mother now dead from multiple gunshot wounds.
According to neighbors who were outside at the time of the incident, police arrested 32-year-old Donald Johnson of Petersburg shortly after locating Williams' body at the residence.
Customers of the solar company Pink Energy are still waiting for their unfinished projects to be completed months after Virginia’s attorney general’s office launched an investigation into the business.
The office of Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares told 8News last September it was investigating Pink Energy, formerly known as PowerHome Solar, after receiving 54 complaints about the business’s operation.
After suddenly closing in September of 2022, Pink Energy filed for bankruptcy in October of 2022. The move left dozens of customers with unfinished projects and growing loan payments. Virginia, Ohio, and North Carolina were some of the states investigating the company.
Chesterfield County resident Kimberlyn Towles was one of the residents who was left trying to find someone to finish her project after the company closed its doors.
In a letter co-signed by nine other attorneys general, Miyares called on Dividend Solar Finance, GoodLeap, Cross Riverbank, Sunlight Financial and Solar Mosaic — all companies that provided loans for homeowners to pay for the installation of solar panels — to stop collecting interest from the customers of Pink Energy who never had their installations completed.
Despite this call to action, Towles says she is still left with an incomplete project 10 months later.
“It’s been months and months and that hasn’t happened,” Towles told 8News.
Pink Energy, known as PowerHome Solar at the time, installed solar panels on Towles’ roof in 2019. In the summer of 2022, the panels were taken down to have her roof repaired. In September, the solar company was scheduled to reinstall Towles’ panels but they never showed up.
While the letter sent to lending companies with Pink Energy does not include any requirements that companies must follow, Towles said she hoped the call to action would help her finally get her solar panels back up.
“I can’t believe that there is not one company in our area or a nearby area here that is not willing to just help get my panels back up and running,” said Towles.
8News reached out to the Virginia Attorney General’s Office for comment. That request was denied. Customers are encouraged to continue to file complaints through the office’s Consumer Protection Section.
The sheriff's office says the child was approached while he was outside playing in a wooded area near the front of his house.
They say that Williams offered the boy several items including things like power tools, a knife and even a duckling.
As the boy was talking with Williams, a neighbor noticed the interaction and called the boy over to her.
Williams then drove off leaving the items behind.
Authorities are not identifying the child because of his young age.
A neighbor spoke with 8News says that the neighborhood doesn't have a lot of children.
They said that they've been living in the area for 40 years and nothing like this has ever happened.
A grandmother and her two great-grandchildren are in critical condition after a fire destroyed their Colonial Heights home on Monday, May 15.
Sharon Davis was babysitting her three great-grandchildren — Maverick, Nathaniel and Eva — in her Colonial Heights home off Covington Road when the fire broke out at around 3:49 p.m.
Now, three people are in the hospital and eight people are left without a home.
“Emotions are all over the place between going to the hospital and trying to be here to get things together,” Destiney Davis, Sharon Davis’s granddaughter, said. “It’s tough, but we’re in high spirits.”
The family’s focus right now is on recovering after the trauma of the fire, praying for the recovery of their loved ones and finding a new home, after theirs was left destroyed.
“Everything inside is black and it smells awful” Destiney Davis said. “The fire went through several walls in the home. Everything is destroyed. The whole bottom half of the house is filled with water, of course, from putting the fire out.”
Sharon Davis who, along with two of her great-grandchildren, are currently in critical condition after being trapped in the flames that ripped through their home on Monday. The burns the children sustained during the fire covering 70% of their body, according to the family.
“As of now, my grandmother, they’re all in critical condition,” Destiney Davis said. “My grandmother is stable. Please pray for the babies. They’re still trying to get them stable in critical condition right now.”
