Global Shipping Container Company Announces Virginia Expansion

A global shipping container company announced plans to expand its headquarters in Virginia with a $30 million investment.

ZIM American Integrated Shipping Services Company, a subsidiary of the publicly held international cargo shipping company ZIM Integrated Shipping Services Ltd, based in Israel, chose the Hampton Roads region to relocate and expand its U.S. headquarters.

Read the full story

Virginia Beach Delays Vote on Plastic Bag Tax Until December

A proposal to impose a 5-cent plastic bag tax will not receive a vote in Virginia Beach until Dec. 6, which is a little less than one month after the midterm elections.

The Virginia Beach City Council voted 8-1 to delay the vote. The tax would apply to disposal bags provided to shoppers at grocery stores, convenience stores and pharmacies. It would not apply to plastic used for wrapping or used to prevent damage or contamination.

Read the full story

Advocates Say Millions of Dollars Needed to Help Virginia Tourism Recover

Virginia’s economy is recovering, but Virginia Tourism Corporation (VTC) President Rita McClenny told legislators this week that a major infusion of $50 million is needed to help the struggling tourism sector.

“The $27 billion tourism engine stalled out in 2020 as a result of the global pandemic. Every component sector was negatively impacted: lodging, food service, attractions, business, conventions,  events, transportation, entertainment and recreation. The entire sector needs financial recovery support,” McClenny told the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee.

Read the full story

Virginia Beach Announces Police Body Camera Policy Reforms

The City of Virginia Beach is requiring police officers to turn on body cameras as soon as they are on their way to a call, according to an April 29 video released by the city. Additionally, the Virginia Beach Police Department is in the process of adding switches to officers’ gun holsters to automatically turn their cameras on when the gun is drawn, with an implementation goal of July. Their tasers have a device that activates recording on all nearby officers’ cameras as soon as the taser and camera are turned on.

Read the full story

The Selection Process for Virginia GOP Delegates, Explained

To vote in the Republican Party of Virginia’s (RPV) nomination of its 2021 candidates, citizens will have to be delegates to the nomination convention. Selecting delegates is a process controlled by local branches of the GOP, called units.

Former Chair of the Republican Party of Norfolk Pam Brown said the easiest way to start the process is to contact the local unit chairman. She said, “You can find that on the RPV site, they have linked email addresses to all the local unit chairmembers, and there’s 110 of them to contact.”

Read the full story

Over 200 ‘Adorable Deplorables, Chumps, and Uglies’ Show Up to Virginia Beach Trump Rally

Well over 200 people showed up on a rainy, gray Sunday to a Trump Rally supporting their Republican candidates: Scott Taylor for Congress and Daniel Gade for Senate. The rally took place inside the Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach. 

Virginia Beach attorney Tim Anderson hosted the rally, with The Star editor-in-chief and Trump Virginia Delegation Chairman John Fredericks emceeing.

Read the full story

Host Fredericks Holds Roundtable with Tim Anderson, Reeves, DeSteph, Kiggans, and Cooper About a Law Enforcement Citizen Review Board

Thursday morning on The John Fredericks Show, host John Fredricks welcomed a roundtable consisting of Tim Anderson, Sen. Bryce Reeves, Sen. Bill DeSteph, Sen. Jen Kiggans, and Kristen Cooper to the show to discuss the current citizen review board legislation and how it will make police and communities unsafe.

Read the full story

Exclusive: Bin Laden Raid Navy SEAL Recalls His Dog Cairo Fighting There with Him

  The retired Navy SEAL operator and dog handler, who swept Osama bin Laden’s compound with the Belgian Malinois military working dog Cairo, on the night of the fateful May 2, 2011 raid told the Star Newspapers there were times, when the late dog seemed like the boss. “He taught me all sorts of things,” said Will Chesney, the author of the battle memoirs of Cairo, “No Ordinary Dog” with Joe Layden. “One of the most important thing he taught me was to be present as much as you can.” Check out this excerpt from “No Ordinary Dog.” Chesney said dogs like Cairo was always in the present. “They don’t dwell on the past. They don’t think about the future.” When it came time for the raid, the warning order was short and sweet: “Pick up your dog and get back to Virginia. Now.” Chesney’s unit, SEAL Team Six, was at the time stationed near Virginia Beach. Cairo and his handler we assigned to Navy SEAL Team Six and their role during the bin Laden raid was to conduct security checks, while the mission was executed upstairs, he said. “He was train to detect explosives and man-odor,” Chesney said. “Our…

Read the full story

Human Trafficking Investigation Leads to Four Businesses Being Raided

by Shelby Talcott   Four Virginia Beach business were raided in connection with possible human trafficking Thursday, according to authorities. One of the locations was a massage parlor that has been open for about seven or eight years, local outlet Wavy reported. People in the area were not surprised to hear of alleged human trafficking at this location, with one woman saying most business owners in the area had an idea something was up. “Yeah, well I think most of the business owners they had a feeling that something was going on,” said Tiffany, who works near the parlor, according to Wavy. “It was pretty noticeable that there was just gentlemen going in and out. No women of any kind.” “I mean it’s very apparent, you know, the girls will sometimes walk the gentlemen out as they leave the parking lot, you see only gentlemen going in and out,” Tiffany said. “You never see female. I know across, the business across the sidewalk here, one of her girls tried to go get a massage and they turned her down and told her they don’t. You know ‘we don’t service females.’” Human trafficking is a worldwide, multi-billion dollar illegal industry and…

Read the full story

Thirteen Killed Including Suspected Gunman In Virginia Beach Municipal Center

by Evie Fordham   At least 13 people are dead after a Virginia Beach city employee opened fire on coworkers in a municipal building Friday around 4 p.m., authorities said. Four others were injured and taken to the hospital, reported The Virginian-Pilot. The suspected gunman, a longtime city worker identified as 40-year-old DeWayne Craddock, died when officers responded with gunfire and is counted among the 13 dead. The suspect was a public utilities department worker who was allegedly armed with a .45-caliber handgun with a sound suppressor, Virginia Beach Police Department Chief James Cervera said, according to The Virginian-Pilot. “This is the most devastating day in the history of Virginia Beach,” Mayor Robert M. Dyer said at a press conference. “The people involved are our friends, coworkers, neighbor, colleagues.” The names of the victims have not been released. The shooting occurred on multiple floors of Building 2 of the Virginia Beach Municipal Center, reported CNN. The building is the site of planning and public works offices near City Hall. The police department is nearby. One victim was shot in a vehicle outside the building, and the rest of the victims were shot inside. Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam responded to…

Read the full story