Navy MWR Entertainment hosted the band which played a handful of their most well-known songs before using the aircraft carrier as the backdrop to film a music video for their new song “Coming Home”.

In a report released last week, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs identified problems at the medical center related to surgical services and how leadership there addressed quality management concerns.

“We take allegations of oversight and misconduct seriously and have strengthened our policies and procedures to ensure consistent, high-quality care from licensed professionals,” said Terrence Hayes, the VA’s press secretary, in a Tuesday statement. “We plan to fully implement all recommendations by December.”

The Hampton facility recently confirmed it was replacing several top officials, including its director, chief of staff and chief of surgery.

The OIG launched its review following multiple complaints it received about the center in 2022.

“We got some concerns about surgical quality so we engaged with the facility trying to get some response,” said Julie Kroviak, the department’s principal deputy assistant inspector general for health care inspections. “We then sent further questions to the regional office — and after that we just became more concerned about the quality review processes.”

Kroviak said the report can get a “little bit technical” but shouldn’t be dismissed.

“I think it can be written off as ‘Oh just some detailed processes weren’t followed by clinical leaders.’ But those processes are so critical to the foundation of a patient’s safety program,” she said. “If the highest levels of leadership are not aware of them, truly not aware of them, there are so many places for things to go seriously wrong.”

For example, the report found that after concerns were raised about patient safety, facility leaders issued a summary suspension of the assistant chief of surgery’s clinical privileges in January 2023. But it says the surgeon’s clinical privileges were restored after facility leaders failed to follow required protocol. The surgeon transferred to another VA health facility in June 2023, which “precluded facility leaders from correcting the process, including initiating additional actions,” the report states.

The Hampton center serves southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina. From Oct. 1, 2021, through Sept. 30, 2022, the center served more than 66,000 patients.

The report states OIG received a complaint, which included five patient case examples, in December 2022 that the assistant chief of surgery provided poor surgical care and that the chief of staff was aware of the concerns but did not address them.

After OIG requested additional information, the Veterans Integrated Service Network responded and said the facility conducted a focused clinical care review of 15 cases performed by the assistant chief of surgery. It found six cases did not meet the standard of care and four of those had intraoperative complications, including one patient who experienced a laceration of the liver and another who underwent surgery in concerningly close proximity to having received chemoradiation therapy.

The report states OIG opened its hotline inspection in May 2023. During this review, widespread failures and deficiencies were identified related to facility leaders’ responses to care concerns and subsequent privileging actions involving the assistant chief of surgery, professional practice evaluations of surgeons, surgical service quality management and institutional disclosures.

“The findings identified through this inspection highlight not only failures of facility leaders to ensure that the required processes were appropriately implemented, but also a lack of leaders’ basic understanding of the processes that support delivery of safe health care,” the report states.

The report provided a dozen recommendations, including that summary suspensions, clinical care reviews and proposed revocation of privileges are conducted in accordance with the requirements and policies of the Veterans Health Administration. It further advised the center to ensure that ongoing professional practice evaluations include documentation of all conclusionary outcomes.

In his statement, Hayes said the VA fully supported OIG’s findings.

Hayes said a new team is meeting bi-weekly to address OIG’s recommendations with a target year-end completion goal. He said the facility has introduced a new reporting tool to track clinical care metrics, suspensions, privilege changes, state board reports and ongoing evaluations. Additionally, the facility has initiated monthly patient risk meetings in surgery services.

Hayes noted Michael Harper is taking on the role of acting medical center director until Aug. 5. Harper will then be replaced by Walt Dannenberg, who currently serves as the medical center director of the Long Beach VA Medical Center in California. Hayes said the leadership changes were done to “align with the VA’s commitment to high-reliability principles” but were not directly related to the report.

The House of Representatives’ Committee on Veterans’ Affairs also recently completed an investigation into the Hampton VA Medical Center after lawmakers said they received credible complaints about patient safety concerns and medical incompetence. As a result of the investigation, the committee announced last week that the center was making a series of personnel changes.

Katie King, katie.king@virginiamedia.com

It’s a legal question expected to be handled in court, primarily because of different interpretations of Chesapeake’s city charter — seemingly the only charter for a major Hampton Roads city that puts the city in this novel position.

Multiple council members are challenging mayors this November elections in surrounding cities, like Virginia Beach and Portsmouth. Yet Chesapeake finds itself in this situation as it’s the only Hampton Roads city with a provision in the city charter that requires council members to formally resign from their council seat during their mayoral election bid instead of after. Carey’s council term is set to end Dec. 31. Chesapeake’s charter provision calls for a council resignation by June 30, though it was established when Chesapeake held city elections in May.

The ongoing legal question has spurred division among council members, some of whom are practicing a boycott of certain city business they don’t believe Carey should be part of, like closed sessions, as a result.

At a July 23 meeting, some residents said Carey was being penalized for an oversight issue in the charter, and called for council to make the appropriate changes in lieu of legal action. But that’s challenging in a Dillon’s Rule state like Virginia, where the General Assembly determines the scope of local governments’ power. That means when a city needs to update its charter, state legislators are the ones who can make it happen.

“No two local government situations are alike, and they’re often quite obscure provisions that are at issue,” said Richard Schragger, a law professor at the University of Virginia.

He added that in Chesapeake’s case, it can be tricky because even if the dates should have been changed, the charter also clearly states June 30.

“So then the question becomes, if there’s ambiguities in the interpretation of that provision, who makes that decision? And generally we end up in courts when that’s the case,” Schragger said.

For most Hampton Roads cities, council members who declare candidacy in a mayor’s race must formally resign their council position following the election or upon the start of the newly elected mayor’s term, according to the respective city charters. That includes Norfolk, Hampton, Suffolk and Virginia Beach.

In Virginia Beach, Councilman Chris Taylor, representing District 8, has joined a crowded field to challenge the sitting mayor. To do so, Taylor had to file a formal resignation letter effective after the election since his council term spans until 2026, which will necessitate a special election. His resignation will take effect Dec. 31, regardless of whether he wins or loses the mayoral race.

Sabrina Wooten is another Virginia Beach council member challenging the mayor, but her term ends at the end of the year.

Portsmouth’s charter lacks any resign-to-run requirement. The current vice mayor, Lisa Lucas-Burke, is challenging sitting Mayor Shannon Glover. There is no apparent provision in Newport News’ charter that addresses resign-to-rule stipulations, but a process for filling vacancies is included.

General Assembly action in 2021 shifted Chesapeake’s elections from May to November, but the accompanying provision for resignation was not altered, according to an opinion issued in May by Republican Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares. His opinion concluded that Carey was required to step down by June 30.

In March, Carey declared a bid to challenge Mayor Rick West. On July 9, a majority of council members directed the city attorney’s office to file a writ of mandamus with the Circuit Court asking a judge to compel Carey to resign from his position as he seeks election as mayor.

While it’s still unclear when the city will formally file the petition in Circuit Court, Carey said he was officially served last week by the city with a notice of intent to file. City Attorney Catherine Lindley previously said a “reasonable time” must lapse before filing with Circuit Court, though she has declined to specify what that timeframe will be.

Carey has previously called the move political and unethical.

“Citizens realize how foolish this endeavor is for council to waste taxpayer dollars to attack a political opponent,” he said in a phone interview Monday.

Carey was first elected to City Council in May 2020. He assumed his role July 1 when Chesapeake still held local elections in May instead of November. In Miyares’ opinion, he stated that though resignation would have the effect of shortening Carey’s term, it’s “due to his voluntary decision to seek election to the office of mayor, as was the case prior to the 2021 amendments for council members seeking to become mayor in middle of their otherwise four-year term.”

Around a dozen residents spoke at a July 23 meeting, mostly expressing frustration with division among council and the city money and resources that will be dedicated to litigating the issue. Others said he should stay in his seat through the end of his current term.

Resident Nancy Pettigrew and George Reed of the New Chesapeake Men for Progress argued that the intent of the charter change law wasn’t to result in a monthslong vacancy when a council member runs for mayor.

“Forcing Councilman Carey off the council at this point in the year will hamper the work that the City Council does,” Pettigrew said. “And in fact, we are already seeing that happen.”

Reed cited a summary document about the 2021 law when it was passed, which states the terms of mayor, council and school board members should not be shortened as a result of shifting elections to November. It also states all those members elected at a May general election and whose terms end as of June 30 “shall continue in office until their successors have been elected at the November general election and have been qualified to serve.”

Another election-related bill passed that year amended that portion of state code and the clause Reed cited was removed.

“We ought to have a writ of mandamus to get our city attorney to configure our charter to meet the state law,” Reed said. “I say to you there must be a different agenda. You should explain that agenda to the public. Because it’s certainly not running good governance with transparency and accountability.”

Natalie Anderson, 757-732-1133, natalie.anderson@virginiamedia.com

Dispatchers received a 911 call at 12:40 p.m. Saturday reporting “multiple individuals in distress” in the water near the end of Persimmon Street, Currituck County Fire and Emergency Medical Services Chief Ralph Melton said.

Ocean rescue lifeguards from Bismark Street were already in the water when the call came in and additional lifeguards were deployed. By 12:42 p.m., fire and EMS was dispatched to assist.

“The ocean rescue shift supervisor confirmed that one swimmer was unaccounted for and presumed submerged,” Melton said. He identified the boy as Amir Abou, who lived with his family in Woodbine, Maryland, a community west of Baltimore and east of Frederick.

Currituck Fire and EMS Capt. Bob Pugh deployed more than 20 lifeguards and a jet ski while the Coast Guard dispatched an MH-60 helicopter, which performed search patterns until 4 p.m. Meanwhile, rescue workers were “strategically positioned on beach access stairs” for an elevated spot to look for the boy, and to keep an eye on rescue swimmers in the water, Melton said. Other rescue crews prepared to take Abou as a patient if he was found. In all, more than 50 first responders were called into action for the search.

At 4:10 p.m., lifeguards conducting a line search on shore located Abou in the water.

Coast Guard ends search for 12-year-old boy pulled under water off Corolla beach

“He was immediately moved to an ambulance positioned on the beach for assessment and potential treatment,” Melton said. But the boy had been submerged for about three and a half hours and no resuscitation efforts were initiated. He was pronounced dead at 4:16 p.m.

The National Weather Service forecast for Saturday called for a moderate risk of rip currents along Outer Banks beaches.

“We extend our deepest condolences to the family and friends of the victim during this difficult time,” Melton said.

In the Hampton Roads region, combined state and local sales taxes add up to 6% to 7%.

Virginia has offered the sales tax holiday for more than a decade, usually in early August to coincide with the back-to-school season. Last year the holiday was delayed until October because of problems during budget negotiations.

Eligible tax-free items include school supplies that cost $20 or less per item, as well as clothing and footwear that cost $100 or less per item. Eligible emergency preparedness products include portable generators for $1,000 or less and gas-powered chainsaws for $350 or less. Some Energy Star and WaterSense products for home or personal use are also eligible.

Sports gear, protective equipment and accessories are not eligible. A full list of eligible items can be found online at tax.virginia.gov/virginia-sales-tax-holiday.

Nour Habib, nour.habib@virginiamedia.com

It’ll be mostly cloudy Tuesday morning with scattered showers. Expect partly cloudy skies this afternoon with a lower rain chance. Scattered storms will fire up late in the afternoon to evening. Highs will return to the upper 80s today with humidity building.

Highs will climb to the low 90s on Wednesday with an afternoon heat index in the triple digits. Expect partly cloudy skies with a “pop-up” shower or storm possible.

Highs will climb to the mid 90s for the end of the work week with afternoon heat index values in the triple digits. Expect a mix of sun and clouds with scattered showers and storms possible each day. This “summer-like” stretch will continue into the weekend with heat, humidity, and scattered storms.

• Today: Partly Cloudy, Scattered Storms. Highs in the upper 80s. Winds: S 5-15
• Tonight: Partly Cloudy, Scattered Storms. Lows in the mid 70s. Winds: SW 5-10
• Wednesday: Partly Cloudy, Scattered Storms. Highs in the low 90s. Winds: SW 5-10

Tropical Update

Watching a large tropical wave centered several hundred miles east of the Leeward Islands. Environmental conditions are forecast to become more conducive for development over the warmer waters of the southwestern Atlantic Ocean during the next day or two A tropical depression could form late this week while the system is in the vicinity of the Greater Antilles or the Bahamas.

• Formation chance through 48 hours: Low (0%)
• Formation chance through 7 days: Medium (60%)

Weather & Health

• Pollen: Low-Mod (Grasses)
• UV Index: 9 (Very High)
• Air Quality: Moderate (Code Yellow)
• Mosquitoes: Extreme

Now, the remains of a humongous ice age animal have been found near a spot that thousands of motorists drive past every day. Workers recently unearthed around a dozen pieces of a mastodon skeleton while digging at the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel expansion project.

“This is the stuff they don’t teach in engineering school,” said Ryan Banas, project director.

Soon, residents and travelers will be able to view the bones and other artifacts at a new project visitor’s center in Norfolk.

Workers at the project got very lucky discovering the bones in the fall of 2023, Banas said. A worker noticed something odd while looking at a conveyor belt at the slurry treatment plant, which is located on the project’s South Island.

Banas said the plant moves fast, processing 16,000 gallons of slurry a minute.

“So, the fact that we had one of our staff members that was able to catch a glimpse is pretty, pretty darn impressive,” Banas said.

The bones, which are anywhere from 12,000 to 50,000 years old, include ribs, vertebrae, a tooth the size of a small hand and part of a limb, Banas said.

Back then, lower sea levels meant the land near the HRBT would have likely been a forest, said Zaborniak, making it a perfect foraging ground for the mastodons.

Very similar in appearance to wooly mammoths or modern-day elephants, the creatures spent much of their day looking for food, he said. They were anywhere from 7 to 10 feet tall with large tusks and weighed around 6 tons.

Elephants and mammoths had flat teeth built for chomping down on grass, Zaborniak said.

“Mastodons, on the other hand, have very large ridges on their teeth, which are great for browsing,” he said. “So these animals are going to be eating plants such as leaves, pine needles and fruits.”

There is some evidence of social behavior, he said, but it’s likely male mastodons were solitary creatures. The animals had a wide range across North America, he added. Early humans also would have potentially crossed paths with them, he said, but it would have taken several people to hunt one.

Other mastodon bones have been found in Hampton Roads: the Virginia Living Museum possesses much of a skeleton that was discovered in Yorktown over a period of several years, according to a previous report by The Virginian-Pilot.

The $3.9 billion HRBT expansion project will double the road’s capacity, from two to four lanes in each direction, and add two two-lane tunnels. It is scheduled for completion in 2027.

Similar construction work elsewhere in the region has also turned up interesting historical finds. In 2023, workers on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel expansion project dug up an old ship anchor buried beneath the shipping channel. Work was delayed for several months, and resumed in April, so the 10-foot anchor could be excavated.

HRBT project spokesperson Paula Miller said the mastodon discovery was not expected to delay that project’s construction timeline.

Other artifacts unearthed by the HRBT project and now housed at the visitor’s center include two Civil War-era cannonballs, a World War II-era helmet liner and pieces of an old shipwreck, Banas said. Project leaders hope to open the visitor’s center, located at 9401 4th St. in Norfolk, in September.

“These are all things that are super, super interesting, that help you appreciate what came before us,” Banas said.

Trevor Metcalfe, 757-222-5345, trevor.metcalfe@pilotonline.com

In June, the City Council approved a plan to divide the city into 51 zones and allow only 1% of homes in each zone to operate as short-term rentals. The plan also required that rentals be 500 feet apart unless they are side-by-side. However, many residents felt the proposal was too restrictive.

To address some of the concerns, City Council wanted to consider creating a new use called a “homestay rental” that only applies to residents who remain in their homes while renting a single room. Earlier this month, the Planning Commission recommended moving forward with creating that use.

Zoning Administrator Allison Jackura explained that under the proposal, homestay rentals are a separate category from short-term rentals and would not be subject to the density and buffer requirements of a short-term rental, where residents make their entire homes available for rent.

She said homestays apply for guests living in a home for 30 days or less. They would be allowed in single-family dwellings.

The proposed rules outline that a homestay rental operator must live in the home as their primary residence and reside there during all guests’ stays. The operator also has to maintain and provide proof of residency within one day of the zoning administrator requesting it.

No events, such as weddings, reunions or birthday parties, would be allowed with homestay rentals.  Furthermore, the operator — designated as a “responsible local person” would be required to provide contact information for the city website in case of any issues, respond within one hour after being called by the city for any nuisance complaint and be on-site at all times between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. when overnight lodgers are present.

“We think that somebody living there has a vested interest in kind of making sure that there aren’t any nuisances,” Jackura said. “And we tend to see those in those overnight hours — that 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. — so we think having that person be there, staying there, would help to reduce that.”

Under the proposal, homestay rentals would require a Zoning Administrator Permit.

Jackura said the city does not have an exact number of homestay rentals currently operating. She said around 94 rentals currently advertise less than a whole home for rent, though that doesn’t indicate the owner is occupying the property.

The commission largely supported the proposal, but chair Michael Harris voted against an ordinance outlining the “standards of uses” for homestay rentals. He said in an interview that his objection was over requiring the homeowner to remain on the property between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., as he felt the rule was too restrictive.

The commission is also recommending the City Council reduce the required buffer between short-term rentals from 500 feet to 300 feet. Commission member Tracy Brooks was the only one to vote against the matter during the July 18 meeting. She could not be reached for comment Monday to clarify her vote.

At the meeting, a few Hampton residents voiced concerns about the rules the City Council adopted last month limiting the density of short-term rentals. One woman said many Hampton residents will no longer be able to rely on the retirement income they were planning to earn through short-term rentals.

Hampton City Council is expected to vote on the changes during its Aug. 14 meeting. If approved, these changes will go into effect on Sept. 1.

Josh Janney, joshua.janney@virginiamedia.com

Nichelle Stone, who was appointed last year to fill a vacated seat until the special election, had originally filed to complete the term. She was the only candidate. But Stone has vacated her seat and withdrawn from the race, leaving it open.

“I was very honored to be appointed,” Stone said in an interview on Monday. But she said she had to leave the position and withdraw from the race to spend more time with her family because of unexpected personal matters.

The special election will be held with the general election Nov. 5. Individuals interested in running must live and be registered to vote in the Ward 5 District. If no candidate files by the deadline, the seat will be listed on the ballot with a write-in option.

The winning candidate will serve the remainder of the unexpired termthrough the end of 2026.

Stone was appointed in November after Lauren Campsen resigned because of health reasons.

Nour Habib, nour.habib@virginiamedia.com

As of late Monday morning, the hurricane center says there’s a 50% chance that the disturbance brewing in the central tropical Atlantic will become more organized and develop into a tropical depression or named tropical storm within seven days.

If the system does develop, it has the potential to target Florida directly, veer west into the Gulf of Mexico or veer east along the Atlantic coast of the southeastern U.S., according to the hurricane center’s seven-day outlook.

The more immediate concerns among forecasters are the potential targets of Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Bahamas.

“An area of disturbed weather over the central tropical Atlantic Ocean is expected to interact with an approaching tropical wave during the next couple of days,” the agency said Monday morning. “Environmental conditions are forecast to become conducive for some development thereafter, and a tropical depression could form later this week while the system is in the vicinity of the Greater Antilles or the Bahamas.”

The Atlantic hurricane season has been relatively quiet during the past few weeks, with no named storms developing after an active period in June. The season, which officially began on June 1, has seen three named storms — Tropical Storm Alberto, Hurricane Beryl and Tropical Storm Chris.

Beryl rapidly intensified from a tropical storm to a very strong hurricane, reaching Category 5 status with top sustained winds of 165 mph. The storm’s remnants combined with a frontal system and brought batches of heavy rain and thunderstorms to parts of New Jersey in early July.

The next named storm in the Atlantic will be called Debby.