Katherine Hafner

A plastic bag fee in Virginia Beach? Environmentalists plan to push the city for ordinance

February 25, 2022 at 3:13 p.m.

Environmentalists along the Lynnhaven River and other local waterways are hard-pressed to find an osprey nest that does not contain bits of plastic. Along the Oceanfront, bags peek out from...

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Norfolk shipped 21,000 enslaved people to New Orleans before the Civil War. Now an effort is underway to document the forgotten history.

February 22, 2022 at 10:02 p.m.

Each week, 15-year-old Lianna Schmieder scrutinizes centuries-old scrawl. She and her classmates at Roadstead Montessori High School in Ghent drag out stacks of folders containing copies of documents — including...

Sea levels, rainfall and temperatures will keep rising in Virginia, NOAA says in new climate projections

February 15, 2022 at 9:30 p.m.

Coastal communities including Hampton Roads are likely to see as much sea level rise in the coming decades as they have in the past century, federal officials said Tuesday. The...

Enslaved workers helped build Norfolk Naval Shipyard’s Dry Dock 1, stirring labor tensions

February 14, 2022 at 4:51 p.m.

Dry Dock No. 1 at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth has hosted plenty of history over the past two centuries. It was where the Confederates turned the USS Merrimack...

What’s inside messages in a bottle? New Nauticus exhibit showcases dozens found in America’s rivers.

February 10, 2022 at 2:52 p.m.

When you hear of a message in a bottle, perhaps the term calls to mind faraway images of someone stranded on a remote island or penning love letters centuries ago....

Black history bus tour in Hampton highlights 1619 memorial and more

February 9, 2022 at 1:31 p.m.

A Hampton bus tour aims to take riders through four centuries of history in four hours. The city's Convention and Visitor Bureau is launching Friday the "400 Years Forward Bus...

Norfolk pledges to reduce energy usage in city buildings by 20%. And measuring how much they consume wasn’t easy.

February 9, 2022 at 11:56 a.m.

Norfolk has pledged to reduce its energy use in city buildings by one-fifth over the next decade. City Council members voted unanimously last week to approve the resolution, part of...

Virginia Tech aims to tackle state’s ‘coastal challenges’ with new collaboration in Hampton

February 8, 2022 at 3:21 p.m.

Virginia Tech has had a presence along the downtown Hampton waterfront for nearly half a century. In the 1970s, the university opened one of its Agricultural Research and Extension Centers...

A ‘blue carbon’ market in Virginia: Eastern Shore seagrass restoration soon to launch first credit program of its kind

February 8, 2022 at 6:28 p.m.

The seaside bays of Virginia's Eastern Shore are home to some great plains — but not the kind you can see driving by. From South Bay east of Cape Charles...

At the Chrysler Museum, often plagued by flooding, new exhibits highlight sea level rise — and environmental action

February 4, 2022 at 2:28 p.m.

The Chrysler Museum of Art is no stranger to flooding. On any given day with a high tide or following a storm, staff and visitors can expect to see water...

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