After many months of conversation, HRT has agreed to extend their GoPass365 to businesses with as few as three employees at a sensible price. Score one (big one!) for Norfolk’s small businesses!

A general rule: the more draconian a bill, the more it puts ideology ahead of common sense, the more likelihood it will pass.

Happy Groundhog’s Day. Feel like your life is the same, boring day over and over again? Change it.

Rep. Scott Rigell came up with four ways to try to reform Congress, but his ideas will do more harm than good. I offer alternative solutions.

Newt’s kiss, his kiss, is on Mitt’s lips.

Somebody’s got plans for the dandelion…

At least a half-dozen bills before the Virginia General Assembly are causing alarm among voting rights activists.

To paraphrase Samuel L. Jackson, “I’m tired of all these mother(loving) DJs arguing over who is a mother(loving) real DJ or not.” Hmm. Maybe that’s not exactly how he put it, but I think we all get the point.

Statistics show we are hipsterer than I thought.

Warm and fuzzies. Let the sky never be just blue again. Winter be damned forever. Gratitude and grace abound.

House Bill 91 would ban policies by public institutions of higher education that prohibit full-time faculty members with Virginia concealed handgun permits from packing heat.

In the interest of advancing the marijuana policy reform discussion, here are five of the most common arguments against legalizing marijuana and why they’re wrong.

If some Virginia lawmakers have their way, Virginians seeking social service benefits may have to submit to a mandatory drug test before receiving public assistance.

There are many places in the world where laws pertaining to health care and privacy rights treat women and men equally. The Commonwealth of Virginia does not seem to want to be one of them.

Art, concerts, clubs, activism, love, fear, sex, destruction, and a cash bar. Get yourself in some really uncomfortable situations and live your damn life.

One of Hampton Roads’ brightest minds, Thom White of Work Program Architects, has donated his time to envisioning The Plot, a ‘community gathering place’ featuring an entertainment amphitheater, outdoor basketball court, a place for vendors, and very cool shipping container public art.

Shouldn’t I, an advocate of education and literature, be glad that people are tuning into news radio instead of say, painting STOOPID LIBERAL HIPPY BITCH on my Sentra?

Norfolk/Virginia Beach is changing, both in real-life-livability, and perception. This is a step in the right direction, and I’m going to be happy to support this pilot program first hand on my next trip out of ORF in mid-February.

The chef prepares seared foie gras under glass. Warning: this video will make you so, so hungry.

Let’s just get going and build this thing so I can actually spend my paycheck now rather then my social security later.

In all their glory.

“I accept my duty to be an Official KCBS Certified Judge, so that truth, justice, excellence in Barbecue and the American Way of Life may be strengthened and preserved forever.”

Two measures before the General Assembly would repeal the requirement that girls be vaccinated against the cancer-causing human papillomavirus before entering the sixth grade.

The longer a budget fight drags on, the less appealing McDonnell becomes on the national stage, as his carefully crafted reputation for responsible governance erodes away.

Starting in December, anyone within walking distance of a Tide station will be able to journey all up and down the Eastern Seaboard by public transit, without need of a car, bus, or taxi, changing trains exactly once: at Harbor Park.

One of the few barriers that have kept these hordes from having their way have been strong daily newspapers like the Virginian-Pilot once was and is struggling mightily, against all odds, (and against their own corporate bosses) to still be.

“Public safety must be the primary factor in the ultimate determination as to whether to proceed with uranium mining.” – Gov. McDonnell

A man in a tough position, no doubt, but hiding a big secret: that he was still collecting bonuses upwards of a quarter million dollars on top of his $600k plus salary.

We’ve got the goodness at MOCA VA, Shaka’s, Belmont, the Roper Center, Generic Theater, Riverview Gallery, PFAC, new movies, JewMa, Plaza del Sol and more and more and more.

Now is not the time to close the doors. Now is the time to be open. If Norfolk wants to be a grown-up city, it needs to start treating its citizens like adults. Let it start here, with Waterside.

Spoiler alert: we’re all gonna die.

The Virginia General Assembly is now in session and considering bills that might protect your right to work, or deny you the right to be a parent.

HRT is planning on making real time bus data public. Now it’s up to 757 developers to come up with an app that makes this information useful to the public. Are you in?

Dr. Sabina shares her tips on how to get back on track with your healthy resolutions for 2012.

The question that I do not ask aloud, the question that I am trying to bury deep in my guts while surveying the stucco of my apartment ceiling – How are you married before me?

With Republicans controlling both the House and Senate, this could be an important year for gun rights supporters.

What makes me so optimistic about this project is the way that the private sector, citizens, and government have worked together to make it happen.

“Women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized” – Toronto Police officer. We politely–and quite sexily–disagree.

Its a horrible catch-22: being a teacher you’re not allowed to be depressed, but the emotional output required by the job makes you more likely to be depressed.

It is now clear that ending discrimination against GLBT Virginians is a mainstream objective. Those who continue to obstruct progress are on the wrong side of the issue politically and on the wrong side of history.

Plus an interview with Cathleen Rhodes, professor of Queer Studies at ODU.

Virginia Democratic leaders are speaking out against Republican legislation that they said seeks to make abortion illegal and even might restrict access to some forms of legal birth control.

“Neutrality and objective distance are places I’ve never been able to find.” –Saviano, Gomorrah.

Only ask for what you need. This isn’t a teenage negotiation with your parents for movie money. Don’t ask for $50 in secret hopes of only getting $20.

“A start-up company is a dream turned into a tangible action to create a specific lifestyle for that visionary.” – Byron Morgan, CEO of Vinylmint

If you don’t get out and enjoy yourself this weekend then we can’t help you. We just… can’t.

The dashboard will track projects through design, contracting, and construction, breaking each phase down by percentage completed and providing estimated dates of completion and pictures of the initial renderings of the projects.

A local jewelery business gave us these two sweet pieces to raffle off. They’re rad and so is Luna Rosa.

So, while some of the work is a little young- it is definitely youthful in a good way. It’s the kind of feeling you get from talking to a gawky, smart teenager that is bursting with potential and on the verge of coming into their own.

A list of the best Twitterers #HRVA has to offer, in Twitterific poem form.

Easy and good for you.

“We look like the Beverly Hillbillies,” said Cindy Lewis at one point. To drivers passing by we might have looked like gypsies, or a low budget circus on bikes.

Tonight 270 men, 30 women, and 18 children will find their way out of the cold drizzly rain to a roof over their head, a comfortable bed, and a relatively tasty meal, all thanks to The Union Mission.

AltDaily is a lighthouse in Norfolk’s sea of journalism, and a major seaport without a lighthouse is very dangerous proposition.

Neko Case, Cannonball City, a 2012 resolution worth keeping, the best of last week, and what to expect this week on AltDaily.

“We need to work-on being a destination and not a stagnant trendy novelty.” – Nichole Ashikis

It’s a website and app that helps you look up everything from assessed value to code enforcement cases. Welcome to the golden age of property stalking in Norfolk.

After listening to his band’s newest album (fresh after mastering), he took off his headphones, looked to the sky and said “This is the one, motherfucker. This is the one.”

I have a vision for this city. When I ride my bike through Norfolk I see it in two dimensions: where it is now, and where I believe it can be in the next couple of years.

“With smartphone and tablet computer sales growing exponentially, we will all see huge growth in health care related applications in the next 24 months,” Krugh said.

Last Friday night was my second time taking advantage of Norfolk’s now-friendly busking laws by performing as ‘the first acquisition of Norfolk’s Human Statuary.’ Here’s what happened.

We need to take our cues from places like New Orleans, whose citizens go out of their way to make their surroundings reflect their personalities, regardless of their income level.

They say, “the world is going to end in December 2012″ so this may very well be your last chance to ring in a new year. BRING IT.

AltDaily honestly gave me hope. I was stuck in a city I had deemed “crappy” all because I wanted nothing but to live in NYC, and Virginia Beach has “nothing to do” other than hit up the block and/or shore drive bars; everyone I know lives with their parents.

A look back on the year in busk. From the first Art|Everywhere, which kicked it into motion, to the second, which kicks it into law.

Our Tweeterific coverage of the opening of Virginia’s first light rail system, plus some of #HRVA’s take.

That’s 3 great shows. 6 tickets total. For as little as $10. Plus, you’re helping AltDaily. Dig it.

4. Let your city turn your tree into mulch.
7. Remove all the branches. Sharpen the base. Impale as you see fit.

Chesapeake lives it’s daily life as if the values and little joys we learned in our childhoods still hold true…

Christmas is supposed to be this serious holiday. Instead, it has morphed into a day of materialism. It’s virtually devoid of religious meaning for many who celebrate. So, we make comics about it.

In today’s If You Read the Paper.

Some may find that in a welcoming church where they are just another member. Others want to be part of a church community that has shared their experiences, painful and joyful, of being gay.

We want you to dance with us, laugh and have a drink with us, because being afraid of homos is SO last century.

If you need a break from family fun and crazy holiday shoppers, don’t feel bad. The rest of the world is waiting for you to cut loose in.

When I’d told those close to me of my intentions, a common response was that I had no idea what birth would be like, that it would prove far more difficult than I could imagine.

Hello world.

“In my work with the Red Cross, I found that being able to help others after they have lost everything is a life-changing experience.” – Susan Drees, Red Cross volunteer

A fairly cracked out video Hannah and Jesse made talking all crazy about what they like about Hampton Roads.

October was Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Which makes November the perfect month to keep the issue alive.

Plus Cooch, Sessoms’ absurd response to a tent city at the Beach, and more in Jay Ford’s powerful If You Read the Paper.

Plick plock, plick plock. Snap snap, snap snap.

You’re maybe wondering why I traveled to South Africa in the first place. The answer is simple: to escape Christmas music.

“The idea is to test the market to see if that’s a market we’re missing during the holiday season,” said Ray Amoruso of HRT. “If there is success identifying a market we can see about going out to the Oceanfront as well.”

“Without donations, some of these kids don’t even have a Christmas…” – Heidi Watkins, AIDS Fund

Occupy Norfolk is gathering today to protest the Senate’s authorization of Bill 1867, the National Defense Authorization Act. Where the movement goes from here is anyone’s guess.

“With multiple adjacent cities in the Hampton Roads area, there are opportunities for cities to share services and avoid the costs of providing those services separately,” said Wick Moorman, CEO of Norfolk Southern.

When you get behind the wheel of a car you are arming yourself with a potentially lethal weapon. If you kill someone with that weapon, you should be held responsible. “I didn’t mean to do it,” just doesn’t cut it.

Plus a little creative non-fiction about the invention of the sponge table tennis paddle, starring the great Marty Reisman and a suitcase full of stolen gold.

These flying robots might revolutionize everything from war to disaster relief to filmmaking. Read on and be amazed.

Thinking about it now still shatters my brain. Things make so much less sense when you watch real live people spin like violent cyclones one minute and then suddenly they’re gliding through the air like a wind-plucked dandelion tuft.

Mama said the way to keep a diary was to write down the opposite of everything that happened, so she gave Jason a blank book so each night he could tell how all the boys played kick the cans until the boogeyman came.

Mambo Room, LGBT Center, Hampton Roads Men’s Chorus, SLUT Walk silent auction, The Wave, Hershee Bar, The Garage, Access AIDS Care, LGBT Christians, book recommendations and more…

You gotta do something this weekend, why not do something super fun?

I didn’t cut and burn my fingers on countless kitchen hazards to scoop out giant sandwiches and give a camera a come-hither stare that seems to say, “Hey there, Tiger, this big sandwich? It’s all yours.”

The multitudinous illuminated windows of the high rises really did seem to wink at me, promising what nature’s vistas never could: the excitement and potential of human adventures, of foreign voices and bodies and ideas interwoven with the framework of the city.

The show will take place one night at The Attucks and then the next night at The NorVa. We’re into this.

Great software is born from the kind of creative lightning-in-a-bottle that only programmers can produce and execute. Challenged to create a product in 36 hours, developers become a bit like Dr. Frankenstein hunched over his operating table, complete with “It’s alive!” moments, as some esoteric line of code begins to run.

A retail value of over $200! (Rod Roddy voice.)

Jeff McLaughlin spills about where the band name came from, their local musical role models, and what they’re doing to support the local Red Bull and smokeless tobacco economy.

Cuccinelli plays paintball, runs for Governor, possibly has triskaidekaphobia and more in today’s paper.