John McManus writes this week from Berlin, covering headlines on Muslim prayers in the General Assembly, senators’ salaries and light rail costs.

Ten things you may not have known about the business of death, straight from the mouth of a mortician.

Cheating teachers, layoffs at Daily Press, PETA and Bob Barker, equal protection for gays, and the all-access beach park

Gun bills, a national DNA database, a paranormal conference at the old Cavalier, and debate vs conversation.

Rabbi Michael Panitz recounts the day the Westboro Baptist Church hate group picketed his Temple Israel.

RIP Sparklehorse; Internet access, “a fundamental right”; Blackwater; and the success or failure of Newport News City Center.

I’ve always been curious why one bothers to fill out an online poll in response to a question about which one is “not sure.”

The Taco Bell mandala, why we should increase our pet licenses 1000%, less funding for schools and roads

A local group is a few thousand votes away from winning a $50,000 grant to be used for ten community gardens throughout Hampton Roads. Login and help make it happen.

When we’re surrounded by enough people who believe the same things that we do for long enough (think in generations, not by decades) we forget that not everyone believes. We forget the reason we started to believe in the first place. We stop believing in believing at all.