Today is Thursday, June 24. Please enjoy.

Weather: Temps to reach 100, heat index makes it hotter

In case anyone is unfamiliar with the Heat Index system, this means it will be hot as a bastard.

Suborbital rocket launched this morning from Wallops Island

“A Terrier-Orion suborbital sounding rocket launched at 7:17 a.m. today from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility,” reports the Pilot.

There’s some very interesting stuff happening at Wallops Island, about a 90-minute drive from Norfolk. If anyone out there has a science background and interest in space flight, I will gladly lobby on your behalf for an AltDaily feature.

Virginia Guard unit to come home early from Iraq

“The upcoming drawdown of troops in Iraq will mean an early homecoming for about 400 Virginia National Guard soldiers,” reports the Pilot. In the case of this headline, I view the phrase “come home early from Iraq” as code for “return to the domestic soil the National Guard is sworn to protect.”

I don’t know how many AltDaily readers there are in Lynchberg, or Iraq, but in both places there are a lot of people looking forward to being reunited with their loved ones. It’s a couple months premature, but welcome home.

Mate: I didn’t know I needed N.C. license for tournament

Because you’re an idiot?

I’m really tired of hearing about the disqualified losers from Alexandria who have trouble with fishing laws, regulations and as crew member Peter Wann puts it, “all that stuff on the Internet.” Instead, it would be really refreshing to hear about the TRUE WINNERS, the previously-known-as-second-placers, the people who had a permit and caught an almost-as-big fish.

On the other hand, I’m probably done following this story altogether.

Norfolk OKs luxury apartments; neighbors plan protest

(Quick paradigm check: just reading the headline, where do you think the apartments are located?)

“Roland Park neighbors plan to kick off a petition drive tonight to protest the construction of a $28 million apartment complex. The City Council voted 6-2 Tuesday night to approve the project after a full-house public hearing,” reports the Pilot. Roland Park is a neighborhood west of Tidewater Drive, about a mile south of I-64 Exit 277.

I don’t have any skin in this game and confess to not knowing much about it, but I did think it curious that two council members whose opinions I respect – Dawn Hester and Theresa Whibley – voted against it. Does anyone out there have a personal perspective to share?

Passenger traffic declines, cargo rises at Norfolk airport

“Over the five-month period from January to May, there were about 1.3 million passengers, a 6.7 percent drop from the same period a year earlier, according to a news release from the airport. However, about 5.2 million pounds of cargo were transported through the airport in May, a 9.7 percent increase in volume from the previous May when about 4.7 million pounds of cargo shipped.”

Hampton Roads a relatively sunshiny place for jobs

As reported in WalletPop, an online tool called NeighborhoodScout is the latest group to crunch the Bureau of Labor and Statistics’ numbers on jobs and wages in theses United States. The great news for us is that in nearly all of these recent regional comparisons, Hampton Roads outshines other metros.

What separates NeighborhoodScout’s methodology is a clever cross-reference of regions’ appeal to single professionals and young couples. Last year, Next Generation Consulting similarly found that cities in Hampton Roads have a lot to offer “young pros,” ranking both Norfolk and Virginia Beach in the Top 20 of its “Midsized Magnets” category (also of note, Hampton made the “Mighty Micros” list). Wait – could the haters actually be wrong? Could this actually be a good and decent place to live?  Some people seem to think so. I seem to think so.

Accolades and third party endorsements are fantastic affirmations of what we’re doing right. But at the same time, I’m worried about other studies that point to long term issues holding our region back. As a prominent example, the recently released State of Metropolitan America from the Brookings Institution offers sobering statistics for Hampton Roads. If you liked Modest Mouse’s fourth album, you’ll love this study. Bringing it back to local jobs and wages, one of Brookings’ few bright spots: Hampton Roads was one of just 5 metros (of the 100 largest) to see increases in low-, medium-, and high-wages in the past decade.

Read the paper and support its advertisers. If we were all moochers, Daddy would hit Mommy.