“It is okay to be and express yourself in a safe and healthy way as long as it is helping your personal growth and not hurting anyone else.”
- Levi Hull, aka India, drag queen and dancer for the Virginia Opera.

Somebody’s got plans for the dandelion…

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.

Spoiler alert: we’re all gonna die.

Known for his editorial cartoons, featured weekly in The Virginian-Pilot, Walt Taylor is an elusive Hampton Roads local whose illustrations capture the essence of the area’s cultural beauty.

Obama’s marginalization of gays as “the crazy left,” and his turning his back on Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.

Plus a solution: “Park Up Norfolk” parking.

What Should Be Done With Flatiron Park Downtown? We say a beautiful community garden.

Michael Bergin’s architectural review of 201 Twenty One, which “in theory, with all of the amenities, great location, fancy renderings and exciting program for this project, I should love. But in execution it just feels like I’m walking through a B-movie set. It seems fake.”

What does Rick Perry’s living room look like? Doug O. knows.

How easy is it to get from Virginia Beach to ODU’s campus using mass transit? Depends on what leg of the journey you’re talking about.

Our goal with this project is, over time, to facilitate the creation of dozens of cool small businesses in the Norfolk metro area, along with a slew of initiatives and task forces that better the quality of life, increase the tax base, and plain old make Norfolk more fun.

Plain and simple, downtown’s residential population is the linchpin to Norfolk reaching the next level of urban greatness.

While filing at this point will prevent future campaign finance issues, it will not rectify the original improper disclosure on the groups radio ads.

Our Founding Fathers are pure gold heroes, right? Not so fast, if you read just a bit of Howard Zinn’s ‘A People’s History of the United States.’

Let Gay Pride tell a story, because if it doesn’t, it will fade into irrelevance.

A semester abroad’s desert stopover through the eyes of an American professor.

Today marks the 40th Anniversary of Nixon’s “War on Drugs.” Where has that gotten us today?

All too often cyclists encounter drivers who never learned how to share the road with cyclists or else resent having to do so

Being an African-American Tea Partier, Coby Dillard recounts why it is so important to him to be a local activist.

It is difficult to explain to people outside of my small sphere how close we are, especially after a few gunfights together… I wish everyone could feel that level of brotherhood. We would be in a better society if there was that type of collective focus.

New Ward Plan; Senator Webb vs. Obama; Ben Loyola for VA Senate; Lupe Fiasco; SWAT invasions over student loans; Financial Crisis; Right to skateboard…

SOLS; Redistricting; Virginia Senate; Ron Paul; “Great, Great Depression”; Violence in Syria and Yemen; Meir Dagan.

Norfolk Flooding; Discharged Captain; State Senator Frank Wagner; State Senator Colgan to Retire; US Blase on use of force; New Chairman of the Joint Chiefs; Bill Clinton on Medicare; Ed Shultz suspended; Couple fined.

This primer is meant to help our community get a better understanding of who is uninsured, what it means to be uninsured, and the impact health insurance has in people’s lives.

Three local leaders–a developer, civic league president, and business owner–share their vision for a Norfolk neighborhood on the rise.

The Tide needs to reach out to Gen X’ers and younger. Call it “The Party Train.” It’s a simple way to make our region safer, cooler, and to help ensure The Tide’s success.

Civic engagement is paramount, yet the citizens of Norfolk are unable to elect their school leaders.

Open government also means open standards, open source, open planning, and open data.

The City needs to identify a list of possible short-term uses and put those plans in action as soon as possible, while working toward the best long-term solution the best minds in the world have for the space.

Our writer, a professional PowerPoint ninja in the Navy, suggests how the 757 should deal with the Zombie Apocalypse when it makes its way to Hampton Roads.

Our Great Experiment is taking some of the most interesting turns in its history – and it’s taking them all at once. According to a report by the Brookings Institution, the revolution is live.

“The world has changed,” Bob says, flashing quotes from notable Virginia Democrats who also advocate the abolition of ABC. “And it’s time we do, too.”

Throughout the article, Senator Webb made assertions with no facts to back them up.

No other local issue is in need of more urgent attention than transportation.

I’m no huge fan of Glenn Nye in the wake of his cynical, self-serving vote against the Affordable Care Act, but at least he doesn’t seem to be a virulent racist.

AltDaily hires Larry King, Recycling is free and easy, and other things in jESiO’s dreams

I should be happy about the Pilot’s local investigative reporting, but something is off…

Guns and traffic and racism or…ferris wheels and saxophones and respect. Choose your reality.

Let’s play SimVirginia! Cooch plays coy with tainted funds, and Norfolk enjoys public art and maritime jobs.

There are simply too many risks involved, says a nuclear mechanic.

The Transcontinental Railroad didn’t just happen. The usual suspects, obstacles like geography, politics and the need for funding, were prevalent and intertwined. Thankfully they were overcome.

“This plan will eliminate the darkey as a political factor in this State in less than 5 years, so that in no single county… will there be the least concern felt for the complete supremacy of the white race in the affairs of government.”

The city code says that it is the duty of the person using or occupying a property to clear the snow from city sidewalks.

Holiday pet safety tips from the head of the Norfolk SPCA, and also our Adoptable New Best Friend/Pet of the Week.

A discussion about community gardens in Norfolk is taking place tonight at Five Points Community Farm Market @ 6pm. If you’ve never eaten something straight from the land, you are morally obliged to attend.

Prince Books’ Holly Wielkoszewski writes on the devaluation of books, the price war between Amazon.com and Walmart from which it sprang, and why it really matters.

When a gusting Nor’easter blew out the 25 candles laid out on Veterans Day to commemorate the 25 Virginians killed (in uniform) in Afghanistan, few were there to notice. Never have so many cared so little for the sacrifice of so few.

Flatiron Park sits in a place where people live, work, and play all day long. It is not a just-add-mixed-use contrivance of planning. It is the real deal, and its potential to contribute to the sum of the parts of its place is enormous.

Good riddance to SPSA, and here’s to a more comprehensive, forward thinking recycling program for Hampton Roads.

A primer on all the ways ODU is leading the pack when it comes to greening the campus, including such innovations as a water cistern under Foreman Field and using tree trimmings to feed hippos at Norfolk Zoo.

Just maybe if PETA could have found the compassion to forgive Michael Vick, it could have laid a blueprint for America for how to find new compassion for the animals.

Your local greenie–Amelia Baker, owner of Green Alternatives–judges whether or not Hampton Roads has developed a strong relationship with earth-friendly habits and happenings.

Draining public education funds to build roads is not a solution, but the means to a more crippling problem, writes Young Democrat Kyle Blankenship.

Deeds’ refusal to put out specifics on an issue that is arguably among the most pressing for all Virginians borders on cowardice, writes DJ Spiker, Chairman of the Norfolk/Portsmouth Young Republicans.

The first of a series of essays exploring the life of the military spouse.

One decade ago: hazy memories, but vivid emotions on the anniversary of the Columbine Massacre.

Well my friends I think it’s a sad day for local music. I just lost my radio show. The Locals Lounge is closing its doors. Changes are going down at Max FM and I have no idea what is going to happen. I don’t know, all I know is that for now, the locals lounge is done.

Print is dying, no doubt you’ve heard.

But as better and wise people are wont to tell us, the death of one thing is the birth of another.

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I could not help but think what the native people of Nawfuk, those born and raised early last century onward, would think of our good ol’ Tide.

Over the last 30 years we’ve seen occur in Hampton Roads that lead people to question their use of personal vehicles, particularly the increase in congestion, unpredictable and lengthy delays and high gasoline prices.

The demographics of our region, particularly our growing proportion of retired people, make us particularly resistant to change and sensitive to increased costs.