OUTLET: WVEC-TV

PORTSMOUTH — Eighth graders from Waters Middle School arrived at Ellen and Ray Comstock’s home Saturday armed with a bag full of about 1,000 oyster spat (young oysters). The students were there to teach the Comstocks about raising oysters.

The spat were measured and documented before the students, along with their teacher, put their water float (a device used to hold the oysters) in the water near the Comstocks’ home. The Comstocks’ house was one of three residences where the students went Saturday. (more…)

OUTLET: WTKR-TV

Portsmouth, Va. – A group of middle schoolers went on a tour to several Portsmouth families to show them the importance of raising oysters.

Saturday, the students from Waters Middle School visited three families in their local community for help with their project for the 2014 Wheelabrator Environment Symposium of raising oysters to help improve the environment in our local rivers and the Chesapeake Bay. (more…)

PORTSMOUTH

With two grown sons, a waterfront home and more free time, Ray and Ellen Comstock are enjoying life in their empty nest.

So one may wonder why the Sterling Point couple chose to become foster parents last weekend.

That’s when 16 students from Waters Middle School stopped by to drop off 1,000 baby oysters, called “spats,” that the Comstocks will nurture through August. (more…)

OUTLET: Inside Business

By Jared Council
jared.council@insidebiz.com

Four middle-aged women, including some with histories of back and neck problems, lay face-up on exercise mats at this Pilates studio one February morning.

Never allowing their heads or legs to touch the floor, the women grasped one bent leg while extending the other, repeatedly switching legs like synchronized swimmers. They engaged in a few dozen other related exercises over the instructor-led 50-minute session, rarely pausing for breaks. (more…)

OUTLET: Inside Business

By Lydia Wheeler
lydia.wheeler@insidebiz.com

Walter Wilkins II knows a thing or two about cars.

The owner of Bay Automotive in Norfolk raced single-seat open wheel cars semi-professionally until a bad crash at Daytona in 1975 forced him to retire.

“The crash ended my family’s support for me racing,” he said. “I had to do my own work on the car. I wasn’t the mechanic of caliber I had hired before, but it did help me understand cars a lot better.” (more…)

OUTLET: Inside Business

By Jared Council
jared.council@insidebiz.com

Before introducing the main speaker at Old Dominion University’s economic forecast last month, TowneBank President and Chief Banking Officer Morgan Davis mentioned the record profits his bank had in 2013.

Profits at the region’s largest community bank by assets grew 10 percent over the previous year to $41.8 million. But Davis quickly noted that the bank faces many headwinds in 2014, which he said he believes is “going to be the most challenging year for our company since we started in 1999.” (more…)

OUTLET: Inside Business

A GOOD NEIGHBOR – Team Tidewater Mortgage from Tidewater Mortgage Services Inc. raised nearly $2,400 at the 10^th Annual Race for Breath 5K, shown at left, which took place last month at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront. Its efforts helped to support families and patients as well as raise awareness through the Lung Cancer Alliance. At right, volunteers from the company also donated their time to help collect money and food at the 17^th Annual Mayflower Food and Fund Marathon for those in need, also last month.

OUTLET: Tidewater Women

Written by  Corbin Granger

Susan Byrum and her family lost access to their health insurance in December because it had become cost prohibitive for her employer. For some families, that’s a setback. For the Byrums, it was a disaster because their 20-year old son Nathan has a rare autoimmune disease and requires a medication that costs more than $16,000 every two months.

Susan could not afford a lapse in coverage, even for a day, so she had to work quickly to secure affordable insurance through the government Marketplace. (more…)

OUTLET: The Virginian-Pilot, Home section

Recently, I worked with a young sailor who had just moved to Hampton Roads from California. A first-time homebuyer, he got all his financial information together quickly to speed up the process. In fact, from start to finish, it took us only two weeks to close. While the perception exists that government backed loans take longer to process, that is not always true, as was the case here.  The serviceman closed on a new home loan using his VA eligibility with zero down payment and was able to have a mortgage payment that was less than he was previously paying in rent. (more…)