• Navy jet crashes into residential building in Virginia

    Kandice Angel / AP

    The burning fuselage of an F/A-18 Hornet lies smoldering after crashing into a residential building in Virginia Beach, Va., Friday, April 6. Media reports indicate the two aviators were able to eject from the jet before it crashed. They were being treated for injuries that were not considered life threatening.

    Msnbc.com reports: An F/A-18 jet crashed Friday into a cluster of apartment buildings in Virginia Beach, Va., eyewitnesses and authorities said.

    WAVY TV / Reuters

    A Navy official told NBC News that both pilots had been taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. "They were ambulatory," the official told NBC.

    Chief Tim Riley of Virginia Beach Fire and Rescue said four to five buildings were on fire and that there was significant damage to about 20 apartments.

    WAVY TV / Reuters

    Cmdr. Phil Rosi of the Navy said the two-seat jet fighter crashed about 12:05 p.m. shortly after takeoff. He said both crew members ejected from the aircraft. Read more

    Msnbc's Andrea Mitchell reports of an F-18 fighter jet crashing in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The Pentagon Department confirms both pilots ejected safely.

     

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  • Soldiers leave families for Afghanistan

    Bill Tiernan / The Virginian-Pilot via AP

    Army PFC Forrest Miller kisses his son Parker Miller, 6-months old, held by his wife Britney Miller with the couples' daughter, Jaslene Miller, 4, before Miller boards a bus with other members of the 119th Inland Cargo Transfer Company.

    Bill Tiernan / TheVirginian-Pilot via AP

    Army 2nd Lt. Brendan Kasony and his wife Joyce say their goodbyes.

    Bill Tiernan / The Virginian-Pilot via AP

    Army Spec. Aaron Peterson holds his son, Amir,10-months old, over his head as he says goodbye on March 20.

    Family and friends say goodbye to 160 soldiers with the 119th Inland Cargo Transfer Company today as they depart the Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story in Virginia Beach, Va. for a year-long deployment to Afghanistan.

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  • Washed ashore whale becomes spectacle in Virginia

    Preston Gannaway / The Virginian-Pilot via AP

    Two young men pose for a photo "planking" a beached fin whale in Ocean View in Norfolk, Va., on Feb. 21.

    Preston Gannaway / The Virginian-Pilot via AP

    Detail of a fin whale seen as the Virginia Aquarium Stranding Response Team performs a necropsy on the beach in Norfolk, Va., on Feb. 21.

    By Jon Sweeney, NBC News

    Curious people turned out to witness an autopsy performed by the Virginia Aquarium's Stranding Response Team on a 42-foot fin whale that washed ashore in Ocean View, Va., on Feb. 19.

    The whale suffered a huge 1.5-foot gash on the back of its head resulting in a fractured skull. Traces of orange and brown paint or rust were found around the injuries suggesting the mammal was hit by a vessel, according to a spokesperson for the Stranding Response Team.

    The fin whale is considered an endangered species and is the second longest whale and the sixth largest living animal.

    -- Msnbc.com wire services contributed to this blog post

    Preston Gannaway / AP

    People watch from above as the Virginia Aquarium Stranding Response Team performs a necropsy on the beach in Ocean View in Norfolk, Va., on Feb. 21.

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  • The sailors of the USS Bataan head home after marathon deployment

    Photos by Amanda Lucier / The Virginia Pilot via AP

    Petty Officer 2nd class Rhaterahmi White works to start a ship's service turbine generator to provide backup electric power on the Bataan during his last shift on a ten and a half month deployment, the longest for a U.S. Navy ship since the early 1970s, at Norfolk Naval Base on Feb. 7, 2012, in Norfolk, Va.

    Petty Officer 2nd class Rhaterahmi White, right, gets a skeptical look from Petty Officer 3rd class Kris Strickland as the two take a break after a full day of work to play video games in the Auxiliary Division Office, known to those who work there as

    The dailypress.com reports: NAVAL STATION NORFORK, VIRGINIA -- They held singing contests, ran laps on the flight deck and relaxed a bit on Sunday mornings. They played dodge ball, sang karaoke and -- well, ran a few more laps on the flight deck.

    The longest U.S. Navy ship deployment in nearly 40 years not only challenged the skill of the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group, it stretched the limits of sailors' creativity when it came to passing the time.

    Nearly 2,000 sailors arrived in Hampton Roads Tuesday after more than 10 months at sea, led by the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan, ready to begin a new routine – one that revolved around family and friends.

    Rhaterahmi walks off the pier with his wife Tasia White at Norfolk Naval Base on Tuesday.

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  • Two women share first kiss at US Navy ship's return

    Brian J. Clark / Virginian Pilot via AP

    Petty Officer 2nd Class Marissa Gaeta, left, kisses her girlfriend of two years, Petty Officer 3rd Class Citlalic Snell at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek in Virginia Beach, Va., Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2011 after Gaeta's ship returned from 80 days at sea. It ís a time-honored tradition at Navy homecomings - one lucky sailor is chosen to be first off the ship for the long-awaited kiss with a loved one. On Wednesday, for the first time, the happily reunited couple was gay.

    By Rich Shulman

    I'm sure this is not going to please some Navy veterans.

    AP reports: VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A Navy tradition caught up with the repeal of the U.S. military's "don't ask, don't tell" rule on Wednesday when two women sailors became the first to share the coveted "first kiss" on the dock after one of them returned from 80 days at sea.

    It's been one year since President Obama signed the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell, and critics said changing the law would never work in the real world of combat. NBC's Jim Maceda takes one measure of the change, with some of America's troops on the ground in Afghanistan.

    Brian J. Clark / AP

    Petty Officer 2nd Class Marissa Gaeta, left, greets her girlfriend of two years, Petty Officer 3rd Class Citlalic Snell at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek in Virginia Beach, Va., Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2011 after Gaeta's ship returned from 80 days at sea.

    Petty Officer 2nd Class Marissa Gaeta and Petty Officer 3rd Class Citlalic Snell talk about the repeal of the U.S. military's "don't ask, don't tell" rule and becoming the first women to share the coveted "first kiss."

  • Jacquelyn Martin / AP

    Philip Toczylowski, of Philadelphia, sits by his son's grave at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., Dec. 16, 2011, a day after the Pentagon declared an end to the war in Iraq. Philip says that he plays taps on his trumpet every time he visits the grave of his son, Army Major Jeffrey Philip Toczylowski, who died serving in Iraq in 2005.

    A dad honors his fallen son at Arlington National Cemetery

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  • Volunteers lay thousands of wreaths at Arlington National Cemetery

    Win McNamee / Getty Images

    United States Marine Corps Sgt. Jeremy Grotler kneels at the grave of his friend, Lance Cpl. Tyler O. Griffin, after laying a wreath on his headstone at Arlington National Cemetery Dec. 10, in Arlington, Va. Griffin, 19, died April 1, 2010 in Helmand, Afghanistan. Thousands of military and civilian volunteers laid 100,000 donated holiday wreaths on headstones at the cemetery. Donated by the Worcester Wreath Co. of Harrington, Maine, the wreaths are now part of a 20-year tradition of decorating and honoring the graves of soldiers, sailors, Marines and guard members who served their country.

    AP reports:

    ARLINGTON, Va. -- Volunteers have laid tens of thousands of holiday wreaths at tombstones at Arlington National Cemetery.

    Win McNamee / Getty Images

    Josh Willette, age 2, salutes after laying a wreath on a headstone.

    Maine Gov. Paul LePage joined thousands of volunteers Saturday in placing the wreaths. A convoy of more than 20 trucks left Maine last Sunday, bound for the cemetery across from the nation's capital.

    The tradition began 20 years ago with little fanfare. Morrill Worcester, owner of Worcester Wreath Co. in Harrington, Maine, and others laid 5,000 wreaths on headstones that first year to give thanks to the nation's veterans.

    Since then, it has grown into an organization called Wreaths Across America with ceremonies across the country.

    Organizers said 15,000 people joined the effort at Arlington. The wreaths will be on view until Jan. 28.

    Related story: 100K wreaths headed to Arlington National Cemetery

    Jose Luis Magana / AP

    Volunteer Pati Redmond of Frederick, Md., helps to lay holiday wreaths over the graves of fallen soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., Dec. 10, during Wreaths Across America Day.

     

  • Chris Keane / Reuters

    Virginia Tech students hold candles during a memorial service and candlelight vigil for fallen Virginia Tech police officer Deriek W. Crouse on the campus of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia Dec. 9, 2011. A man who fatally shot the Virginia Tech police officer on Thursday apparently died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Virginia State police said on Friday. The incident prompted a lockdown of the campus on Thursday and revived memories of a gunman's 2007 rampage that left 33 people dead in one of the worst shooting incidents in U.S. history.

    Police identify Virginia Tech gunman as student from nearby school

    AP reports:

    BLACKSBURG, Va. -- Police have identified the Virginia Tech gunman as a 22-year-old student at nearby Radford University.

    Police said Friday that Ross Truett Ashley, of Radford, was responsible for killing a Virginia Tech police officer Thursday, triggering a campus-wide lockdown for thousands of students.

    Ashley killed himself after shooting the officer, officials said.

    Yesterday's images from Virginia Tech.

  • Virginia man exonerated of sexual assault charges after 27 years in prison

    Steve Helber / AP

    Thomas Haynesworth, who spent 27 years behind bars, center, gestures during a press conference with Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, left, and Shawn Armbrust, of the Mid Atlantic Innocence Project, right, in Richmond, Va., Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2011. Haynesworth was exonerated of two 1984 sexual assault convictions.

    By Rich Shulman

    The Attorney General's face (bottom photo) says it all.

    The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports:

    The Virginia Court of Appeals has granted a writ of actual innocence for Thomas E. Haynesworth, the Richmond man who served 27 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted in a series of rapes in the 1980s.
     
    The vote in the court was split 6-4, with the majority issuing a two-line declaration and the minority issuing a multi-page dissension, said Olga Akselrod, a lawyer for the Innocence Project, which worked for Haynesworth's release from prison and his court rendered exoneration.

    Steve Helber / AP

    Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli gets choked up as he announces the exoneration of Thomas Hanesworth during a press conference in Richmond, Va., Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2011.

     

  • Two residents of psychiatric facility stand on roof and threaten to hang themselves in protest

    Steve Helber / AP

    Two sex offenders at the Virginia Center for Behavioral Rehabilitation stand on a rooftop and threaten to hang themselves unless they can talk to a state official about their treatment at the psychiatric facility, Monday, Nov. 21, 2011, in Burkeville, Va. Several residents of the facility identified the two men as William Dewey and Victor Johnson.

    Steve Helber / AP

    Prison officials talk with two residents of the Virginia Center for Behavioral Rehabilitation as they stand on a rooftop and threaten to hang themselves unless they can talk to a state official about their treatment at the psychiatric facility, Monday, Nov. 21, 2011, in Burkeville, Va. Several residents of the facility identified the two men as William Dewey and Victor Johnson.

    The Associated Press reports:

    Authorities say two sex offenders climbed onto the roof of a psychiatric facility with nooses around their necks to protest conditions at the facility.

    Their protest led to a standoff that lasted more than three hours Monday. It ended without incident when the men climbed down and shook hands with police and officials.

    They had fashioned the nooses out of bedsheets.

    State Police Sgt. Thomas Molnar says the men were not immediately arrested and were assessed by medical personnel.

    Several offenders at the facility have complained privileges like outside recreation have been scaled back.

    The nearly 300 offenders at the facility were sent there after finishing their prison sentences because the courts found they had a mental disorder that made them likely to offend again.

  • The Invisible Empire, alive and well in the state of Virginia

    By David R Arnott, NBC News

    Jim Lo Scalzo, a photojournalist with the European PressPhoto Agency, has spent several months documenting three chapters of the Ku Klux Klan in Virginia. Lo Scalzo explains:

    The Invisible Empire is experiencing a revival in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Three chapters of the Ku Klux Klan have reemerged in the state, holding rallies, lighting crosses, and seeking new members. Anger over gay rights, racial changes in the population, and a black president are frequent refrains at these rallies. Yet Klan members say they are not about hate, but about taking pride in their own race. "The blacks have the NAACP [The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People], the Mexicans La Raza, and the Jews have the ADL [The Anti-Defamation League]," says Stan Martin of the Rebel Brigade Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. "We whites have the Ku Klux Klan." 

    Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA

    Members of Virgil's White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, watched by the daughter of a member (background), lift a tree trunk that they chopped down, and which they will fashion into a cross, in preparation for a cross lighting ceremony on private property in Dungannon, Virginia, on June 11.

    Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA

    Members and supporters of Virgil's White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, including Ernie Campbell (on horseback) and Imperial Wizard Gary Delp (purple robe), march through town during a Fourth of July weekend 'Mountain Treasures Festival' in Dungannon, Virginia, on July 2.

    Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA

    Visitors to a rally of Virgil's White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan fashion two tree trunks that they chopped down into a cross in preparation for a cross lighting ceremony in Dungannon, Virginia, on September 17.

    Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA

    Two female members of the Knights of the Southern Cross of the Ku Klux Klan (KSCKKK) don their robes and hoods inside the home of a KSCKKK member just before the start of a cross lighting ceremony on private property near Powhatan, Virginia, on May 28.

    Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA

    Members and supporters of Virgil's White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan gather for a cross lighting ceremony on private property in Dungannon, Virginia, on September 17.

    Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA

    The Imperial Wizard of Virgil's White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Gary Delp participates in a cross lighting ceremony in Dungannon, Va.

    Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA

    Juanita and Jerry Tignor are married in a Klan wedding, ministered by Gary Delp (center), Imperial Wizard of Virgil's White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, after a cross lighting ceremony in Dungannon, Virginia, on June 11.

    Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA

    A cross burned by members of the Rebel Brigade Knights of the Ku Klux Klan remains at the rally site on private property near Martinsville, Virginia, on April 2.

     

  • Residents hungry for power in the wake of Hurricane Irene

    By Katie Cannon, Senior Multimedia Editor

    According to Dominion Power, which services the vast majority of those without power in North Carolina and Virginia, 1.2 million customers are in need of having service restored. The company expects to complete an assessment of damage and have an estimate of when restoration for all customers will be complete by noon on Monday. This will be the second-largest restoration after Hurricane Isabel in 2003.

    Takaaki Iwabu / The News & Observer via AP

    Chris Respess, middle, buys an electric generator from Randy Sparks in Washington, N.C., Aug. 28. Respess said there are lot of people in Washington who still don't have electricity and are getting desperate. Sparks, who owns a discount grocery store in Belmont, Miss., brought a few hundred of generators to sell along Rt. 264.

    AP reports that the Colonial Pipeline, which transports gasoline and other fuels from the Gulf Coast to the Northeast, stopped fuel deliveries to Selma, N.C., and to Virginia's Tidewater area as the storm knocked out power. Colonial Pipeline's website states that they are working with customers to restore service to all areas supplied by the Houston-to-New York pipeline.

    Chris Carmichael

    Sam Liptrap of Atlantic Beach siphons gas from his car to fuel his generator. Liptrap, who owns the Sand Dollar Hotel, says Hurricane Irene cost him $2,500 in lost revenue this past weekend. Atlantic Beach was largely spared from the worst of the storm, but residents are likely to remain without power until crews can repair feeds to the area, which could mean more vacant rooms in the coming days for Liptrap.

    Chris Carmichael

    Phillip Henry, left, of Morehead City, N.C., and Henderson Douglas, center, of Newport, N.C., wait in line for gas at a Shell Station on NC 24. By early afternoon, only two gas stations were reported to be pumping gas in the area. Supplies waned as residents looked to fuel their generators.

    See more images from the storm here.

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