Featured Articles from the Daily Press

The vast majority of people in the United States — about two-thirds — are infected with one form or another of the herpes virus. The eight-member family of viruses includes herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1 that causes cold sores) and HSV-2 (genital herpes), as well as chickenpox, roseola and Epstein Barr (the virus that typically causes mono). Symptoms can range from mild to deadly. All share a similar genetic structure, infect the body for life, and can be triggered by stress. For a second year scientists from Eastern Virginia Medical School sponsored a spring symposium on the herpes virus with the express purpose of encouraging collaborative research.

HAMPTON – Almost 400 disabled Hampton veterans are eligible for a new real estate tax exemption, enacted recently by the Virginia General Assembly. Commissioner of the Revenue Ross Mugler said there are 385 Hampton Vets who are eligible for this exemption. To qualify they have to be 100 percent service connected with a permanent and total disability. Veterans should provide an approved and original letter of disability issued by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, photo identification and proof of residence.

NEWPORT NEWS — A merger between Southwest Airlines and AirTran Airways closed Monday, but the affect on the region's three commercial airports remains unclear. The purchase of all outstanding common stock of AirTran Holdings, Inc. was concluded Monday, according to a Southwest statement. The two airlines are expected to continue doing business independently for at least a year before combining operations. In late March, Southwest Airlines' merger information indicated the company's intent is "in serving the great majority, if not all, of AirTran's current markets.

It's not shocking that Fort Monroe picked Earth, Wind & Fire to play one of the fort's final concerts under Army command. The crowd-pleasing funk band is as American as apple pie and Apple iPods. This is one party band whose jams are worth saluting. Earth, Wind & Fire was created by drummer, vocalist and composer Maurice White, who had previously played with Ramsey Lewis and worked as a studio musician for Chicago's Chess Records. The band's chart debut came in 1971 when the song "Love is Life" grazed Billboard's Hot 100. A long run of smash hits followed: "Shining Star," "Sing A Song," "Boogie Wonderland," and "After The Love Has Gone.

From the mouths of pre-prom princesses: As long as it's cute, it can be cheap. We invited a group of girls from high schools in Hampton to model a few prom dresses and participate in a photo shoot. They didn't know where the dresses were from, or how much they cost, but they liked them. "I'm still looking for a dress, and I'm going to have to check out this store," Caitlin Kremp, a senior at Phoebus High School, said as she surveyed the room. She had no idea that the dresses had come from a local consignment store and that most had been worn by another glam girl at least once before.

— In the summer of 2006, one of Virginia's most influential lawmakers was hurting for cash. Emails between Del. Phil Hamilton and his wife, Kim, show that the couple's bank accounts were nearly drained. They couldn't write any more checks or withdraw money. But potential good news loomed on the horizon: Hamilton told his wife he was headed to Old Dominion University and he expected an employment opportunity to come up. The job wasn't being advertised. No applicants were being sought.

Eighteenth-century undergarments may not top everybody's list of must-have clothing items. But if you're a female interpreter working for Colonial Williamsburg, there's no substitute — and the best place to get authentic replicas of period stays, petticoats and shifts is the foundation's costume design center. Ditto for the men, where the average three-piece work-a-day suit of colonial-era laborers, tradesmen and gentry alike might feature as many as 30 or 40 tediously sewn-on buttons.

After years of reading the "Three Little Pigs" to his kids, brick mason Joel Emerson built his own storybook structure — a brick dome home that not even the Big Bad Wolf can blow down. "I told my wife many years ago that I was going to build her a brick igloo," he says, jokingly. "No need for a carpenter or a roofer. " It used to be a brick house was a brick house, according to Emerson, 52, a bricklayer for his father for two decades and a self-employed masonry contractor for the past 10 years.

Something's missing. There's no other possibility. Somewhere in the brain or heart or conscience of a father and mother in Gloucester is a cold, gaping hole. How else to explain that for two months or 10 months — the couple can't agree on a timeline — they caged up their own daughter of 2 years or 6 years — there's a dispute over the child's age, too — in a darkened room of their trailer. Every morning, the father told investigators, they'd bring the girl a Pop-Tart.

NEWPORT NEWS — It seemed as if everyone wanted to pose for pictures with ex-NFL player Aaron Brooks, greeted like a returning hero at the Marriott Conference Center at City Center on Friday. Brooks, a Newport News native and former quarterback for the New Orleans Saints, laughed and joked with people from the neighborhood, talking about old times and making small talk. But underneath the jokes and the smiles, Brooks is serious about trying to jump start the economy in the Southeast Community.

NEWPORT NEWS — Country music singer Toby Keith is opening a restaurant at City Center, the singer's first business venture in Hampton Roads. "Toby Keith's I Love This Bar & Grill" is expected to open a 17,000 square-foot restaurant in City Center by late 2011, complete with a performance stage, areas for private parties and a retail store. Live bands often perform at Keith's restaurants. Keith started the chain in his hometown of Oklahoma City in 2003, expanding to nine locations, including Arizona and Minnesota.

The parents of an emaciated girl kept in a makeshift cage have been charged with first-degree murder in connection with the discovery of a child's remains buried in their yard. In addition to the murder charges, Brian Scott Gore, 29, and Shannon Nicole Gore, 24, each face a charge of attempted capital murder related to the treatment of a girl found on Thursday naked, starving and covered in her own feces in a darkened bedroom. Brian Gore also faces two felony charges of abuse and neglect of a child, while Shannon Gore faces a single felony charge of abuse and neglect of a child.