On this week’s episode of Beyond the Headlines, Gregory discusses her conversations with parents of Bay View Elementary School students who say they found out from Child Protective Services that their children’s special education teacher was be

What we’ve learned about the Virginia Beach shooting in the last 7 months

Dec 10th, 2019 25m 38s

On this week’s episode, a team of journalists consisting of Alissa Skelton, Peter Coutu, Tim Eberly, Gary Harki and senior editor Jeff Reece explains what they’ve learned from interviewing dozens of witnesses and city employees, reading documen

Investigating the Chesapeake doctor accused of performing unnecessary surgeries

Nov 26th, 2019 19m 45s

Scott Daugherty and Elisha Sauers share what they’ve uncovered so far about Dr. Javaid Perwaiz, a Chesapeake gynecologist who was charged with one count each of health care fraud and making false statements relating to health care matters.

A reporter investigated the state of recycling in Virginia. Here’s what she found.

Nov 19th, 2019 20m 20s

Virginian-Pilot reporter Katherine Hafner examined recycling in our region and what has changed after China stopped accepting most of our recycling early last year.

In wake of federal indictment, reporters reflect on Norfolk Sheriff Bob McCabe investigation

Nov 11th, 2019 19m 44s

On this week’s episode of Beyond the Headlines, reporters Tim Eberly and Scott Daugherty discuss the 11 federal corruption charges brought down against McCabe in late October and reflect on how those charges came to be.

All 140 seats in the General Assembly are up for election

Nov 1st, 2019 21m 2s

On this week’s episode of Beyond the Headlines, reporter Dave Ress explains what’s at stake in Virginia’s usually sleepy off-off-year elections, when all 140 seats in the General Assembly are up for election and party control of the legislature

Kempsville’s football team broke a 63-game losing streak Friday night. Here’s how we covered it.

Oct 28th, 2019 12m 57s

On this week’s episode of Beyond the Headlines, we explore how the Daily Press and The Virginian-Pilot cover high school sports in a region that includes some 60 public schools and dozens of private schools.

The state of casinos in Hampton Roads

Oct 22nd, 2019 18m 7s

On this week’s episode of Beyond the Headlines, Norfolk city hall reporter Ryan Murphy gives an overview of the state of casinos in Virginia.

How we learned about the rat, mold and cockroach problems at Norfolk’s Sherwood Forest Elementary

Oct 15th, 2019 17m 43s

Teachers at the 62-year-old school said there have been rats and roach problems for years but the situation’s grown significantly worse since the summer. Pilot reporter Sara Gregory tells how she and newsroom staffers investigated the story.

Meet Our Newsroom’s New Top Editor, Kris Worrell

Oct 8th, 2019 23m

On this week’s episode of Beyond the Headlines, new editor-in-chief Kris Worrell breaks down her first six weeks on the job.

How we know whether Virginia schools are improving

Oct 1st, 2019 15m 27s

Education reporter Sara Gregory breaks down what reporters look for when we look at school accreditation results, and what that means for students and parents in Hampton Roads schools.

Tenants feared getting kicked out of motel where they lived. So we went knocking on doors.

Sep 17th, 2019 15m 27s

On this week’s Beyond the Headlines podcast, Saleen Martin walks us through what she found when she knocked on motel doors, and how she got people to open up about their living conditions.

An armed bystander stops a Virginia Beach robbery

Sep 10th, 2019 19m 55s

Virginian-Pilot reporter Jane Harper really wanted to know what happened the day a man stopped two people from robbing a Virginia Beach 7-Eleven with his own gun. After reporting the man wouldn’t be charged, Harper got a phone call — would she

A ‘time machine’ inside the newsroom library: A look at the Pilot’s archives

Sep 3rd, 2019 30m 32s

On this week’s episode of Beyond the Headlines, Jakon Hays discusses what it was like to work in the morgue, or news library, surrounded by clippings and photos of desegregation, the Vietnam war and hurricanes hitting Hampton Roads.

Covering the 400th anniversary of the first Africans arriving in Virginia

Aug 28th, 2019 28m 39s

Fort Monroe and Hampton commemorated the 400th anniversary of the first African slaves arriving in Virginia from Aug. 23-25.The event was a culmination of years-long planning for the event.Daily Press reporters Mike Holtzclaw, Josh Reyes an

A woman’s quest to discover what happened to her Japanese grandfather after World War II

Aug 20th, 2019 25m

On this week's episode of Beyond the Headlines, reporter Denise Watson shares the story of Regina Boone a Richmond photojournalist who spent years tracking down her Japanese grandfather, who lived in Suffolk and ran a business.Watson reviewed

Why we reported on Hampton Roads' long, strange history with UFOs

Aug 13th, 2019 25m 10s

We've heard the stories about UFO sightings in Hampton Roads. But how far back do those sightings go?On this week's episode of Beyond the Headlines, reporters Gordon Rago, Katherine Hafter and Matt Jones look back at some of the area's docume

Tracking Portsmouth's condemnation of its city jail

Aug 6th, 2019 19m 37s

This week on Beyond the Headlines, reporters Margaret Matray and Ana Ley discuss how they’re tracking the rapidly developing story of the condemnation of Portsmouth’s jail and nearby buildings.From the moment City Manager Lydia Pettis Patton

What we know and what we don't about the Virginia Beach mass shooting

Jul 30th, 2019 21m 26s

It's been nearly two months since the Virginia Beach mass shooting where 12 people and the shooter were killed inside a city municipal building.Less than 24 hours after the news broke, reporters at the Daily Press and the Virginian-Pilot were

Covering Pernell "Sweetpea" Whitaker

Jul 23rd, 2019 15m 19s

After legendary local boxer's death, longtime sports writer reflects on covering himSports writer Ed Miller says there was nothing quite like covering legendary boxer Pernell "Sweetpea" Whitaker. On this week's Beyond the Headlines podcast

Some stories are difficult. Here’s how we covered the disappearance of Noah Tomlin.

Jul 16th, 2019 45m 44s

This week on Beyond the Headlines, Peter Coutu and Marie Albiges report back on the General Assembly gun safety special session that lasted 90 minutes. While their time in Richmond was brief, the reporting leading up to the special session wa

How an Iraqi interpreter found his way from the battlefield to American citizenship

Jul 10th, 2019 16m

This week on Beyond the Headlines, The Virginian-Pilot's Courtney Mabeus joins the podcast to talk about the story of an interpreter from the Iraq War. After helping U.S. troops in his home country, an Iraqi feared for his safety because of h

Investigating a death on a party bus and a train derailment in a swamp

Jul 2nd, 2019 45m 5s

First up on this week's Beyond the Headlines podcast, Gordon Rago and Joanne Kimberlin discuss their investigation into the death of Kisha Marrow-Lott, a bridesmaid who was a guest on an illegal party bus in Norfolk.She died when she slammed

Espionage and rivalries: Investigating the origins of white sauce in Hampton Roads

Jun 25th, 2019 14m 6s

This week's Beyond the Headlines episodes features food writer Matthew Korfhage discussing how his two-part white sauce series became one of the most popular food stories of the year. He explores how white sauce became a staple in Mexican res

The internal report following a brutal beating at a mental health facility

Jun 19th, 2019 27m 16s

This week's Beyond the Headlines episodes features a reporter covering a brutal beating at a Norfolk mental health facility. Norfolk City Hall reporter Ryan Murphy discusses his coverage of the assault that occurred at the Norfolk Community S