The proposed Long Ridge Solar Farm, owned by brothers Christopher G. Weatherly and Glenn Scott Weatherly, will take up 41 acres of a 122-acre parcel along Long Ridge Road between Beaver Dam Road and Carolina Road. It will allow for cheaper energy for about 1,000 homes through the Virginia Shared Solar program, according to Cara Romaine, a senior developer with ESA Solar Energy who spoke in favor of the project.

Half of the energy produced by the project will support low-to-moderate income residents by providing 10% savings on their monthly power bills, Romain said. The site’s power lines will be connected to the grid underground via an existing power pole owned by Dominion Energy, which means it will not require the construction of a new substation.

This solar facility is expected to be able to operate for at least 35 years, according to the site’s decommissioning plan. The city has now approved 10 utility solar energy projects since 2019 covering a total of 2,020 acres, according to planning documents.

Speaking to council prior to the vote, Glenn Weatherly said his family has been on this farm since 1964 and he’s worked on it full-time since 1986. He said using some of their land for solar panels will provide him some “security.”

“I still want to farm … I’m pushing 60 years old this December, I’m looking for the easy life for a change,” Weatherly said.

The project was approved on a 7-2 vote, with council members Debbie Ritter and Jeff Bunn voting against. Ritter, who said she lives near a solar farm, called them “intrusive” and took issue with calling them “farms,” saying they’re more accurately described as industrial.

Ritter particularly highlighted the disruptions to travel during the construction period of the solar farms. She lamented the loss of agricultural land, listing things like transfer stations and proposed lithium battery storage facilities popping up across the area as signs of a negative trend.

“It all sounds great if you live in an urban area of the city or even a suburban area where (the solar project) isn’t where you live,” Ritter said. “This is an agricultural area … If the council wants to go ahead (with the project) that’s terrific, we’ll continue to give up valuable farmland.”

Two neighbors of the Weatherly’s farm spoke in favor of the project. Dana Todd, whose property is on Middle Ridge across the street from the Weatherly’s, said the addition of solar panels is a “good way to use the land and still make sure it stays farmable.”

“Supporting the Long Ridge solar project isn’t just about solar power, it’s about keeping our farmland safe and finding new ways for local farmers to make a living,” Todd said.

Gavin Stone, 757-712-4806, gavin.stone@virginiamedia.com

Mayor Bobby Dyer described it as “a major snafu” at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. “It’s our duty that when we have any event at the Oceanfront that there’s a positive light on it. This was not a positive light.”

He recommended that in order to rebuild trust, the festival organizers should commit to a long-term partnership, possibly for three-to-five years, and that the city must take a more proactive role.

“The city has been left out of the decision loop in terms of what goes on in operations,” said Dyer, who wants a contract with the festival team outlining the city’s expectations.

Festival organizers notified the city Friday afternoon, just hours after tickets went on sale, that the Oct. 12-13 event was canceled and they intend to reschedule it in April. Soon after the city was notified Friday, Pharrell Williams posted on social media that the festival wasn’t ready yet and ticket-buyers would be refunded.

While organizers are eyeing a move back to April, City Manager Patrick Duhaney said the decision to change the festival date hasn’t been solidified by the City Council.

Something in the Water was first held at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront in 2019. Williams was originally asked to organize an event in late April to provide structured entertainment for college students who had been coming to the resort area each spring.

After inclement weather forced Williams to cancel the festival’s third day in 2023, he decided to move it to October this year in hopes of better conditions.

Duhaney noted money the city set aside for sponsorship — as much as $2 million — has not been spent. He read a letter from the festival team which indicated that issues with the lineup of performers prompted Williams to drop the October date.

“After spending considerable time with members of the music community, we have collectively decided that a festival in April will be far more substantial and impactful for the city of Virginia Beach and allow some of the participants who had committed and endured conflicts beyond Pharrell’s control to participate in April,” the festival organizers wrote.

The festival team promised to have “a concrete plan set within this calendar year.”

Councilmembers Amelia Ross-Hammond and Jennifer Rouse, liaisons to the festival, said Friday’s announcement came as a surprise to both of them.

“We felt blindsided,” said Ross-Hammond.

The two of them held several meetings with city officials and the festival organizers over the weekend.

“We received a lot of reactions, and questions and frustrations and concerns,” said Rouse. “We made sure to share that with the Something in the Water team as well as the city.”

Rouse is pushing the festival organizers to set the April date and lineup sooner than later, she said.

“They want to make an intentional effort to rebuild credibility and trust,” said Rouse.

Councilman Barbara Henley said the postponement is more than just a disappointment to business owners.

“It’s cost a lot of people some serious money,” she said, citing that some hotels are not going to have the income they were counting on.

“We take this as a learning experience,” Henley said. “We have to set benchmarks.”

Stacy Parker, 757-222-5125, stacy.parker@pilotonline.com

Sometime before the attack in Boulder in 2021, Moustafa Alissa recalled waking up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and his son, Ahmad Alissa, telling him to go talk to a man who was in his room. Moustafa Alissa said they walked together to his son’s room and there was no one there.

Moustafa Alissa also said his son would sometimes talk to himself and broke a car key fob he feared was being used to track him, echoing testimony on Monday from his wife. He said he didn’t know exactly what was wrong with his son but that in his native Syria people say someone acting that way is believed to be possessed by an evil spirit, or djin.

“We thought he probably was just possessed by a spirit or something,” Moustafa Alissa said through an Arabic interpreter in court.

Ahmad Alissa was diagnosed after the shooting with a severe case of schizophrenia and only was deemed mentally competent to stand trial last year after a doctor put him on the strongest antipsychotic medication available. No one disputes he was the gunman at the supermarket but he has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

The defense says he should be found not guilty because he was legally insane and not able to tell the difference between right and wrong at the time of the shooting.

Prosecutors and forensic psychologists who evaluated him for the court say that, despite his mental illness, he did not experience delusions and knew what he was doing when he launched the attack. They point to the planning and research he did to prepare for it and his fear that he could end up in jail afterward to show that Alissa knew what he was doing was wrong. However, the psychologists said they thought the voices played some role in the attack and don’t believe the attack would have happened if he had not been mentally ill.

When District Attorney Michael Dougherty asked why Moustafa Alissa did not seek out treatment for his son, he said it would be very hard for his family to have a reputation for having a “crazy son.”

“It’s shameful in our culture,” he said.

During questioning, Moustafa Alissa, whose family owns several restaurants in the Denver area, also acknowledged that Ahmad Alissa had promised to return a gun he had that had jammed a few days before the shooting and that he went to the shooting range at least once with his brothers. Despite his concerns about his son’s mental state, he said he did not do anything to try take guns away from him.

Given that, Dougherty suggested that his son’s condition may not have been as bad as his family is now portraying it.

“He was not normal but we did not expect him to do what he did,” Moustafa Alissa said.

When life starts to get busy it can be easy to fall into bad health habits without even noticing. You might eat out a little more, skip a workout, have an extra glass of wine with dinner or not get enough sleep. At times like these, it can be handy to have an arsenal of practical tips on hand to help you stick to your health goals and get you back to living your best life.

Sticking to your health goals during busy times like this can help prevent you from getting sick or rundown, keep you feeling great both emotionally and physically and keep your energy levels up and stress levels down. The following are some simple and easy-to-implement tips to help you stick to your health goals when everything seems impossible.

Practice healthy habits first thing in the morning

Starting with your healthy habits first thing in the morning will set the tone for the rest of the day. By starting off on a good note, and ticking off some of your healthy goals early on, you will be more likely to stick to the rest of the goals as the day gets busier. If you plan on fitting in a workout or a walk then set your alarm a little earlier in the morning so you can get it out of the way as soon as you wake up.

After your workout, choose a healthy breakfast option. Things like smoothies or grab-n-go breakfast parfaits are great to prep ahead of time if you know you are going to be in a rush. They make it so easy to jam lots of goodness into one meal. You can even pre-pack smoothie bags and have them stored in the freezer ready to blend so it won’t matter how busy you are, you can still fill your body with nutritious food.

Stay hydrated

Fill your water bottle first thing in the morning to reach your water goals for the day. If you are going to be out of the house for a while, bring your water bottle with you. If you don’t have a good reusable water bottle, invest in one. This will make it easier to take water with you on the go.

Staying hydrated can help you feel less sleepy and less hungry, and can also help make you feel better overall throughout the day. A great way to stay hydrated is by making up a couple of batches of lemon chia water and having them ready to grab and sip in the morning. This has the bonus of keeping you fuller for longer. Another way is to make up a pot of your favorite herbal tea to sip at your desk while you work.

Schedule healthy lifestyle habits into your day

Schedule your meals into your day to help make sure you are allowing yourself the chance to eat a well-balanced and healthy diet. If you work your day around these times, you can avoid the drive-thru and make it easier to stick to a healthy diet.

If you want to exercise each day, book a class or a block of time for walking or running into your schedule. This way you will be less likely to skip it even on a busy day. Guilt is a powerful thing and you will know you are letting yourself down if you don’t stick with the commitment.

You can have the schedule on your phone so you can access it at all times, or if you prefer a paper planner and the satisfaction of ticking things off as you get them done then pick a good one and make sure you use it. The key is to have your schedule accessible so that you don’t just schedule it and forget it.

Plan and prepare meals ahead of time

Meal planning and prepping will make it just as easy to grab something nutritious as it would be to hit the drive-thru. If you need to, prepare a week or even a month ahead if you can. This will make eating a healthy diet and maintaining a healthy lifestyle a breeze.

There are several apps out there that can help with meal planning. They will usually have an option to write the grocery list and some can even help with doing an online grocery order to be delivered, which is such a time saver and stops all those treats from being thrown into the cart when you are doing the shop yourself.

You might prefer a good old paper and pen meal plan. Rip recipes from magazines or print off recipes you find online during the week, and keep them stored in an inexpensive ring binder, then pour yourself a cup of tea and decide what you want to eat for the week.

Spend some time on the weekend or on a day off preparing some meals or snacks that can then be eaten on busy days. This can be as simple as making a double batch of granola for breakfasts, some freezer-friendly mini muffins for lunchboxes or casseroles that can be popped into the slow cooker for dinner.

Get moving when you can

You may not always have the time to fit in a workout multiple times per week, but even on days you can’t get to the gym, you can increase your step count by making a few simple changes. Small changes like these can really add up.

You can easily add more movement to your regular daily activities by adding some slight modifications to your routine. For instance, while out running errands, park your car a bit further away than usual, take the stairs instead of the elevator or get off the bus a stop or two earlier.

If you find yourself getting tired or losing focus at work, then stop what you are doing and take a quick walk around the block. Motivate yourself by getting a step tracker and setting a goal each day. Set yourself reminders to get up and move if you have to.

Getting up and going for a walk can be great for mental clarity and focus. It also means you are getting in some extra steps without even trying.

Make time for sleep

If you want to get more done in your day by getting up early, this is going to mean that you will need to head to bed a little bit earlier. Make time for sleep by scheduling a bedtime for yourself and setting an alarm on your phone so you stick to that bedtime. Similarly, set an alarm for the morning that allows you the time you need to get everything done before the busy day starts.

Wrapping up

No matter how busy life gets, it is important to take the time to implement healthy habits. Even if you’re short on time, you can still make small tweaks to your routine to make sure you are practicing healthy lifestyle habits. Getting up earlier, filling your water bottle, planning and prepping some meals for the week and getting your body moving will all help to keep you on the right track and lower the stress and chaos a busy day can bring.

Donna Mansour is a recipe developer, food photographer and the creator of the food blog Whole Food Bellies. She is obsessed with kitchen gadgets and has them all. In her free time, she loves hiking, reading and spending time with her three kids and sausage dog Odie.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday decried Republican Donald Trump for inflammatory rhetoric about migrants in Springfield, Ohio, and on other topics, saying voters should make sure he “can’t have that microphone again.”

Sitting down for a rare extended campaign interview Tuesday with a trio of journalists from the National Association of Black Journalists, Harris said her heart breaks after threats of violence have disrupted the city following comments amplified by Trump and his running mate alleging, without evidence, that immigrants are kidnapping and consuming people’s pets.

Two days after Secret Service agents foiled an apparent assassination attempt on Trump, who blamed Democratic rhetoric for the latest threat to his life, Harris said that “there are far too many people in our country right now who are not feeling safe.” She referenced the threats to immigrants, but also the conservative Project 2025 blueprint for the next Republican administration and a GOP-led effort to restrict abortion access.

“Not everybody has Secret Service,” she said. “Members of the LGBTQ community don’t feel safe right now, immigrants or people with an immigrant background don’t feel safe right now. Women don’t feel safe right now.”

Harris said she personally has confidence in the Secret Service and feels safe under their protection. She spoke briefly with Trump on Tuesday to express her gratitude that he was safe, but in the interview said his rhetoric should be disqualifying.

“When you have that kind of microphone in front of you, you really ought to understand at a deep level that your words have meaning,” Harris said, without mentioning Trump by name. “Let’s turn the page and chart a new way forward and say you can’t have that microphone again.”

Harris said the Republican attacks on the city and migrants there were “lies that are grounded in tropes that are age old.”

The sedate interview in Philadelphia stood in contrast to former President Donald Trump ’s appearance before the same organization just a month ago, which turned contentious over matters of race and other issues.

The Trump interview opened a chapter in the campaign in which the Republican candidate repeatedly questioned Harris’ racial identity, baselessly claiming that she had only belatedly “turned Black” at some point in her professional career. Trump has since repeatedly questioned Harris’ racial identity on the campaign trail and during the September presidential debate.

Harris, the daughter of a Jamaican father and an Indian mother, has repeatedly dismissed Trump’s remarks as “the same old show.” During her September debate with Trump, she said it was a “tragedy” that he had “attempted to use race to divide the American people.”

The vice president insisted she is working to earn the vote of Black men and not taking any constituency for granted. Black male voters are traditionally one of the most consistently Democratic-leaning demographics in the nation. But Republicans have tried to make inroads, while Democrats worry about flagging enthusiasm at the polls.

“I think it’s very important to not operate from the assumption that Black men are in anybody’s pocket,” Harris said. “Black men are like any other voting group. You gotta earn their vote, so I’m working to earn the vote, not assuming I’m gonna have it because I’m Black”

Harris declined to say if she supported reparations for descendants of slaves, but said, “we need to speak truth about the generational impact of our history in terms of the generational impact of slavery, the generational impact of red lining.” She said expressed openness to studying the question “to figure out exactly what we need to do,” but said her focus was on building economic opportunity.

In Trump’s interview with NABJ, he lambasted the moderators and drew boos and groans from the audience at times. The interview also sparked debate within the NABJ convention itself, which operates both as a networking and communal space for Black professionals in media as well as a newsmaking event.

As with Trump’s appearance, the audience was made up of NABJ members and college students, but the tenor was markedly different. Where Trump called the reporters interviewing him “rude,” “nasty” and denounced their questions as “horrible,” Harris referred to the reporters who pressed her as “esteemed journalists.”

The crowd was inaudible throughout the Tuesday interview with Harris. In July, Trump’s comments were often met with laughter, shock and confusion from the room, which largely consisted of student journalists and media professionals outside political news.

Trump, his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, and other Republicans have criticized Harris for largely avoiding media interviews or interacting on the record with reporters who cover her campaign events. She and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, gave a joint interview to CNN last month. Her campaign recently said she would be doing more local media, and last week she sat for her first solo television interview since becoming the Democratic nominee, taking questions from a Philadelphia station.

Asked whether Americans are better off today than four years ago when she and President Joe Biden entered office, Harris did not directly answer the question, instead referencing the state of the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic and bringing up her plans to try to lower housing costs and promoting herself as a “new generation” of leader.

Harris said her candidacy offers the country a chance at “turning the page on an era that sadly has shown us attempts to by some to incite fear to create division in our country.”

Janiyah Thomas, Black media director for the Trump campaign, said Harris’ remarks to the National Association of Black Journalists on Tuesday reveal her record of failures for Black Americans.

“She told the NABJ that after three and half years of her failed policies, grocery prices are too high and the American Dream is unattainable for young Americans,” Thomas said. “We can’t afford four more years of Kamala Harris. It’s time to put President Trump back in the White House and restore economic prosperity.”

Harris has largely sidestepped traditional media appearances and instead focused on rallies, grassroots organizing and social media engagement, where the vice president can sidestep questions from independent journalists about her policy record and proposed agenda.

Tuesday’s event was moderated by Eugene Daniels of Politico, Gerren Keith Gaynor of theGrio and Tonya Mosley of WHYY, a Philadelphia-area public radio station that co-hosted the gathering.

Asked whether she would change U.S. policy toward the Israel-Hamas war, Harris said she endorsed Biden’s pause on 2000-lb. bombs to Israel and didn’t signal any daylight with the president.

Harris noted the killing of Israeli civilians — and some Americans – by Hamas on Oct. 7 and added that far too many “innocent Palestinians have been killed” in Israel’s response.

She added that the Israel-Hamas war has to end and a ceasefire and hostage deal must get done, while calling for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict. She said the goal is to ensure “the Israelis have security and Palestinians in equal measure have security, have self-determination and dignity.”

NABJ noted the importance of hosting the conversation in Philadelphia, a major city in a battleground state with a large Black population. Philadelphia was also the home to one of the major precursor organizations to NABJ.

For years, the association has invited both major presidential candidates to speak before the convention. Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Joe Biden all attended NABJ events as presidential candidates or while in office.

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Brown reported from Washington. AP writers Zeke Miller and Colleen Long in Washington contributed.

An instructional assistant at Orange Elementary School found the gun on Monday afternoon while helping a child who arrived late take items out of their bookbag, Orange County Sheriff Jason C. Smith said in a statement posted on social media. The assistant notified administration and the school resource officer and the gun was removed from the school, Smith said.

It was determined that the 6-year-old brought the loaded Heritage Rough Rider single-action, .22-caliber “Cowboy style” revolver to school, but there’s no indication that the child intended to use the firearm, he said. No arrests have been announced in the case and Smith said the investigation was ongoing.

“This situation is very unfortunate and heartbreaking to this community,” Smith said. “We will get through this together. Situations like these remind us of how fortunate and thankful we are that nothing serious happened. Show your children lots of love and hold them tight!”

In January 2023, a 6-year-old student brought a handgun to school that he used to shoot and critically wound his first grade teacher as she taught class in Newport News.

NEW YORK (AP) — The video was seen millions of times across social media but some viewers were suspicious: It featured a young Black woman who claimed Vice President Kamala Harris left her paralyzed in a hit-and-run accident in San Francisco 13 years ago.

In an emotional retelling from a wheelchair, the alleged victim said she “cannot remain silent anymore” and lamented that her childhood had “ended too soon.”

Immediately after the video was posted on Sept. 2, social media users pointed out reasons to be wary. The purported news channel it came from, San Francisco’s KBSF-TV, didn’t exist. A website for the channel set up just a week earlier contained plagiarized articles from real news outlets. The woman’s X-ray images shown in the video were taken from online medical journals. And the video and the text story on the website spelled the alleged victim’s name differently.

The caution was warranted, according to a new Microsoft threat intelligence report, which confirms the fabricated tale was disinformation from a Russia-linked troll farm.

The tech giant’s report released Tuesday details how Kremlin-aligned actors that at first struggled to adapt to President Joe Biden dropping out of the race have now gone full throttle in their covert influence efforts against Harris and Democrats.

It also explains how Russian intelligence actors are collaborating with pro-Russian cyber “hacktivists” to boost allegedly hacked-and-leaked materials, a strategy the company notes could be weaponized to undermine U.S. confidence in November’s election outcome.

The findings reveal how even through dramatic changes in the political landscape, groups linked to America’s foreign adversaries have redoubled their commitment to sway U.S. political opinion as the election nears, sometimes through deeply manipulative means. They also provide further insight into how Russia’s efforts to fight pro-Ukrainian policy in the U.S. are translating into escalating attacks on the Democratic presidential ticket.

The report builds on previous concerns the U.S. has had about Russian interference in the upcoming election. Earlier this month, the Biden administration seized Kremlin-run websites and charged two Russian state media employees in an alleged scheme to secretly fund and influence a network of right-wing influencers.

Russia-linked actors have spent several months seeking to manipulate American perspectives with covert postings, but until this point, their efforts saw little traction. Notably, some of the recent examples cited in the Microsoft report received significant social media engagement from unwitting Americans who shared the fake stories with outrage.

“As the election approaches, people get more heated,” Clint Watts, general manager of the Microsoft Threat Analysis Center said in an interview. “People tend to take in information from sources they don’t really know or wouldn’t even know to evaluate.”

Microsoft explained that the video blaming Harris for a fake hit-and-run incident came from a Russian-aligned influence network it calls Storm-1516, which other researchers refer to as CopyCop. The video, whose main character is played by an actor, is typical of the group’s efforts to react to current events with authentic-seeming “whistleblower” accounts that may seem like juicy unreported news to U.S. voters, the company said.

The report revealed a second video disseminated by the group, which purported to show two Black men beating up a bloodied white woman at a rally for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. The video racked up thousands of shares on the social platform X and elicited comments like, “This is the kind of stuff to start civil wars.”

Microsoft’s report also pointed to another Russian influence actor it calls Storm-1679 that has recently pivoted from posting about the French election and the Paris Olympics to posting about Harris. Earlier this month, the group posted a manipulated video depicting a Times Square billboard that linked Harris to gender-affirming surgeries.

The content highlighted in the report doesn’t appear to use generative artificial intelligence tools. It instead uses actors and more old-school editing techniques.

Watts said Microsoft has been tracking the use of AI by nation states for more than a year and while foreign actors tried AI initially, many have gone back to basics as they’ve realized AI was “probably more time-consuming and not more effective.”

Asked about Russia’s motivation, Watts said the Russia-aligned groups Microsoft tracks may not necessarily support particular candidates, but they are motivated to undermine anyone who “is supporting Ukraine in their policy.”

Harris has vowed to continue supporting America’s ally Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s invasion if elected president. Trump has demurred when asked about whether he wants Ukraine to win the war, saying in the recent presidential debate, “ I want the war to stop.”

At a forum in early September, Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared to suggest jokingly that he would support Vice President Kamala Harris in the upcoming U.S. election. Intelligence officials have said Moscow prefers Trump.

The Harris campaign declined to comment. The Russian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment.

Earlier this summer, Microsoft found that Iranian groups have also been laying the groundwork to stoke division in the election by creating fake news sites, impersonating activists and targeting a presidential campaign with an email phishing attack.

U.S. intelligence officials are preparing criminal charges in connection with that attack, which targeted the Trump campaign, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.

Microsoft’s new report also touches on how a Chinese-linked influence actor has used short-form video to criticize Biden and Harris and to create anti-Trump content, suggesting it doesn’t appear interested in supporting a particular candidate.

Instead, the company said, the China-aligned group’s apparent goal is to “seed doubt and confusion among American voters ahead of the 2024 presidential election.”

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The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The FBI and U.S. Postal Service on Tuesday were investigating suspicious packages that have been sent to or received by elections officials in at least eight states, but there were no immediate reports that any of the packages contained hazardous material.

The latest packages were sent to elections officials in Massachusetts and Missouri, authorities said. The Missouri Secretary of State’s Elections Division received a suspicious package “from an unknown source,” spokesperson JoDonn Chaney said. He said mailroom workers contained the package and no injuries were reported.

It marked the second time in the past year that suspicious packages were mailed to election officials in multiple state offices. The latest scare comes as early voting has begun in several states less than two months ahead of the high-stakes elections for president, Senate, Congress and key statehouse offices around the nation, causing disruption in what is already a tense voting season.

Local election directors are beefing up their security to keep their workers and polling places safe while also ensuring that ballots and voting procedures won’t be tampered with.

On Tuesday, the FBI notified the Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth’s office that postal service investigators had identified what they described as a suspicious envelope that had been delivered to a building housing state offices. The package was intercepted and isolated, according to state officials. No employees from the secretary of the commonwealth’s office had contact with the envelope, which is now in the hands of the FBI.

Powder-containing packages were sent to secretaries of state and state election offices in Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Tennessee, Wyoming and Oklahoma on Monday. The packages forced evacuations in Iowa, Oklahoma and Wyoming. Hazmat crews in several states quickly determined the material was harmless. The FBI and postal service were investigating.

Oklahoma officials said the material sent to the election office there contained flour. Wyoming officials have not yet said if the material sent there was hazardous.

“We have specific protocols in place for situations such as this,” Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate said in a statement after the evacuation of the six-story Lucas State Office Building in Des Moines. “We immediately reported the incident per our protocols.”

A state office building in Topeka, Kansas, was evacuated due to suspicious mail sent to both the secretary of state and attorney general, Kansas Highway Patrol spokesperson April M. McCollum said in a statement.

Topeka Fire Department crews found several pieces of mail with an unknown substance on them, though a field test found no hazardous materials, spokesperson Rosie Nichols said. Several employees in both offices had been exposed to it and had their health monitored, she said.

In Oklahoma, the State Election Board received a suspicious envelope in the mail containing a multi-page document and a white, powdery substance, agency spokesperson Misha Mohr said in an email to The Associated Press. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol, which oversees security for the Capitol, secured the envelope. Testing determined the substance was flour, Mohr said.

State workers in an office building next to the Wyoming Capitol in Cheyenne were sent home for the day pending testing of a white substance mailed to the secretary of state’s office.

Suspicious letters were sent to election offices and government buildings in at least six states last November, including the same building in Kansas that received suspicious mail Monday. While some of the letters contained fentanyl, even the suspicious mail that was not toxic delayed the counting of ballots in some local elections.

One of the targeted offices was in Fulton County, Georgia, the largest voting jurisdiction in one of the nation’s most important swing states. Four county election offices in Washington state had to be evacuated as election workers were processing ballots cast, delaying vote-counting.

The letters caused election workers around the country to stock up the overdose reversal medication naloxone.

Election offices across the United States have taken steps to increase the security of their buildings and boost protections for workers amid an onslaught of harassment and threats following the 2020 election and the false claims that it was rigged.

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LeBlanc reported from Boston. Jim Salter in O’Fallon, Missouri; Isabella Volmert in Lansing, Michigan; Mead Gruver in Cheyenne, Wyoming; Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee; Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City and John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, contributed to this report.

While the presidential race may be the main event, dozens of candidates are running for state and local offices in Hampton Roads. The Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press voter guide — 757 Votes — explains what races are on the ballot and who is running for office.

The 2024 election guide contains Q&As with candidates running for mayor, city council, school board and in other special elections in Hampton Roads, as well as with candidates running for four congressional seats. The guide will be updated throughout election season with additional reporting on local races and candidates.

Early voting for the Virginia general election begins Friday, Sept. 20 and runs through Saturday, Nov. 2. Voters can cast ballots in person at their local registrar’s office or vote by mail.

Click on each race to learn more about the candidates.

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Congressional

U.S. House of Representatives, Virginia’s 1st District: Leslie Mehta (D), Rob Wittman (R).

U.S. House of Representatives, Virginia’s 2nd District: Missy Cotter Smasal (D), Jen Kiggans (R), Robert Reid Jr. (I).

U.S. House of Representatives, Virginia’s 3rd District: Bobby Scott (D), John Sitka (R).

Senate: Hung Cao (R), Tim Kaine(D).

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Chesapeake

Here’s a rundown of what is on the ballot in Chesapeake.

Mayor: Don Carey and Rick West.

City Council: Reagan Davis, Robert Ike Jr., E. R. “Jeff” Jefferies Jr., Patricia “Pat” King, Jennifer Naperala, S. Z. “Debbie” Ritter,  Les Smith Jr., Jeff Staples, and Eric Wray II.

School Board: Sam Boone Jr., Elijah Colon, Gregory Dono, Malia Huddle, Thomas Mercer Sr., Norman Pool, L. Jameel Shaheer, Daniel Stahler, Angie Swygert, and Rue Willis.

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Hampton

Here’s a rundown of what is on the ballot in Hampton.

Mayor: Jimmy Gray and Richelle Wallace.

City Council: Chris Bowman, Randy Bowman, Carolyn Campbell, LaToya Fleming, Hope Harper, Billy Hobbs Whalan McDew, Janice Richison and Aaron Weaver.

School Board: Stephanie Jackson Afonja, Ann Stephens Cherry, Tina Banks-Gray, Natalie Kidd and Reginal Woodhouse.

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Newport News

Here’s a rundown of what is on the ballot in Newport News.

City Council:

• • North District: Marcellus Harris
  • Central District: Rob Coleman, Scott Cox, Andrea Diggs, Stephen Ferguson, and Justin Kennedy.
  • South District: Clifton Atkins and Tina Vick.

School Board:

• North District: William Beverley, John Bloom and Rasheena Harris
• Central District: Rebecca Aman and Christopher Worthington
• South District: Maritsa Alger

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Norfolk

Here’s a rundown of what is on the ballot in Norfolk.

Mayor: Kenny Alexander, Giovanni “Gio” Dolmo and Tommy Leeman.

City Council:

• Superward 6: Jeremy Mason and Jeremy McGee.
• Superward 7: Carlos Clanton, James Graham, Phillip Hawkins, Rodney Jordan, Leon Judge and Christine Smith.

School Board:

• Ward 5 special election: Ken Paulson.
• Superward 6:  Rebecca Danchise Topping and Sarah DiCalogero.
• Superward 7: Alfreda Thomas and Ronald White.

Portsmouth

Here’s a rundown of what is on the ballot in Portsmouth.

Mayor: Harold S. Carothers III, Shannon E. Glover and Lisa L. Lucas-Burke

City Council: Sharon Anderson, De’Andre Barnes, Kathryn “Kitty” Bryant, William Smith “Bill” Dodson Jr., Malinda Johnson, Bruce LaLonde, Mia Phillips, Davy Smith III, Yolanda “Edmonds” Thomas, Kelvin Turner and Mark  Whitaker.

School Board: LaKeesha “Klu” Atkinson, Irene Boone, Kendall Bradshaw, Arnette “Love” McSwain, Lateacia Sessoms, Jaclyn  “Jackie” Walker, and Ingrid Whitaker.

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Suffolk

Here’s a rundown of what is on the ballot in Suffolk.

Mayor: David Bosselman, Michael Duman, and Clinton Jenkins

City Council:

• Nansemond Borough: Lue Ward
• Sleepy Hole: Roger Fawcett and Ebony Wright
• Whaleyville: LeOtis Williams and Jason Wooldridge

School Board

• Nansemond Borough: Valerie Fields and James Shores
• Sleepy Hole: Carly Bosco and Heather Howell
• Whaleyville: Thelma Hinton,  Sean McGee, and Jonathan Rankin

Sheriff special election: Interim Sheriff David Miles is running unopposed.

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Virginia Beach

Here’s a rundown of what is on the ballot in Virginia Beach.

Mayor: Bobby Dyer, Richard W. Kowalewitch, John Darrell Moss, Chris Taylor and Sabrina Devon Wooten.

City Council:

• District 1: Ryan Gilliam and David “Hutch” Hutcheson
• District 3: Michael Berlucchi, Christina M. Felder and Cleon Jones
• District 5: L.G. Shaw is facing Rosemary Wilson
• District 7: Cal “Cash” Jackson-Green and Mabinty Saffie Scott
• District 8: Cody Conner, Stacy Cummings, Phil Hines and Leland Jones

School Board:

• At large: Monty Gerald Ashliman, Jr. and Sharon Ruth Felton
• District 1: Rose Marie Dwyer, Jennifer Sue Franklin
• District 3: Mark Douglas Bohenstiel
• District 4 special election: Anissa M. Bowden, Alveta J. Green, and Shannon L. Kendrick
• District 5: Melinda Josa Rogers and Vincent Earl Smith
• District 7: Matthew Cummings and Noah Moreland

Sheriff special election: Aldo Dibelardino and Rocky Holcomb III.

NEW YORK (AP) — In what appears to be a sophisticated, remote attack, pagers used by hundreds of members of Hezbollah exploded almost simultaneously in Lebanon and Syria Tuesday, killing at least nine people — including an 8-year-old girl — and wounding thousands more.

A U.S. official said Israel briefed the U.S. on the operation — in which small amounts of explosive secreted in the pagers were detonated — on Tuesday after it was concluded. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the information publicly.

The Iran-backed militant group blamed Israel for the deadly explosions, which targeted an extraordinary breadth of people and showed signs of being a long-planned operation. Details on how the attack was executed are largely uncertain and investigators have not immediately said how the pagers were detonated. The Israeli military has declined to comment.

Here’s what we know so far.

Why were pagers used in the attack?

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah previously warned the group’s members not to carry cellphones, saying they could be used by Israel to track the group’s movements. As a result, the organization uses pagers to communicate.

A Hezbollah official told The Associated Press the exploded devices were from a new brand the group had not used before. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press, did not identify the brand name or supplier.

Taiwanese company Gold Apollo said Wednesday it had authorized its brand on the AR-924 pager model and a company called BAC produced and sold the pagers. Further information on BAC wasn’t immediately available.

Nicholas Reese, adjunct instructor at the Center for Global Affairs in New York University’s School of Professional Studies, explains smart phones carry a higher risk for intercepted communications in contrast to the simpler technology of pagers.

This type of attack will also force Hezbollah to change their communication strategies, said Reese, who previously worked as an intelligence officer, adding that survivors of Tuesday’s explosions are likely to throw away “not just their pagers, but their phones, and leaving their tablets or any other electronic devices.”

How could sabotage cause these pagers to explode?

Even with a U.S. official confirming it was a planned operation by Israel, multiple theories have emerged Tuesday around how the attack might have been carried out. Several experts who spoke with The Associated Press explained how the explosions were most likely the result of supply-chain interference.

Very small explosive devices may have been built into the pagers prior to their delivery to Hezbollah, and then all remotely triggered simultaneously, possibly with a radio signal.

By the time of the attack, “the battery was probably half-explosive and half-actual battery,” said Carlos Perez, director of security intelligence at TrustedSec.

A former British Army bomb disposal officer explained that an explosive device has five main components: A container, a battery, a triggering device, a detonator and an explosive charge.

“A pager has three of those already,” explained the ex-officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he now works as a consultant with clients on the Middle East. “You would only need to add the detonator and the charge.”

After security camera footage appeared on social media Tuesday purporting to show one of the pagers explode on a man’s hip in a Lebanese market, two munitions experts offered opinions that corroborate the U.S. official’s statement that the blast appeared to be the result of a tiny explosive device.

“Looking at the video, the size of the detonation is similar to that caused by an electric detonator alone or one that incorporates an extremely small, high-explosive charge,” said Sean Moorhouse, a former British Army officer and explosive ordinance disposal expert.

This signals involvement of a state actor, Moorhouse said. He adds that Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, the Mossad, is the most obvious suspect to have the resources to carry out such an attack.

N.R. Jenzen-Jones, an expert in military arms who is director of the Australian-based Armament Research Services, notes that Israel had been accused of carrying out similar operations in the past. Last year, AP reported that Iran accused Israel of trying to sabotage its ballistic missile program through faulty foreign parts that could explode, damaging or destroying the weapons before they could be used.

How long was this operation?

It would take a long time to plan an attack of this scale. The exact specifics are still unknown, but experts who spoke with the AP shared estimates ranging anywhere between several months to two years.

The sophistication of the attack suggests that the culprit has been collecting intelligence for a long time, Reese explained. An attack of this caliber requires building the relationships needed to gain physical access to the pagers before they were sold; developing the technology that would be embedded in the devices; and developing sources who can confirm that the targets were carrying the pagers.

And it’s likely the compromised pagers seemed normal to their users for some time before the attack. Elijah J. Magnier, a Brussels-based veteran and a senior political risk analyst with over 37 years experience in the region, said he has had conversations with members of Hezbollah and survivors of Tuesday’s pager attack. He said the pagers were procured more than six months ago.

“The pagers functioned perfectly for six months,” Magnier said. What triggered the explosion, he said, appeared to be an error message sent to all the devices.

Based on his conversations with Hezbollah members, Magnier also said that many pagers didn’t go off, allowing the group to inspect them. They came to the conclusion that between 3 to 5 grams of a highly explosive material were concealed or embedded in the circuitry, he said.

Jenzen-Jones also adds that “such a large-scale operation also raises questions of targeting” — stressing the number of causalities and enormous impact reported so far.

“How can the party initiating the explosive be sure that a target’s child, for example, is not playing with the pager at the time it functions?” he said.

Hezbollah issued a statement confirming at least two members were killed in the bombings. One of them was the son of a Hezbollah member in parliament, according to the Hezbollah official who spoke anonymously. The group later issued announcements that six other members were killed Tuesday, though it did not specify how.

“We hold the Israeli enemy fully responsible for this criminal aggression that also targeted civilians,” Hezbollah said, adding that Israel will “for sure get its just punishment.”

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Associated Press journalist Johnson Lai in Taipei