Isle of Wight County is proposing to scrap a long-planned expansion of the Windsor library and instead build new. The county had allocated $350,000 in its 2020-21 capital improvements budget to add a manager’s office, bathrooms and an upstairs meeting space and storage to the converted Duke Street facility, but by 2022 had rejected three […]

The Smithfield Times will be taking a different approach to Smithfield Town Council candidate questionnaires this year. Rather than sending a list of questions and publishing all questions and responses in the same print edition and online, the Times will send the candidates a single question once per week. There will be 12 questions in […]

Developers who build within a half-mile radius of Benns Church Boulevard’s intersection with Turner Drive within the next five years could share in the cost of building a single-lane roundabout on Turner under a proposed 2029 master transportation plan Isle of Wight County staff presented on Aug. 15. The Commonwealth Transportation Board, in June, approved […]

Aug. 19 marked the first day of classes for Surry County Public Schools, which since 2023 has started school before Labor Day. Isle of Wight Academy and Hampton Roads Classical also resumed classes on Aug. 20.  Surry Isle of Wight Academy Hampton Roads Classical

The Smithfield Police Department and Isle of Wight County Sheriff’s Office investigated five fatal shootings in 2023. It’s the highest number the largely rural county of 40,000 residents has seen in a decade. Virginia State Police publish an annual report, titled Crime in Virginia, which details crime statistics statewide and by city and county for […]

After overcoming public opposition in 2022 and a legal challenge last year, a controversial natural gas project is operational in Surry County. Align RNG, a joint venture of Dominion Energy and Smithfield Foods, received Surry supervisors’ 2-1 approval in 2022 to construct a regional processing facility that would turn methane from hog manure, also known […]

Smithfield VA Events, the nonprofit organization that hosts three annual festivals at the Windsor Castle manor house, is accepting grant applications through Aug. 31 for the festivals that will be held in 2025. The nonprofit hosts the BOB Fest, an all-you-can-eat festival highlighting Bloody Marys, oysters and Brunswick stew, in January, followed by the Wine […]

For more than a year, Jennifer Boykin of Isle of Wight County and Dawn Jones of Suffolk have awaited their day in court to resolve Jones’ assault and battery charge against Boykin stemming from a Republican Party meeting over the method of nominating a GOP candidate for the state’s 17th Senate District primary election. They’ll […]

Isle of Wight County supervisors, on Aug. 15, voted unanimously to award a construction contract to Norfolk-based Spacemakers Inc. for an expansion of the Rushmere Volunteer Fire Department. The company was the lowest of four bidders, at $1.59 million, for a planned 1,116-square-foot addition that will house bunk rooms and men’s and women’s showers, and […]

The Smithfield Times will be taking a different approach to Smithfield Town Council candidate questionnaires this year. Rather than sending a list of questions and publishing all questions and responses in the same print edition and online, the Times will send the candidates a single question once per week. There will be 12 questions in […]

A Windsor woman and a Portsmouth man are facing burglary and narcotics charges after being arrested in connection with an Aug. 22 break-in Citgo gas station and convenience store on Brewers Neck Boulevard in Smithfield. According to an Isle of Wight County Sheriff’s Office news release, 25-year-old Emily Miles of Windsor and 51-year-old Saraf Eugene […]

When Virginia’s General Assembly reconvenes in January, Isle of Wight County will again push for legislation that would authorize cities and counties to raise their sales tax 1% by voter referendum to fund school construction. The matter remains included in a list of 2025 legislative priorities county supervisors discussed at their Aug. 15 meeting. Only […]

A Newport News man accused of killing a Williamsburg teenager and leaving her body in a remote area of Isle of Wight County last year has been deemed competent to stand trial. When 18-year-old Aonesty Selby’s family didn’t hear from her for two days, they headed across the James River Bridge the night of Jan. […]

The “460 Commerce Center,” a roughly 352,000-square-foot manufacturing and distribution facility under construction in Isle of Wight County’s Shirley T. Holland Intermodal Park, is on track for substantial completion by August 2025, according to Isle of Wight Economic Development Director Kristi Sutphin. Sutphin gave an update on the project at the Economic Development Authority’s Aug. […]

Smithfield’s Town Council and Planning Commission, within a week of each other’s September meetings, will each consider applications for proposed gyms. The council is set to hold its required hearing, and potentially vote, Sept. 3 on the special use permit application of Fit Body Boot Camp, a national gym franchise seeking to locate a branch […]

Fourteen days after voting to create an audit committee, Isle of Wight County supervisors named their appointees on Aug. 15 to the eight-member body tasked with keeping a closer eye on the county’s finances. Supervisors William McCarty and Renee Rountree will represent the board and serve as co-chairs of the committee. The supervisors also voted […]

The second multi-day shutdown of the Cypress Creek Bridge, like the first in April, has ended ahead of schedule. The Virginia Department of Transportation had, a week in advance, announced a planned Aug. 19-23 closure from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. of both lanes of the circa-1975 bridge that connects downtown Smithfield with the east […]

Liberty Live, a church with multiple branches across Hampton Roads, received unanimous site plan approval from Smithfield’s Planning Commission on Aug. 13 to build its newest campus in town off Wimbledon Lane. Currently, the Smithfield branch operates out of an office building on South Church Street and holds services at Smithfield High School on weekends. […]

The “460 Commerce Center,” a roughly 352,000-square-foot manufacturing and distribution facility under construction in Isle of Wight County’s Shirley T. Holland Intermodal Park, is on track for substantial completion by August 2025, according to Isle of Wight Economic Development Director Kristi Sutphin. Sutphin gave an update on the project at the Economic Development Authority’s Aug. […]

Serene Tree Apothecary, the latest business to move into the circa-1826 Atkinson storehouse at 235 Main Street, aims to be a one-stop shop for all things herbal. Tea aficionados will find 17 blends, including earl grey vanilla cream, citrus mint and hibiscus, as loose grounds in glass jars rather than single-serve tea bags. There’s also […]