VIRGINIA BEACH A voice boomed through the thick black curtains. “Five minutes!” In the tiny backstage, acrobats sent up clouds as they powdered their faces. Dancers affixed one last fake eyelash. The sour smell of greasepaint filled the sticky air.

A cool, dry airmass moved into the region Friday night and temperatures are expected to stay in the upper 60s today as a result. It should be sunny and clear throughout the day.

Is Thomas Jefferson rolling over in his grave at the news that one of his former prized possessions, the Natural Bridge of Virginia, is up for sale? Hardly. The third U.S. president saw the picturesque rock formation in the cradle of the Shenandoah Valley as a national treasure that private owners - and not the government - could look after just fine.

CHESAPEAKE Moments after stealing a few items of clothing from the Chesapeake Square Wal-Mart, Alisia Carter hopped behind the wheel of a green 1993 Mercury sedan and led police on an extended chase through Portsmouth and Suffolk.

Emergency medical training paid off this week when a Navy veteran and sometime political candidate revived an 8-year-old boy pulled from a hotel pool who wasn't breathing.

ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. City police have made eight arrests in the backlog of cases found at Elizabeth City State University this month, part of a controversy that has resulted in the resignations of the chancellor and campus police chief, as well as a state investigation.

PORTSMOUTH Parents, prepare to fork over another nickel for school lunches next year. For years, the school division has slowly nudged up the price of spaghetti and meat sauce, cheese pizza and oven-baked fish nuggets. For the next school year, the price will rise to $1.40 for elementary and secondary students, and officials anticipate raising the rate again the following year.

ISLE OF WIGHT — L. Wayne Farmer, the commonwealth's attorney for Isle of Wight County, has written a strongly worded letter calling for the resignation of Board of Supervisors Vice Chairman Byron "Buzz" Bailey and Isle of Wight School Board member Herb DeGroft because of their distribution of racist email.    

NORFOLK A group of about 100 Park Place residents marched through Ghent on Friday to the bank where police shot and killed Joshua "Omar" Johnson. Johnson, 22, died Monday when he and his girlfriend, 21-year-old Virgie May Hairston, attempted to flee the Wells Fargo at 21st Street and Colonial Avenue after allegedly trying to cash a fraudulent check.

Traffic on I-64 eastbound before Fort Eustis Boulevard on exit 250 is backed up four miles to exit 246.    

After five hours on the scene, Virigina Beach police took a man into custody who barricaded an area at West Great Neck Road and Great Neck Road and threatened to commit suicide and harm others who tried to intervene.    

Hampton police have charged several people in connection to two Thursday burglaries.    

One person was transported by medical helicopter to a hospital after an accident in Virginia Beach about 11:15 a.m. Friday.    

ISLE OF WIGHT COUNTY By a split vote, a request for the resignation of an embattled county leader failed at Thursday's Board of Supervisors meeting, further stoking racial tensions.