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Hampton residents call for more speed limit enforcement on West Mercury Boulevard

11 April 2025 at 22:40

HAMPTON, Va. (WAVY) β€” Two fatal crashes on West Mercury Boulevard in Hampton just under two weeks has residents demanding police do more to slow down speeders.

This comes after the busy Hampton street claimed the life of 73-year old Lucille McPherson Tuesday.

Police: 1 dead, 1 injured in Hampton crash

"It was all over Facebook, and when I got on Facebook, I seen it and I was devastated by it too," said McPherson's niece, Syniah Holliday. "People need to slow down when they are driving."

McPherson's death comes just nearly two weeks after a pedestrian was struck and killed on West Mercury Boulevard.

Hampton resident and Wana Play Childcare owner Tawana Wilson agrees. She lives off of West Mercury Boulevard and said speeding has been a problem for some time.

"Now it's in the day time," Wilson said. "It's getting ridiculous."

Wilson said the fear of getting hit remains at the top of her mind as she runs a daycare business at her home.

"I just ordered a sign that said, 'Children are playing,' this week, because of that accident, and now we're scared to even take the kids out now," Wilson said.

She and other neighbors hope police will hear their concerns, adding that speed bumps and more police patrols in the area could help save lives.

"Everything, try something, everything," Wilson said. "Put them all together. We have kids. Our lives are in danger."

In a statement, Hampton police said:

"We encourage those citizens to contact us directly with their concerns so that we can work to identify the issues and deploy the resources to address those concerns. we are committed to staying focused on our efforts to mitigate these situations and enhance our traffic safety throughout the city."

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Family of pregnant woman shot and killed on Kenny Lane seeks justice

13 February 2025 at 07:22

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) β€” Shaquana Jordan was five weeks pregnant when she was killed a week ago in Portsmouth, with the father of her other two children accused of pulling the trigger.

Portsmouth man charged with killing pregnant woman in presence of child, police say

Now, Jordan's family is speaking to 10 On Your Side about this devastating loss as they are focused on getting swift justice and holding her sister's accused killer accountable.

Shaquana Jordan's older sister, Jasmine Jordan, says this past week has been extremely hard on the family.

"I will always remember Shaquana as a loving caring person, she would give the shirt off her back," Jasmine Jordan said. "She always wanted to laugh and have fun, never negative, never mean, never nasty."

Police say Shaquana Jordan was gunned down last week by Hasheed Mills. Her sister says Shaquana Jordan was married to Mills, but had been trying to leave.

"I've always heard rumors, hearsay, I've never been around it or seen it with my own eyes," Jasmine Jordan said. "I have always told my sister that she should love herself and not let anyone manipulate her clearly what has been done, my sister has caught charges, and she was scared."

Docs: Child’s voice heard on 911 call after pregnant mother fatally shot, father accused of murder

Now, Shaquana Jordan's family is looking for justice. Mills has a lengthy criminal record, and according to her sister, he has made deals with Portsmouth prosecutors in the past to get reduced sentences for his charges, something the family fears could happen again.

"My sister deserves a prosecutor that will be determined and dedicated to serving her justice," Jasmine Jordan said.

For now, she has this to say to anyone who finds themselves in a violent relationship.

"I'm always going to give encouraging words and that's get away if you can."

Mills is still in jail facing several charges, including aggravated murder of a pregnant woman, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, abuse of a child causing serious injury, shooting in the commission of a felony and possession of a firearm by a felon. Shaquana Jordan's family says funeral services are pending.

Reservation ghosting: Local restaurants react to growing trend

7 February 2025 at 19:00

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY)Β β€” Need dinner reservations? How about a table for none?

That's how local restaurants feel when they prepare tables for guests and then those guests simply don't show up. The trend is called reservation ghosting β€” when a person or group makes a reservation at a restaurant, but on the day and time of that reservation they simply don't show up. It's happening, more often than you think.

"When you're going around making all these reservations and then ghosting the ones you don't wanna go to, it really is putting a significant impact on everyone else around you," said Luce Chef Antonio Caruana. "We have to make up and compensate for the lost wages. It's kind of a selfish act on the customer because they are trying to pick and choose because they have the luxury of doing so, whereas 10 to 15 years ago the reservation platforms didn't exist like they do today."

Reservation platforms like OpenTable, Resy and Toast Tables are what restaurants use.

Toast provided us with this statistic: 17% of reservations were canceled in 2024, down from 19% compared to last year, saying no shows are no more.

Caruana, however, would disagree.

And in a way, it has caused his restaurant, Luce, to come up with a method to combat this.

"There's only one way and that's to monetize that reservation," Caruana said.

This means requiring credit cards to book.

"So if 10 people are reserved and five people show up, the other five are going to be charged $25," Caruana said, "and that's the only way we can do it to make sense for the losses all the way around."

He says it has helped things flow better at Luce's two locations β€” one in Chesapeake and the other in downtown Norfolk,

Other restaurants are having to adapt their business models, also.

"I don't take call-in orders anymore just for that reason because people don't come pick up their food," said Allen Young, owner of Major Phillie Cheesesteaks on Granby Street.

Young says his business is more walk-in based, but he empathizes with his colleagues.

"Reservation ghosting, I'm a little guilty of that, but not with restaurants just hotels," Young said. "But yeah, that's a problem, because if you make the reservation, you block that side [and] you push other people away who come in and might be walk-ins, so you're pushing them away."

Pushing away customers like Frederick Dennis, who says he almost never makes a reservation because it can be hard to commit to it.

"That's not something I usually do," Dennis said. "I just go with the flow of my day."

"It's as simple as saying I'm not going to make it β€” it's that quick" Caruana said. It's easier to break the reservation a day before than to just ignore it altogether."

Twenty-four hour notice is all that's needed to modify a reservation, and restaurant staffs are happy to help because this is their passion, taking care of and feeding this community.

"If the Eagles win the Super Bowl, the Wednesday after the Super Bowl, we're giving out free cheesesteaks from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.," Young said.

"Our teams, both here and Luce Norfolk, focus on the hospitality, and we want to make sure that when you do make that reservation and come in, you're getting exactly what you reserved for," Caruana said.

If you're interested in dining at Luce, click here. If you're interested in dining at Major Phillie Cheesesteaks, click here.

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