About Us

 

A combine rests in a Pungo field early on a Sunday morning. [John-Henry Doucette/The Princess Anne Independent News]
This is the online home of The Princess Anne Independent News, a community newspaper that launched on April 24, 2015, to serve Virginia Beach.

We believe in local, public interest journalism. Our goal is to help shine a light on news and events for the Beach.

Original reporting and photography published by The Independent News has been recognized by the Virginia Press Association. Our coverage of the agriculture industry has been recognized by the Virginia Beach Excellence in Agriculture Committee and Virginia Farm Bureau. We were recognized as the small business of the year for 2018 by the Creeds Ruritan Club.

Our main coverage and distribution areas include southern Virginia Beach, Kempsville, the Oceanfront and Town Center.

Here is the mission statement for our newspaper.

The Princess Anne Independent News is a community news source that that gathers and delivers news of interest to the people of Virginia Beach, helping citizens engage in civic life, community and culture. We are a forum for conversations that encourage, not limit, ideas in our communities and our city.

The newspaper, site, and content published in print and online are produced and owned by Pungo Publishing Co., LLC, unless otherwise noted at the bottom of posts. While we welcome free expression, we reject any advertising that contains profanity, personal attacks, offensive or demeaning content and junk science.

We are committed to diversity, civic responsibility, freedom of expression, open government and strong communities. We value agriculture and rural life.

Thank you for reading and supporting local journalism. If you value what we do, please consider supporting The Independent News by advertising.


A note about commenting here and at our social media sites:

There are two general rules about commenting here:

  1. Keep it civil.
  2. Keep it clean.

If criticism is due, please criticize ideas and not the people who have them. We can challenge ideas without resorting to insults. There’s some leeway given to comments about public officials or The Independent News itself, but please consider that this is a community newspaper.

Additionally, comments under clearly assumed names or offensive names may be removed at the editor’s discretion.


A note about copyright:

We are proud to provide original reporting, stories and photographs to our readers. We encourage people to share links to our content on social media. However, we ask you to please respect our copyright and the copyrights of contributors that allow us to republish work in print or online. Since we pay for the newspaper and compensate contributors for the work that you see here and in print, we will pursue remedies against those who violate our copyright by reproducing our original work. If you ask — and it’s generally about our photos — we are often happy to work something out and provide permission for reuse. Please ask in writing to jhd@princessanneindy.com. All original content herein is owned by Pungo Publishing Co. LLC., P.O. Box 7064, Virginia Beach, VA 23457. We protect our copyright and ownership of our work so we can continue to pay for journalism.

40 thoughts on “About Us

  1. Where can I buy your newspaper?; or may I subscribe to it through this website, as I didn’t see a tab for that?

    1. Steve, this is John, the editor. For now, we are not doing subscriptions. We’re a small start-up community paper covering and available in southern Virginia Beach. We’re available for free at the locations under the “Find Us” tab. I hope we’ll be able to do subscriptions in the coming year if there is enough interest, but we’re not there yet. Best, John.

  2. How often do you check your email? I was wondering because I didn’t receive a response yet to an email I wrote on 5/29/15. Thanks!

  3. I have a PDF copy of a 1930 Princess Anne Cook Book that I would like to send you for your publications as you choose. It was published by the Women’s club of Princess Anne County. Besides the recipes there are interesting antidotes and advertising from the era. Would like a copy and if so, how do you propose I send it to you?

  4. I was wondering if Pungo Veterinary Clinic could have some papers for the waiting room to help keep the locals up to date with all the great things going on?
    Keep up the GREAT work !!

  5. Hello: I didn’t know if you knew or not, but we NOW have in our area A NO Kill DOG Shelter like None other. It is run privately and depends on donations and volunteers in the area. They carry 40-50 dogs at all times, and is run by one woman – Georgia Obenaus. Please call her at 432-9222 as I think our area would love to know that they are now at Hunt Club Farms. They need donations, volunteers. They help the local animal controls and spca’s by taking the animals that would not have made it out of their establishments. Georgia takes in the “unadoptables” misfits, etc and gives them the time that they need, and then she finds them not only a home, but their “right” home. There’s a HUGE difference. Please Call and interview this remarkable woman and this FANTABULOUS rescue. Thank you!

    1. The name of the Rescue new in our area that is a NO KILL Shelter who has 40-50 dogs at all times is GO Rescue Pet Adoption Center. We are on FB.

  6. Can you tell me what two weeks are your publishing dates, example: like 1st & second Sunday, etc. so I’ll know when to look for the new edition. I hope you are able to get this on-line in the near future.

    1. Wayne, We publish every other Friday, distributing over that weekend. Our next paper is May 27, just before the Strawberry Festival. We are a print publication, and most, but not all, of our stories are published online after the edition is off the stands. Best, John.

  7. I do not understand why Mrs. Henley is so active http://princessanneindy.com/2016/09/05/rail-3/ in spending a large part of the cities resources by, trying to influence the process of bringing Light Rail to VA Beach for a 3.2 mile stretch, that will take resources away from the Southern Part of Va Beach. There are many CIP (capitol improvement) projects http://gis.data.vbgov.com/datasets/595690aeae0d4ac99d493a41799570bc_0 in the Princess Anne District that are planned but currently unfunded or not complete. Mrs. Henley should be doing all in her power to make sure that precious resources are not diverted from Princess Anne to support developers and those that have an interest in Towne Center.

  8. The mayor and all members of council should pledge that no more present or future funding will be allocated for Light Rail, the ocean front arena, and other pie in the sky developments, until sufficient funding is set aside now so that infrastructure repairs are made. We will not accept neighborhoods like Ashville Park, Sherwood Lakes, Windsor Woods, Lake Placid, and many others having to go through unnecessary flooding. The council works for the people and not developers.

  9. Is making a donation to Sandbridge Rescue Squad the same as making a donation to the Courthouse Rescue Squad and vice-versa? Are they all under one Foundation, or is each its own?

  10. Thank you for the coverage. We are commenting so that we can get emails when new content is posted- it wouldn’t let us check that box without a comment!

  11. Since The Pilot seems to be pulling out of the Norfolk-Va. Beach-Chesapeake-Portsmouth area, the PA Independent News has an opportunity to fill the gap in a bigtime way as far as getting crucial local news and issues on the street and on the web. Keep on plugging.

  12. FYI: Your “Find Us” list shows that the Princess Anne Independent News is available at the Tidewater Community College/Virginia Beach Joint-Use Library at 1700 College Crescent. I was told that your newspaper has not been available there for over a year, along with any other similar publications (which is a bummer, ’cause now I have to go all the way to Princess Anne Library to get to the nearest one that carries your paper). Anyway, you may want to update your “Find Us” list.

    1. I’ll check with them and put a note at the top of the page about some of the libraries, which has been an issue due to Covid. Other nearby spots are the 7-Eleven at Tiffany (on the newspaper rack near the ATM) and Princess Anne near Mike’s Break Room and the Virginia Beach Farmers Market (either in the hallway or in the Princess Anne County Grill, if you don’t want to go to the PA Library.

  13. I just discovered your website today and am curious, where do you align politically and do you present both sides of an issue or slant it right, or left?

  14. Why have none of the media outlets disclosed the closure of Pembrooke mall? There have been several meetings with the city’s planning department about this project, but they have kept this quiet to the people who work there. January 1st, it will close and begin renovations to become multi-family apartments. People are going to lose their jobs over night. Please investigate!

  15. Is there an online version of your paper? How do I link to it, or is this it? how do I find the most current ?
    I would like to have it and share with others that would like to see it

  16. Great job on the 2022 VB local voting guide. Everyone got asked the same questions and was allowed to answer as they saw fit, leaving it up to the voters to decide. Outstanding.

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