Details on missing teen, Chesapeake school rezoning, Senate agrees to fund DHS: Sunrise Brief

TOP STORIES: Details on missing teen, Chesapeake school rezoning, Senate agrees to fund DHS

1. We are learning new details about 16-year-old Marwa Barakzai who, as of March 26, had been missing for a week.

   FBI helping Newport News police search for missing teen who walked away from school bus

   A CODI Alert was issued for her March 21. "I just want her to know that we care about her," Newport News Police Chief Steve Drew said at a joint news conference Thursday with Newport News Mayor Phillip Jones. At the news conference, Drew revealed Barakzai was last seen getting off a school bus after school March 19. “Instead of getting off at her normal location, she asked the bus driver to take her to another location and the bus driver did," Drew said. She left her backpack on the bus but took her school-issued Chromebook and some papers. She got rid of the Chromebook after she got off the bus and then walked away, according to Drew. Why she walked away and where she went was headed was unclear Thursday.

   “The FBI was here [Wednesday]. We went over some of the things I’m sharing with you, to put their eyes on it, to see if there’s anything else they think we should be doing or anything we missed they’d like to double down on," Drew explained. Aside from getting help from the FBI, the police department has knocked on doors, visited the mosque Barakzai’s family goes to, searched a large area on foot, bike, and from the air, talked with family and friends, and searched underwater.

   Wednesday, a community search was organized. As of Thursday, police did not have any reason to believe Barakzai was in any danger. News 3 asked Drew why, then, a CODI Alert was issued by Virginia State Police who say her disappearance poses a credible threat to her health and safety. “I’d rather be safe. There’s some things that are suspicious here that we’re not understanding," Drew said. Anyone with information is asked to call Newport News police.

2. The Chesapeake School Board approved a finalized rezoning plan for the new Culpeper Landing Elementary School.

   Chesapeake School Board finalizes rezoning plan for new elementary school in Culpepper Landing

   The board voted 8-to-1 at its March 23, 2026 meeting to approve Option 3, the plan recommended by district administration. The new school, currently under construction in Chesapeake's Culpeper Landing neighborhood, is scheduled to open in fall 2027, serving students in grades pre-K through 5. As News 3 reported last month, the rezoning is designed to relieve overcrowding at Cedar Road Elementary, Deep Creek Elementary, Deep Creek Central Elementary, and Grassfield Elementary — four schools that as of October 2025 were all operating well above capacity.

   Under Option 3, Cedar Road Elementary would drop from 123% capacity to approximately 89%, and Grassfield Elementary would fall from 145% to approximately 96%. Across all impacted schools, the plan is estimated to eliminate 39 portable classrooms. The district is not recommending grandfathering for current elementary students, meaning all affected students will move to their newly assigned schools when the zones take effect in September 2027 with no exceptions based on current enrollment.

   Board member Amanda Walker encouraged parents concerned about new developments driving future overcrowding to take their concerns directly to Chesapeake City Council, noting that the school board does not have authority over which residential developments get approved. "At the end of the day, they're the ones that make these decisions," she said. Families can use an interactive address lookup tool on the Chesapeake Public Schools website to find out which school their student would attend under the newly approved zones.

3. The Senate agreed early Friday to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security in an effort to end a standoff in Congress that has led to massive lines and wait times at many airports around the country.

   The lines were the result of Transportation Security Administration workers going more than a month without full paychecks, leading nearly 500 to quit and a skyrocketing number of others to call out of work. Shortly after 2 a.m., Senators approved a measure by unanimous consent that funds all of the DHS except for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol, terms Democrats had been insisting on. They've been demanding changes in immigration enforcement policies.

   Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters later he thinks "that ship has sailed, and they kind of kissed that opportunity goodbye by ... failing to provide funding for those agencies."

   But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a floor speech after the funding passed that, "Democrats held firm in our opposition that Donald Trump's rogue and deadly militia (referring to ICE) should not get more funding without serious reforms, and we will continue to fight for those."

   The House still has to pass the legislation. The Senate action came hours after President Trump said he would sign an executive order to resume pay for TSA workers. 

This morning's weather: Falling temperatures today, Showers tonight

Meteorologist Myles Henderson says a warm start this morning with temperatures in the 60s. We will warm to the mid and upper 70s by midday, then temperatures will drop off to the 50s this afternoon. Watch for the winds to shift from SW to north as a cold front moves in.

For the latest weather updates, watch Myles live on News 3 This Morning here.

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