A small movement has developed to write-in incumbent Meredith Richards for next week’s City Council election, WINA reports. Signs have appeared in town to this effect, as well. Richards, who failed to secure the Democratic nomination, has made clear that she has no desire to run as an independent or have people write in her name. In the previous election, small contingents supported writing in Republican Jon Bright and yours truly, but what with neither of us running, we got just 56 votes between the two of us, not enough to affect the outcome of the close election. Whether Richards can get enough votes to affect the outcome of the election remains to be seen.
News and meta-news about Charlottesville, VA, since 2001.
Monthly Archive for April, 2004
Bruce writes: Former UVa football player Jamaine Winborne was shot by another student outside Hench dormitory on the UVa grounds early Wednesday, apparently as part of an altercation at a large gathering of students celebrating the end of spring classes. Winborne, who was wounded in the leg, is listed in fair condition at UVa Hospital and according to police his injury is not life threatening. Police have issued an arrest warrant for 23-year-old undergraduate student Aaron Joshua Robinson in connection with the shooting. According to the Progress and UVa police Capt. Michael A. Coleman, this is the first shooting on the Grounds in over a decade, not counting suicides. However this has been a bad year for violent crime at or around the University with the serial rapist still at large and with another student charged with murder in the stabbing of a volunteer firefighter only six months ago. Three other UVa football players have also been charged with disorderly conduct or vandalism for incidents following the shooting on Wednesday morning as the police tried to clear the crowd. The Daily Progress and WINA are carrying the story.
In an ongoing series, Elizabeth Nelson is profiling each of the six candidates for City Council. In the past three days, she has written about Democrat David Brown (love the headline headline: “Chiropractor wants to give back”), Democrat Kendra Hamilton, and independent Vance High. Still to come, of course, are Democrat Kevin Lynch and Republicans Ann Reineke and Kenneth Jackson. Doing her best to make this election interesting, Nelson has been covering each of the candidate forums, most recently the NAACP forum, the highlight of which was a woman calling Kevin Lynch an “airbag” with a personality problem who is “full of crap,” leading to Lynch’s rejoinder that he wasn’t the one with the need to defend his personality. Ah, those wacky forums.
Joining WVIR and the summer-slated CBS affiliate is yet another television station, Channel 9, a broadcast station. This one is billed as all C’ville, all the time — city news, city music, segments based on print media features, and a rebroadcast of WINA’s morning show. They hope to sign a lease on the old WINA space, in the Market Street parking garage, but still have the small issue of raising $3M to get things going. September 1 is the slated launch date. Liz Nelson has the story in today’s Progress.
In January, City Council voted to get Attorney General Jerry Kilgore’s opinion as to whether a supermajority is necessary to sell 9.2 acres of McIntire Park to the state to create the Meadowcreek Parkway. Kilgore has returned his opinion, which holds that the supermajority is not necessary, because, he writes, “public highways belong entirely to the public at large.” His opinion seems at odds with the relevant section of the Virginia constitution, article VII, section 9, which states, simply: “No rights of a city…to its…parks…shall be sold except by an ordinance or resolution passed by a recorded affirmative vote of three-fourths of all members elected to the governing body.” With the council race in progress and up to three new councilors taking office on June 30, it’s not clear if Council will act on this now, or wait until after elections. Bob Gibson had the story in yesterday’s Progress.
Sideblog
Police announced this afternoon that their investigation into what was initially believed to be a fatal fire on Rugby Avenue is now a homicide investigation. #
The Virginia Supreme Court has denied George Huguely’s appeal. His second-degree murder conviction will stand, WRIC reports. #
In a carefully worded story, and not citing specific sources, WTVR reports that forensic evidence belonging to Jesse Matthew Jr., the main suspect in the disappearance of Hannah Graham, matches forensic evidence collected during the investigation of Morgan Harrington’s 2009 murder. #
In the wake of Hannah Graham’s disappearance, and the evidence that came from private security footage, city officials are revisiting the question of installing security cameras on the downtown mall. #
Both Charlottesville Registrar Sheri Iachetta and former Electoral Board member Stephanie Commander have turned themselves in to the police on
foursix and four felony counts of embezzlement, respectively. #Ten years ago, the National Institutes of Health budget doubled and schools like the University of Virginia built massive new research facilities. A decade later, those buildings remain largely underutilized. NPR visits UVA in this story on the effect of federal binge and spurge spending in the sciences. #
In 2012, Council approved a new student housing complex on West Main—now some council members are questioning whether what they were shown matches what was built. #
The Architectural Review Board has approved a bike-themed mural on West Market, below the McGuffey Art Center, although at least one member expressed concerns that it might look like the bicyclists were riding away from Charlottesville’s downtown. #
City Police Chief Tim Longo is meeting with city leaders to work on protocols regarding the use of military surplus police weapons in Charlottesville. #
A 100-year-old Colonnades resident received military honors for her service in the WWII Women’s Army Corps #
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