Twenty-four year-old Erin Crowe has gained national fame in the past couple of days as word has spread about her oil paintings of Alan Greenspan. Cable news networks and major newspapers have been profiling the UVa grad and the surprising popularity of the works, which she created for a local art show a couple of years ago. She told the Post “He has a great face for portraiture. Each painting I did, I wanted to do more…. It’s fascinating, his hands, the wrinkles in his face, his forehead, his combover.” CNN’s got the skinny, or you could just turn on your TV.
News and meta-news about Charlottesville, VA, since 2001.
Monthly Archive for August, 2005
Page 4 of 5
Livestock escape from the Albemarle Stock Yard every so often. This morning, at 4am, officers were dispatched to handle an escaped steer. So one officer — I swear I’m not making this up — decided to tackle the cow. Impressively, he managed to knock the thing down, but it came back up and was understandably unhappy. It came after the officer, knocking him down. A couple of well-placed darts put the steer to sleep. Presumably, it’s home now. If I was him, next time, I’d wait for the guy with the darts to show up.
Venton Blandin has the story at the CharlottesvilleMegaSuperNewsPlex.
Eight Central Virginia candidates for House of Delegates spoke at the Senior Statesmen of Virginia forum yesterday afternoon: Delegate Watkins Abbitt, Jr (I-59), Delegate Rob Bell (R-58) David Cox (D-24 challenger) Peter deFur (D-56 challenger), Steve Koleszar (D-58 challenger), Delegate Steve Landes (R-25), Tom McCrystal (R-57 candidate) and David Toscano (D-57 candidate). The only really notable bit was when the forum took a turn for the weird when Del. Abbitt said that having Del. Mitch Van Yahres moderate “was something like getting Osama bin Laden to negotiate a peace between the U.S. and Iraq.” Bob Gibson has the story in today’s Progress.
Thanks to the Charlottesville Podcasting Network, you can listen to the whole thing on-line. It can be downloaded as a 21MB MP3, or simply streamed. It’s an hour and a half long.
Last week, 18-year-old Kelly Watt died of the effects of heat stroke, a result of going running on a recent 100° day in Free Union. The surprising death of a healthy, young individual has drawn attention to the dangers of training in such high temperatures. In Saturday’s Daily Progress, Jerry Miller wrote:
“Kelly’s death gave us all cause to consider, ‘Are we doing everything we can?'” Isaacs said. “You can tell area coaches are conscious about it. It’s not the olden days anymore. We’ve been fortunate that we haven’t had any deaths [in football locally], but that’s because we are all overly cautious about things.”
Albemarle football coach Rick Vrhovac added, “It certainly changes your awareness without a doubt.”
Kelly was an intern at The Hook last summer and their sports columnist (“Sports Wrap”) for the past year. Here’s one of his last columns.
The question of whether the Charlottesville School Board should be elected will be on the November ballot. A press release issued today by the folks who have spearheaded the movement says that the Charlottesville registrar, Sheri Iachetta, certified that 10% of registered voters had signed the petition, validating its place on the ballot. Virginia referenda generally pass, so this is likely the first major step towards moving to an elected school board.
The concept of an elected school board is one that started among Republicans a few years ago. They were unable to get any traction until the Scottie Griffin saga, which left many community members unhappy with the school board. From there, the floodgates opened.
Coincidentally, it was just this week that the news emerged that Portsmouth is looking to move back to an appointed school board, in an effort to repair the combative, racially divided board. The board has recently been caught up in a legal battle over their choice of superintendent. If they succeed, they’d be the first Virginia municipality to revert to an appointed school board since elected school boards became an option in 1992.
08/10 Update: James Fernald has a story in today’s Daily 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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