Monthly Archive for June, 2006

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The Rest of the Fridays Lineup Announced

In a press release, The Charlottesville Pavilion has announced the second half of this year’s Fridays After Five lineup, from July 7 – September 15. That lineup consists of The Beetnix, Tea Leaf Green, Nighthawks, Tommy Wood, Andy Waldeck & the C’villians, DJ Williams Projekt, Terri Allard, Sons of Bill & Jim Waive, Sparky’s Flaw, The Houserockers, and Indecision, in that order.

RWSA Declares Drought Watch

The Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority declared a Drought Watch yesterday, prompting the city to voluntarily institute its own conservation measures, presumably more to set an example than anything else. The RWSA’s reservoir level report for today (Word file) indicates that the reservoirs are just about full, but the fear of the 2002 drought must loom large in the collective mind of the city.

Marshall’s Trespassing Charge Dropped

UVa professor Wende Marshall was arrested for trespassing at the recent living wage sit-in, and the charge remained while charges against students were dropped last month. But yesterday the charge against her was dropped, Liesel Nowak reports in today’s Progress. Prosecutors asked the judge to drop the case, saying that since the students weren’t charged, it hardly seems fair that she, who wasn’t there very long at all, should be convicted. That would seem to bring the legal end of this whole affair to a close.

Bowers Sues University

Former UVa employee Dena Bowers has sued the school for wrongful termination, Aaron Kessler reports in today’s Daily Progress. Bowers was fired last November for sending a private e-mail containing an NAACP analysis of the charter’s effect on medical center employees; the e-mail was subsequently forwarded by others to all classified staff at the College of Arts & Sciences. The firing was followed by a rally and much concern that this was a case of UVa trying to squelch staff concerns over the school’s change to a charter status. Neither the school nor Bowers will comment on the case.

Expanding the Mobile Network

Megan Rowe has an interesting article in today’s Daily Progress about mobile phone carriers’ efforts to expand their networks in the area to fill in the blank spots. There’s an inherent conflict there — I wish I had GSM service at my house, but I don’t particularly want to have a tower in my viewshed. Phone companies are getting smarter about it, though, hiding their towers in church steeples and attaching them to electrical towers, making greater coverage less contentious. The topography of the county is such that 100% coverage will never be viable with existing technology, though, so don’t hold your breath.

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