I’m glad to see that City Council candidate Peter Kleeman has started a campaign blog. No slouch, he’s written several thoughtful, in-depth posts in the week since he’s started it, writing about the planned McIntire interchange and the city’s plan to sell a 22 acre construction easement in McIntire to VDOT for a buck. If he keeps this up, Kleeman may well provide voters more insight into his beliefs and plans than any council candidate in my memory.
News and meta-news about Charlottesville, VA, since 2001.
Monthly Archive for July, 2007
Page 4 of 4
Police are trying to figure out what the deal is with random attacks on people in the greater downtown area, the Progress reports. One attack was on Friday night, when a guy was sucker punched by one kid in a group of a dozen, as he wrote about on cvillenews.com. Another was on JPA a few hours later, when a guy had a rock hurled through his car window while he was driving. And a couple of hours after that, a woman was knocked to the ground by a group of kids on the street outside of the Elks Lodge on 2nd St.
In every case so far, the attacks have come from groups of teenaged African American kids wearing white t-shirts, as is the fashion. This is where community policing efforts are particularly important — a pointed conversation between a friendly police officer and their mothers may be all it takes to nip this in the bud.
There were July 4th celebrations throughout the area today. I went to Monticello’s 45th annual Independence Day Celebration and Naturalization Ceremony. So did Rick Sincere, who provides video highlights of the event, including a good chunk of Sam Waterston’s address. And Sylvia’s family took part in the Earlysville parade, and provides photos of some of the other participants.
The Albemarle School Board has voted to tighten up their flier rules, Matt Deegan writes in today’s Daily Progress. This is in response to the pair of dust-ups in the schools after Christians objected to the distribution of pagan and then atheist fliers. The school board having decided that this is all just more trouble than it’s worth, they’ve decided that the only groups allowed to send home fliers with students are now school-sponsored and local government groups. As Deegan points out, that excludes groups like vacation Bible schools, SOCA, and Little League, among others, but it’s not clear that there’s any other reasonable path for the school board to take.
This is why we can’t have nice things.
Within two years, Wal-Mart will likely be the biggest private employer in the area, Brian McNeill writes in today’s Daily Progress. Between the location on 29N, the growing distribution center in Zion Crossroads, the planned location in Louisa and the newly-announced location in Greene, they’ll have 1,970 people working for them. The company’s low wages, poor benefits and discriminatory hiring practices make it less than clear that there’s anything particularly good about this news. McNeill’s article ends with a mysterious quote from Darden professor Paul Farris claiming that Wal-Mart’s presence may well be good for local retailers which, as The Hook‘s Hawes Spencer points out, would seem to challenge traditional logic.
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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