I like this story about 100-year-old Pernetha Gilbert. She speaks Gullah!
News and meta-news about Charlottesville, VA, since 2001.
Monthly Archive for June, 2009
Page 3 of 5
In a press release this afternoon, the university announced that President John Casteen declared at today’s Board of Visitors meeting that he’s resigning his position next year. On August 1, 2010 he’ll conclude his 20th year as UVA president, and he’s taking that as his occasion to retire. It was widely speculated that he wouldn’t step down until the conclusion of the school’s $3B capital campaign, but the economic slump presumably made that goal move considerably farther into the future than perhaps he’d planned. The BOV will start their for a replacement next month.
There are some notable candidacy filings emerging after Tuesday’s deadline. Independent Paul Long has secured a spot on the City Council ballot, Brian Wheeler writes for Charlottesville Tomorrow. The eleven year resident moved here from Pennsylvania, and works for the UVA Medical Center. He says he’s running on the decriminalization of drugs (which isn’t actually something the city can do), creating a regional transit authority, and financially supporting local organizations that are helping the homeless. Independent candidate Andrew Williams won’t be on the Council ballot after all, the Progress reports, after he didn’t manage to get the required 125 petition signatures to get on the ballot. He’ll be running as a write-in candidate. And, finally, Del. David Toscano has a challenger in the form of independent Robert Brandon Smith, who has secured a spot on the ballot, Brian McNeill reports in today’s Progress. The Belmont resident “works odd jobs as a carpenter,” McNeill writes, describes himself as a “militant green,” and says that his top priority is to “kill” the Meadowcreek Parkway. He also says that he’s “concerned about the curriculum of the university” and he’d “like to see homework abolished forever” in the local school system.
Given that Republicans have ceded these seats to Democrats, independent competition like this is inevitable.
Here’s Democrats’ day-of reminder that the primary is being held today. You’ll be choosing between Sen. Creigh Deeds, Brian Moran, and Terry McAuliffe for governor. (By way of reminder, Sen. Deeds represents Charlottesville.) And for lieutenant governor the choices are Mike Signer and Jody Wagner. (There’s a third name on the ballot, but that candidate actually dropped out weeks ago, after the ballots were printed.) Polls are open until 7:00 PM, and you vote at the same polling place where you always vote. The Deeds fans among us can join him at The Omni this evening for what will quite probably be a victory party, starting at 7:30 PM.
Turnout is light, I suppose, but so far it’s really a lot better than most people had hoped. Albemarle is reporting 4.9% turnout of registered voters (so basically double that to get the turnout of Democrats) as of 1:00 PM, and I though we’d be lucky to get that for the whole of the day.
- Sen. Creigh Deeds and family stand on stage at The Omni after he accepted the Democratic nomination for governor.
10:35pm Update: Sen. Creigh Deeds has won the Democratic gubernatorial nomination by a very strong majority, garnering twice as many votes as his opponents. In Albemarle he got 79% of the vote, and 76% in Charlottesville. Jody Wagner won the lieutenant governor nomination handily, defeating Mike Signer with 74% of the vote statewide, with 55% of the vote in Albemarle and 66% in Charlottesville. Sen. Deeds will go on to face Republican Bob McDonnell in November’s election, while Wagner will face incumbent Republican Bill Bolling.
The Downtown Mall has WiFi now, Rachana Dixit reminds us in the Daily Progress today, and people are digging it. As a part of the completed overhaul of the Mall, the city is spending $29k/year to blanket the area with free high-speed wireless. The same thing has been done in cities across the country in order to encourage tourists to linger and businesses to locate in the vicinity. I’ve used it just once so far, on my iPhone—you’ve got to click through a license agreement in your browser to get started, but from there it was just like at home, only faster.
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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