UVA student confesses to wearing a sweater on a 90° day, only to have fox a steal it. Also, squirrels have babies. Big news week at the DP. #
News and meta-news about Charlottesville, VA, since 2001.
17 Responses to “First They Came for Our Sweaters, But I Said Nothing”
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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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Of course a fox stealing a sweater is the headline. Nothing is happening nationally or internationally. No political debates, no wars, no record federal deficit.
Nothing for liberals nor conservatives nor libertarians to read about. The DP may as well write about a fox or about squirrels.
And ye citizens of Redwall rejoiced!
My favorite quote:
was it a red sweater? Could have thought it was a relative or something
That fox is a thug. Mark my words, it’ll be an iPod or laptop next time. These things always escalate.
Yeah, nothing is happening. The Ex-pastor pleads guilty in porn case story, that’s not news at all.
Should’ve been a link in that last post. I must’ve snaffuu’d it.
Baby squirrels do sorta look like puppies, though the one at that link is a bit older and more identifiable.
Hey, don’t forget our story about the eagle.
I will look at the numbers on Monday, but I am willing to bet one of those three animal stories will have higher metrics than the harder news stories this week.
In fact, the fox story is already trending at the top of the most read stories widget.
I actually think coverage of stories related to wildlife is newsworthy. Not all the news should be about just pervert preists and murderers. Besides, bald eagles only returned to Albemarle fairly recently (15 years or so?), so stories about them are still worthwhile; however, I’d prefer far more coverage of our other local rare species, including how they may be impacted by global warming and land use policies.
I totally agree though with Voice of Realities suggestion about the zombies. Matthew, you should make a point on April 1st to slip in a story with zombies in it somewhere, just to see if anyone notices.
Dirt Worshiper,
We had a multiple zombie reference front page 2 weeks(ish)ago. Here is the PDF.
As much as I’ve mocked the DP at times, they are still responsible for my favorite story ever: the missing giant weiner, and use of the word “slathering.” (Not linked here because I don’t know how to do that fancy-style linkage.)
Newspapers using those metric tools is one of their downfalls. Short-term, stupid stories get more hits. Long-term, the newspaper looks stupid. At that point, people have no reason to prefer the newspaper to other stupid sites, since the smart stories have been buried further down and off the main page. Most of the major papers are going this direction and it is not helping the business.
I see no problem with a story warning the community of rabid animals. Haven’t people been complaining(and correctly) about the shortage of local stories in the DP? Though maybe it didnt need to go above the fold.
The Progress prefers to emphasize local stories on the front page, assuming (probably correctly) that nobody is going to buy the local paper for reprints of national stories that can be found online in multiple places for free. We could debate the newsworthiness of the klepto fox all day, but having entertaining fluff above the fold once in awhile is a welcome change from headlines about dredging, taxes, murder charges, angry town hall meetings, etc., IMHO.
A possibly rabid animal is running loose and attacking people. How does this get to be “entertaining fluff”?
the Fox is reported lurking around Lambeth Commons, right outside of the WTJU studio. I do a late night radio show, and I see that fox almost EVERY SINGLE WEEK as I leave the station at 3:30am.
It’s never acted aggressively towards me, though. One of my friends suggested “maybe it’s mad the students are back in town?” Heck, I’M mad the students are back in town. But I’ve only bitten ONE of them, and I didn’t get away with stealing the sweater.