Monthly Archive for August, 2013

UVA Dropping Spouses from Health Insurance

Published by Waldo Jaquith on August 22, 2013 in UVa. 23 Comments Tags: .

The University of Virginia will no longer offer health insurance to spouses of employees who can otherwise get coverage through their employer, Derek Quizon reports for the Daily Progress. Citing rising healthcare costs, the university will only continue to offer coverage to spouses who don’t have a job that provides them with insurance that meets a minimum federal standard. The planned change sparked angry discussion in offices, break rooms, and mailing lists across the university today.

Other changes are coming, too, as documented on the university’s website about the benefits changes. Premiums are going up by $480/year unless employees submit to a medical screening, with required tests including weight, height, BMI, and a series of blood screenings. They’re also dropping dental coverage, although they’ll allow employees to buy it back. (08/24 Update: Ricky Patterson points out that dental coverage isn’t being dropped, per se—it’s being broken out as its own thing, and everybody will get a basic plan, capped at $1,000/year in benefits, unless they pay more for an enhanced plan.) The changes take effect on January 1.

Brand-New CHS Principal Resigns

Published by Waldo Jaquith on August 16, 2013 in Education. 2 Comments

Charlottesville High School principal Aaron Bissonnette resigned yesterday after just ten weeks on the job, The Daily Progress reports. He e-mailed school staff yesterday, informing them that he’d be leaving at the end of the day. Bissonnette cited unspecified personal reasons for his abrupt departure. Assistant Principal Jill Dahl is going to serve as interim principal. Students return on Wednesday.

Treasurer Stole $73k from Hollymead HOA

Published by Waldo Jaquith on August 14, 2013 in Crime. 2 Comments

The treasurer of the Hollymead homeowners’ association stole north of $73,000 from them between 2008 and 2012, J. Reynolds Hutchins reports in the Daily Progress. Patricia Anne Cuthbert—not actually a resident of the neighborhood—turned herself into the Hollymead Citizens Association, claiming to have stolen $22,000, and paid back $25,000. An audit this summer revealed that she’d actually taken great deal more, which is presumably what caused them to notify the police, leading to Cuthbert’s arrest. The HOA asked neighborhood residents to keep quiet about it, and the organization has refused to comment to the media, but one resident has gone public.

If this seems familiar, you’re thinking of when the president of Glenmore Country Club went missing, turned out to be dodging an audit of their finances, was turned in by his wife a month later, and wound up being sentenced to a year and a half in prison. The Hollymead situation is, happily, a great deal less colorful.

Dittmar Running for Scottsville BOS Seat

Published by Waldo Jaquith on August 11, 2013 in Government and Politics. Closed

Jane Dittmar is Democrats’ candidate for the Scottsville Board of Supervisors seat, Claudia Elzey reports for Charlottesville Tomorrow. The former Chamber of Commerce president runs a mediation firm, has lived in the district for 15 years, and in Albemarle for 35 years. In her announcement, she named tourism, agribusiness, and employment in Scottsville as issues that she’s interested in addressing. Lisa Provence points out in The Hook that both Dittmar and Republican opponent Cindi Burket live in Glenmore, meaning that the next Scottsville District supervisor will come from the far northern edge of the district. This marks a change for a district that has long been represented by people who live in the town of Scottsville. The election is November 5th.

Earlysville Polluted by Manufacturing Plant

Published by Waldo Jaquith on August 6, 2013 in Business and General News. 3 Comments

The Environmental Protection Agency is studying four pollutants that have leached into the soil near the airport in Earlysville, J Reynolds Hutchins writes in the Daily Progress. The Avionics Specialties plant is the source of the trouble, though the EPA has found that the toxins (including a carcinogen) are the fault of Teledyne, who ran an aerospace-related plant on the site from 1954–1992. Teledyne has refused to take responsibility, but the EPA is going to force them to. There are months of study ahead for the EPA, sure to be followed by years of cleanup.

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