Albemarle County has settled Gerry Mitchell’s lawsuit against them, the Progress reports. He filed suit two years ago after a 2007 incident in which he was struck by a county police officer’s patrol vehicle while crossing the street in his wheelchair, leaving him hospitalized and with permanent injuries. The value of the settlement is not public. Officer Gregory Davis, who was driving the cruiser, remains on the police force.
News and meta-news about Charlottesville, VA, since 2001.
Author Archive for Waldo Jaquith
Page 44 of 549
Erstwhile City Council candidate James Halfaday has been jailed on four counts of election fraud, according to a press release from the Commonwealth Attorney’s office:
The charges allege Mr. Halfaday used a false address when he certified his candidacy for City Council with the General Registrar for the City of Charlottesville.
While the investigation has revealed that Mr. Halfaday is not now nor was he ever an owner of Snap Fitness, Mr. Halfaday has not been charged with an offense related to this false statement at this time. The form filed by Mr. Halfaday did not contain certain language required by the Code of Virginia. As a result, election fraud charges concerning Mr. Halfaday’s statement of economic interest are unlikely.
It’s such an irony that Halfaday apparently so bungled his statement of economic interest that he may have accidentally prevented himself from being charged for lying within it. According to the Progress, the economic interest form failed to have the legally required warning that candidates aren’t allowed to lie.
None of this news is any surprise, of course: questions have been raised about Halfaday’s candidacy since shortly after he came in last place in the race for the Democratic nomination for City Council in August.
5:45pm Update: Lisa Provence has detailed coverage in The Hook. Halfaday was released from jail this afternoon, and is due in court tomorrow.
In 1994—the year that Fellini’s shut down—I was sixteen years old. That was the summer that I started to spend all of my waking hours downtown, and I knew Fellini’s only as something legendary that I’d just missed taking part in. The restaurant’s reputation for debauchery and its position as a hub of the downtown social scene were and remain legendary, but it’s remained in the realm of oral tradition until recently. Over the past two weeks, C-Ville Weekly has published a two-part series of J. Tobias Beard, “The (Mostly) True Story of Fellini’s” and Here’s Looking at You, Chief.” I found these to be fascinating reads, and learned both that Fellini’s was far more interesting than I’d ever known and that, if I had been able to hang out there, my parents probably should have been investigated by social services. I’m tempted to summarize the story here, to pique your interest, but I couldn’t possibly. It’s got sex, drugs, murder, crime, and a whole lot more, and concludes with Beard tracking down Chief Gordon in L.A.
This is the sort of story that, I’ve found, is a sort of a litmus test. One group of people will find this terribly exciting, and another will find it exhausting and self-indulgent. Chalk me up as an enthusiastic member of the former.
Occupy Charlottesville has asked City Council’s permission to protest 24/7 in Lee Park, Ted Strong reports for the Daily Progress. Occupy X groups have been popping up across the country in the past couple of weeks, beginning with Occupy Wall Street, with left-leaning protesters staging live-ins in public opposition to economic inequality and corporate power over government, especially since the September 2008 economic collapse. Lee Park has a 11 PM curfew, which prevents the protesters from remaining there around the clock, as is the norm for the Occupy protests. Occupy Charlottesville has been protesting in Lee Park since Saturday, but has asked permission to carry on non-stop, for a month. Given that Council doesn’t permit homeless people to remain there overnight, Councilor Holly Edwards said that she felt uncomfortable with the idea of allowing protesters, while Councilor David Brown expressed concern about the precedent that permission could set.
10/18 Update: Council agreed to give the group a permit to remain in the park through Friday night. It’s up to parks director Brian Daly to decide if they can stay longer.
In the latest New Yorker, surgeon Atul Gawande has a story about personal coaches that focuses on innovation in teaching within the Albemarle County Public Schools. (If you’re familiar with Gawande’s writing, it would be for his important 2009 article, “The Cost Conundrum,” which demonstrated that communities that rethink radically how they handle public health can substantially decrease health care costs.) In his new piece, “Personal Best,” Gawande explores the notion that coaches don’t just have to be for athletes and singers, but that perhaps all of could benefit from coaches. He visits Walton Middle School and spends time in the classroom of math teacher Jennie Critzer, who is one of the county teachers who benefits from the services of two dozen coaches. These coaches pair up with teachers, observe them in the classroom, and help them understand how they can be more effective.
A representative sample of the article opens with Critzer providing some observations on her classes to a pair of coaches:
“My second class has thirty kids but was more forthcoming. It was actually easier to teach than the first class. This group is less verbal.” Her answer gave the coaches the opening they wanted. They mentioned the trouble students had with their math conversations, and the girl-boy pair who didn’t talk at all. “How could you help them be more verbal?”
Critzer was stumped. Everyone was. The table fell silent. Then Harding had an idea. “How about putting key math words on the board for them to use—like ‘factoring,’ ‘perfect square,’ ‘radical’?” she said. “They could even record the math words they used in their discussion.” Critzer liked the suggestion. It was something to try.
For half an hour, they worked through the fine points of the observation and formulated plans for what she could practice next. Critzer sat at a short end of the table chatting, the coaches at the long end beside her, Harding leaning toward her on an elbow, Hobson fingering his beard. They looked like three colleagues on a lunch break—which, Knight later explained, was part of what made the two coaches effective.
Not all teachers are thrilled with coaching, no doubt because it’s exposing. Few teachers have peers sitting in their classes for hours at a time, noting every detail of their work style, and then critiquing them extensively. It’s stressful and potentially embarrassing. All teachers are required to be coached through their first two years in county school systems, but any teacher can choose to be coached, as Critzer did. She reports that she’s very happy with the coaching, saying that she used to feel isolated and burnt out, but that now she feels less stressed, more satisfied with her work, and that she’s just a better teacher.
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 #
-
Archive for Sideblog »
Recent Comments