City and county police are automatically running checks on every license plate that they see, Ted Strong writes in the Daily Progress. Each department has a single camera rig that’s attached to a police car—it detects the numbers on each and every license plate that’s within the cameras’ range and checks to see if it’s in their database of wanted vehicles. The city started using the system this summer, the county earlier this month. An electronic log of every license plate spotted by the system is retained—the city keeps the data for three months, the county for two. The system doesn’t scan for plates with expired inspections or registrations, for lack of a database to interface with.
News and meta-news about Charlottesville, VA, since 2001.
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There are three finalists for city manager, Rachana Dixit writes in today’s Daily Progress: acting city manager Maurice Jones; Richard Brown, city manager of East Providence, RI; and Paula Hertwig Hopkins, the assistant city manager of of Columbia, MO. One of the three has been offered the job, but the city isn’t saying who. Dixit called all three: Jones and Hopkins say that they haven’t heard anything, while Brown wouldn’t talk. So, apparently, Richard Brown is the city’s top pick.
On his LinkedIn profile, Brown says that he’s held his current position since 2006 and that, previously, he spent fourteen years as manager of New London, CT and eight as manager of Petersburg, VA. He got his BA from UVA in 1974. A Rhode Island publication points out that this is the second job Brown has been a finalist for in the past year; the last time around it was for Plymouth, RI.
The Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport isn’t interested in seeing you naked or fondling you, Brandon Shulleeta writes in the Progress. They don’t have the full-body scanning devices that permit TSA agents to see you naked—just a standard metal detector. If the metal detectors gets to beeping, and after a few tries it keeps going off, they’ll perform a pat-down search, but it’s a reasonable one, not one that’s liable to bring about a panic attack in a survivor of sexual assault. CHO hasn’t been told by the TSA that they’re going to have to install the strip-search technology, and the airport’s director points out that it’d be tough to fit the equipment into the small airport, anyhow.
So I’m still willing to fly out of CHO—the trick is finding a similar airport to fly back from, one where they’re not going to molest me. Easier? Drive or take Amtrak.
Former mayor Frank Buck has charged with choking a legal client while in court, Courteney Stuart writes for The Hook. The attorney was arrested last week and charged with assault, in response to a complaint by his (presumably now-former) client, Milton Leo John. John says that he was complaining that Buck hadn’t done an adequate job representing him when Buck suddenly grabbed him around the neck and squeezed. Buck admits that he lost his temper in the face of unreasonable requests from his client, and that he put his hands on John’s neck, but that he stopped there, realizing that he was making a big mistake. Although the judge and bailiff had left the room, a surveillance camera was running, which will presumably settle any question as to what actually transpired. There’s a court hearing in the matter tomorrow.
Frank Buck was mayor from 1980–1988, and has long been a practicing attorney—his partner in his practice is Del. David Toscano.
Disclaimer: Frank Buck served as my attorney in a personal injury case a decade ago.
By a one-vote margin, City Council has signed off on the Meadowcreek Parkway, Rachana Dixit reports for the Progress. Although specifically they’ve just OKd a relatively small thing—allowing the city manager to sign a draft memorandum of agreement—that basically allows the whole road to happen, since that MoA is required to get a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers, which is required for the state to award the bid for construction. That said,, Council had already given the city manager the go-ahead on signing that agreement, back in 2006…they just wanted to do it again. Mayor Dave Norris and Holly Edwards were the two dissenting votes.
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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