Student Found Dead

Published by Waldo Jaquith on November 21, 2005 in Crime and UVa. 1 Comment

Twenty-year-old UVa student Michelle Elizabeth Collier was found dead in her apartment on Friday afternoon, but, beyond that, nothing is particularly clear. Her cause of death is unknown, the results of an autopsy won’t be released for weeks, and the inspection is apparently being conducted by officials other than local police. WCAV reporter Venton Blandin spotted “unknown officials” removing bags of items from Collier’s apartment and loading them into an SUV registered in New York.

The last high-profile death of a UVa student was the April 2001 murder of Alison Meloy.

New Pantops Development Approved

Published by Waldo Jaquith on November 20, 2005 in Development and Law and Justice. 5 Comments

Last year, the Albemarle County Planning Commission voted unanimously to deny a permit to Richard Spurzem to build a new development on Pantops. On Friday, the county and Spurzem wrangled out an agreement in court, and “Gazebo Plaza” will go forward, at the intersection of 64 and 250. David Hendrick had the story in Saturday’s Daily Progress.

The total lack of planning on Pantops is astounding. Traffic can get pretty backed up at the intersection of the two highways there — it’s crazy to install a shopping center at that spot. Development along 250 East has been going nuts, particularly since Martha Jefferson began their move there. Will 250 East become the new 29 North, now that 29 is all but overrun?

Hook’s Covers that Might Have Been

Published by Waldo Jaquith on November 18, 2005 in Meta News and Politics. 2 Comments

Hook CoverIn their first issue about last week’s elections, The Hook has provided a clever cover this week. Instead of having their usual one featured story, there are four potential covers pictured: one featuring Governor Elect Tim Kaine, one featuring Supervisor Elect David Slutzky, one featuring the elected school board, and one featuring Sen. Creigh Deeds. It had never really crossed my mind that they have to settle on one their one cover story will be, or that they might mock up multiple candidates each time. This approach provides a great look both at how the media can shape the news and how they do what they do.

AHS Principal Podcast

Published by Waldo Jaquith on November 17, 2005 in Education. Closed

Brian Wheeler points out that Albemarle High School principal Matt Hass has established a podcast. It’s not clear to me if this will be a series, or just a one-off MP3 posting, but making the “state of the school” address available for download has got to be useful for the parents of AHS students.

VPTC Blogging Panel

Published by Waldo Jaquith on November 16, 2005 in Business. 7 Comments

I’ll be speaking at a Virginia Piedmont Technology Council panel on Thursday (tomorrow). The 90-minute lunch, “‘Casting for Customers,” is all about blogging and business. Sean Tubbs, Edward Cossette, Michael Prichard and I will talk about how businesses can embrace blogs, take part in the Charlottesville blogging community, and use it for the betterment of their business and of the blogosphere. (I wrote a little about this topic last month.)

The event runs from 11:30am – 1:00pm, is held at the Omni, and costs $30 for VPTC members and $40 for non-members. I encourage you to attend.

Sideblog