Charlottesville City Councilor and 5th district Congressional hopeful Meredith Richards has been acused of abusing the UVa messenger mail system for promotional purposes. 600 fundraiser invitations were sent to a handpicked list of UVa faculty members via the internal mail system, which UVa mail officials says is an abuse of the intra-school communications system. It appears that Richards may not have been aware of the manner in which the invitations were distributed, and it is not yet known who caused it to occur. Paul Quinlan has the story in today’s Cavalier Daily. Update: Richards’ campaign communication coordinator Dave Sagarin has posted a comment to this story explaining. It seems that the error was made unknowingly by UVa students, but Richards still accepts responsibility, and intends to make restitution, if necessary.
cvillenews.com
The Observer has launched a website, containing what looks like a tremendous percentage of each week’s stories for both the Charlottesville and Valley editions. This is actually a return to the web for The Observer, who had a great website in the mid-90s, and was the first local media outlet to put their news on-line. (And archive it!) The long-standing WINA site, the launch of The Hook website (along with the newspaper) earlier this year, followed by the relaunch of the Daily Progress website, and now The Observer site has made useful local media websites the norm rather than the exception. Congratulations to The Observer on their new site.
Seven Charlottesville High School students have been charged with assault and battery, wounding by mob, and abduction after they brutally attacked a fellow student in McIntire Park early Monday afternoon. Reportedly, the seven were skipping school when a 16-year-old male came across them in the park around 1pm. One youth attacked the victim first, with the rest following suit thereafter, kicking and punching him. One of the attackers made the victim lick his own blood off of the attackers’ boot. Another urinated on him. Interestingly, during the attack, the all-white attackers reportedly told their victim, who is also white, to claim that he was attacked by a black gang. The names of the attackers and the victim, due to their ages, have not been released. If all of this sounds familiar, recall last winter’s series of attacks on white UVa students by a group of black CHS students, although the racial aspect to those attacks made the entire case quite divisive. Reed Williams has the story in today’s Daily Progress.
Local developer Colin Rolph and California developer Lee Danielson have settled out of court over their March break-up and subsequent lawsuits. The terms of the settlement are, of course, confidential, but both Rolph and Danielson say that they’re happy with the settlement. David Dadurka has the story in today’s Daily Progress.
A small group of restaurant owners have formed a group, called “Project H2O,” to self-regulate restaurants’ water usage. Members of the coalition met on Wednesday and created a plan to cut back on water consumption, in hopes to avoid a car-wash-style shutdown being ordered by the city. The group agreed to serve only bottled water, swapping out sinks for hand sanitizer in customer bathrooms, using disposable tableware and using paper napkins, although restaurants are complying at different levels, depending on their capabilities. Restaurants represented at the meeting included Mudhouse, C&O, Fleurie, Rapture, Oxo, Mono Loco, The Ivy Inn, Wild Greens, Starr Hill, Escafe and Orbit. Elizabeth Nelson has the story in today’s Progress.
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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