The never-ending parade of area power plant proposals marches onward. Entergy Wholesale Operations of New Orleans has filed an application with Louisa to build a 1,000-megawatt gas-burning power plant in the county. This is in addition to the four plants already approved in Buckingham, Fluvanna and Louisa. Says Lee Lintecum, Louisa’s county administrator, of the proposal, “We have not found anything negative about it.” Austin Graham has the story in today’s Progress.
cvillenews.com
News and meta-news about Charlottesville, VA, since 2001.
43-year-old Kroger security guard Phyllis Lamb accidentally shot an employee last night. Lamb, who works at the Barracks Road Kroger, approached three employees and offered to show them a .45 round. After removing a bullet from the chamber, she attempted to put the safety on, but accidentally fired the gun. 34-year-old employee Robert Miller was shot in the hand, and was treated at the UVa hospital for severe damage to his pinky and his right thumb. WINA has the story.
The University of Virginia has sold their HMO, QualChoice of Virginia to Coventry Health Care in Bethesda, MD for $12.5M. Coventry provides coverage in Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Lousiana, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. UVa’s CEO Leonard Sandridge told WINA that running QualChoice had become a distraction. A condition of the sale is that Coventry Health Care will have a five-year contract with UVa. Hopefully, this won’t result in UVa being in a similar situation in 2006 to Stanford’s current situation.
Jackson Landers has provided another satire piece, this one lampooning the v-chip and the television industry.
“In a seven page open letter to the Virginia House of Delegates, Parents for Safe Children proposed new, mandatory standards for the manufacture of new televisions that would include an ‘off’ switch on the front of the device. The idea is quickly gaining support on both sides of the aisle.”
However, the proposal will have many staunch opponents to overcome before it becomes law. The ACLU has wasted no time scrambling to lobby against the proposal.
“This is just the type of thing we have a constitution in place to protect,” said Willis Carroll, attorney for the ACLU. “The government has no right to tell the people what they can or cannot freely say, or for that matter, tell them whether or not they can stop listening to what the TV has to say. We may not like everything that the television says, but we have to respect its right to say it.”
Manufacturers are equally opposed to the measure, citing reasons similar to those of the ACLU. Frank Minter, CEO of Zenith Technology Group, explained his industry’s position to cvillenews.com.
“Look, if we go ahead with something like this it’s going to add at least $1.23 to the cost of each television. That’s a burden that the consumer is ultimately going to have to absorb, whether they want the censorship button on there or not.“We also have to ask ourselves where all this is going. First it’s an ‘off’ switch. Next, you’re going to hear people talking about removing televisions from their homes altogether. They’ll start reading newspapers, listening to the radio and surfing the Internet. Maybe even engaging in conversation with one another. It’s a slippery slope, my friend. A slippery slope.”
This is in the satire category because it’s almost unreal. Orange County supervisors have just spent $15,000 to get themselves outfitted with laptops. They come with, according to the Progress, “dial-up modems and a CD-ROM.” They hope that the laptops will streamline things. Currently they have to be physically given packets of paper prior to each meeting. Now, in a huge leap for efficiency, they’ll be physically given floppy disks. Says the board chairman Roderic Slayton, “Initially there’s some expense, but I think that in the long haul it’s going to save the county money.” The article goes on to say that Supervisor Sonny Dodson has been using his new $1,800 laptop to play solitaire, while Supervisor Grover Wilson became quite frustated with his. Albemarle County spokeswoman Lee Catlin, quick to play catch-up, says that Albemarle is looking to move to an electronic medium, too. One hopes they’ll avoid the teletype.
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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