The FBI is now part of the investigative team into last week’s attack on student government president candidate Daisy Lundy. The attack, because Lundy says that her assailant was white and threatened her on the basis of her race, has been classified as a hate crime under federal law. The story was in Saturday’s Washington Post.
Archive for March, 2003
As the first step in setting the ‘03-’04 budget, City Manager Gary O’Connell has presented his $93MM budget proposal, which includes several fee increases. In specific, vehicle decals would increase by $8.50, trash stickers would double in price (to $2 for a full-sized bag) and the meals tax would increase by $0.01 per dollar. On the other end of things, each city department cut their budget by 5%, resulting in a bunch of small money-saving ideas such as cutting the grass less and not putting postage on parking ticket envelopes. Elizabeth Nelson has the story in today’s Progress. This is just the first step in the multi-month budget process. Any comments can be posted on the budget forum, sent to Clerk of Council Jeanne Cox, or, of course, posted here…but there’s no guarantee that they’ll do any good here. :)
Ntelos has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, various business news outlets are reporting. The company seeks to continue operations, and does not think that they’ll be affected by the filing. Ntelos has been in financial trouble for some time, so this filing should come as no great surprise to observers.
It looks as if the free ride with Fridays After 5 may be coming to an end. For fifteen years, acts of local, regional, and national note have performed for crowds of thousands on the east end of the Downtown Mall without cost, supported by sales of alcohol and sponsorships. Citing declining sponsorship dollars, Charlottesville Downtown Foundation is considering instituting an admission fee of $3-$5. In addition, they may end up banning outside food and drink, so that vendors at the event can have a monopoly on sales and, presumably, the amount that they can pay CDF will increase. No decision has been made on these things yet, but it seems as if the organization’s hands are tied. Lisa Provence has the story in this week’s Hook.
Albemarle First Bank has lost somewhere in the vicinity of $2.4MM in a scam known as “check kiting.” It involves a chain of checks between banks, the final one in the chain being left holding the bag when it comes time to produce the money. Albemarle First does not think that they’ll be able to recover the money. Consequently, the bank will now has a first-quarter loss of $1.94. In heavy trading, their stock dropped 28% on the news. Dow Jones has the story.
WVIR (NBC 29) has a fancy new website. Of relevance here, they’re back to providing local news, although it looks like they’re not archiving it at all, but presumably overwriting it every day. Not linkable, unfortunately, but certainly worth reading. Remember not to go to WVIR.com, boys and girls, because that’s a porn site.
The (now-former) CEO of moulding-manufacturer Ivy Industries, John Reid, has confessed to stealing $2.4MM from Albemarle First Bank. Reid says that he set up the check-kiting scheme between Albemarle First and SunTrust in an effort to keep his business afloat. He was caught when he tried to tie a new bank, Southern Financial, into the scheme. Ivy Industries laid off 40 of their 50 employees last Friday. Monday, Albemarle First filed a $10MM suit against Reid and four of the organizations’ officers. David Dadurka has the story in today’s Progress. 4:09pm Update: Also, see The Hook’s story for a whole mess more information.
Cecil writes: Several student groups at UVA are coordinating to plan a walk-out from classes at 2:00 today, to protest the U.S. attacks on Iraq. See the Cav Daily story for more.
In addition, a rally on the Downtown Mall is planned for noon, and a protest on the corner of Ridge/McIntire and West Main at 4pm. Lousy day for protesting. If anybody wants to write about their experiences with these protests, this’d be the place to do it.
Trusty field reporter Cory Capron tells us (well, not “us,” but “me”…and there aren’t any cvillenews.com reporters, either, as long as I’m confessing, just my girlfriend’s brother, who just called me) that anti-war protesters have completely blocked the Ridge-McIntire/West Main Street intersection, at the Lewis and Clark statue. Motor traffic has come to a standstill, with angry motorists getting out of their cars in the rain. police attempting to control the situation, and ambulances arriving at the scene, indicating that fighting has probably started. 03/21 Update: Be sure to read the comments for a better description of what happened.
As UVa has grown, and the student body has sprawled across the city, housing has become an increasingly crowded affair. Rambling old houses have been set up to serve as home to a half dozen different students, and that’s putting stress on some of those once-quiet neighborhoods. Charlottesville’s new zoning ordinance aims to change that — it will put a cap of three on the number of unrelated adults that can live in one house in neighborhoods around UVa. So what makes three the magic number? Lisa Provence has an extensive story in this week’s Hook.
BetterLife writes: I was driving down 29 on Saturday and once again saw those people with orange vests standing on the median strip with 5 gallon buckets soliciting money. They display no signs that explain their charity. I was wondering whether these are the “Will work for food” people who have gone into a more aggressive approach to get cash. I understood after 9/11 when the fire/rescue people were doing it, but to have people doing it regularly should be against the law if it isn’t already. Does anyone know anything about this or whether there is a law preventing it?
BetterLife writes: “I observed our local public school students participating in an Anti-War march downtown. These students were obvioulsy exercising their right to free speech, but chose to also shout profanities concerning the war. I respect their right to express themselves but have to wonder: 1. Who approved this march? 2. Did it require parental permission for a child to miss school for this function? 3. What happened to the children that chose not to participate in the function? I am considering scheduling a Pro-War march next monday. Will the students be able to march in this? If not, why? With all the school missed this year because of inclement weather, are our children getting the education they should be getting?”
03/25 Update: Braxton Williams reports in the Daily Progress that the 200 students will receive detention or suspension for their unexcused absence.
Former Detective K.W. Robinson, who has been twice fired from the Abemarle County Police Department for beating suspects, wants his job back. Robinson was first fired 11 years ago for kicking a man in the face while arresting him, but had his job reinstated by an appeals board. Then, in August of 2001, he was caught on video tape beating severely (requiring in a broken rib) 21-year-old Corey Faison while Faison was being interrogated. Robinson was convicted of assault in August and fired in September. Then, on Friday, the charges against him were dismissed by substitute Judge James Kulp, who ruled that the attack on Faison was merely “an unlawful touching.” Now, Robinson wants his job back, complaining that “[his] name has been slandered,”and says that he thinks “about those hugs and those letters from those children [he] helped,” and wonders what they think of him now. Liesel Nowack has the story in today’s Daily Progress.
It appears as if the Ivy Road parking garage fight is over — with UVa winning, of course. The university will be paying $1.2MM for area traffic improvements that, when combined with the effects of the parking garage, should provide neither benefit nor drawback when compared to the existing traffic situation at the Ivy and Emmet intersection. Construction should be completed by September. Kate Andrews has the story in today’s Progress.
WINA is reporting on-air this morning that there’s a stand-off in progress in Greene County, at the Lowest Price Gas Station in Midway, along Route 33, near Route 29. The man in question is one George Minor, who was chased there by a police officer around 7am this morning. He reportedly killed his girlfriend Monday, his girlfriend’s mother last night, is now holding hostages and apparently making demands. The police presence is escalating, with armored cars and a helicopter now having been brought to the scene. A nearby elementary school has been evacuated, and traffic is no longer permitted to pass on 33. One hostage has been released thus far — a young girl, about a half hour after the stand off started, who bore a note on Minor’s behalf. 11:13am Update: The AP has a story now. They report that Minor is from Culpeper, he’s 38 years old, and confirms that he killed girlfriend Latisha Bolden on Monday. The report makes no mention of Bolden’s mother, and is unclear as to whether there are currently one or two hostages. 2:47pm Update: It’s all over. Just after 1pm, Minor was taken away in an ambulance, a couple of hours after a gunshot was heard — details are pretty unclear from there. The Daily Progress has the story.
Cecil writes: Driving north on 29 this morning (8:45 a.m.) past the shopping center with Giant and Maharajah in it, I noticed on the other side of the street, in front of that large business complex (is it Sperry?), a knot of anti-war protesters and an even LARGER knot of police cruisers and other police vehicles. Anyone know more than that?
The site is two years old now, as of Friday. There were 317 stories in the past year (down from 489 in 2001-2002), with the big stories (IMHO) being war, the drought, budget shortfalls, and City Council elections. I think that the theme for the last year would be growth, since that was really the topic of a good third of the heavily-discussed stories. What I’ve long wanted cvillenews.com to be is something that it’s more or less become: a place where professional journalists, involved citizens, and the subjects of public scrutiny can all have their voices heard on even footing. But it’s time to reassess, as I think is best to do annually. Is cvillenews.com what you want it to be? It’s this mix of news about local stuff that’s worth discussing, news about stuff that big-boy news outlets don’t seem to be covering and news about local media. Is that good? Did requiring registration change things? Do we “rarely [offer] interesting insight or an enlightening point of view? Did you have any other favorite stories? Does any of this matter?
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