Correction appended
Tuesday, January 23
Bad news for Dominion Power
 Dominion Virginia Power may have to take a rain check on new nuke plants at Lake Anna—the Nuclear Regulatory Commission can’t do much without a detailed congressional budget. |
Congress’ failure to pass a detailed budget could mean shelving new nuclear energy projects, The New York Times reports. The senior member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission warned yesterday that a lack of funding for the commission could lead to delays in applications to build new nuclear reactors. This affects our own Dominion Virginia Power, which wants to add two reactors at the North Anna Power plant in Louisa County. While the budget stymie puts a damper on the 2005 energy bill intended to increase reliance on nuclear power, we’d hate to see a nuclear renaissance without enough money to regulate it.
Wednesday, January 24
Environmentalists on State of the Union
At least one person cared about President Bush’s “distract-them-with-environment-talk” Iraq-avoidance strategy in last night’s State of the Union speech. Cale Jaffe, an attorney with the Charlottesville-based Southern Environmental Law Center, released a statement today: “To combat the serious issue of global warming, President Bush has called on the nation to change the way we generate electricity.” Jaffe reminds us, though, that a good ol’ fashioned polluting coal plant is about to be built by Dominion Virginia Power in Southwest Virginia and is urging State lawmakers to oppose it. Not meeting Bush’s standards for environmentalism would be condemning indeed.
Thursday, January 25
Harding heads to Richmond
 Charlottesville Police Captain J.E. "Chip" Harding convinced the General Assembly’s House Courts of Justice committee that we need to collect more felon data—not that the tough-on-crime crowd is a hard sell. |
The House Courts of Justice Committee in the General Assembly unanimously endorsed a bill that would require felons who were accidentally left out of the State DNA databank to get swabbed, The Daily Progress reports. Albemarle Delegate Rob Bell and other committee members heard from Charlottesville Police Captain J. E. “Chip” Harding, who discovered about 20 percent of offenders in the Charlottesville-Albemarle region were left out of the database. State officials estimate 20 percent of DNA from felons statewide is also missing. There are currently 60,000 felons on parole, probation or supervision; the bill—HB3034—would authorize police to retrieve missing data.
Friday, January 26
Game warden kills teen
A Greene County teenager was shot dead by a Virginia Game and Inland fisheries game warden Wednesday evening, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports. Police apprehended 16-year-old Allen Cochran, suspected of kidnapping his girlfriend. Officers believed Cochran was armed when they stopped his car near Stanardsville. After Cochran rammed him with his car, the warden fired shots and killed Cochran. As to why the officer was helping police with an incident that involved neither game nor inland fish, a press release from the department says, “It is not unusual for game wardens to assist local law enforcement.” He has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.
Saturday, January 27
Chill out on growth
A study released this week by the Weldon Cooper Center at UVA found that statewide growth is slowing slightly. “Last year Virginia gained 78,500 population, significantly lower than the average of 92,000 of previous years,” the study reads. Do locals still have reason to freak out about endless housing developments? Maybe. While we’re not Loudoun (the fastest growing) County, Albemarle County had growth of 6,620 people, or about 8 percent last year. A large portion of that is from new people moving into town. Welcome to our little metropolis!
Sunday, January 28
Buzzers ready!
Champions were made today when a team from public Monticello High School beat out preppy Woodberry Forest School in the 25th annual championship “Pop Quiz” tournament. The final showdown was broadcast on WVPT, Virginia public television, which sponsors the tournament for schools within its viewing area. Teens answer questions in categories like Fine Arts/Literature, History/Geography, Math/Science and Current Events. The winners got $900 in scholarships and gold medals; runners-up got silver medals and $600; all walked away knowing volumes of handy facts.
Monday, January 29
Never enough Barber
 NY Giants running back and former UVA star Tiki Barber is seeing "fame beyond the gridiron," in The New Yorker this week, which helps the cause by stripping him of his uniform in the accompanying photo. |
More from Tiki Barber, New York Giants running back and former Cavalier, on what it’s like to get beat up on the field and what he’ll do when it’s over. The New Yorker’s Ben McGrath visits Barber on his day off and talks knee surgeries and what it feels like to get side-sacked as a relatively small 5’9", 205-pound athlete. “You’ll get up and you’ll say, ‘God, I feel like my ribs are broken.’” Though Barber is supposedly letting ’em down with an early retirement, he’s ready to give up the “church of football” and move on to less jockish endeavors, like the news. Barber (with his mostly intact knees) is in apprenticeship on “Fox & Friends” and is serious about a journalism career. “Tiki reads the Drudge Report, refers to haute chefs by their first names, and has acted in a couple of Off Broadway plays,” writes McGrath. Could we possibly love him any more?
Correction February 12, 2007:
Also in that issue, 7 Days ["Chill out on growth," Saturday, January 27 ] misstated Albemarle County’s population growth as 8 percent last year. In fact, the growth was 8 percent from 2000 to 2006.
