Tuesday, September 7 Ballot blues for Ralph The Virginia Board of Elections today gave Ralph Nader the official thumbs down in the independent candidate’s quest to be on the state’s presidential ballot this November, ending weeks of partisan hand-wringing. Both election officials and a Washington Post review deemed that Nader’s troops broke the rules in […]
Tuesday, August 31 Pointed evidence Lawyers for Andrew Alston, a former UVA student accused of stabbing Walker Sisk to death in November, succeeded in prohibiting Alston’s juvenile criminal record from being used during cross examination in his upcoming trial, according to today’s Daily Progress. However, the court ruled that prosecutors may discuss Alton’s alleged knife-carrying […]
Tuesday, August 24 Extra cash in Richmond Virginians are making more money than State bean counters had projected, creating a $324 million budget surplus. And now Gov. Mark R. Warner, who led a successful charge in this year’s General Assembly to raise taxes, wants to give about $28 million back to taxpayers, the Richmond Times-Dispatch […]
“All I want to do is fall asleep,”says Matt (not his real name), a new Charlottesville resident. Since moving to town, Matt describes his sleep pattern as “very intermittent. I can’t seem to fall into a deep, sustained sleep.” After a restless night, when morning comes he says he feels tired and “resigned that I have […]
Tuesday, August 17 Rock against terror Terrorists will have to deal with several large rocks if they attempt to attack the Albemarle County Office Building. In a press release, Albemarle officials today explained that the newly placed boulders ringing the entrance to the building are a “temporary security measure” with the added benefit of being […]
Tuesday, August 10 DMB in hot (fetid) water? The Chicago media was agog today with stories about a weekend incident in which a Chicago River tour boat, while passing under a bridge, was doused with a nasty discharge from a bus overhead. One eyewitness claimed to spot the offender’s license plate, which allegedly belongs to […]
It’s a steamy Friday afternoon in July, and the gates are opening on one of Southside Virginia’s biggest summertime bashes, the Cantaloupe Festival, near South Boston. Cars park on the grass outside of the Halifax County Fairgrounds, just 10 miles from the North Carolina border. The entrance road to the fairgrounds is decorated like a […]
In the late 1960s, when Turner Communications was a business of billboards and radio stations and I was spending much of my energy ocean racing, a UHF-TV station came up for sale in Atlanta. It was losing $50,000 a month and its programs were viewed by fewer than 5 percent of the market. I acquired […]
Tuesday, August 3 Football follies, Tech style UVA football coach Al Groh isn’t the only Virginia gridiron general struggling with off-field discipline problems. Virginia Tech quarterback Marcus Vick, who was expected to make a run at the helm this year for Tech, was suspended for the entire season. Vick, the younger brother of NFL superstar […]
Tuesday, July 27 Cheap labor in Charlottesville State Farm Insurance today announced a reorganization that will add 200 to 300 new jobs in its Charlottesville office. The local branch, which currently employs 1,100, had been in the midst of shedding 150 positions—leaving a significant net gain. Frederick, Maryland, was the loser in State Farm’s consolidation, […]