Apparently the Bush Administration’s much- touted law-and-order focus doesn’t extend to actually paying for anything. Like, for example, juvenile justice and delinquency prevention programs. In his latest budget request for Fiscal Year 2007, Bush proposed to cut such federal programs 43 percent, to $176 million from $308.7 million.
In case you hadn\’t noticed, C-VILLE Weekly has a new website. And yes, folks, we are very, very proud of it. I know that in the past I\’ve given other unsuspecting sites grief about their poor design or oversights in the useful information department (charlottesville.org 1.0, I\’m looking at you) when, all the while, my home team website left a lot to be desired. However, while I\’ve been known to bite the hand that feeds me on occasion, in this case I somehow managed to keep my choppers to myself.
Scottsville, 20 minutes south of Charlottesville on Route 20, is known for its small-town charm. But that doesn’t mean the development craze that has been hitting Albemarle and the surrounding counties hasn’t had any effect on this town of 600 residents. According to Mayor Steve Phipps, the biggest issue facing his town right now is traffic, specifically from the rapidly growing counties of Fluvanna and Buckingham.
Yes, Charlottesville there is a god. How do I know? I know because the City of Charlottesville finally has (drum roll, please!) a new website. I know, I know: You don\’t believe me. You\’re rubbing your eyes as if what you read could not possibly be true. Your mouth is hanging open in disbelief. You\’re rethinking long-held beliefs about the existence of Santa Claus. And yet? It\’s true, I tell you: TRUE!
Six months ago, in our “2006 Development Forecast,” C-VILLE reported not on how Charlottesville and Albemarle have already changed, but on how our home was going to change. Hours spent adding up rows and rows of numbers from the City and County’s planning offices yielded startling totals: a potential for 18,725 new residential units and 6,235,451 more square feet of commercial space on the way in the next decade or so.
The 17 students who took over UVA\’s Madison Hall for four days in April are off the hook on their trespassing charges. On Monday, May 23, Judge Robert Downer in Charlottesville General District Court dismissed the charges against all the students. He said that because UVA Chief Financial Officer Leonard Sandridge had told the students that they had five minutes to vacate the building, and yet UVA police began arresting students before that five minutes was up, that the case had to be dismissed on lack of grounds. The judge also said that the University had been sending mixed messages to the students, by agreeing to have a dialogue with them, then having them arrested.
After two weeks of testimony in federal court, a jury came back with a guilty verdict for Louis Antonio Bryant on Monday morning, May 22. The ringleader of the Charlottesville gang the Westside Crew, otherwise known as Project Crud, was found guilty of racketeering and one count of attempted murder. He faces life in prison.
The 15-year-old Albemarle County High School student found guilty of plotting with three other teens to use explosives on two area high schools has been allowed by an Albemarle County Circuit Court judge to return home to his family. Reached for comment, neither the teen\’s mother, nor his lawyer, David Bruns, would comment on why the court decided that the 15-year-old couldâor shouldâgo home, because the case remains closed to the public. The teen\’s mother did say that her son is home permanently, and that she and her husband have plans to home-school him. She says that he needs to catch up on the last quarter of 10th grade since he\’s fallen behind due to his legal woes. He will have the summer off and then, his mother says, will continue his 11th grade studies at home in the fall. She also says that, “He\’s doing great. He\’s doing very well,” and that both she and her husband are pleased with the outcome.
Reports of Dr. Iain Gainov’s death appear to have been greatly exaggerated.
It’s always nice to have at least some idea where the money is going. Or, in the case of most UVA students, where their parents’ money is going. Lately, this has proven to be the source of some concern to a group of UVA students who don’t want to see any of their families’ money invested in companies that do business in Sudan, or with the Sudanese government.