Ex-coach pleads guilty for kiddie porn

A former Albemarle High School JV girls’ soccer coach entered a plea agreement with federal prosecutors February 1 on counts of child pornography, attempting to obtain child pornography, and coercing minors into sexual acts over the Internet. Raja Charles Jabbour’s agreement says he will serve nine years in prison, then be deported from the country, […]

Are game wardens real cops?

After a 16-year-old was killed by a Greene County game warden during a traffic stop gone bad on January 24, the question has been raised as to why the warden was there in the first place. Shouldn’t game wardens be off busting sketchy hunters or educating people about inland fish? Are they really trained just […]

Sustainability report gives UVA a D+

The Sustainable Endowments Institute (www.endowmentinstitute.org), a young nonprofit based in Massachusetts, has issued a “sustainability” report card for the 100 North American colleges and universities

Darden explores poverty’s dilemmas

Veronica Brooks left the Darden School of Business (www.darden.edu) on January 31 more than a little miffed. After listening to back-and-forth discussion at the school’s first-ever Symposium on Poverty—featuring experts in fields such as public policy, education and outreach—Brooks shook her head in dismay. “I’m just really surprised there isn’t more awareness about these things,” […]

Places we love

Andrew Wyeth, the American painter, was said to have preferred winter, when a lack of annoyingly bright leaves allowed one to see the “bones of the landscape.” Clearly Wyeth never had to sludge from 14th Street to Newcomb Hall with a 30-pound backpack in 19-degree weather. Charlottesville does not wear winter well.But amidst the dreary […]

Once again, admissions time

People in Peabody Hall are drowning in papers: It’s February, deadlines for UVA’s undergraduate admissions (www.uva.edu) have passed, and it’s time for staff at the admissions office to get down to business with the mountains of forms and essays. According to admissions Dean John A. Blackburn, his staff is reading applications “about every night and […]

Buford class gets college grant

“When somebody says you can’t write, what are you going to tell ‘em?” shouted Alvin Edwards, City School Board (www.ccs.k12.va.us) chair. “I can!” yelled back the seventh grade of Buford Middle School. Such was the call and response at Alumni Hall on January 31, part of the official kickoff of what will be a five-and-half-year […]

MACAA dismisses exec director

After a year with Phillip E. Dukes at the helm of the Monticello Area Community Action Agency (MACAA) (www.avenue.org/macaa), the Board of Directors has decided to cut ties. “MACAA needs to move in a different direction and that will require new leadership,” said Robert Smith, president of the Board of Directors. MACAA is a nonprofit […]

State GOP chair tackles party woes

As the chairman of the Republican National Committee, Edward W. Gillespie was at the helm of the party in its glory days, when the Republicans trounced the opposition in 2004 and retained both the presidency and Congress.