Landmark Communications came a step closer to breaking up all its assets with the announcement today of a deal to sell the Weather Channel to NBC Universal and two private equity firms. The New York Times is reporting that the deal was valued at $3.5 billion
Left-leaning blogger, George Allen nemesis and UVA law student Mike Stark makes it into The New York Times today for his online activities connected to Barack Obama. Seizing on the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate’s major success with online networking, Stark suggested that a group form on the candidate’s online portal to lobby him to vote against giving legal immunity to telecommunications companies
So says the Boston Phoenix, an alt-weekly that chose to celebrate the nation’s most cacophonous holiday by selecting the best all-time band, solo artist and new artist in each of the 50 states.
Three thousand were in attendance. Six of those were escorted from the premises. Seventy-two left of their own free will as newly minted United States citizens. Despite the promise of angry protests against the presence of President George W. Bush who had choppered in from D.C. to tour the house and address the new Americans, the 46th annual Independence Day Celebration and Naturalization Ceremony at Monticello went off smoothly.
The man many liberals love to hate, legendary activist and seemingly perennial Democratic presidential nominee spoiler, Ralph Nader, is holding a rally at the Gravity Lounge
NBC 29.com is reporting that Damon Watson is now facing a felony embezzlement charge and a felony credit card fraud charge in Albemarle County, to go with the three felony embezzlement charges he has already racked up in the city of Charlottesville. 26-year-old Watson is accused of embezzling between $10,000 and $20,000 from the Sexual Assault Resource Agency.
In a daring kiss-off to ideas like “current events” and “cultural relevance,” The Hook announced in a June 20 blog post that former local and Love is a Mixtape author Rob Sheffield left Rolling Stone magazine for a position as a columnist at Maxim’s Blender music magazine. The announcement comes roughly two and a half months after the New York Post announced the same damned thing.
One of the larger employers in town, the local office of legal publishing company LexisNexis, has laid off 18 employees, according to a Richmond Times-Dispatch article published today. The first wave of cuts saw 11 local jobs axed in May following an April announcement that nearly 300 positions across the country would be outsourced. Another seven jobs in the Charlottesville office were eliminated last week; those cuts were due to restructuring.
As part of its “Campaign for the Arts” promotion to improve the study of the arts, the University of Virginia launched a new website today.
The city of Richmond is gradually staking its claim on Ed Ayers. The former UVA dean of Arts and Sciences has just finished his first year as president of the University of Richmond, and Style Weekly put Ayers on its cover this week, generally calling his start a success.