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Wednesday, May 17 –

Hatcher stays, Dempsey moves: Bonus for Gray TV?
ABC has some of TV’s biggest hits on the air—”Desperate Housewives,” “Grey’s Anatomy”—but despite that success the network felt compelled to tinker with its lineup, according to today’s Wall Street Journal. The change, if it works to stem declining viewership for some of the big programs, could be good news for Gray TV, which moved into the Charlottesville media market 19 months ago, bringing local ABC, CBS and Fox affiliates to the spectrum in an uphill battle to win viewers from the Richmond affiliates. “Desperate Housewives” will remain in ABC’s Sunday 9pm slot, but “Grey’s Anatomy” will move to Thursday 9pm. Replacing it on Sundays: “Brothers & Sisters,” starring Calista “Ally McBeal” Flockhart.

Friday, May 12
Daughtry’s “American Idol” dis breaks our collective heart
The Style Section of The Washington Post today can’t say enough about how the American public failed to do its duty and vote to keep rocker Chris Daughtry on the show. Both Robin Givhan’s Pulitzer Prize-winning fashion column and Lisa de Moraes’ TV column chronicle the exit of the Fluvanna native, who was widely favored to win the wildly popular karaoke competition.
“Daughtry glared. He glowered. He did the rock-star growl during which he looked to be at risk of popping his jugular,” wrote Givhan. “He wore cool shades. Oh sure, he was cocky. But he should have been. He was the best. America, have you no soul?”
Reports that Daughtry has been offered the job of lead singer for has-been ’90s rock band Fuel came as little consolation to his idolizing fans.

Tuesday, May 2
UVA ethicist joins national stem cell research panel
Dr. Jonathan Moreno, who heads UVA’s Center for Biomedical Ethics and who has spoken out against the politicization of scientific research under Dubya’s regime, has been appointed to a new federal committee to review guidelines for human embryonic stem cell research. The committee’s 14 members will take a look at how existing voluntary research guidelines are being applied—a subject familiar to Moreno, as he co-chaired the panel that wrote them last year. Get more info at www.nationalacademies.org/stemcells.

On Friday, May 5, a federal jury awarded Earl Washington, Jr. $2.25 million, after finding that he was falsely imprisoned after police fabricated his confession.

Tuesday, April 25
Good thing Lollapalooza isn’t a geometry festival
About seven years ago Adam Busch formed a band in Charlottesville and dubbed it Manishevitz in honor of the Kosher wine that tastes like Robitussin. Today, the “metromix” section of the Chicago Tribune online heralds the band’s invitation to Lollapalooza. Now living in Chicago, Busch sells records by day and plays guitar for the six-member band by night. The band’s sound has evolved from its early emo days, Busch says. “We try and work more with melody and harmony, and how full we can make the sound come across between the six of us. It’s not like a triangle or a pyramid or something, where it comes to a point at the top, and it’s me and I’ve got this band…It’s more like the six of us making a square and seeing what we can collectively sound like.”