Tuesday, May 9
Wachovia to walk over bank customers in the West, as well
The way The Wall Street Journal sees it today, the news that mega-bank Wachovia Corp. will pay $24.22 billion to buy Golden West Financial Corp. is an “aggressive move” by Wachovia “to establish itself as one of a small number of coast-to-coast players likely to emerge from the consolidation wave in the U.S. banking industry.” Wachovia, based in North Carolina, has eight branches in the Charlottesville area, and its purchase of Golden West is part of an aggressive expansion plan. Investors apparently didn’t think too much of the deal, as Wachovia shares fell 6.7 percent on the news (the stock’s harshest one-day percentage decline in three-and-a-half years). They are presumably unhappy with the premium Wachovia will pay for the California S&L, and wary of the culture clash the deal ensures, with Wachovia—an ATM-loving, product-pushing bank that no longer makes mortgage loans—gobbling up Golden West, a high-touch, mortgage-heavy lending operation that eschews drive-through windows and ATMs.
Wachovia to walk over bank customers in the West, as well
The way The Wall Street Journal sees it today, the news that mega-bank Wachovia Corp. will pay $24.22 billion to buy Golden West Financial Corp. is an “aggressive move” by Wachovia “to establish itself as one of a small number of coast-to-coast players likely to emerge from the consolidation wave in the U.S. banking industry.” Wachovia, based in North Carolina, has eight branches in the Charlottesville area, and its purchase of Golden West is part of an aggressive expansion plan. Investors apparently didn’t think too much of the deal, as Wachovia shares fell 6.7 percent on the news (the stock’s harshest one-day percentage decline in three-and-a-half years). They are presumably unhappy with the premium Wachovia will pay for the California S&L, and wary of the culture clash the deal ensures, with Wachovia—an ATM-loving, product-pushing bank that no longer makes mortgage loans—gobbling up Golden West, a high-touch, mortgage-heavy lending operation that eschews drive-through windows and ATMs.
Wednesday, May 10
Hurricane helper?
United Press International flooded the wires today with news that climatologists at UVA see no correlation between global warming and monster Atlantic hurricanes like Katrina, according to a study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. Patrick Michaels, the lead author of the study, is a professor of environmental sciences and director of the Virginia Climatology Office. He is also funded, in part, by Exxon, which is no doubt overjoyed to hear of Michaels’ findings.
Thursday, May 11
UVA drinking death
spurs arrests
A 19-year-old Cornell University freshman, Matthew Pearlstone, died of alcohol poisoning in a UVA dormitory in March, and today’s Daily Progress reports that UVA police made two arrests on Wednesday as a result of their investigation into Pearlstone’s death. Nicole Kiffe, age 21, is charg-ed with purchasing alcohol for or providing alcohol to a minor, while Benjamin Nowak, age 20, faces charges of underage drinking. However, due to lack of evidence, police couldn’t link these arrests to Pearlstone’s death directly.
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.
Saturday, May 13
Police confirm Bloods in Charlottesville
After City police arrested a pair of teenagers connected to the beating of two boys near Friendship Court last month, The Daily Progress quoted Charlottesville Police Capt. J.E. “Chip” Harding warning that the Bloods have infiltrated our town. High-school toughs have started sporting red t-shirts and hats thought to signify Blood affiliation, and police warn that this is not simply a case of impressionable kids copping a pose. “At the beginning, we didn’t know if these are wannabes or gonna-bes,” said Harding. “But now we feel that several of these people… are bona fide members of the Bloods gang.” Six people have been arrested in the April 21 assault, with possibly more to come.
Sunday, May 14
Cavs poised to grab
division title
UVA’s baseball team crushed the top-ranked North Carolina Tarheels 9-2 today, moving the Wahoos to a record of 41 wins and 11 loses, with an 18-9 record in the ACC. This puts UVA just one game behind UNC heading into the final games of the season. Should Virginia sweep Virginia Tech later this week, and if UNC drops one game to Boston College, UVA will clinch the division title.
Charlottesville activist remembers Roger Coleman
In an extensive feature on executed killer Roger Keith Coleman, The Washington Post came to town to interview Marie Deans, a death-penalty activist who worked to free Coleman from Virginia’s death row. The story shows how the charming Coleman convinced Deans and others that he was innocent of the 1981 rape and murder of his sister-in-law Wanda McCoy. Coleman was executed in 1992, and last year former Governor Mark Warner ordered that his DNA evidence be retested—the first such a posthumous test had been ordered. In January, new tests confirmed Coleman was, in fact, guilty. “I just did not get the sense that he thought he could pull the wool over my eyes, or that he was trying to,” said Deans, who now says she believes that Coleman did not remember committing the murder.
Monday, May 15
Local woman profiled in People
The issue of People magazine dated today features a profile of former Charlottesvillian Peach Friedman. In the article, she talks about her recovery from exercise addiction—a disease the magazine claims affects 400,000 American woman. In her late teens, Friedman developed a form of bulimia that compels sufferers to perform punishing workouts as a kind of payment for eating. “I only thought about food and running,” says Friedman, who now lives in San Francisco. “My life was ruled by exercise.” After years of treatment, Friedman recovered and now works as a personal trainer.
