Tuesday, April 10
Memorial garden dedicated
City officials held a ceremony in Jackson Park today to officially open the Linda Peacock Memorial Garden. Peacock had worked with the city since 1976, most recently as assistant city manager; she died of cancer last June. Peacock was a big fan of the city parks and city market. Employees raised $7,000 in private donations for the garden.
Wednesday, April 11
Mark Warner pays a visit
The former Virginia governor spoke to a few hundred students at Larry Sabato’s undergraduate political science class today. Warner, who passed up a presidential run in 2008, says he’s not through with politics but can’t say on which office he’ll set his cap. Warner wasn’t the only political celeb to visit Sabato’s class this week. Virginia Senator Jim Webb spoke to the same group of students Monday on pulling out of Iraq and economic stratification in the United States.
Thursday, April 12
Chunk change to Columbia
 John W. Kluge, the local Forbes 400 billionaire and media mogul, gave $400 million to Columbia for financial aid programs. |
Columbia University announces a $400 million gift from alumnus and former Albemarle resident John W. Kluge. Kluge’s gift will go solely to financial aid at the private university. The Kluge Scholars program has provided scholarships to about 500 disadvantaged students so far. Columbia announced its $4 billion capital campaign last year, shortly after UVA rolled out its $3 billion goal. Kluge’s is the fourth largest single gift to an institution of higher education. He has given more than $45 million in real estate to UVA, including the 749-acre Morven Farm.
Friday, April 13
Happy B-day, TJ!
One more reason why it’s so sweet to live in Charlottesville. If you’re a city employee, you had all day to eat birthday cake and ponder self-evident truths, since City Hall was closed today for Thomas Jefferson’s Birthday. UVA also treated the day most advantageously—alumni from across the schools received e-mails urging them to give back to their alma mater on this holiest of anniversaries.
Saturday, April 14
Virginia falls to Duke
 Virginia men’s lacrosse lost to Duke, which is back in the game following the announcement this week that charges had been dropped against three players accused of rape. Duke beat Virginia 7-6 in overtime. |
The Virginia men’s lacrosse team lost to Duke in overtime today in Durham, North Carolina. This was the Cavs first time taking on the Blue Devils since Duke’s season was cancelled last year due to a rape scandal involving three players. Earlier this week, prosecutors dropped all charges against the men. Duke’s coach John Danowski told Inside Lacrosse that his team would try to stay focused on beating Virginia, the defending national champs, despite the circus in Durham. “It’s no big deal,” Danowski said. “We just know our guys will do a great job handling it.” Duke beat Virginia 7-6, taking top seed in the ACC rankings, leaving Virginia in third place.
Sunday, April 15
Like mother, like daughter
 Sahar Adish and her mother, Kamela, are featured in Real Simple magazine. The Afghani refugees have made quite a mark on the local community. |
Sahar Adish and her mother, Kamela Adish, fled Afghanistan in 1998 with the rest of their family and settled in Charlottesville. Their extraordinary story is featured on the pages of Real Simple magazine this month—it’s part of a feature about women “beating the odds.” Kamela is a former teacher, run out of Taliban-controlled Afghanistan for teaching girls in her home. She is now on the housekeeping staff at UVA. Sahar, a pre-med student at UVA, recently won a Peabody Award from the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism, for a documentary film she and fellow filmmakers made through Light House, a local teen media-education program. The film aired on CNN International last year.
Monday, April 16
Shooting at Virginia Tech
Officials at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg report 22 people are dead after a gunman opened fire at a dormitory and, two hours later, a classroom at the opposite end of Tech’s 2,600-acre campus. The Associated Press reported that more than a dozen other students were being treated for gun shot wounds, according to a hospital spokeswoman. Students in dorms and classrooms were put on lock-down while police swept the campus to see if the gunman had acted alone. Students on the scene reported “mayhem,” with some students jumping out of dorm windows. The name of the suspect had not been printed at press time, but CNN reported the shooter is also dead.
