Tuesday, April 24
So long Singletary?
 Cavalier men’s basketball standout Sean Singletary has announced he’ll declare for the NBA Draft but is keeping his options open and may return for a senior year at Virginia. |
UVA junior guard Sean Singletary announced he will declare for the NBA Draft, but has not hired an agent, the Associated Press reports. That leaves him eligible to return for his senior year with the Cavaliers if things don’t work out. Though he suggested all season that he would see through his college career, the 6’ all-ACC player is now considering his options. This season, Singletary averaged 19 points, 4.7 assists and 4.6 rebounds.
Wednesday, April 25
Local musicians dissed by Kaine, Queen
 The Queen of England will enjoy a serenade from Virginian musicians during her visit to Richmond, but Charlottesville suffers a serious snub: The lineup doesn’t include anyone who regularly haunts the Gravity Lounge. |
Just when you think it’s safe to call yourself a music town, the Queen of England arrives to let you know you’re not all that. Governor Kaine has planned a “Royal Welcome” for May 3 at Capitol Square in Richmond, complete with an all-Virginian lineup of musical acts fit for Her Royal Highness. Yet, none of the performers hail from Charlottesville. Our local acts lost out to such bands as Richmond’s Larry Bland and the Volunteer Choir.
Thursday, April 26
Was it something we said?
Following the publication of the Thomas Jefferson Center for Free Expression’s annual Muzzle Awards, the Department of Defense ended a program for which it was criticized, er…awarded this year. The TALON program, which stands for Threat and Local Observation Notice system, was a Pentagon-run operation that monitored anti-war protests, gathering data about students, Quaker groups and other dissenters. The DOD released a statement saying the program wasn’t useful, “particularly in light of its image in Congress and the media.”
Friday, April 27
Window-gazing
We love it when the national media reveals what we already know about our area—it’s damn expensive to live here. In a survey of $1 million homes on CNBC’s “Million Dollar Homes Buyer’s Guide,” one of Charlottesville’s approximately 30 $1 million homes is featured. What do you get for the money? Four bedrooms, four baths, 10 acres, an unfinished basement and “a kitchen that may seem small to some.” “The price reflects a market that…is not offering any bargains,” the network reports.
Saturday, April 28
The most wonderful time of the year
The Daily Progress reports on one of the year’s most festive and beer-drenched activities—the Foxfield races. Twenty-three thousand people, many of them UVA students, flooded the site with traditional prints and locked up traffic on Barracks Road. Albemarle police were prepared with video monitors so magistrate judges could process arrestees, most of them taken in for being drunk in public or drinking underage. This year about 80 people were carted off to the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail, about 40 fewer than last year. Emergency medical personnel were also as omnipresent as madras—they treated about 80 people on-site and 12 were sent to the hospital. The weather could not have been more perfect for a day of fraternizing—a high of 76 with nary a cloud in the sky.
Sunday, April 29
Cyclists roll through town
Colombian Javier Zapata won the Tour of Virginia, the bicycle race which rolled through Charlottesville for the first time this year. The 36-year-old finished one minute and four seconds ahead of the runner-up. The race ended near the Downtown Mall—Zapata accepted his award in front of a crowd on Market Street, and dedicated his victory to the Virginia Tech victims. Of 176 riders, only 83 completed the 477-mile race.
Monday, April 30
Kids in grown-up prison
 Andy Block, legal director of JustChildren, is making sure the state treats kids like kids—even when they’re juvenile offenders. |
What happens to juveniles who get transferred to the adult prison system? Apparently, the number of kids who end up in prisons is on the rise. And, due to tough-on-juvenile-crime policies, some of them stay there a long time. One inmate in the Virginia Department of Corrections was sentenced as a juvenile and is now 62 years old. Andy Block, legal director of JustChildren, a program of the Charlottesville-based Legal Aid Justice Center, is quoted in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Block says we need better data on why kids are transferred and what happens to them within the adult justice system.
