Tuesday, June 5
UVA baseball loses in regional, again
Make it four straight years the Cavaliers have been bounced out of the NCAA tournament regional before making it to Omaha. But, man, this one might have hurt a little more. Defending national champion Oregon State ended the Cavs’ season today on Davenport Field, beating them 7-3. UVA, normally a hot-hitting team, batted just .207 in the three-game series. The Cavs finished the season 45-16. Apparently the loss wasn’t too heartbreaking, though—UVA would later announce a three-year contract extension for coach Brian O’Connor.
Wednesday, June 6
City schools shuffle
 Follow the principal: Tim Flynn is leaving his post as principal of Buford Middle School. A series of subsequent hirings and switches mean even the snappiest parent may have trouble keeping it straight. |
See if you can keep this straight: Tim Flynn, principal of Buford Middle School since 2002, is leaving to finish his doctorate at UVA. In his place at Buford enters Eric Johnson, former principal of Leslie H. Walton Middle School in Albemarle County and prior to that a math teacher at Walker Upper Elementary. A city mathematics division coordinator, Terri Perkins, will take over at Walker as principal come July. And, finally, Vernon Bock, Charlottesville High School assistant principal, will become principal of Johnson Elementary. Greenbrier Elementary is still looking for a principal. City parents, we seriously recommend brushing up on the personnel directory before the summer’s over.
Thursday, June 7
Totally bogus air guitar shutout
 Bad as he wants to be: C-VILLE Advertising Assistant Tim Granlund made it all the way to the U.S. Air Guitar Championships. Though he was defeated, Granlund is next setting his costume cap on being the world champion of air guitar. |
In a crushing and completely not-cool move by the judges of the U.S. Air Guitar Competition, held tonight in Washington, D.C., C-VILLE Advertising Assistant Tim Granlund got bested despite seemingly perfect gear, bravado and technique. Though Granlund’s version of “Rock You Like a Hurricane” came up short, it thrilled the BBC, which used a clip of his performance as an intro to their coverage of the event. “If the BBC thought I was the poster child for air guitar, then clearly the judges suck,” Granlund said via e-mail. Not to be discouraged, the 23-year-old air guitarist is taking part in an online competition, in hopes of going to the Air Guitar World Championships.
Friday, June 8
Yes! More history!
Word comes today that UVA’s Carr’s Hill, the place where University President John T. Casteen, III crashes (so much as university presidents “crash”) was added to the Virginia Landmarks Register. The house was built in 1909 and designed by Stanford White. The Register also added an 83,000-acre rural historic district in southern Albemarle County. Sure, the vast chunk of land shows Thomas Jefferson’s influence in its numerous buildings. But let’s not forget the region’s close association with missionary Charlotte Digges “Lottie” Moons.
Saturday, June 9
UVA lacrosse player charged in beating
Just when it appeared Cavalier-related news was finished for this edition, UVA lacrosse player Adam Fassnacht, 22, was charged with aggravated assault from a June 1 beating of a Princeton student in Princeton, New Jersey. Fassnacht, who’s listed at 5′-10" and 213 pounds, and Princeton lacrosse player Nicholas S. Hermandorfer, allegedly beat up an unnamed male student, breaking his eye socket, cheekbone and nose. Fassnacht and Hermandorfer were each released on a $50,000 bond. Fassnacht, who was named to the 2006 ACC Honor Roll, started beating the student and Hermandorfer jumped in.
Sunday, June 10
Local reporters lead
 When Virginia Tech shooter Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 of his fellow students and professors, local journalists at the Roanoke Times and Collegiate Times led the media coverage, according to American Journalism Review. |
Reporters used to covering the small-town humdrum led the way after the Virginia Tech massacre, reads a piece in American Journalism Review this month. “While outsiders were scrambling to reach Blacksburg…local journalists were already on the scene.” Student journalists at Tech’s Collegiate Times especially shone. Twenty-four hours after the shooting, Collegiate Times reporters had interviewed eyewitnesses and those who knew the shooter. Amie Steele, who was in her third week as editor of the Collegiate Times, assigned two reporters to scour social networking sites, and her newspaper became a go-to source for national media for information, including the names of the dead. Website traffic on The Roanoke Times’ site skyrocketed to 261,000 page views, up from 2,500 on a typical day.
Monday, June 11
Indigent care and lawsuits
The private physician foundation associated with the UVA Health System has, in the past, won medical malpractice cases that block lawsuits under what’s known as charitable immunity. Now, inRich.com, the website for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, reports that the Virginia Supreme Court will look again at whether that protection will continue. Doctors say rising insurance costs associated with malpractice suits are affecting the quality of health care for all. Virginia doctors paid about $300 million in insurance premiums in 2006. But some have argued that hospitals—even ones that see indigent patients—are hardly charity wards. And patient advocates worry that such rulings leave indigent patients without legal redress if they get negligent care.
