Tuesday, November 27
Kucinich is coming
Diminutive Democrat presidential hopeful Dennis Kucinich will make an appearance in Charlottesville on December 7. OpEdNews.com reports that an intimate "face-to-face" meeting will first be held in Room 235 of the County Office Building at 7:15pm for those able to cough up a minimum of $500. Thirty minutes later, the main event will take place in Lane Auditorium for the relatively cheap price of $10 for students and $20 for general admission. A picture with the candidate will cost an additional $30. [Read C-VILLE’s interview with Kucinich here.]
Wednesday, November 28
Groh won’t go; fans fuss
After Tuesday’s announcement that Al Groh not only won the ACC Coach of the Year award but was granted a one-year extension of his contract, the Virginia faithful are busy bickering this morning on TheSabre.com about whether the honors were deserved. "Al earned and deserves this award. And I still can’t stand him," one fan writes. Others grumble that a contract extension makes no sense given Groh’s 1 and 6 record against Virginia Tech. Elsewhere on the site, Groh himself declares that he coaches not for contracts but "for the players," yet also acknowledges that opposing coaches have been able to use Groh’s job insecurity to boost their own recruiting efforts.
Thursday, November 29
DMB bassist’s house burns
Dave Matthews Band bass player Stefan Lessard had to perform an unfortunate fire dance this morning, as he and his son escaped a 7:30am house fire at his home on Morgantown Road, reports the Charlottesville Newsplex today. A team of 40 firefighters worked to control the blaze, which got out of hand quickly because of the 3,000-square-foot home’s cedar exterior. Investigators think the fire started on the first floor, but have yet to speculate on the cause.
Friday, November 30
Gun-purchasing ban list more than doubles
The Associated Press reports today that the number of mentally ill included on a list that bans them from buying guns has more than doubled in the past five months. U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey announced that in July, 174,863 names were in the federal database, while there are now 393,957. Virginia Tech student Seung-Hui Cho, who killed 32 people and himself on April 16, would likely have been unable to purchase the firearms he used in the massacre if a 2005 court order calling him a danger to himself had been submitted to the database. Thirty-two states reported names to the database, while the remaining 18 are not legally obligated to do so. Virginia has traditionally submitted the most names to the database.
Saturday, December 1
Too smart for his genes
Enlightened caution, thy name is Eric Turkheimer. The University of Virginia psychology professor recently weighed in on the raging debate over intelligence and genetics that started with Nobel Prize-winning biologist James D. Watson’s claim that African Americans are less intelligent than members of other races and has since moved onto the Web, where William Saletan, a senior writer at culture and politics website, Slate, recently issued an apology for a series of posts on the subject. Saletan wrote on Slate that he "thought it was important to lay out the scenario’s plausibility," but discovered in the wake of a strong response that some evidence for his opinions stemmed from J. Philippe Rushton, the president of a research firm named Pioneer Fund that has donated $70,000 in support to a segregationist group called New Century Foundation. In comments to The New York Times, Turkheimer mentions the close and complex links between an individual’s genetic structure and environment as evidence enough to make the debate "fundamentally impossible to settle."
Sunday, December 2
UVA will watch ball drop in Jacksonville
 Will Al Groh, this year’s ACC Coach of the Year, be able to lead UVA to victory in the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida? |
The Wahoo faithful found out where they’re spending New Year’s tonight: Jacksonville, Florida. The 9-3 UVA football team will play Texas Tech in the Gator Bowl on January 1, the first major bowl game for the Cavs since appearing in the 1998 Peach Bowl (a close loss to Georgia). Message boards lit up with chatter about where to stay. Those traveling Hoos are hoping this Gator Bowl appearance won’t be like the last one: In 1991, UVA got blown out by Oklahoma 48-14.
Monday, December 3
Springsteen tickets on sale Friday
 Open up your wallet: Here comes Bruce to Charlottesville. |
Get those Internet clicking and/or telephone dialing fingers ready, Charlottesville. Tickets for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s April 30 concert at the JPJ will go on sale Friday, December 7, at 10am, say JPJ officials. But be ready to shell out some dollars. Tickets are priced at $67 and $97. All floor seats are general admission. Tickets are available at the JPJ Box Office, Plan 9 stores, and on the JPJ and Live Nation websites.
