 Last week, new bike racks were installed in Washington Park, the result of a design contest sponsored by the Alliance for Community Choice in Transportation and ArtInPlace. Afton-based artist, Bill Hess, designed this one. |
Tuesday 1/15
MySpace agrees to greater policing
In a move advertised to improve youth Internet safety, state Attorney General Bob McDonnell announced that MySpace has voluntarily agreed to make several changes to its site, including allowing parents greater control over their children’s e-mails. “This is the way we keep children safer online, by working for progress and improvements with technology leaders,” McDonnell said. In 2006, the 2009 Republican candidate for governor also set up his Youth Internet Safety Task Force.
Wednesday 1/16
Louisa to Charlottesville: You gave me gangs!
In response to gang-related graffiti that’s been popping up around the county, the Louisa sheriff’s office announced that it has formed a seven-member gang task force to try and keep gangs from getting a foothold in the county, reports The Richmond Times-Dispatch. Major Donald Lowe said that he suspects Louisa’s gang-related problems are coming from Charlottesville and Albemarle County. “We want people to know that we’re not going to put our heads in the sand waiting for this to become a problem,” he said.
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Thursday 1/17
Snow. Cameras. Action!
Anticipating today’s winter storm, the City of Charlottesville held a press conference yesterday to unveil two new strategies to cope with such situations. Twelve traffic cameras are now installed around the city. ”We can actually look at 12 different intersections around the city in real time with the conditions,” said Judith Mueller, director of the Department of Public Works. Also, every city plow truck has been equipped with GPS technology, so that crews know which streets have been plowed and which streets haven’t.
Friday 1/18
Where’s the quarterback?
True freshman quarterback Peter Lalich had better mature quickly. The UVA Athletics Department announced on Thursday that four of the school’s football players will not be returning for the spring semester, including starting sophomore quarterback Jameel Sewell and starting cornerback Chris Cook. “Privacy laws prohibit any additional comment or release of information regarding this matter,” states the Athletic Department’s press release. The Daily Progress speculates that all four players won’t be around in the fall, either.
Saturday 1/19
Body counting
How many soldiers are dead in the Culpeper National Cemetery? Answer: All of them! As of 2006, the number of interments at the Culpeper veterans cemetery totaled more than 10,000 across roughly 30 acres and, with a total of nearly 737,000 veterans in the state, more than a few will buy the farm within a few miles of Culpeper. The Associated Press reports that Terance Rephann, an economist at UVA’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service, completed a study that recommends a new veterans cemetery in Nelson County and a 50-mile “service-area boundary” for determining a dead veteran’s final destination.
Sunday 1/20
Immigrant bills assailed
Undocumented workers aren’t likely to speak up in public places where their legal status can be readily questioned, so they’re not likely to speak out against the plethora of bills in the state General Assembly that would make their lives more miserable. That’s where Tim Freilich, director for the Charlottesville Legal Aid Justice Center’s Immigrant Advocacy Center, comes in. He was quoted in The Washington Post today, calling out legislators for bills that “directly attack Virginia’s lawfully present immigrants,” as well as those who aren’t.
Monday 1/21
Corn not growing? Plant more corn!
The Associated Press reported today that Virginia corn, soybean and cotton crops declined in 2007. The National Agricultural Statistics Service pinned the blame on dry weather and the decline came despite the fact that state farmers planted more corn in 2007. In fact, 2007’s corn acreage was the highest on record since 1933, partially thanks to speculation that ethanol will become the the 21st century’s oil. The AP didn’t mention the effect that monoculture farming could have had on production decline.
