The week in review

Harshest weather: A severe storm pounds Charlottesville August 14 and leaves 7,000 without power in the city and more than 11,000 in the dark in the county. Park and Wertland Streets are closed the next day, and more than 1,000 are still without power 24 hours later.

Harshest rejection, part I: Halsey Minor did indeed ask City Hall for a financial assist to finish the skeletal blight on the Downtown Mall, the Landmark Hotel, Henry Graff reports for NBC29. As previously reported, the city, politically burned by the taxpayer bailout of what became the Omni Hotel, has declined to get back in the hotel business.

Harshest rejection, part 2: The local chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, affirming the national's reputation as a prohibitionist organization, declines to accept a penny from a Boylan Heights fundraiser that coincides with the popular Corner watering hole's one-week suspended liquor license. Ted Strong of the Progress has the story (which also reveals the restaurant's curious rationale for calling its suspension "self-imposed.")

Worst flash back: Nine inches of rain pound Nelson County and cause mudslides and flash flooding late August 13, NBC29 reports, close to the August 19 anniversary of Hurricane Camille, which devastated Nelson and killed 124 people in 1969.

Worst overdose: Greene County deputies assisting in an accidental overdose in Ruckersville notice contraband, return with a search warrant, and seize 15 pounds of marijuana, 30 grams of crack cocaine, a .380 handgun, $1,327 in U.S. currency, and an undisclosed amount of foreign currency, according to a release. Arrested August 14 are Vicente Beltran Antunez, 42, Rafael Hernandez, 23, both of Ruckersville, and Jesus Corchadho, 25, of Texas. The name of the 20-year-old overdose victim, reportedly in serious condition, is not released at press time.

Worst dog death: A chained pit bull is founding hanging August 14 after slipping through a deck rail in Staunton, and the incident is under investigation, the News Leader reports.

Latest Martinez brother conviction: Carmello "Pee Wee" Martinez, 22, pleads guilty to drug, weapons and probation violation charges August 10, the Daily Progress reports. Martinez was out of prison in February for the 2007 shooting of a juvenile when he racked up the additional charges. His brother, Indio "Frequently Declared Incompetent" Martinez, also involved in the 2007 shooting, as well as a a brutal 2006 beating of a teen, had been out of prison five months before his July 10 arrest (when he paid a visit to the Albemarle Charlottesville Regional Jail) on a warrant for selling cocaine.

Latest mugging of UVA students: Two are robbed on 14th Street August 12 by two men, one of whom was carrying a "cutting instrument," according to a police release. One of the suspects is described as a mid-20s, six-foot, 250-pound, white button-up-shirt-wearing black male, the other as a 5'9" 180-pound Hispanic male.

Longest sentence: Convicted murderer Antwan Lamar Jackson, 29, gets life August 15 in federal court for the 2006 slaying of his crack customer, Johnell Greene, 25.

Most motions to dismiss: The City of Charlottesville seeks to have a lawsuit filed by five homeless guys that contends its panhandling law violates the First Amendment thrown out, the DP reports, and the Transportation Security Administration wants Fourth Amendment-chest writer Aaron Tobey's civil suit tossed, as well.

Biggest grant: UVA neurologists get $25 million for the National Institute of Health to study strokes in diabetic patients.

Coziest housing accommodations: UVA gets 90 more acceptances than expected, meaning some first-years will be shoehorned into triple room assignments. The Newsplex has the story.

Oldest alleged DUI: Myrtle G. Cason, 82, is arrested in Staunton after allegedly backing her VW Beetle into a house at 3:47am August 13 and leaving the scene, the News Leader reports.

Most wacko news: Staunton continues the trend with "Daughter charged in cutlery attack" in the News Leader, which details how a 16-year-old girl is being held for hurling a meat fork into her mother's thigh on August 13.

Best indication the moon was full: See above.