The week in review
Latest tropical storm: Lee heads up from Louisiana, dumping rain on Cental Virginia and bringing flood warnings. A truck stalls out in high water on Avon Street Extended September 6 when a drain becomes clogged, NBC29 reports.
Best funnel-like image: NBC29 viewer Chad O'Brien sends a video of what could be a tornado taken at Bybee and Bybee Church Road in Fluvanna County around 6:30pm September 5.
Biggest slash: Judge Edward Hogshire chops the nearly $8.6 million a jury awarded widower Isaiah Lester for the death of his wife, Jessica Lester, down to $4.45 million, NBC29 reports. She died after their car was crushed under an Allied Concrete truck in 2007. Hogshire also will consider financial sanctions against Lester's attorney, Matt Murray; Allen and Allen, Murray's law firm until he resigned in July under an ethics cloud,; and Lester at a September 23 hearing. The judge denied Allied's request for a new trial.
Biggest buy: The Charlottesville School Board okays $2.4 million for more than 2,000 Fujitsu Stylistic tablets, base priced at $768, but which, when modified to meet school system specs, will cost $1,167 each, Graham Moomaw reports in the Daily Progress. Sixth graders and up will receive the electronic devices.
Most tired: An unnamed ambulance driver falls asleep around 6pm September 2 while transporting a patient and two EMTs, and runs off the road and flips over on its side, closing Scottsville Road, the Newsplex reports. The driver is charged with reckless driving.
Most controversial flag waving: Lexington bans the hoisting of the Confederate flag on city-owned poles September 1, outraging the Sons of the Confederacy, who assembled with flags raised in the town where Civil War icons Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson are buried, the AP reports.
Worst standoff: Dillwyn resident Jeremy Wayne Farley, 39, is fatally shot September 1 by Buckingham deputies responding to a domestic call. According to a release from the Virginia State Police, which is investigating the shooting, there was a confrontation and exchange of gunfire. The names of the deputies involved have not been released, but in an NBC29 interview, Farley's widow blasts the handling of the incident.
Worst bedwetting strategy: Augusta grandparents Arthur Warren, 65, and Marcia Warren, 67, are convicted of misdemeanor child abuse September 1 for making their 9-year-old grandson sleep in a shed from last August until late October for chronic bedwetting, NBC29 reports. The Warrens are fined $2,500 but will serve no jail time.
Latest legal shuffling: Prosecutor Matt Quatrara leaves the city to join the staff of the Albemarle commonwealth's attorney, succeeding Will Hendrick, who is moving to private practice, according to a release.
Latest white powdery substance sighting: The Scottsville post office is closed for a couple of hours September 1 while a hazmat team determines that a suspicious substance found by a patron is silicon dioxide, a material used in packaging. NBC29 has the story.
Most mysterious death: Police are seeking information about hikers "Mr. Coffee," "White Wolf," "Papa Smurf," "Combat Gizmo," and "Space Cadet" who may have had contact with an Indiana hiker named Scott "Stonewall" Lilly, who was walking the Appalachian Trail and found dead August 12 in Amherst County, the News & Advance reports.
Best collaboration: Monticello and the Smithsonian team up to produce an exhibit on Jefferson and slavery in the nation's capital.
Most socialistic: City Council candidate Brandon Collins calls for the city to provide jobs at a living wage to anyone who wants one. Collins is running as an independent and is a member of the Socialist Party. The DP has the story.
Most gruesome headline: "Chicago man decapitates himself in Yorktown," courtesy of WINA. The 48-year-old husband and father had been arguing with his wife when he wrapped a chain around his neck that was attached to a tree, and then accelerated in his SUV, which kept going for about 150 yards.