The week in review
Most jarring headline: "Neighbors: 5-year-old Stabbed 3 People After Argument Over Juice Box" details the January 16 attack on two juveniles and an adult at a mobile home park on Shady Grove Road in Ruckersville. According to the Newsplex's Jessica Jaglois, Greene County police won't confirm the attack with an "edged weapon" was triggered by a juice box, but the three victims were taken to UVA Medical Center with non-life-threatening wounds, and the child may have briefly been in police custody.
Least busy board: Albemarle's Planning Commission cancels its January 10 meeting because of a lack of business, Charlottesville Tomorrow reports. Chair Duane Zobrist doesn't seek another term, and new Supe Christopher Dumler appoints Glenmore resident Richard Randolph to represent the Scottsville District.
Busier: Charlottesville Planning Commission looks at a proposed 300-unit apartment complex across from Barracks Road Shopping Center where Peak Campus Development wants to build two five-story building, Sean Tubbs reports for Charlottesville Tomorrow.
Worst news for Albemarle teachers: Despite widespread complaints from parents, students, and teachers over the 4 X 4 block scheduling that dramatically increases the workload of county high school teachers, the Albemarle School Board deadlocks on a vote to get rid of it January 12, with newly elected at-large member Ned Gallaway abstaining. Aaron Richardson has the story in the Daily Progress.
Worst free publicity: "Pedestrian hit by BMW" is the headline January 11 after a cellphone-talking 23-year-old woman is flipped up into the air on Fifth Street Extended near Harris Road. The woman was treated for non-life-threatening injuries, and police decide not to charge the Beamer driver, according to NBC29.
Best news for law school fabricator: The Honor Committee finds third-year Johnathan Perkins not guilty of violating UVA's lie-cheat-steal code for writing a false tale that alleged racially motivated UVA police harassment. Perkins gets his law degree, although the circumstances will go down on his permanent record, according to a Law School release.
Newest homegrown product: Charlottesville can claim SpermCheck Fertility, a device that allows at-home sperm count– soon available in a pharmacy near you and manufactured by local company ContraVac, according to the Daily Progress.
Latest Route 20 crash: A dump truck blows a tire around noon January 16 and crashes into a Toyota, closing the Scottsville Road for about an hour, NBC28 reports. Both drivers are treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
Latest armed robbery: A female employee of Payne's Check Cashing on Seminole Trail has a gun pointed at her head January 13 and is robbed as she's closing the store, NBC29 reports. Two men flee on foot.
Latest missing man: Buckingham resident Richard Joseph Kwiatkowski, 68, is last seen in Fluvanna January 12 driving his white 2000 Chevy S-10 pickup with Virginia license plate JKC-5456. Earlysville man James Alvin Shifflett, 69, has been missing since December 7.
Latest cop-hits-pedestrian incident: Albemarle Officer Caroline Morris, who was demoted in March 2010, allegedly for inappropriate behavior while on the clock, strikes a jogger around 5:30pm January 13 when turning right on Fifth Street Extended from eastbound I-64. The jogger is treated for minor injuries.
Latest in the cat-euthanasia-by-billy-club case: Harrisonburg police officer J.N. Snoddy is charged with one misdemeanor count of animal cruelty January 12. In November, Wayne Meadows found an injured cat and called authorities. Snoddy offered to euthanize the cat, and allegedly beat it to death with his baton, WHSV reports.
Most controversial climatologist: Michael Mann, whose global warming work inspired AG Ken Cuccinelli to subpoena emails from UVA, returns to his former employer January 17 to discuss "The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches From the Front Lines."
Most popular books: The top five circulated in the Jefferson Madison Regional Library last year are The Help by Kathryn Stockett, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest by Stieg Larsson, Hell's Corner by David Baldacci, The Confession by John Grisham, and Room by Emma Donoghue, according to the Newsplex.