The week in review
Worst case of legislators inserting themselves in vaginas: The House of Delegates is set to pass a bill February 14 that requires women having an abortion to have an ultrasound that uses a vaginal probe 24 hours before the operation. An amendment that would have allowed women to opt out of the invasive procedure was crushed due in part to local delegates Rob Bell, Steve Landes, and Matt Fariss.
Biggest brawl: The basketball game between the Monticello Mustangs and Charlottesville High Black Knights February 7 turns into a free-for-all in the third quarter when players, students, and parents rush the floor. Police are called, and the game is canceled. The CHS students reportedly did not ever leave their bench.
Best design competition: Filmmaker Brian Wimer organizes Project Gaitway to come up with ideas for the new Belmont Bridge, and 29 UVA architecture teams, composed of students and faculty, work on the project, according to Charlottesville Tomorrow.
Best deal: City Council approved $2,000 in prize money for the bridge, a bargain compared to the $150,000 it okayed in 2007 for a competition to conjure plans for the Water Street parking lot– which is privately owned.
Most perplexing shooting: Patricia A Cook, 54, is shot and killed in a church parking lot February 9 in Culpeper after a police officer asks for her identification and she allegedly snags his arm in her window and starts to drive and drag him away, according to a state police release.
Most continued cases: The February 6 preliminary hearing for Jessica Lewis, who is charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter for the November auto accident that took the lives of her daughter, Amber Johnson, and Amber's father, Michael Johnson, is moved to March because her blood lab results weren't back. And the February 9 preliminary hearing for former UVA law student Joshua Gomes, who is charged with breaking into the registrar's office in Carruthers Hall and accused of installing a coat hook spy cam there, is continued to April 12.
Most continuances: The UVA law student who spent part of his Christmas holiday in jail for an alleged road rage incident, London Crounse, has another court date February 3 in Buckingham for April 17, 2011, charges of driving in excess of 80 miles per hour. The hearing is continued for the sixth time to April 27, according to court records. Crounse also was charged with altered equipment, seatbelt violation, and expired registration.
Most DUIs: The Newsplex reports that 10 arrests were made over the weekend in Charlottesville and Albemarle, and three were the result of single-car crashes.
Most suspicious briefcase: The BB&T in Lovingston is evacuated February 9 when an employee finds a briefcase outside the bank around 8am, the Progress reports. The case is X-rayed and is found to be bomb free.
Grimmest headline: "Draft woman charged with killing pets" comes from the News Leader, which reports that Loren Boxley, 41, is accused of killing two cats and a dog in December and February and is in Middle River Regional Jail on three charges of animal cruelty.
Worst cause of death on the Appalachian Trail: An autopsy reveals that hiker Scott Lilly, whose body was discovered August 12 in Amherst, died from “asphyxia by suffocation" and his death is ruled a homicide, the News and Advance reports.
Leafiest victory: The magnolias surrounding the Rotunda will not be cut down, despite the threat they pose to the World Heritage site, thanks to community support for the commonplace trees. And work on the leaky Rotunda roof will not begin until after graduation exercises in May. The Cav Daily has the story.
Coolest location: Former Virginia Poet Laureate Rita Dove, having already given a White House reading, returns to the president's home Monday to receive, along with Mel Tillis, the National Medal of Arts.
Second-best public college value: UVA falls to number two on the Princeton Review's 2012 list, edged out by the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.