The week in review
Latest former Albemarle police officer/reserve deputy to be charged with unsavory acts against a family member: Charles Farrell Long Jr., 47, who also is a former fourth-grade teacher in Charlottesville, is charged with two counts of possession and two counts of production of child pornography. NBC29 reports the two victims were family members, one of whom claims being molested between 1992 and 1997.
Longest police standoff: After holing up in a Sixth Street apartment for seven hours April 30, Gregory L. Washington, 53, is charged with violating a protective order and breaking and entering, the Daily Progress reports. He'll also undergo a mental evaluation, according to police.
Latest traffic nightmare: Work begins May 1 on the Shadwell bridge on U.S. 250, closing that primary thoroughfare for the next 10 weeks.
Worst trend: Black Virginians still earn less than their white counterparts, and their unemployment rate is higher, according to a Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service study.
Worst stabbing: A 28-year-old man is knifed early April 25 during an altercation with several other men on the Downtown Mall in the 100 block of West Main, WINA reports. The victim is in stable condition, and no arrests have been made.
Worst Walmart parking lot attack: A 53-year-old man is knocked unconscious around 1:45pm April 23 in Waynesboro, according to the News Leader. The victim says he'd just parked when he was coldcocked, and police are calling this a road rage incident.
Worst road rage aftermath: Norman Vincent Coyner, 66, turns himself in April 24 and is charged with felonious assault in the Walmart incident. Coyner is found dead in his home April 26, and police say it's a suicide.
Biggest 'bath salts' bust: C'ville Video owner Lois McDaniel pleads guilty to selling 200 grams of a synthetic stimulant that pushers call "bath salts" at what was her Willoughby Square Shopping Center store. Technically known as Methylenedioxypyrovalerone, or MDPV, the drug produces a buzz similar to ecstasy, cocaine, and meth, according to a U.S. Attorney's office release.
Best archaeology: Monticello archaeologists discover two previously unknown sites with 19th-century artifacts at Tufton, a Jefferson-owned farm about a mile from Monticello. Both sites were likely inhabited by slaves.
Best ornithology: Local birdwatchers set the all-time record April 30 for number of species seen in Albemarle County in one day. Stauffer Miller, Gretchen Gehrett, Dan Bieker, Rob Capon, and Pete Myers spot 122 different fowl to smash the old record of 112.
Best get for Miller School: Former Major League Baseball All-Star relief pitcher Billy "the Kid" Wagner coaches the school's junior varsity baseball team, the Daily Progress reports.
Best news for pyros: The temporary ban on pre-4pm burning expires May 1.
Best New York Times review: UVA English prof Christopher Tilghman gets accolades for his new novel, The Right-Hand Shore, and the Times reviewer begs Tilghman not to wait another 16 years to publish his next book.
Most productions of Romeo and Juliet: Three versions of the Bard's classic, tragic love story were going on last weekend. The Culbreth Theatre and the Hamner Theater shows have ended, but it's still possible to catch John Ford's kinky take on R&J called 'Tis Pity She's a Whore at the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton.
Most embarrassing: A Roanoke couple is accidentally shot in a gun safety class April 21, the AP reports. Michael L. Keel blasts his hand with a .45-caliber handgun, and the bullet goes into his wife's leg. (By contrast, the Albemarle police officer who shot himself in the hand during training last November managed to keep his name out of the spotlight.)
Headline that sounds most like a joke: "White House crasher Salahi plans run for Va. governor," turns out to be a true story, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports. Salahi has filled out a declaration of candidacy and apparently intends to run as a Republican in next year's race.