The week in review

Most schizophrenic: In June, UVA's Board of Visitors fires President Teresa Sullivan. At its November 9 meeting, the BoV unanimously votes to extend Sullivan's contract another year to 2016, with the motion called for by Rector Helen Dragas.

Most bloated: A logging truck weighing over 95,000 pounds is busted November 7 for crossing a small Batesville bridge with a weight limit of 36,000 pounds. The driver is fined $26,867 because triple the limit means the fine can triple, according to a police release.

Most smokin': Lawn and Range room fireplaces, now that a $3.5-million refurbishment to repair earthquake damaged liners is complete.

Most fires: A barn and riding ring on Dick Woods Road in Afton burn November 11, a trailer in southern Albemarle on Green Mountain Road is destroyed November 13, and that same morning, a townhouse on Rock Creek Road is damaged, according to WINA. No animals or people are injured in the blazes.

Closest to the wire: UVA defeats Miami 41-40 November 10 thanks to a touchdown made in the last second of the game.

Blue-est shift: Albemarle goes Dem in the races for president and U.S. Senate. Even John Douglass, who only garnered 43 percent of the vote in his 5th District challenge to incumbent Robert Hurt, carried once-red Albemarle.

Biggest menace to voting: Children, whose running around November 6 flipped circuits in two Charlottesville polling places, briefly turning off a voting machine and an electronic poll book, Ted Strong reports in the Progress.

Least befitting a gentleman: The AP reports that about 40 students shouted racial slurs, threw bottles, and set off fireworks outside the Minority Student Union at Hampden-Sydney College just after President Barack Obama was reelected.

Farthest traveling: The U.S. Geological Survey says East Coast tremors like the the 2011 earthquake that devastated Louisa caused damage over a larger area than previously estimated and was felt by one-third of the U.S. population, according to the AP.

Biggest den of alleged thieves: Eight people are arrested for allegedly robbing an elderly lady over five months, gaining access by working at the victim's home and then heisting gold and precious metals. Gregory Wayne Richards, of Madison, and Jason Scott Worley of Free Union, are charged with grand larceny, money laundering, burglary, and conspiracy to commit a felony. Also arrested are Anthony Randall Richards, Karen Soutter Richards, Linda Kay Worley, Wesley Scott Dodson, and William Worley, all of Madison, and Christina Marie Lovelace of Free Union.

Worst surprise in the middle of the road: Two horses standing on Stony Point Road are killed when a car slams into them early November 8, closing the road in both directions, the Newsplex reports. No charges will be filed.

Most movie-going: The 2012 Virginia Film Festival breaks previous attendance records on its 25th birthday with 27,299 attendees over last year's 24,077. The fest pulls in $108K in ticket sales compared to $90K in 2011, and claims 42 sold-out screenings, up from 27 the previous year.

Best boondoggle? Two city councilors and two county supervisors will travel to Austin next year, stay at the $500-$2,500-a-night W Austin Hotel, and seek the secrets of the Texas state capital and Live Music Capital of the World– a city more than 10 times larger than Charlottesville and Albemarle– for a cost to taxpayers of around $9,000. Graham Moomaw has the story in the Progress.

Best get: The Colbert Report's Stephen Colbert will be UVA's 2013 valedictory keynote speaker. His wife, Evelyn McGee Colbert, is a 1985 graduate of the College of Arts and Sciences.

Worse than the strong odor of alcohol: Waynesboro man Efrain Moreno Alvarez, 40, has a plastic bag with a dead skunk inside attached to his minivan's rear windshield wiper, which was going back and forth on a clear afternoon, when he's arrested for driving under the influence November 11, according to the News Leader. Alvarez, who had a blood alcohol level of .15, almost double the legal limit, allegedly was looking for a place to dispose of the skunk, which he'd dispatched for killing his chickens.