The week in review
Worst flu outbreak: St. Anne's-Belfield cancels upper school classes December 7 with more than 80 students and staff stricken. Jack Jouett Middle School reports a similar number of absences, reports Samantha Koon in the Daily Progress.
Worst redlight to run: Hope Herndon, 22, is charged with DUI and red-light running December 9 when she slams her 2002 Hyundai into a police cruiser on Elliott Avenue, which then strikes a fire hydrant, according to a release.
Worst fire: A house on Monacan Trail is destroyed December 5 when the chimney flue catches on fire, NBC29 reports.
Most charges: Gregory Allen Rosson, 21, is arrested December 9 at the Supertest on Rockfish Gap Turnpike and charged with seven counts related to assaulting police officers– and public intoxication, according to a release. Rosson is the same guy who crashed a car into the Crozet Library in December 2009.
Most eye-popping statistics: The U.S. Attorney's office for the Western District collects over $1 billion in fines and criminal and civil restitution during 2012, according to a release. More chilling, nearly $200 million comes from criminal and civil forfeitures.
Most like double-secret probation: The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools puts UVA on warning for one year for concerns about its governance as a result of the summer's Board of Visitors debacle.
Latest news from Tom Perriello: The name of the former 5th District congressman was floated as a possible Democratic gubernatorial candidate, but he squashed that buzz December 5, saying he didn't feel called to serve at this time.
Latest David Toscano title: The Charlottesville delegate and House minority leader is named campaign co-chair for Terry McAuliffe's gubernatorial bid, Ed Sykes reports for NBC29.
Latest UVA protest: Nearly 200 people gather at the Rotunda December 4 to rally against hate crimes, sparked by an incident in mid-November in which a student was called names and hit in the face, Ted Strong reports in the Progress. The crowd includes a student who's been called the n-word, and a drag queen.
Latest judicial opening: Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court Judge Dwight Johnson, 64, says he's stepping down January 31, according to Koon in the DP. Johnson, who once sentenced parents who served alcohol to teens to eight years in prison, has been on the bench since 2000. Earlier, Judge Waugh Crigler's announced he's retiring from the federal court at the end of his term in September 2013.
Latest in panhandling ordinance lawsuit: Attorney Jeff Fogel challenges Charlottesville's restrictions on the Downtown Mall before the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals December 5, the Progress reports. The five homeless men's lawsuit was dismissed last year by Judge Norman Moon in U.S. District Court.
Newest policing mode: Albemarle County Police switch to geo-policing– dividing the county into two districts with officers assigned to either the Jefferson or Blue Ridge district.
Best news for West Main developers: City Council okays December 3 a special use permit for the eight-story Plaza on West Main, a Coran Capshaw-associated project under Riverbend Managment and Ambling University Development Group, Charlottesville Tomorrow reports. The 219-unit project was rejected by the Board of Architectural Review in October.
Biggest poacher: Charles Kennedy, 56, of Damascus, is sentenced December 5 in Roanoke federal court to 15 days in prison for illegally harvesting 15 pounds of ginseng root from along the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Roanoke Times reports. He's also ordered to pay the National Park Service $1,500 in restitution and is banned from the parkway for a year.
Worst Grinch I: 8 to 12 Christmas trees are stolen from the Rockfish Valley Community Center, which was selling them as a fundraiser, the Nelson County Times reports.
Worst Grinch II: UVA's Housing and Residence Life office demands that Christmas trees be removed from outside Lawn rooms and threatens to charge students who don't do so, the Cav Daily reports. After two weeks of hostilities, Housing allows a compromise spot for the trees.