4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review

Published online 7:00am Thursday Jul 6th, 2006
and in print issue #0527 dated Thursday Jul 6th, 2006

Most vicious: A brief storm July 2 takes out trees and electricity in the Jefferson Park Avenue area.

Wettest: Heavy rains close nearly two dozen Albemarle roads June 27, but the Scottsville levee holds.

Best election sniping: Democratic candidate Jim Webb takes on incumbent Senator George Allen when Allen notes Webb's opposition to the flag-burning amendment. "George Felix Allen Jr." sat out the Vietnam War "playing cowboy at a dude ranch in Nevada," fires back Webb, who commanded a Marine rifle company in Vietnam.

Best commentary on the contretemps: "Webb's team is determined that Webb will not be Swift-Boated," says Larry Sabato in an AP account.

Closest constitutional call: The U.S. Senate falls one vote short of the two-thirds majority needed to approve a constitutional amendment to ban flag burning– a practice that the Supreme Court has ruled is protected speech under the First Amendment.

Most credible call for constitution reform: In the new issue of Virginia Quarterly Review, Sabato proposes a state lottery for the first primaries and caucuses to limit the four-year politico camp-out in New Hampshire and Iowa.

Hottest school? Newsweek names UVA the hottest school for fitness because 94 percent of its students engage in some sort of physical activity.

Worst amen: After June 11 church services at Brunswick Correctional Center, officers enter the room, pull out rubber gloves, and strip-search inmates who attended the service, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports.

Second-lowest unemployment rate: The Charlottesville area at 2.2 percent in May, just behind Northern Virginia at 2.1 percent. The state's overall unemployment rate of 2.9 percent is the lowest in five years.

Most intriguing help-wanted ad: A "director of first impressions" is being sought by the Charlottesville Radio Group to handle receptionist responsibilities.

Worst breakdown: The I-64 rest stop below Afton Mountain is closed– again– because of problems with its plumbing, a nearly unique mineral oil waste-treatment system. Desperate travelers must use portable toilets until VDOT fixes the bathrooms.

Worst exposure: An infected contractor exposes 129 National Ground Intelligence Center employees to tuberculosis earlier this year, the DP reports.

Worst face stabbing: Julio Cesar, 32, is arrested early July 1 for the malicious wounding of another man.

Biggest bust: More than 40 pot plants, 20 guns, and almost $4,000 in cash are found when a dozen officers search 1052 and 1054 Broad Axe Road after receiving a tip from an anonymous source who saw pot plants in the backyard, according to the Progress.

Best sign Tim Longo isn't always behind a desk: The police chief collars a shoplifting suspect on the Downtown Mall June 29, Lisa Ferrari at Newsplex reports.

Most litigious: Waynesboro Councilman Frank Lucente sues the News Virginian, a Media General publication, and five employees for $1 million, claiming defamation from an editorial the day before the May election that called him, on the basis of another man's remarks, a "puppet master," NBC 29 reports. The News Virginian published a correction the next day, but Lucente contends that statements mistakenly attributed to him were published with "actual malice" and "reckless disregard."

Best bonus: Goldman Sachs drops $18.7 million on CEO Henry Paulson Jr,, who's slated to become the next Treasury secretary.

Best bikin' story: Evan Almighty director Tom Shadyac buys bikes for each of the movie's approximately 300 crew members from Cycle-Recycle in Waynesboro.

Best local connection to a Bush twin: Jenna's beau, Henry Hager, will be attending the Darden School at UVA, according to the Washington Post's Reliable Source, while Jenna heads for a teaching job in Latin America at the end of the summer.