4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review
Worst spate: A man tries to phone-in a robbery at SunTrust bank on Pantops July 8, threatening to blow up a bomb– later found to be faux– if employees didn't put cash outside the building. No money was taken. And three men– one gun-wielding– rob the Kangaroo Express Gas Station on East Rio late July 9.
Most mum: Henry Jerome Cutchin, 54, is stabbed on his hand and back July 10 on Commonwealth Drive, and refuses to disclose the name of his assailant.
Latest crime trends: Violent crimes are down, but burglaries are up in Charlottesville and Albemarle, Rob Seal reports in the Daily Progress.
Greenest city: Charlottesville makes Blue Ridge Outdoors' top five cities in the South, ranking number two for improving the environment.
Greenest roof: The Albemarle County Office Building celebrates its sedum-covered roof's first anniversary with most of the plants still alive.
Most tragic fall: Harvard med student and 2003 UVA grad David Magoon, 24, dies July 7 climbing down from the roof of his Back Bay apartment building, according to the Boston Globe.
Most overvalued: Charlottesville single-family housing by 29 percent, according to Global Insight, which recently conducted a national study. Actually, Washington is even more overvalued at 39 percent, while Naples, Florida, is overvalued at a whopping 102.6 percent, Christina Tkacik reports in the Progress.
Largest inventory: Central Virginia has nearly twice as many houses on the market– 2,669– as it did a year ago, and condo sales explode, according the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors.
Most autonomous: UVA gets the highest level of autonomy from the state July 1, thanks to the Higher Education Restructuring Act, the Cavalier Daily reports. That means, among other things, new hires are university staff and not state classified employees. William & Mary and Virginia Tech also get the autonomy nod.
Suite-est spot: Williams Mullen law firm, Gray Television, Red Light Management, and Allied Concrete are among those ponying up $65,000 to $75,000 a year for the next five years for a suite at the new John Paul Jones arena, Aaron Kessler reports in the DP.
Most scathing: In a letter to the DP editor, UVA union organizer Jan Cornell takes to task millionaire Senator George Allen for accepting a $3,500 pay raise while voting against increasing the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour.
Widest gender gap: Women make up 58 percent of college enrollees and are outperforming the dwindling pool of males who do attend college, the New York Times reports.
Best college essay questions: UVA's "What's your favorite word, and why?" is mentioned in a Washington Post article that cites this classic from the University of Pennsylvania: "You have just completed your 300-page autobiography. Please submit page 217."
Saddest tears for a clown: Street performer Carl Carter, a rubber-chicken-wielding, wing-wearing fixture on the Downtown Mall until a couple of years ago, reportedly died recently in Tennessee, according to cvillenews.com.
Best review: The Washington Post calls Charlottesville resident Matthew Jones "a writer worth meeting" in its review of his latest literary noir, Boot Tracks.
Biggest aargh: The Johnny Depp-swaggering Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest rakes in $132 million, the biggest opening weekend ever.
Best cause for state pride: Virginian Sonya Thomas kicks derrie`re in the women's category in Nathan's hot dog-eating contest at Coney Island July 4.
Best sign of a slow news week: Former American Idol contender Chris Daughtry gets a record deal that makes front-page, headline news in the July 11 Progress.
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