4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review
Hottest seat: Virginia Tech president Charles Steger hears people calling for his head following the report of the panel that investigated the April 16 massacre by Cho Sueng-Hui.
Deepest cut: UVA loses 7.5 percent– $11.5 million– of its state funding, due to a state budget shortfall.
Biggest donation: Supervisor David Wyant gets a $10,000 check for his reelection coffers from Duane Zobrist, whom Wyant appointed to the Planning Commission.
Most gruesome murder trial: Irvin Fountain, 28, stands trial September 4 for the April 2001 murder of eight-months pregnant Shantay Latrice Wheeler, whose body was discovered five months later in Louisa County, the Progress reports.
Most touching: Assault and battery charges against Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport executive director Barbara Hutchinson are dismissed August 28 when Judge William Barkley rules that Hutchinson legally touched U.S. Air flight attendant Maria L. Martin to show her the door after a lengthy parking ticket dispute, Bob Gibson reports in the Daily Progress. On WINA, Hutchinson's attorney, Fran Lawrence, describes the maneuver as "crowd control"; Martin says Hutchinson forcefully grabbed her arm.
Most likely to kill you: A family member or intimate partner is responsible for one in three Virginia homicides, according to a report by the Virginia Department of Health's medical examiner.
Best case in point: Phyllis Powell Spangler, 51, is charged with attempting to kill her 94-year-old mother in the Laurels of Charlottesville Nursing Center August 28, according to an NBC29 report.
Worst wrecks: Laura Cavedo, 48, and her two daughters, Elschen, 12, and Iliana Strickler, 9, die after their vehicle is rear-ended August 31 on Route 151 in Nelson County. On August 30, motorcycle driver Gabriel Ryan Dean, 25, dies on Stony Point Road.
Twenty-third fattest: The Trust for America's Health ranks adult obesity in the U.S., and Virginia (ranked 23) has plumped up since last year, when it weighed in at number 25.
Most timely: UVA prof Edmund Russell's book on the history of dogfighting, Bulldog Nation, arrives in the heat of the Michael Vick scandal and traces the blood sport back to 14th-century England.
Most astoundingly expensive nonprofit digs: The Jefferson Scholars Foundation plans a $21-million headquarters building at the corner of Maury Avenue and Clark Court, according to Brian McNeill story in the DP, and will finance the swanky structure through the sale of municipal bonds okayed by the Albemarle County Industrial Development Authority. The current 126 undergraduate Jefferson Scholars and the 33 graduates get a free ride to UVA, with tuition, books and housing covered. The Foundation is in the midst of a $100 million-fundraising campaign.
Longest barbed wire fence: Republican leaders in the General Assembly announce bills to ban illegal immigrants from public colleges and universities, which would affect a handful of PVCC students, McNeill reports in another Progress article.
Most women: Ninety-eight women enroll in Darden this fall, the largest number ever to go for the $100,000 MBA.
Latest Tommy Garrett sightings: The über publicist from Buckingham County appears in two soap opera mags: the September 4 issue of CBS Soaps in Depth and next week's issue of ABC Soaps in Depth. The magazines feature Garrett's book, So You Want to be in Pictures: The Making of Hollywood Idols. Garrett's seven counts of forgery in Buckingham are still pending from the original February 16 court date.
Widest stance: Senator Larry Craig (R-Idaho) resigns September 1 after pleading guilty to disorderly conduct following a foot-tapping incident in an airport restroom. The arresting officer said the senator stuck his leg under the stall next to him, a signal commonly associated with the desire to solicit sex. Craig argued that he merely has a "wide stance."
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