4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review
Most hailish weather: Chunks of ice pummel Greene County, and a possible lightning strike enflames a house at 971 Grayson Lane in Redfields June 16.
Worst loss to movie magic: UVA alum/special effects genius Stan Winston, 62, who won visual effects Oscars for Aliens, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and Jurassic Park, dies June 15 in his Malibu home after a long illness.
Worst week for self-inflicted wounds: A man found staggering down the sidewalk near Buford Middle School is taken to UVA Medical Center with a serious wound June 10 that police later say they believe was self inflicted. And Afton Motor Lodge resident David Eddy, 42, is airlifted to the hospital June 11 after he accidentally shoots himself in the chest.
Worst spots to speed: Elliot Avenue, Brandywine Drive and Franklin Street now that City Council approves 3-2 to hit speeders with an additional $200 fine June 16.
Worst vandalism: A hole is punched in the gas tank of a tractor trailer parked at Woodbrook Shopping Center on U.S. 29 June 16, requiring clean up of 200 gallons of diesel fuel, NBC29 reports.
Whitest: Elementary students in Albemarle County's gifted program are 85 percent white, 9 percent Asian, 4 percent African American and 1 percent Hispanic. In middle schools, 87.5 percent of the gifted students are white.
Biggest payout: UVA's Board of Visitors ups this year's spending of its $3.2 billion endowment to five percent, generating an additional $16 million.
Biggest benefactors: John and Tussi Kluge give 16 Aboriginal paintings from their private collection valued at $1.3 million to UVA's Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection.
Biggest induction: UVA coach Debbie Ryan joins the Women's College Basketball Hall of Fame June 14 in Knoxville.
Largest enrollment: Piedmont Virginia Community College reports 4,484 students enrolled this past spring, 1.7 percent higher than a year ago.
Deepest cuts: VDOT slices road improvements 44 percent in its six-year plan, including improvements to U.S. 29 north, in the area where teen Sydney Aichs recently was killed. Charlottesville Tomorrow details the cuts.
Best way to become part of the solution: On his CvilleDave blog, Mayor Dave Norris encourages citizens to apply for positions on eight local boards and commissions, including the Planning Commission, Charlottesville Albemarle Regional Transportation Plan Committee, and PVCC Board.
Best way to see free flicks: Charlottesville parks and rec screens locally filmed Evan Almighty at twilight June 21 in Washington Park, Akeelah and the Bee July 12 at Tonsler Park and E.T. August 9 at Meade Park.
Newest med school dean: Dr. Stephen DeKosky comes from the University of Pittsburgh's Alzheimer's Disease Research Center to lead the University of Virginia's Medical School.
Most targeted marketing: Democratic Congressional candidate Tom Perriello runs ads on Christian radio touting his own faith-based creds.
Most tickets issued during a secondary offense: Albemarle police write 860 summonses between May 18-June 1, 32 for seatbelt violations as part of the national Click-It-or-Ticket safety campaign, even though in Virginia, drivers not wearing a seatbelt cannot be pulled for that offense.
Best way to save gas: Leonard Sandridge, UVA chief operating officer and executive VP, encourages flexible hours, carpooling, four-day, 10-hour work weeks, and telecommuting for university employees whose jobs allow that sort of flexibility.
Best reason for a toast: UVA researcher Bankole Johnson, already the toast of the town, gets his due in U.S. News and World Report. "Alcohol is a treatable disease," the weekly quotes Johnson, chairman of psychiatry and neurobehavioral sciences at the university. A 14-week clinical trial showed the drug topiramate, already in use to treat seizures and migraines, reduced the craving for booze in 371 diagnosed alcoholics.
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