4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review

Least surprising conclusion: Two-hour parking spaces downtown are in high demand, a survey by the Raleigh, North Carolina, firm Martin Alexiou Bryson determines, and 20 percent of the parkers overstay the two-hour limit, Rachana Dixit reports in the Daily Progress. 

Most suspicious envelope: Suspicious writing and an "unidentified density" prompt the shut down of UVA's Special Materials and Handling facility on Edgemont Road October 28 from noon to 7:30pm. UVA police, HAZMAT, and bomb techs determine the package contained "political writing," the Progress reports, but does not elaborate further.

Deadliest wildlife: Bambis, which are out in force: rutting, fleeing hunters, and causing a spike in automobile collisions as they do every November. According to the Highway Loss Data Institute, 41 Virginians have died over the past 15 years in crashes with animals, with deer most frequently the culprits.

Worst impediment to Wal-Mart shoppers: A phoned in bomb threat evacuates the store on U.S. 29 north October 29

Latest school employee charged with having sex with a student: Staunton bus driver Paula Tomlin, 36, is indicted on four counts of taking indecent liberties with a 16-year-old boy, NBC29 reports.

Latest UVA football player arrest: Fullback RaShawn Jackson is charged with breaking and entering and grand larceny for a November 22, 2007, break-in and theft of a video game console at Cauthen Dorm. He's free on bond, still on the team, and the fifth player to be arrested this year, according to NBC29.

Latest in the Greene County sex-with-football-players scandal:Two William Monroe High players are charged in a September hazing incident– one with two counts of sexual assault and the other with two counts of assault and battery– although it's not clear how that's connected with the arrest of 39-year-old Tammy Harlow, who's charged with having sex with three students on the team.

Latest Charlottesville dis: The News & Advance in Lynchburg complains "Nothing But Excuses from Charlottesville" in an October 30 editorial, joining its Chamber of Commerce in castigating its neighbor to the north for not building a U.S. 29 bypass.

Best way to curb binge drinking: With drugs. UVA researchers under Bankole Johnson plan to try the drug Zofran on 300 college-age adults to slow their penchant for shots, according to Aaron Lee in the Progress.

Best news for authors: Google settles a class-action copyright infringement suit with the Association of American Publishers and Authors Guild for its Google Book Search, which scans university library collections. UVA, one of Google's academic partners, has not opined on the $125 million decision, the Cavalier Daily reports.

Best project for law students: The Innocence Project Clinic, in which 12 UVA students will review death penalty cases with an eye to overturn wrongful convictions. Tasha Kates has the story in the DP.

Most adrenal:  Winners of the fifth Adrenaline Film Project are announced November 1 at Culbreth, 72 hours after the movie making began. They Will Come for You (Brendon Marotta, David Webster, Una Webster) wins the jury award, Girl-Powered (Ashley Chipman, Alex Campbell, Jocelyn Spaar) is the audience award winner, and Paper or Plastic (Bernard Hankins, Conor Clark, Jonathan Sharp) takes the mentors award.

Best rumor dispelled: Political pundit Larry Sabato jokes that Republicans should stock up on liquor because the liquor stores are closed on Election Day. DP reporter Brian McNeill reassures readers that ABC store are open November 4.

Biggest Obama block: Sixty percent of the 3 million grade schoolers who vote in the 2008 Mock Election October 30 pick Barack Obama, while 36 percent go for John McCain. 

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