4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review

Biggest shift in the local landscape: UVA President John Casteen announces he'll step down August 1, 2010, from the position he'll have held 20 years, one of the longest tenures at a top-rated university in the country.

Nearest brush with eminent domain: City Council threatens to go after 1.5 acres needed to start the Hillsdale Connector at the new Whole Foods site on Hydraulic. Peyton Associates Partnership, owner of most of the land around Kmart, comes to an agreement with the city to sell the crucial parcel the morning before Council's June 15 meeting.

Closest to a pandemic: Two swine flu cases show up in the Charlottesville area, neither life-threatening, say Thomas Jefferson Health District officials.

Longest shot– House of Delgates: Perennial candidate Brandon Smith challenges Delegate David Toscano for his seat in the General Assembly. Two years ago, Smith ran as a write-in candidate. This time, he has gathered the signatures to appear on the ballot in November.

Least sign-ificant: Not enough legitimate signatures keep Andrew Williams' name off the City Counil ballot, even though he announced he was running as an independent May 13. Now Williams plans to run as a write-in candidate.

Latest embezzlement of a youth organization: Charlottesvillian Heather Eve Gallimore, 36, former Greene County Youth Center treasurer, pleads guilty June 15 to two felony counts of embezzling from the organization that maintains four baseball fields in Ruckersville, according to the Progress. She's in court again June 16 with hubby Norman Gallimore, a former Greene County deputy, to be arraigned on three counts of welfare fraud. 

Latest embezzlement of an all-you-can-eat establishment: Former Golden Corral associate manager Danny Lee Cox is charged with embezzling $8,000 from the local eatery, WINA reports, and faces charges in Maryland, where he was transferred, as well.

Latest Rick Turner target: The head of the local NAACP says Albemarle County school administration is too white after three Caucasion principals are named, Brandon Shulleeta reports in the Progress. Turner compares the lack of black hires to a "mindset akin to massive resistance," the movement that shut down some Virginia schools, including Charlottesville, Norfolk and Prince Edward County, in the 1950s to avoid integration. 

Most clamored for retailer since Target: Trader Joe's files for an off-premises alcohol sales license from the A.B.C., Bryan McKenzie reports in the DP. The grocery's 1080 Seminole Trail address on the application puts it in the long-awaited Albemarle Place on U.S. 29 between Hydraulic Road and Greenbrier Drive.

Most embarrassing indictment: William Wardell Webelir, a.k.a "Cosmo," age 56, is charged with burning Bad Water Bill's Barbecue Barn in 2003 in Strasburg to impress his buddies in the Pagan Motorcycle Club, according to a release, and faces up to 20 years and/or a fine of $250,000.

Best reprieve for the Hatton Ferry: Albemarle County supes agree to fund what may be the last hand-poled ferry in the country after VDOT slices the historic transport's $21,000 budget.

Best celeb sightings at Monticello: Actor Owen Wilson meets legendary chef Alice Waters while touring June 10, the Washington Post's Reliable Source reports.

Best– er, worst women-behind-bars story: Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women allegedly segregated masculine-appearing lesbians into a "butch wing" to break up prison romances, according to the Associated Press. Prison officials deny the practice, which inmates say has stopped since the AP began asking about it.

Correction 6/19/09: Danny Cox's title in the WINA story was incorrect and has been changed to associate manager.

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