4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review
Most flush: Charlottesville ends fiscal year 2009 with a $1.7 million surplus, which its staff recommends putting into capital improvement projects, and department expenditures were down more than $5 million, Rachana Dixit reports in the Daily Progress.
Most strapped: The city expects a $2.1 million deficit by the end of fiscal year 2010 in June.
Most sunshine: UVA Medical Center is posting doctors' business relationships online, Ted Strong reports in the DP.
Most alleged hooking: Charttesville Police arrest 10 people– nine women and one man– between November 1 and 4 for allegedly posting ads on public Internet sites offering sex for money.
Most postal: Mail center employees picket November 15 outside the post office on U.S. 29 to protest the possible closure of the mail processing center on Airport Road. Brian McNeill has the story in the Progress.
Biggest negligence award: A jury awards $5.25 million November 13 to the family of Sydney Aichs, the 16-year-old Albemarle High student who was killed May 9, 2008, when a truck driven by Kenneth Barbour ran a red light on U.S. 29 at Forest Lakes. Barbour pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and reckless driving and is serving a two-year active sentence. Don B Swisher Trucking Corporation and McCann Delivery Services are also defendants in the civil suit.
Biggest international bribery case: Fluvanna man Charles Paul Edward Jumet pleads guilty November 13 to paying off Panamanian officials to obtain a maritime contract in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and to making a false statement. He faces sentencing February 12.
Longest abduction sentence: Kevin Stone gets six years in jail for kidnapping his wife from the Dairy Queen in Crozet August 16, 2008, with the remainder for his 28-year sentence suspended, NBC29 reports.
Most birds: Staunton woman Phyllis Jannisch, 40, is charged with animal abuse after police are called to her house because of the stench and find 150 birds, seven cats and a dog, as well as bird carcasses, urine, and feces throughout the house, which authorities condemn, NBC29 reports.
Latest Waynesboro multiplex plans: Visulite owner Adam Greenbaum is no longer part of the 10-screen theater on Lew Dewitt Boulevard near Lowe's that he announced in September, according to the News Virginian, and developer Brett Hayes plans to proceed with an eight-screen plex with 3-D theaters.
Latest layoffs in Waynesboro: Thirty-seven employees at an Ntelos headquarters are shown the door November 10 and another 11 are offered early retirement. Mohawk Industries has laid off 113 people this year and will close its plant in December. And Invista stopped manufacturing nylon fiber there in December 2008.
Best news for those who still have money: Waynesboro City Council votes to allow a Porsche dealership in a vacant Grand Furniture building on West Main Street, and Weldon and Phyllis Scrogham plan to relocate their G&W Motorwerkes from Staunton, the News Virginian reports.
Latest member of the 700 club: UVA women's basketball coach Debbie Ryan logs in her 700th win November 13 in the season opener against Manhattan.
Best Miller Center score: Former President George W. Bush chooses UVA to compile an oral history of his presidency at the Miller Center, whose Oral History Project has documented the terms of Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.
Next best Miller Center score: Actor Richard Dreyfus discusses the importance of civics at a November 16 forum.
Best national exposure for a semi-local burger: David Letterman mentions the "Chubby Melt" at Moss Creek Cafe in Fishersville on his November 9 show, the News Virginian reports. The burger is served with grilled onions and mushrooms between two grilled cheese sandwiches.
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