4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review

Published online 9:00am Thursday Feb 4th, 2010
and in print issue #0905 dated Thursday Feb 4th, 2010

Heaviest precip: Snowfall January 30, while mild compared to December's "Snowpocalypse," still registers a hefty 10.5 inches, and that follows flooding rains January 24-25. More wet stuff predicted for February 5-6.

Heftiest war chest: U.S. Representative Tom Perriello reports $1.14 million in campaign contributions, far exceeding the cash on hand of his closest Republican challenger, according to Brian McNeill in the Progress. Real estate developer Jim McKelvey leads the GOP field of seven with the check he wrote to his campaign for a $500K loan, and ends the reporting period with $484,123 on hand. Ivy real estate investor Laurence Verga also self-funded his campaign with $276,579 in contributions and loans. State Senator Robert Hurt has collected the most individual donors and ends the year with $258,975 on hand.

Best call for Hurt: Even though it's against Virginia law for state lawmakers to raise campaign funds while the General Assembly is in session, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli rules that Hurt can raise money because he's running for a federal seat.

Saddest loss: Former Greene County Sheriff William Morris fatally shoots himself January 28 because of tinnitus.

Biggest changing of the guard: City manager Gary O'Connell announces he'll step down from running Charlottesville to take over the Albemarle County Service Authority starting March 1.

Most alarming trend: Fourth quarter 2009 Charlottesville foreclosures increase 57 percent over the already-high first quarter, according to real estate blogger Jim Duncan's analysis of Realtytrac.

Latest sign your house is worth less: Residential assessments in Albemarle drop an average 3.96 percent for 2010, according to a County release. Charlottesville residential assessments slide 2.19 percent, the first time decline ever, according to a City release.

Biggest spending on housing: City Council voted to make 15 percent of the City's housing "affordable," and that means spending about $26 million over the next 15 years, according to a Rachana Dixit story in the Progress.

Latest Miss America: Miss Virginia, Caressa Cameron, 22, wins the beauty pageant January 30 in Las Vegas. The Virginia Commonwealth student is from Fredericksburg and wants to be a TV news anchor.

Most tech-savvy supe: Something called ESchool News proclaims Albemarle School Superintendent Pam Moran one of the 10 tech savviest school system heads in the country.

Most bipartisan support: Both houses of Virginia's General Assembly pass a bill to increase the speed limit on rural interstates to 70mph, part of Governor Bob McDonnell's transportation plan to "get Virginians to their destinations a little quicker each day," the Newsplex reports.

Worst place to get caught drinking underage: Virginia Tech. The Blacksburg institution decides to tell mommy and daddy. The previous policy required a second offense.

Worst person to have angry with mass quantities of snow predicted: The contractor who dug Scottsville out of the Snowpocalypse, Tony Herndon, claims the town didn't pay his $14,000 bill, NBC29 reports. The town council is scheduled to discuss the bill February 8– but the next big storm is predicted for February 5.

Best frozen fundraiser: Shirtless Albemarle police officers go tubing down Wintergreen Mountain January 31 at an event aptly named "Copsicles" and raise $2,000 for the Special Olympics.

Best new snow word: "Stucksters," coined by regular Hook online commenter Gasbag Self-Ordained Expert about those who are automotively ill equipped but still try to drive in the snow.

Best plan in the face of weather disaster from a professional: "I buy every loaf of bread and all the milk I can find– and then sell them to my neighbors," offers UVA climatologist Jerry Stenger.