The week in review
Worst place to need to go to the bathroom: Fridays After Five. The city drops public restrooms from a $1.5-million renovation of the Downtown Recreation Center because of cost, reports Jake Mooney in the Daily Progress.
Best news for Port-A-John purveyors: Demand will continue at Fridays After Five on the east end of the Downtown Mall.
Worst news for James River fishermen: The Virginia Health Department issues a warning for those fishing the river in Richmond and to the east to avoid blue catfish and eat only two meals per month of carp, both of which are tainted with excessive PCBs.
Best news for local James River fisherman: The PBC-laden fish aren't in Albemarle County's stretch of the James.
Worst party out of bounds: Three stabbings occur at a Gordonsville party early July 7, and "rambunctious" family members got so "out of hand" that UVA Medical Center's emergency room had to be locked down, according to a Reed Williams story in the Progress.
Best place to become a United States citizen: Monticello, where 82 people become Americans at the 40th Independence Day Celebration and Naturalization Ceremony on July 4.
Worst Fourth of July news: Ezequiel Garrido Silva, 34, drowns at Chris Greene Lake.
Best 20th anniversary: John Whitehead's Rutherford Institute celebrates two decades of tackling religious freedom and civil liberties cases.
Worst sticker shock for city residents: It now costs another 20 cents to get rid of that 32-gallon bag of garbage.
Worst birthday party: Three children are injured at an apartment complex when a lattice-like concrete partition crashes onto them, leaving a three-year-old girl in critical condition, reports the Progress.
Best news for renters: The Progress reports 10 new apartment complexes are under way.
Worst news for renters: That won't make it any easier to buy a house in the pricey Charlottesville/Albemarle housing market.
Best indication that political office isn't for the non-rich: Even folksy Congressman Virgil Goode may be a millionaire, according to this year's Congressional financial disclosures.
Worst portent for the Darden and UVA Patent Foundation business incubators: The University of Southern California shuts down its technology business incubators after six years, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Best news for Jefferson School supporters: The Virginia Foundation for the Humanities awarded a $5,500 grant to Preservation Piedmont for a Jefferson School Oral History Project.
Worst surprise for vegetarians who eat McDonald's French fries: Beef is one of the "natural flavors" in the fries.
Worst Bible Belt brawl: The News & Advance reports that the Rev. Antoine Edwards and his wife are arrested for assault at White Rock Baptist Church in Lynchburg.
Best acknowledgement of the seriousness of the drought: The Albemarle Board of Supervisors refuses to lift the water emergency declaration despite an Albemarle County Service Authority request to revoke it.
Worst break for a public housing activist: Joy Johnson could face eviction from Westhaven after her son is arrested with crack cocaine, pot, and a gun.
Best bet for would-be beauty queens: August 17 at the Charlottesville Performing Arts Center, the Miss Albemarle County Fair Pageant 2002. Be therrrre...
Best bet for The Waltons fans: Former Waltons cast members Jon Walmsley (Jason Walton), Lisa Harrison (Jason's girlfriend), Kami Cotler (Elizabeth Walton), and Mary Beth McDonough (Erin Walton) will be signing autographs at the Doubletree from 1 to 3pm Saturday, July 13.
Worst career move by a 2001 UVA graduate: Safia Rawoot is sentenced to a year in jail for passing a key to ex-boyfriend and convicted rapist Timothy Gerald Eads, who used the key to unlock his handcuffs and temporarily escape custody, Adrienne Schwisow reports in the Progress.