The week in review

Worst sticker shock for taxpayers: President George W. Bush asks Congress for $87 billion to pay for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Worst addition to U.S. 29 north: Another stoplight, just a hop, skip, and a jump from the Angus Road stoplight, to accommodate Best Buy.

Worst traffic impediment: VDOT is paving southbound U.S. 29 from 6pm to 6am.

Worst parole hearing for a former Jefferson Scholar: Jens Soering, who was convicted of killing former girlfriend Elizabeth Haysom's parents in 1985, is turned down for parole after serving 17 years on two life sentences, Liesel Nowak reports in the Daily Progress.

Worst unwinnable dilemma: Retired judge Herbert A. Pickford decides to pull the plug on Jason Childress, 26, who's been in a coma since a July 16 auto accident. Childress' divorced parents have been unable to agree about keeping him on life support.

Best news for PVCC employees: They're finally getting a raise after three years, the Progress' Kate Andrews reports.

Worst money loser for UVA Medical Center: Indigent care, which could put the university $28 million in the hole over the next two years, according to Claudia Pinto in the Progress.

Worst animal abuse: A dead kitten is found attached to a piece of plywood September 6 in the Stone Creek Village apartment complex.

Best monitoring: StreamWatch, a volunteer organization, is taking samples from streams in the Rivanna watershed to determine how healthy they are.

Worst decision for Ivy activists: Albemarle Circuit Court Judge Paul Peatross rules September 4 against Ivy residents who sued over a county zoning decision that would allow Faulconer Construction to build an equipment yard and office off narrow Morgantown Road.

Best news for trolley riders: City Council is expected to approve funding for a third free trolley to run between UVA and downtown, according to the Cavalier Daily.

 Best news for pushers: A survey of Charlottesville High students shows 42.5 percent smoke marijuana, compared to 29.4 percent nationally.

Worst deli break-in: Herringbone's Deli and Grill on U.S. 250 west in Crozet is hit three times in one week. Billie Antwan Spencer is arrested at 2:30am September 3 and charged with five felony charges, according to the Progress.

Worst case of homesickness: One year into serving as an Albemarle County police captain, Neil Kearns and his wife miss North Carolina so much that he asks to waive the usual two-weeks' notice so he can hurry back to High Point, Reed Williams reports in the Progress.

Best listen for Beatles fans: WFFX-FM 102.3 goes all Beatles, all the time– at least for now.

Best frat lingo: "Dirty rush." No, it's not some deadly cocktail. It means to recruit before actual rush begins. Three fraternities receive undisclosed sanctions (double secret probation?) by the Inter-Fraternity Council for taking potential rushees tubing on the James River, reports the September 3 Cav Daily.

Best makeover attempt: After a victory in the home opener, UVA coach Al Groh tells the Cavalier Daily he thinks semi-formal attire is on the way out: "I want to congratulate the fans– it appears as if we're finally trading neckties for body paint, blue cotton Oxford shirts for t-shirts, and orange ones at that."

Worst cold water on Groh: The Cav Daily reporter dubs that "wishful thinking."

Worst "4 Better" gaffe: Last week, Greene County Sgt. Rodney L. Davis, who was shot and killed August 26, was wrongly identified.

Best way for citizens to channel their grief: The Rodney L. Davis Memorial Fund, c/o Bank of America, P.O. Box 248, Stanardsville, 22973.