The week in review
Worst week for Rush Limbaugh: The conservative talk radio host resigns October 1 from an ESPN pre-game show after commenting that Philadelphia Eagles' quarterback Donovan McNabb isn't that good, and that "the media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well." Limbaugh then finds himself part of a drug investigation for his alleged use of OxyContin.
Worst week for Siegfried and Roy: Illusionist and animal lover Roy Horn is mauled by a white tiger during the duo's Las Vegas act October 3. Horn remains in critical condition.
Best apology: Arnold Schwarzenegger admits "bad behavior" toward women. Fifteen have accused the actor/California gubernatorial candidate of groping them.
Best news for the field of Democratic presidential candidates: And then there were nine... Florida governor Bob Graham exits stage left.
Best sting: Thirty-three locals are indicted October 3 for drug distribution and sales, including 15 UVA students. Five of the arrested Wahoos are nabbed when the Jefferson Area Drug Enforcement task force sets up a fake secret society called Zeta Tau and invites the suspects to join, according to the Daily Progress.
Worst Hurricane Isabel tab: $250,000 for Charlottesville, although much of that is reimbursable through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Best Isabel benefit for watermen: The Chesapeake Bay is teeming with crabs.
Worst state dust-up: Former mayor and environmental lawyer Kay Slaughter resigns from the State Water Control Board after Republicans allege a conflict of interest.
Best news for some UVA faculty: A four percent merit raise, effective around Thanksgiving.
Worst news for in-state students: Their tuition could go up 23 percent next year.
Best news for researchers: UVA's Board of Visitors commits $60 million for research.
Second best endowment: UVA's is ranked second after Harvard's.
Best scientific discovery: Researchers in London figure out why a cookie crumbles... but not how.
Worst nicotine fits: 150 cartons of cigarettes are taken from Haney's Market on Seminole Trail some time during the evening of October 3, 200 cartons are stolen from Caul's Grocery on U.S. 29 September 30, and 10 cartons disappear from Maupin's Grocery in Free Union September 26, the Progress reports.
Worst parenting style: Samantha Lynn Morris is charged with two felony counts of child neglect when her five- and two-year-old sons, the latter naked and feces smeared, are found wandering alone in a trailer park, according to Reed Williams at the Progress.
Worst shooting oneself in the foot: Albemarle police officer David Wallace, a firearms instructor, accidentally shoots himself in the leg October 2 while unloading his service pistol at a shooting range, according to another Williams' story.
Best ticket sales: The Virginia Festival of the Book's keynote speaker, Clyde Edgerton, sells out the festival luncheon in less than 24 hours.
Best week for Disgrace: Its author, South African J.M. Coetzee, wins the Nobel Prize for literature.
Best week for Quentin Tarentino fans: The Pulp Fiction director's first movie in six years, Kill Bill, opens October 10.
Best dictionary addition: "Frog-march," as in former U.S. ambassador Joseph Wilson's desire to see Bush strategist Karl Rove "frog-marched out of the White House in handcuffs."
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