Not since a class full of architecture mystery writing students allegedly trespassed at an abandoned hospital has a UVA class assignment resulted in as much trouble as this one. On Monday night, April 23, at just after 11pm, police responded to reports of a gunman outside an engineering building.

Coming exactly a week after the Virginia Tech massacre, terrified students barricaded themselves in rooms; several had panic attacks so severe they required hospitalization. More than two dozen police responded with guns drawn, only to discover four serious students filming a skit for their Japanese 102 class.

The weapon? A broken plastic b.b. gun used for a scene in which one character mugs another on the streets of Tokyo. The supposed gunman, 19-year-old Christopher Allen Smith, was arrested on the scene, charged with misdemeanor brandishing a firearm and spent the next two nights in jail before being released on $10,000 bond Wednesday morning. Three other students, seen in this photo, Caroline Y. Choe, Jerry N. Hsieh, and Eric Chau. (more)

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After four years at the helm, the Indiana Pacers fired former UVA basketball standout Rick Carlisle after a four-year tenure as head coach. In a press conference yesterday, Carlisle and Pacers GM Larry Bird said the decision was a mutual one, after the team finished the 2006-07 season with a 35-47 record– the team’s worst finish since 1999.

Despite compiling a record of 181-147 and making the playoffs three times, Carlisle’s tenure in Indianapolis will most likely be remembered for having to manage unruly players. Namely, Carlisle was the coach during the November 19, 2004 brawl between his Pacers and the Detroit Pistons, which Pacers center Ron Artest escalated when he leaped into the stands and attacked Pistons fans after (more)

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Albemarle School Board Chair Sue Bell Friedman announced today she would not run for a second term representing the sprawling Rivanna District and endorsed Darden HR administrator Ronnie J. Price Sr. to succeed her.

Friedman, who was elected in 2003, cited the duties of her new job as head of the local Alzheimer’s Association chapter for not running again.

Newcomer Price’s previous political experience– aside from running for student council VP in the sixth grade– includes serving on Albemarle’s school redistricting committee in 2005 during one of the county’s frequent (more)

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First, she was expected to step into the shoes of Dan Rather and single-handedly stem the slide in evening news ratings. Now, in the wake of a backlash over her interview with presidential nominee John Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth, a story claims Katie Couric has enemies in her own newsroom. Are pundits piling on?

“The atmosphere around Couric has turned poisonous” says the National Journal. “For a while, as her ratings surfed the bottom, she enjoyed some free-floating sympathy. But now the tone has shifted into the kind of popular animus normally reserved for corrupt public officials.”

It’s a Fox News column that reports that some of Couric’s bad PR is coming from CBS insiders, and suspects one major source is veteran journalist and temporary Rather replacement Bob Schieffer, unhappy with his dwindling airtime on CBS Evening News.

A CBS news blog called Couric & Co. responded to Couric criticism after the Edwards interview. However, it has yet to address any rumors of tension in the newsroom.

The UVA alumna, typically praised for her compassionate interview style (most recently on display at Virginia Tech), was publicly criticized for “grilling” the Edwardses in late March.

Ironically, Couric became a spokeswoman for cancer awareness when her husband died of cancer in 1998. Three years later, her sister and former Charlottesville Senator Emily Couric died from cancer, inspiring the newswoman to help fund UVA’s planned Emily Couric Clinical Cancer Center.

A tidal wave of criticism surfaced online after the Couric-Edwards interview, with websites like the Drudge Report and the Huffington Post among others jumping on the bandwagon.

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Moving forward, driver down, alleged bomb boy returns

FROM THE NEWSROOM OF THE HOOK NEWSPAPER ON THE DOWNTOWN MALL IN CHARLOTTESVILLE VIRGINIA, THIS IS THE HOOKCAST FOR THE WEEK OF… Thursday, April 26, 2007.

ON THIS WEEK’S COVER: Moving Forward: Grieving, Rebuilding, Preventing –
As Virginia Tech students return to class this week following the deadliest shooting in American history, questions abound: how can families and friends of the victims recover? What about those who actually witnesed the carnage? What was going on in the mind of Seung-Hui Cho? What should become of Norris Hall? And will the incident lead lawmakers to push for tougher gun laws? Plus, remembering Kevin Granata, the renowned researcher and father of three who lived and worked here in Charlottesville before his fateful move to Blacksburg.

ALSO IN THIS WEEK’S ISSUE Into the Lake - James McWilliams has had (more)

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He may be a chiropractor, but Mayor David Brown isn’t backing out of politics. As first reported here yesterday, he is seeking another four-year term on City Council.

Brown formally announced his intention to seek a second term this morning at a press conference outside City Hall. Emphasizing his hope to “expand cooperation between the city, county, and university,” he hit the usual city government themes: the environment, education and kids, growth, and poverty.

Brown was joined at the press conference by former mayors Mitch Van Yahres, David Toscano, and Blake Caravati. City Councilor Kendra Hamilton, who is not seeking reelection, also attended in support of Brown. A Democrat, Brown will seek the Democratic Party’s nomination at the mass meeting on Saturday, June 2.

Brown’s announcement means that at least five people are now seeking the three open City Council seats. The other four are former planning chief Satyendra Huja, attorney Jennifer McKeever, nurse/activist Holly Edwards, and former city School Board chair Linda Seaman. All seek the Democratic nomination.

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The city will reveal the name of Charlottesville’s newest park on Friday, April 27 at noon, during an Arbor Day Celebration in which Mayor David Brown will unveil the park’s new sign. The celebration will take place at the park, which is next to the recycling center on McIntire Road. The park includes a walk/ bike path, which runs from Preston Avenue to the C’ville Coffee shopping plaza, as well as an Art-In-Place sculpture garden and lush greenery. Schenck’s Branch creek also runs through the park, and has been monitored and cleaned up by The Living Education Center for the past six years. The new park should (more)

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Nearly three years after an arson destroyed the main building of the Skyline Parkway Motor Court, the structure has been demolished. It came down on Wednesday, April 18, according to owner Phil Dulaney.

“I’ve gone from 11 buildings to eight, and I hope to get down to three soon,” says Dulaney. “It’s just a lengthy, expensive process.”

Dulaney explains that pre-demolition asbestos abatement on that one structure cost $44,000, which burned in July 2004. He had two other buildings, two of what have been dubbed “the cabins,” razed in December, and he hopes to demolish five more in the next five months.

Next on the hit list: more cabins and the abandoned whitewashed brick gift shop. What will survive are the gas station, the long-shuttered HoJo’s restaurant, and the stone-foundationed building that houses the Rockfish Gap Tourist Information Center.

Center volunteer John Wright welcomes the bulldozers. Although the collection of buildings recalls the pre-Interstate 64 era, the dilapidated conditions have shocked more than a few hikers coming off the nearby Appalachian Trail. “They call it Baghdad,” says Wright. “That’s how bad it looks.”

Dulaney, who eventually plans to invest millions redeveloping the site, says he hopes to break ground on something new in about three years.

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Embattled NBC29 anchor– er, make that former anchor– Kristina Cruise suffers the latest slight in her fall from grace for talking to the Hook– although sources familiar with Channel 29 say station management had long intended to replace her on the news at noon and 5pm to make way for new anchor Sharon Gregory.

As recently as April 19, Cruise still greeted viewers on the banner along with fellow anchors Mark O’Brien, Laura French, Shane Edinger, Steve Rappaport, and Crystal Cameron.

Today, however, it’s Gregory who is firmly lodged in the middle of the NBC29 talking heads. Cruise reportedly was suspended four days and demoted to reporter after being sent home April 9.

When contacted by the Hook last week to see how she fared after being unceremoniously demoted, Cruise said she’d ask station management if she could talk to us. Not surprisingly, that was the last we heard.

So far, her biography still identifies her as an anchor. Gregory comes from another Waterman Broadcasting station, ABC7 in Florida.
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Charlottesville Mayor David Brown will announce his plans to seek reelection to City Council tomorrow at 10am in front of City Hall.

The Democrat was elected to office four years ago with fellow newcomer Kendra Hamilton and veteran Kevin Lynch, neither of whom will run in November. Brown broke tradition by taking the mayoral mantle as a freshman councilor, and then again by taking an unprecedented— at least since the days of Frank Buck— second two-year term as mayor.

Also aspiring to the three open City Council seats are former planning chief Satyendra Huja, attorney Jennifer McKeever, nurse/activist Holly Edwards, and former city School Board chair Linda Seaman. All seek the Democratic nomination, which will be decided at the mass meeting on Saturday, June 2.
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Beginning last Wednesday, April 18, motorists crossing the Downtown Mall at 2nd and 4th streets were approached by clipboard-carrying men in yellow safety vests asking questions. No, it wasn’t the FBI. They were employees of RK & K Consulting who were conducting a three-day Mall crossing survey.

With the one-year anniversary of the trial 4th street crossing coming up, the City is collecting data to determine how the crossings are used and if the 4th street crossing should be permanent (actually, 5th street east would be the permanent home of the 4th street crossing), a decision that is expected this summer, says development watchdog Charlottesville Tomorrow. As detailed in numerous Hook stories, the Mall crossings have been a contentious issue over the years.

According to RK & K’s Brian Revels, this is the fourth survey the company has done, including one last August. He says they will survey between 300 to 400 drivers this time around and report the results to the City in about a month. (more)

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The woman who came up with the idea of sweetening sermons about global warming with free Sheryl Crow concerts apparently left the stage of the Pavilion last Thursday and burst into tears.

Laurie David, creator of Stop Global Warming, producer of the Al Gore hit, An Inconvenient Truth, and wife of Seinfeld/Curb Your Enthusiasm creator Larry David, writes “Social change is a journey” on the Huffington Post about her 20-minute talk at the “gorgeous Charlottesville pavilion” in front of “a couple of thousand slightly inebriated college men” waiting for the free Robert Randolph concert. Her buddy, Crow, was unable to make the Charlottesville stop.

“Out of the corner of my eye, I saw guys yawning. I heard kids saying, ‘Where’s the music? and I think I heard the ‘b’ word,” laments David. She rushed through her speech and off the stage before bursting into tears, “not because I took anything personally, but because it was so clear how much work is still to be done.” (more)

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VDOT reopened the VDOT Workers Memorial overlook along Interstate 64 near Afton last night, and workers are on the scene this morning erecting a metal guardrail.

According to a worker at the site, the guardrail is a temporary fix after Monday morning’s tractor-trailer accident. An account published this morning in the Daily Progress, say Joplin, Missouri-based trucker Carolyn Huff, 44, mistook the scenic overlook for the rest area less than a mile downhill.

As the demolished stone wall indicates, Huff and her son, a passenger in the truck, narrowly avoided plummeting down the steep embankment below the overlook. The two were injured and trapped, and Huff was charged with failing to maintain control of her rig. And VDOT may soon be talking to her employer’s insurance company, according to VDOT spokesperson Lou Hatter.

Contractor for the temporary repairs is Charlottesville-based Makco Inc. which, Hatter says, holds the district-wide contract for guardrail repairs.

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Albemarle Commonwealth’s Attorney Jim Camblos tells the Hook that the trial of the two juveniles accused of orchestrating a bomb hoax at Brownsville Elementary and Henley Middle schools will begin Wednesday, May 9. But Camblos offered few details about where the two students are currently, and what they are and aren’t allowed to do between now and the trial.

“I truly wish I could tell you more,” he says, “but we’re greatly restricted in what we can talk about because these are juveniles. The law is very, very clear that we can’t talk about it.”

The two Henley students have been charged with (more)

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We saw these buses parked downtown in anticipation of tonight’s free Robert Randolph concert, but- alas- Sheryl Crow skips Charlottesville on the bio-diesel fueled Stop Global Warming College Tour.

Environmentalist Laurie David (and wife of Seinfeld creator Larry David) founded “Stop Global Warming” and will introduce Robert Randolph– and try to get college students to switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs.

Crow, who headlines the southeastern tour, was reported by no fewer than three television stations- including NBC29, WCAV, and Roanoke’s WDBJ- as coming to Charlottesville, but we checked with the promoters, and it turns out that she had long planned to skip this stop and join up with the tour at George Washington University April 22 in time for Earth Day.

But don’t you skip, since Robert Randolph and the Family Band, whose charismatic frontman was interviewed by the Hook for a cover story last year, plays tonight at 7pm at the Pavilion for free.

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In the wake of the massacre at Virginia Tech, college students across the country have joined forces to ask people the world over to wear Hokie colors tomorrow in what they are calling “Orange and Maroon Effect Day.” As reported in Tech’s student newspaper, the Collegiate Times, the grassroots movement has spread primarily through the social-networking website Facebook. According to tallies from the various Facebook groups promoting the gesture, thousands of students say they will don the orange and maroon on Friday. Others have chosen to take down pictures of themselves on their personal Facebook pages and replace them with the VT-with-black-ribbon logo.

Since Monday’s tragedy, many people have been wearing Hokie colors. Locally, most UVA students attending the Tuesday night vigil at McIntire Amphitheater traded UVA blue for Tech maroon. That same night, all members of Major League Baseball’s Washington Nationals wore maroon VT caps in their home game against the Atlanta Braves.

UVA merchandiser Mincer’s does not sell Hokie gear, but general manager Chris Hendricks says the demand has never been greater. “We’ve had dozens of phone calls about it,” he says.

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After the Massacre, Tommy Heart Sally, Renier lawsuit

ON THIS WEEK’S COVER:
After the Massacre: The Virginia Tech shooting
It started like any other Monday on any college campus but by 10am on April 16, life would never be the same at Virginia Tech. In the aftermath of Monday’s killing spree that left 33 dead and made history as the worst mass shooting in modern American history, friends and family of the victims are not alone in their grief and confusion. This week, the Hook has full coverage of the tragedy from the immediate aftermath to its ripple effect here in Charlottesville, home to 1,500 Tech alumni, and at UVA, where several victims had close ties. Could such a thing happen here?
ALSO IN THIS WEEK’S ISSUE (more)

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Thousands of students and community members flocked to UVA’s McIntire amphitheater Tuesday night for a candlelight vigil to remember those affected by the tragedy at Virginia Tech. Student organizers handed out single white candles, and the crowd members helped each other pass the flame around. Many in the crowd were wearing maroon and orange, and the UVA flag hung next to Virginia Tech’s on the stage backdrop.

The ceremony began with several student speakers, who talked about the surreal closeness of this tragedy, and how powerful the community’s show of solidarity has been. President John Casteen also spoke about the difficulty of emotionally processing such a tragedy. He remembered four Tech victims who had direct ties to the University community.

Liviu Lebrescu, the Holocaust-surviving Tech Engineering professor now hailed as a hero for saving the lives of his students, (more)

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Charlottesville Police have blocked off the stretch of University Avenue between Emmet Street and Rugby Avenue since early this morning when a tree fell on power lines, and destroyed a utility pole.

“You crazy?” a pedestrian queried the Hook photographer. “That’s live,” he said, pointing to the scattered electrical equipment. “The cop down there said stay the hell away from that. See you at the hospital.”

While that couldn’t be independently confirmed this morning around 8:30am, prior to the arrival of electrical crews, Charlottesville Police Sergeant Richard Hudson confirmed by 11am that Virginia Power crews had arrived to fix the damage.

“It’s gonna be an all-day affair,” said Hudson.

Hudson said he (more)

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Dispatches over the New River Valley police scanner indicate there have been multiple shootings this morning on the campus of Virginia Tech.

The Associated Press reports that a shooting at the school’s West Ambler Johntson dormitory has killed one and wounded another. Several others were injured in the “mayhem” that ensued when students tried to exit the building. Virginia Tech officials say the gunman is still on the loose, classes have been canceled, nobody can exit or enter the campus, and people on campus are instructed to stay away from windows.

This is the second time this academic year that Virginia Tech has had a manhunt for a gunman take place on its campus. Blacksburg resident William Morva shot and killed a police officer and a hospital orderly while trying to escape from police custody in August.

11:28am update: Virginia Tech now confirms a second shooting with “multiple victims” at Norris Hall and that one alleged shooter is in police custody. The AP reports there are now 7-8 casualties.

11:51am update: All students, faculty and staff are now being released from campus with everybody on the Burruss Hall side of the Drillfield leaving now and all those on the War Memorial Hall side leaving at 12:30pm.

12:30pm update: The Roanoke Times reports that Virginia Tech police chief Wendell Flinchum says there are at least 20 fatalities from this morning’s incidents.

2:38pm update: CNN reports the death toll has risen to 31– including the person police believe to be the lone gunman in today’s incidents– and that there are 29 more wounded.

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Gloria Estefan might sing “The Rhythm is Going to Get You,” but Joseph Takahashi actually proves it. And now he’s coming to UVA! A day after prez John Casteen announced a $100 million gift from newspaper magnate Frank Batten Sr. to create a new school for leadership and public policy, UVA announced the hiring of Takahashi, a cellular and molecular biologist and one of the world’s preeminent biological clock researchers. He will arrive in Charlottesville (more)

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Starting next month, the Paramount Theater will host its first-ever summer season, and yesterday it revealed that among the big stars who will tread the boards in the coming months are multi-platinum rocker Peter Frampton (August 22) and world-renowned poet Maya Angelou (August 30). Other familiar names include jazz pioneer Herbie Hancock (May 29), comedian D.L. Hughley (June 1), bluegrass legend Doc Watson (July 6), and country star Terri Clark (August 23).

Though shows at the Paramount are open to the public, (more)

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In a November cover story, the Hook wondered if Charlottesville was becoming the “Little Apple” due to its culture, fine dining, and diversity. With a plethora of studios already around town, Charlottesville is set to welcome another bit of culture: a branch of the Artisans Center of Virginia.

“We are interested in meeting the needs of some Artisans [in Charlottesville] and meeting the needs of the Charlottesville community,” says Center director Michael Dowell. “While researching possible new locations, I got a call from a group of potters in Charlottesville looking for studio space and a venue to hone their craft in ceramics.”

He says the new location could reach out (more)

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University of Virginia President John Casteen announced today that retired media mogul Frank Batten, Sr. has donated $100 million– the largest gift in UVA’s history– to establish the Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy.

The school will offer both undergraduate and graduate programs, work in conjunction with other UVA schools and departments, and, according to Casteen, “cultivate future generations of leaders dedicated to the common good.” It is the first new school UVA has created since establishing the Darden Graduate School of Business in 1954.

“There’s an urgent need to develop a new generation of entrepreneurial leaders who can bring about transformational change,” Batten says in a UVA press release. “Talented public leaders are needed from a range of professional backgrounds, including law, medicine, business administration and the social sciences. It is critical to get younger people excited (more)

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The unmistakable face of the American stock market, whose every word investors hung on through the turbulent and high-flying 1990s (and later hung on their walls, thanks to a local artist), will be at Monticello tomorrow to accept the Thomas Jefferson Foundation’s first-ever Medal in Citizen Leadership.

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greespan, 81, was appointed in 1987 by Ronald Reagan and served until he retired last year. Unlike the Chairmen that proceeded (Paul A.Volker) and followed (Ben Bernanke) him, Greenspan became as much a celebrity as a government economist. That had alot to do with the Internet boom in the mid-90s, during which, thanks in large part to creation of online trading, millions of Americans began playing the market and looking to Greenspan for signs of where it was headed week-to-week.

In fact, Greenspan’s visage became so iconic that when UVA art student Erin Crowe painted a series of unauthorized portraits of the Fed chairman in 2003-2004 (see photo left), as part of a local arts festival with a money theme, they sold faster than early shares of Google. (more)

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