As quarterback for the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons, Michael Vick has seen his share of screaming crowds, but none like the one he saw this afternoon. After weeks of media reports about his part in an alleged dogfighting ring, the former Virginia Tech standout pled “not guilty” in federal court in Richmond and faced hundreds of animal rights protesters who came to express their anger about Vick’s alleged activities.

The Norfolk-based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals had organized most of the protesters, some of whom were camped out across the street from the courthouse as early as 7am.

“This doesn’t begin or end with Michael Vick,” said PETA youth outreach manager Caleb Wheeldon. “It’s about 40,000 people who fight dogs in this country. This is a unique opportunity for us to speak for the dogs.”

That speech came in the form of (more)

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Not content with four channels– CBS, ABC, Fox and the nostalgia-based MyC’villeTV– the Gray Television-owned Newsplex plans to launch a 24-7 weather channel in mid-August.

The new channel “will mirror what you see on the Weather Channel with a lot more regional and local news,” says Roger Burchett, Newsplex general manager. National and international weather will cover hot spots favored by traveling Charlottesvillians, like New York, London, and even Atlanta, where Gray Television is headquartered.

Burchett promises frequent local weather on the twos or on the fours– the exact intervals TBD– but there will be catchy slogans to help remember when to catch local weather.

Officially named the CBS19 News Weather Authority, the new channel will have local news updates and constant crawls with news and sports.

Burchett doesn’t know what number the new station will occupy, but he says (more)

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After the Hook revealed that its editors had received a letter from alleged hold-up man Jeffrey Alan Adams, in which he appears to apologize for attempting to rob the Union Bank & Trust on the Downtown Mall June 1, CBS19 News showed up in the Hook’s editorial office to film a segment for their June 27 evening broadcast.

“It was just too interesting of a story to pass up,” said CBS19 reporter Philip Stewart, who discovered the story on the Hook’s new blog.

The segment featured choice selections from Adams’ letter, including commentary from the Hook’s Dave McNair, and elicited a few chuckles from Stewart and evening anchor Dan Schutte.

“We don’t know if the letters are going to be subpoenaed or how that plays into his defense or prosecution,” McNair told CBS19. “Right now it’s still sort of a mystery to us.” (more)

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The Daily Progress offered a puzzling ending to this morning’s story about the growing local presence of Wal-Mart: a Darden’s prof’s statement that the Arkansas empire might actually help local businesses. Unfortunately, the Progress reporter and editors, apparently so tickled by the provocative quotation, immediately terminated the story without explaining how Wal-Mart helps nearby businesses.

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Harrisonburg-based public TV station WVPT, which fights a never-ending battle with WCHV for Charlottesville’s hearts and minds (and money), announced yesterday that it was dropping several long-time shows, including “Pop Quiz,” to remedy a fiscal crisis. This was first reported by The New Dominion; later by the Daily Progress. (Monticello High won this year’s “Pop Quiz” championship.)

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If the Dave Matthews Band was hoping to demonstrate how in touch they are to their hometown by launching a “Charlottesville” page on their website, they just proved the strength of that connection. Days after we first reported that the band had lifted much of the text for the webpage from the Hook’s own Vijith Assar, the famous quintet responded by expunging the words.

Now Assar’s original snappy descriptions of local bands– which first ran in the 2005 Annual Manual– have either been deleted or replaced by slightly lengthier summations. For example, American Dumpster went from being “Junk rock (That’s not derogatory)” to “as the name suggests, is a recycling movement for ideas. Their original songs combine elements of ancient and modern folk songs with the greatest aspects of country, blues, and rock.”

While DMB’s Red Light Management had not returned calls for comment at the time of this post, Assar says, “I would imagine that they’re preparing to reciprocate, and I look forward to supplying some of DMB’s copyrighted material to our readers on the Hook’s website.”

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