Published January 20, 2004, in issue 0403 of The Hook

Most surprising political maneuver: Attorney General Jerry Kilgore announces his resignation effective February 1 to focus on raising money for his run for governor and to allow the Republican-dominated General Assembly to name a successor to finish out his term.

Worst loss of a rescue hero: Paramedic Nicole Dawn Kielar, 29, dies January 10 when a medical helicopter crashes into the Potomac River.

Best news for randy singles: The state Supreme Court rules January 14 that a law criminalizing sex between unmarried people, "fornication," is unconstitutional.

Most closely-watched case: Albemarle County schools deputy director of transportation Warren Lee Carter Jr., 43, is charged with trespassing after a report that he was seen looking in a window at the Trophy Chase Apartments on Peyton Drive. Carter has been suspended with pay and is set to appear in court February 15.

Toughest panty line: Delegate Algie Howell from Norfolk wants to issue $50 fines for those whose low-rise britches expose underwear.

Best news for low-income 'Hoos: The university announces increased funding for AccessUVA, a program that offers grants to qualified students whose family-of-four income is $37,700 or less.

Best use of the jealous-husband-temporary-insanity defense: Herbert Brown, who shot his estranged wife in the hip June 29 in front of a Crozet cleaners, is convicted of abduction, use of a firearm, and unlawful wounding January 13, dodging a more serious malicious wounding charge, Liesel Nowak reports in the Daily Progress. The jury recommends four and a half years in prison.

Last act in the fugitive financier story: Richard Hirschfeld, 57, former Albemarle resident and Muhammad Ali pal, kills himself in a Miami jail January 11, the same day he was told arrangements had been made to move him to Norfolk to stand trial on federal charges. Hirschfeld was on the lam for nearly nine years and was captured hiding in the closet of a Fort Lauderdale mansion October 1. His former associates included Fernando Marcos, Kenny Rogers, Senator Orrin Hatch, and Robert Bork.

Latest cheese fight: Satyrfield Farm's Christine Solem files two petitions in circuit court to stop state regulations she claims are onerous to goat farmers who produce chevre, according to another Nowak story.

Most safe rides: The Chandler Law Group provides over 20,000 rides home for revelers over the holiday. In Charlottesville in December, the law firm paid cab fare for 386 rides home; in Harrisonburg, a whopping 978 partiers used the service.

Best remembrance of Charlotte Humphris: The Albemarle Board of Supervisors, upon which she served as its first female chair, renames Whitewood Park in her honor.

Best remembrance of Breece D'J Pancake: Author J.T. LeRoy cites fellow West Virginian Pancake, who attended UVA's writing program and committed suicide at age 26, as the writer who most influenced his work in the January 16 New York Times Book Review.

Best high school literary magazine: Albemarle High's Stampede to Elysian Fields wins first-place ranking by the American Scholastic Press Association.

Best Grisham review from an arch-curmudgeon: "I had a very good time with The Broker, found [protagonist] Backman believable and charming and interesting, got a few laughs and felt my pulse thumping as the climax approached," writes the Washington Post's Jonathan Yardley. On the other hand, in this otherwise complimentary piece, Yardley urges Grisham to slow his book-a-year pace. "My entirely unsolicited opinion is that Grisham has been writing at Mach 10 for too long."

Worst break for DC-area alt rock fans: Former cutting edge radio station WHSF 99.1 is now Spanish station "El Zol 99.1."

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