Today, at the University of Virginia, Governor Tim Kaine (D) put to rest any speculation that he would forgo his last year as governor in order to serve in Barack Obama’s White House, should the Illinois senator be successful in his presidential bid.

“You’re not going to see me leave,” he told reporters, “I’ll be Governor of Virginia through January of 2010. Maybe after I’m governor I’ll be able to help him.”

Since being the first governor outside of Illinois to endorse Obama in February 2007, pundits have bandied about Kaine’s name as a possible vice presidential candidate to share the ticket with Obama, or the possibility that Obama would appoint the governor to his cabinet.

Kaine’s longtime support of Obama was very much on the minds of Larry Sabato’s Introduction to American Politics class when engaging him in a Q&A following his brief 15-minute lecture. Students pressed the governor on the issues where he differs from his presidential contender of choice such as partial birth abortion (Kaine supports outlawing it, Obama voted against such a ban), and the death penalty (Kaine opposes it, Obama supports it).

While acknowledging their differences of opinion, Kaine emphasized that their disagreement is exemplary of why he supports Obama’s candidacy in the first place. “The strategy of Obama is finding common ground, and finding creative ways to make advances,” he said. “On just about every major initiative of his in the Illinois state senate and in the U.S. Senate, he’s had a Republican co-patron. He’s a uniter by nature.”

Kaine just returned from Pennsylvania, where he campaigned door to door for Obama in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area. Asked about how Obama’s recent comment about how small town Americans are “bitter” and “cling to guns and religion,” Kaine said it seemed the issue was getting more plan in the media than on the ground. “Not one person brought it up,” Kaine said. “Whether they support him or not, they know that this is a guy who knows what it’s like to face tough straits.”

Still, Kaine does not forecast an Obama victory in Pennsylvania tomorrow. “[Sen. Hillary Clinton] will probably win,” he said, “but if we can finish within a single digit margin, that would be a positive outcome.

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The killer of two men, including former Albemarle police officer Eric Sutphin, was sentenced to death yesterday, 16 months after his crimes shut down the Virginia Tech campus on the first day of classes.

An Abingdon jury (the trial was moved due to extensive publicity) required less than three hours to fix the sentence for 26-year-old William Morva, whom they found guilty Tuesday of capital murder in the August 2006 killings, according to the Associated Press.

Sutphin, well-liked by colleagues, was particularly appreciated for apprehending Batesville-area rapist Timothy Eads on foot after a high-speed chase in January 2001. Four years later, Sutphin was awarded the Governor’s Medal of Valor, the state’s highest public safety honor, which is given to someone who “goes above and beyond the call of duty while engaged in an action to save human life.”

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Sixteen months after he shut down the Virginia Tech campus on the first day of classes after escaping from prison and killing two people, including a respected former Albemarle County police officer, William Morva is set to finally have his day in court tomorrow. According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the delay is due to moving the trial further south to Abingdon County, as Judge Ray Grubbs considered it impossible to find an unbiased jury in Montgomery County because of the high-profile nature of the case.

On August 21, 2006, Morva was awaiting trial for armed robbery and receiving treatment in the emergency room of a Montgomery County hospital when he overpowered a Montgomery County police officer, stole his gun, and (more)

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The interim director of the UVA Art Museum, Elizabeth Turner, left, is having a little Final Friday chat this evening between 5:30 and 7:30pm to talk about the museum’s future. But will she address the question everyone is really wondering about: what happened to former museum director Jill Hartz, right, who abruptly disappeared from sight without explanation shortly after Turner’s appointment to the new position of vice provost for the arts was announced December 11?

The Hook was unable to reach either Turner or Hartz, but Hartz is still listed in the university directory. A recording at her university extension idenifies it as Beth Turner’s number.

The minutes from the January meeting of the General Faculty Council do shed a little light. Hartz, who was (more)

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In one month, Charlottesville Transit Service passengers can look forward to electronically equipped kiosks to let riders track bus locations and arrivals in real time. Unfortunately, the new “bus finder” system wasn’t unveiled in time to help a handful of students left waiting outside in a cold rain for a bus that never came.

Devin Benson, a 17-year-old Murray High student, took the last bus to Piedmont Virginia Community College February 12 for his practices-of-criminal-investigations class– and wound up with no class and no return.

Benson arrived around 5:20pm. Because of bad weather, the college canceled its evening classes at 5:25, says Benson, and he waited with three or four other students at the bus shelter.

“I waited at least an hour,” he says. “Someone else with a cellphone called and was told the bus was canceled. Ice started forming on the back of my backpack.”

When the students heard the bus was canceled, “We tried to go back (more)

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The list is deep: Albemarle, Augusta, Buckingham, Culpeper, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa, Madison, Nelson— all closed. Even Charlottesville, where ice-melt was liberally slathered last night on roads and sidewalks, has told students and teachers to hang back a bit with a 2-hour delay. Sure, decks and railings in some areas are a little icy right now— but roads?

Last time there was a threat of ice, Albemarle opted for a 2-hour school delay, but this time they’ve opted to close even their own administrative offices. All day!

This action appears to stem from a strongly-worded document from the National Weather Service, a “Winter Weather Advisory” that forecasts a thin sheet of ice from freezing rain falling during much of today, and the Advisory won’t be lifted until 10pm.

So roads could be slick.

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“Silhouette, proportion, and fit.” Three simple words for Tim Gunn’s unofficial guide to style. Of course, his official Guide to Style could be seen on the Bravo network until recently, in addition to his ongoing role on the hit show Project Runway where he acts as a liasion between judges and contestants. His famous inspirational catch-phrase, “make it work” is on the tip of every reality TV junkie’s tongue.

Gunn spoke at UVA’s Old Cabell Hall last night to an eager crowd of fourth year students, among them his niece, who introduced him. The audience even appeared to larger than the one Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) drew when she took UVA students questions in the same venue last Monday.

The main purpose of the lecture was to give advice to impending graduates on making the transition from cozy college campus attire (flip flops, sweats, and, horror of horrors, Ugg boots) to appropriate workplace attire. While maintaining that each work environment has its own set of rules, for Wall Street it’s (more)

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While Albemarle County tightens its belt and tells schools to soldier forward under an ever-growing shortfall, Charlottesville’s coffers are still flush. Its school budget will be fully funded, and most likely will have a few extra million thrown at it, despite a recent study indicating the city has one of the lowest-achieving, highest-cost school systems in the state.

City Manager Gary O’Connell, left, presented his fiscal year 2008-2009 budget Wednesday, stressing that the $6.33 million increase in spending is the lowest– 4.21 percent– Charlottesville has seen in a decade. Certainly, the $127.3 million operating budget represents a smaller hike than last year’s hefty 12 percent increase.

Of course, that was the same year real estate assessments rose an average of 15 percent, and O’Connell acknowledges the correlation between higher taxes and higher city spending.

The good news for beleaguered city homeowners is that while the average assessment went up 4 percent, one third of those residents saw no increase or (more)

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Students at the University of Virginia had a lot to say following Sen. Hillary Clinton’s (D-NY) question-and-answer session with UVA professor and political pundit Larry Sabato on Monday. While some may have had their personal loyalties to other candidates before Clinton’s visit, there was a broad sense that they were also impressed with her poise and expansive knowledge of issues. Students were eager to share their reactions with anyone holding a microphone or a pen and paper. Here’s a smattering of reactions: (more)

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Normally, UVA professor and political pundit Larry Sabato is the one teaching the University’s Introduction to American Politics class, but today his students belonged to Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and her lesson for the day, on the eve of the Virginia Democratic presidential primary, was to take their voting responsibility seriously.

“Politics is not a game,” she warned, before an audience that included some 500 students, plus a traveling press corps that included reporters from such far-flung locales as Japan and Italy. “It’s not what you see on TV. It’s not who’s up and who’s down, who’s in who’s out. That’s entertainment. There is a deep desire in our country to get back to believing in our politics. I’m running for president because I believe with all my heart that we’re up to the task.”

Such was the former First Lady’s thesis statement for her 70 minute question-and-answer session with the 500 students assembled, who asked Clinton mostly (more)

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