4Better Or Worse
4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review
Published on May 13th, 2010
0 comments Worst spate of deadly crashes: Two people are killed and two are seriously injured in three unrelated wrecks May 7. Afton resident Nikki Renee Paterson, 39, dies after hitting a deer around 5am on...
4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review
Published on May 6th, 2010
0 comments Worst tragedy at UVA: Three weeks before graduation, Yeardley Love, 22, a senior on the number five-ranked women's lacrosse team, is murdered in her apartment on 14th Street and her former boyfriend...
4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review
Published on Apr 29th, 2010
0 comments Biggest blow for Meadowcreek Parkway opponents: The Supreme Court of Virginia denies the Coalition to Save McIntire Park's appeal to stop Charlottesville's lease of land to Albemarle for the road,...
4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review
Published on Apr 22nd, 2010
0 comments Worst bike accident: UVA grad student Matthew King is killed the morning of April 19 on West Main at 4th Street in a collision with a Charlottesville Public Works truck. Worst day for cyclists:...
4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review
Published on Apr 15th, 2010
3 comments Biggest arrest: Stuarts Draft resident Ralph Leon Jackson, 56, is taken into custody April 7 for the April 5 shooting that killed WNRN DJ Tim Davis, 27, and injured Christina Floyd, 18, on the Blue...
4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review
Published on Apr 8th, 2010
0 comments Most heinous crime on a beautiful day: Two sunset-watchers are shot on the Blue Ridge Parkway April 5, and police seek a white male with long gray hair.   Most heinous behavior: Hate mongerers...
4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review
Published on Apr 1st, 2010
0 comments Biggest mystery: Where's Peter Chang? Mere days after sitting for the interview for last week's Hook cover story, the peripatetic Szechuan chef departs Albemarle Square's Taste of China. In less than...
4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review
Published on Mar 25th, 2010
7 comments Lowest tax rate: Albemarle Board of Supervisors votes to keep the same 74.2 cents per $100 of assessed value tax rate, which will result in a slight property tax decrease because of declining...
4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review
Published on Mar 18th, 2010
1 comments Biggest sigh of relief: The General Assembly approves a bare-bones $70-billion budget March 14 with $4 billion in cuts, but for local schools and UVA, the knife didn't go as deeply as feared. For...
4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review
Published on Mar 11th, 2010
0 comments Biggest Albemarle police scandal: Four officers are disciplined for unspecified misconduct. One leaves the force, two are demoted, and one is suspended.  Biggest ABC scandal: Virginia Alcohol...
4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review
Published on Mar 4th, 2010
0 comments Biggest throwing down the gauntlet: New Albemarle Supe Duane Snow plays chicken with the Jefferson-Madison Regional Libary, which threatens to close the Scottsville library because of a five percent...
4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review
Published on Feb 25th, 2010
0 comments Most bleeding: Albemarle schools proposed $145.2 million budget comes up $8.8 million short in revenue and could cut 40 positions; Charlottesville is short $2.1 million and could cut 22 positions....
4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review
Published on Feb 18th, 2010
1 comments Latest grim news for Albemarle schools: Its budget shortfall, bad at $6 million, worse at $10 million, leaps to a possible deficit of $13 million.  Best sign those outlying Home Depots and...
4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review
Published on Feb 11th, 2010
0 comments Heaviest weather: Nearly 15 inches of snow cover the area February 5-6, so full of water that a snow-shovel full weighed 25 to 30 pounds, according to UVA climatologist Jerry Stenger. Biggest...
4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review
Published on Feb 4th, 2010
0 comments Heaviest precip: Snowfall January 30, while mild compared to December's "Snowpocalypse," still registers a hefty 10.5 inches, and that follows flooding rains January 24-25. More wet stuff predicted...
4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review
Published on Jan 28th, 2010
0 comments Grimmest find: The remains of a blonde, black-clad person are discovered at Anchorage Farm on U.S. 29 south January 26. Worst first: Two men are shot– one fatally– late January 22 at the...
4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review
Published on Jan 21st, 2010
1 comments Worst disaster: The 7.0 earthquake that devastates Haiti has far-reaching impact and affects many in Central Virginia. UVA grad student Stephanie Jean-Charles is killed in her home in Port-au-Prince...
4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review
Published on Jan 14th, 2010
0 comments Biggest changing of the guard at UVA: Teresa Sullivan, 60, becomes the eighth president and first woman to head Virginia's flagship university. She succeeds John Casteen, who steps down August 1....
4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review
Published on Dec 24th, 2009
0 comments Most refreshing remark from a public official: "I agree that it's a stupid lawsuit," says City Councilor David Brown at the Rivanna Solid Waste Authority meeting December 17 about the authority's $20...
4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review
Published on Dec 24th, 2009
0 comments Worst start to the new year: Colby W. Eppard, 18, of Stanardsville is fatally gunned down on Route 20 south January 1 after he allegedly absconds with a Greene County deputy's car, is pursued through...
4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review
Published on Dec 17th, 2009
0 comments Best sign real estate development is still in the tank: Hunter Craig, the man behind Biscuit Run, which was going to be 3,100-home subdivision in the designated Growth Area south of town, now wants...
4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review
Published on Dec 10th, 2009
3 comments Biggest changing of the guard: Former head football coach Al Groh had barely left the building when UVA athletic director Craig Littlepage announces Groh's successor December 7– University of...
4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review
Published on Dec 3rd, 2009
0 comments Best swan song: Al Groh recites poetry after UVA's crushing 42-13 defeat to Virginia Tech that ends his 3-9 losing season and his nine-year tenure as football coach. Best golden parachute: UVA sends...
4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review
Published on Nov 26th, 2009
0 comments Latest homeowner association alleged embezzlement: Mill Creek's longtime treasurer, Kevin O'Connor, is charged with swiping $10,000, according to the Daily Progress. Earlier this year, Glenmore's...
4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review
Published on Nov 19th, 2009
0 comments Most flush: Charlottesville ends fiscal year 2009  with a $1.7 million surplus, which its staff recommends putting into capital improvement projects, and department expenditures were down more...
4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review
Published on Nov 12th, 2009
0 comments Biggest change in Albemarle County: With the election to the Board of Supervisors of Rodney Thomas and Duane Snow, who join fellow Republican Ken Boyd and Democrat Lindsay Dorrier, who's often...
4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review
Published on Nov 5th, 2009
0 comments Biggest blaze: Thirty-five to 40-foot flames shoot out of a Still Meadow subdivision home around 11pm October 30 and melt the vinyl siding on nearby homes, according to the Progress. Firefighters...
4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review
Published on Oct 29th, 2009
0 comments Grimmest week for news: Morgan Harrington remains missing since the October 17 Metallica concert, musician Johnny Gilmore dies in a house fire October 22, and local food activist Kathryn Russell dies...
4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review
Published on Oct 22nd, 2009
0 comments Skeeviest allegations: Steven Bruce Joplin, 59, former education director at Christ United Methodist Church in Staunton, is indicted by a grand jury on seven counts of sexual battery October 19 for...
4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review
Published on Oct 15th, 2009
0 comments Best news for petty lawbreakers: Albemarle Commonwealth's Attorney Denise Lunsford tells the Board of Supervisors that a $32,000 cut from the state may mean her office won't be able to prosecute...