Survey says: What if money can buy happiness?
Nov 15th 3:24pm
by Ronald Bailey
"Everybody wants more cash!" declares Capital One bankcard TV pitchman Jimmy Fallon. Except for the cute baby, that is, who throws Cheerios at Fallon when he offers 50 percent more cash back. Perhaps the Capital One baby is a devotee of the "Easterlin Paradox" and rejects the offer of more cash because she believes that more cash can't buy more happiness.
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Lyle Lovett and his guitar play the Paramount
Nov 15th 9:42am
by Hawes Spencer
Noted Americana artist Lyle Lovett gave an acoustic show at the Paramount Theater on Wednesday, November 14. He graciously let photographer Milo Farineau capture the first three songs.
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White Gables condo sells for more than half a million
Nov 15th 5:05am
by Samantha Masone
7/31/12Albemarle US Bank to Glen H. & Josephine L. Thacker, 5778 Alberene Road, $25,000 Grand Junction Holdings LLC to Stony Point Market LLC, 4370 Stony Point Road, $97,100 Bernard F. & Shirley L. Hiller to Danis B. Williams, Sr., 1210 Ashton Road, $177,000
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Property auctions
Nov 14th 10:40pm
by Hook Staff
November 15 at 10:15am at the Charlottesville Circuit Court Property: 706 Rockland Avenue Debtor: Bertha E. Brown Original amount owing: $337,500 Bidder brings: $13,000 or 10 percent sale price Info: ALG Trustee LLC 703-777-7101
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Unsolved, unforgotten: Retired Harrington investigator pens letter
Nov 14th 5:07pm
by Courteney Stuart
Nearly a year after he retired from Virginia State Police, leaving one of the highest-profile unsolved crimes in Virginia history to his successors, the former supervisor of the Morgan Harrington murder case remains haunted and has penned an open letter addressed to someone he believes knows what happened to the slain 20-year-old Virginia Tech student after she left the John Paul Jones Arena on a misty October night three years ago.
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Kitze acquitted: Judge vents, but rules for rapist
Nov 14th 3:24pm
by Lisa Provence
The man known as the "graduation rapist" was found not guilty of probation violation November 13 by a judge who said he fully expects Jeffrey Kitze to be back in court again because of the way he interacts with women.
Related stories
Volunteer fear: Graduation rapist convicted of stalking activist
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City history: Bid process questioned in unfunded film
Nov 14th 1:57pm
by Lisa Provence
As part of Charlottesville's year-long 250th anniversary celebration, organizers and city officials came up with the idea of a documentary about the city's rich history. Eight film production companies bid on the detailed proposal for a 50- to 90-minute project. The only problem? The city didn't have the money to pay for the film. And then, bidders say the city left them hanging for more than seven months before saying it was a no-go.
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Horror averted: Affidavit says attack man carried 'rape kit'
Nov 13th 3:55pm
by Courteney Stuart
Police have said the young woman who fought off an assailant in an attempted abduction on Stadium Road may have saved her own life. Now, new information about a "rape kit" that police recovered from the alleged perpetrator, 26-year-old Matthew Rene Beaulieu, provides harrowing support for that contention.
Inside the red 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe that Beaulieu was driving, according to a search warrant affidavit filed in Charlottesville Circuit Court, investigators recovered handcuffs, duct tape, and a butcher's knife.
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Sullivan's extension: And other things out of Dragas' control
Nov 13th 3:49pm
by Hawes Spencer
After a student protest of its Board of Visitors was quashed last week, people across America are wondering what the heck is wrong with the University of Virginia.
Related:
Transparency now: Protestors call for Dragas' resignation
–>pictures from the protest
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The week in review
Nov 13th 11:43am
by Hook Staff
Most schizophrenic: In June, UVA's Board of Visitors fires President Teresa Sullivan. At its November 9 meeting, the BoV unanimously votes to extend Sullivan's contract another year to 2016, with the motion called for by Rector Helen Dragas.
Most bloated: A logging truck weighing over 95,000 pounds is busted November 7 for crossing a small Batesville bridge with a weight limit of 36,000 pounds. The driver is fined $26,867 because triple the limit means the fine can triple, according to a police release.
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Saturation point: Too many restaurants on the Downtown Mall?
Nov 13th 11:23am
by Dave McNair
Seventeen years ago, when Bill Hamilton and his wife, Kate, opened Hamilton's at First & Main on the Downtown Mall, it was a big risk. "At that time, a seasoned local restauranteur advised us that he would not drop a dime on a Downtown Mall lease," says Hamilton. Today, of course, you're lucky to get a downtown lease.
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Seed-ville: Grow-local op grows Carpe Donut
Nov 13th 6:02am
by Lisa Provence
What if you take the concept of the local food movement, add a grassroots element, and apply it to the world of finance? It might look something like Seed-ville, which just launched a campaign to raise $15,000 for his rolling doughnuttery.
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Farewell, stereotypes: Queen movie reveals same-sex desires and class issues
Nov 13th 3:03am
by Roger Ebert
"Farewell, My Queen" begins early in the day of July 14, 1789, at the royal palace of Versailles. It was not yet a date fraught with destiny. In the rat-swarming servants' quarters, a young woman named Sidonie Laborde slaps at mosquito bites, hurries through her toilet, and runs toward her appointment with Marie Antoinette. She is the official reader to the queen, and this position gives her a limited stature and some access to the royal life of luxurious decadence.
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Excitement on Fairway Avenue
Nov 12th 4:03pm
by Hawes Spencer
Workers deal with water spraying from an underground pipe Monday on Fairway Avenue in the Woolen Mills neighborhood.
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Bantam wait: Another indie theater gears up
Nov 12th 10:55am
by Courteney Stuart
As Vinegar Hill prepares to duke it out with Regal cinemas for the art film market in Charlottesville, another independent art house is gearing up to open, but its co-founder says it won't be competing with the other two theaters.
"We're going to be a true independent film space," says photographer turned filmmaker Jason Lappa, who's joined forces with freelance journalist Jayson Whitehead to open the Bantam Theater in the former Live Arts building on Market Street in January.
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Foxhaven could be a nature haven
Nov 12th 9:07am
by Letter Writer
It was reported in your coverage of the sale of Foxhaven Farm to the UVA Foundation [November 8 cover story: "Cavalier developments? UVA buys 199-acre near-town farm"] that upon writing the Foundation to encourage fulfillment of the late Jane Heyward's wishes for a botanical garden or arboretum with walking trails, Heyward's friend Elena Day was informed that an "appropriate endowment" had not been provided to enable them to establish this wish. That response begs the truth.
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FunStuff: Charlottesville events November 15 and beyond
Nov 11th 9:33pm
Bond on Bond
Nov 10th 7:58pm
by Hawes Spencer
The grand opening film at the biggest and most luxurious movie theater in Charlottesville was Skyfall, the newest movie in the James Bond spy series; and, appropriately, the box office faces Bond Street. The Regal Stadium 14 celebrated its opening on Friday, November 9 with this film on multiple screens including its three-and-half-story high Imax cinema. While crowds were big, the weekend didn't go off without a hitch as the theater was evacuated on Sunday evening the 11th of November around 6:30 after a fire alarm sounded.
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Featuring Charlottesville: New indie flick packed with country music
Nov 9th 4:34pm
by Hawes Spencer
A pair of overseas hitmen come to Charlottesville to kill musician Jim Waive.
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Where do you like to watch movies?
Nov 9th 1:40pm
Lost in the funhouse
Nov 9th 10:15am
by Bill Emory
If any family members go missing this weekend, it is a good bet they are burning in new neural pathways, trying to find the front door, trying to find their car, trying to find their way in and around Stonefield and its new Regal 14-screen multiplex that had its soft opening on Monday, November 5.~Commentator Bill Emory puts up a new photo nearly every day at billemory.com/blog.
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Transparency now: Protestors call for Dragas' resignation
Nov 8th 12:57pm
by Hawes Spencer
A group of University of Virginia undergraduates, graduate students, and a few faculty members, marched across Grounds today to a meeting of the Board of Visitors at the Harrison Institute to demand an array of changes including the resignation of its leader, Rector Helen Dragas.
Arm's length?
"They blocked entry. That's what I was told by the professional law officers who were there."
So says new UVA public relations official Anthony Debruyn.
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Price reduction finally spurs land sale on Langford Drive
Nov 8th 5:05am
by Samantha Masone
7/25/12
Albemarle
Dennis Wayne & Tracy Lavon Harris to 6913 Markwood LLC, 6913 Markwood Road, $91,000
Larry David Powell & Ruth E. Guss to Anthony P. & Joan B. Larocco, 2420 Simeon Court, $228,200
Peak Builders LLC to Adam Wesley & Nicole Ann Kersey, 270 Claremont Lane, $381,756
Charlottesville
Virginia Goddin Leake to Christopher R. & Laurel Lorigan, Parcel 550451B0, Chesapeake Street, $69,000
Agnes K. Clarke to Anthony & Catherine Carbonelli, 828 St. Clair Avenue, $197,500
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Property auctions
Nov 8th 1:45am
by Hook Staff
November 8 at 9:30am at the Charlottesville Circuit Court Property: 761 King Street Debtor: Teresa D. Caddell Original amount owing: $168,750 Bidder brings: $16,500 or 10 percent sale price Info: Lisa Brook Law LLC 757-321-6465
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Flick trick? The downtown Charlottesville Regal goes indie
Nov 7th 4:28pm
by Courteney Stuart
Amid all the hullabaloo about the opening of the 14-screen stadium-seating Regal theater at the Shops at Stonefield, some other big Regal news seems to have escaped notice: on Friday, November 9, when the Stonefield megaplex officially opens, the Regal Downtown 6 will become an arthouse cinema, showing only independent and foreign films.
If the idea of an additional six movies that might not otherwise screen locally is appealing to local cinephiles, the owner of Charlottesville's existing arthouse theater strikes a cautionary note.
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Free Ralph: Fresh premise for new Disney flick
Nov 7th 12:35pm
by Roger Ebert
"Wreck-It Ralph," the latest Disney animated feature for families, begins with a creative brainstorm: The movie occurs mostly inside the worlds of several arcade-style video games, providing an excuse for the backgrounds, ground rules and characters to constantly reinvent themselves. The title is inspired by its hero, one of those clumsy, misunderstood big guys who dreams only of being loved.
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Dumler back in action
Nov 7th 11:57am
by Lisa Provence
Supervisor Christopher Dumler attended his first Albemarle Board of Supervisors meeting since his October 18 arrest for forcible sodomy. The accused 27-year-old attorney sipped coffee November 7 as citizens spoke out on the Keene shooting range, the western 29 Bypass, and the leash law that had ensnared hunting dogs during hunting season.
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The week in review
Nov 6th 12:57pm
by Hook Staff
Most disturbing wanted poster: Albemarle police send out photos of two girls November 5 seeking to identify them because they were believed to be victims of assault. The children are identified and talk to detectives, according to police, who offer no further details.
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It's a wrap: Scenes from the 25th Virginia Film Fest
Nov 6th 11:22am
by Lisa Provence
The badge-wearing moviegoers and filmmakers have cleared out of town and the curtain has gone down on the November 1-4 Virginia Film Festival, with all signs pointing to another record year for the 25th moviethon.
Over 100 films were screened, and by 7pm Sunday, publicist John Kelly said 39 films had sold out, topping last year's record.
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Libertarian reminder in Crozet
Nov 6th 9:44am
by Lisa Provence
Amid the Romney, Obama, Kaine, Allen, Hurt and Douglass signs at Crozet Elementary on Election Day were two for a candidate we almost had forgotten is on the ballot: former New Mexico governor and Libertarian Party standard-bearer Gary Johnson. Signage was not spotted for another presidential candidate– former 5th District congressman Virgil Goode, who is representing the Constitution Party and vying with Johnson and the Green Party's Jill Stein for third place on the ballot.
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Good-bye, Carmello's; Hello Mex... and meals tax hike?
Nov 5th 4:31pm
by Dave McNair
Last February, Carmello's, the venerable Italian restaurant that was located for 19 years at its familiar Emmet Street location next to the EconoLodge, moved to Fontaine Avenue into the former site of Ludwig's Schnitzelhouse and Arirang Restaurant. At the time, owner Bill Hedges, along with his head chef wife Stella, was excited about the possibilities, given the space was three times the size of the old restaurant.
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Preparing for the next whopper
Nov 5th 3:04pm
Prelim waived: Crozet mom in court in attempted murder
Nov 5th 2:00pm
by Lisa Provence
In her first courtroom appearance since her arrest for the alleged attempted murder of her husband by insulin injection, Theresa Brady, bound by shackles and wearing a red jailhouse jumpsuit, was briefly in Albemarle Charlottesville Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court November 5.
Related stories
Foxchase nightmare: Crozet mom allegedly tries to poison husband
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Horsin' around: Crowds converge on Montpelier Hunt Races
Nov 5th 11:22am
by Courteney Stuart
When it comes to steeplechase races, Foxfield, held twice a year since 1978, may be the best known around Charlottesville. But the Montpelier Hunt Races, held the first Saturday in November at the historic estate of President James Madison, have a much longer tradition, dating back to 1934 when Marion DuPont Scott held the first event on the front lawn of the Orange County home her father purchased in 1901. On Saturday, November 3, thousands descended on the scenic estate, located about 30 minutes north of Charlottesville, for tailgating, kiddie fun, and, of course, horse racing.
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What will you do if your candidate loses?
Nov 5th 10:19am
Flex time: Raise (and lower) the speed limits
Nov 5th 5:05am
by Hook Contributor
By Greg Beato
In the wide open plains of central Texas, a new addition to State Highway 130 has just opened for business with a compelling marketing hook: Its speed limit of 85 MPH is the highest in America.
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FunStuff: Charlottesville events November 8 and beyond
Nov 4th 9:09am
All the president's men: Woodward and Bernstein tell all
Nov 3rd 11:28am
by Lisa Provence
Forty years after a bungled burglary of the Democratic National Committee headquarters brought the term "Watergate" into the national lexicon, the two men most responsible for taking down a presidency appeared at the Virginia Film Festival following a screening of the movie based on their book, All the President's Men.
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'Tis the season
Nov 3rd 1:10am
by Lisa Provence
JMU student John Geary decided that as long as he had the sign and costume, he'd exercise his first amendment rights in Charlottesville on the corner favored by protesters in front of the U.S. District Court. Photographed around 9:30am November 2.
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Grave discovery: Dig uncovers forgotten UVA resting place
Nov 2nd 4:48pm
by Dave McNair
As novelist William Kennedy's main character in his novel Ironweed–- cemetery worker Francis Phelan–- observes, "the dead, even more than the living, settled down in neighborhoods."
Related:
Tiny modern nod: Shadowy plan honors slaves' history
Grave matter: South Lawn remains to be seen
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