Tuesday, January 2
Show them the money
 Local wine queen Patricia Kluge made the largest single gift ever to PVCC. Giving to community colleges is on the rise, reports The Roanoke Times. |
Giving back to the ol’ alma mater isn’t restricted to four-year universities anymore, the Roanoke Times reports. Though their endowments look puny compared to large universities, community colleges are striving for more funding. The article notes the Kluge-Moses Foundation gift of $1.2 million to Piedmont Virginia Community College, the single largest gift ever to PVCC. The Kluge bucks went to a science center housing “lab space for biology, chemistry, microbiology and anatomy and physiology courses,” according to a press release, and trains students for work in the wine industry—where Kluge had invested heavily and could probably appreciate a well-trained workforce. While namesake gifts are certainly a notch on the belt for giver and receiver, sufficient general operating funds continue to elude PVCC and other community colleges statewide.
Wednesday, January 3
TJ’s Koran makes trip to Congress
 A Koran owned by Thomas Jefferson himself was used for Illinois Rep. Keith Ellison’s ceremonial swearing-in to Congress. Rep. Virgil Goode, Congressman for TJ’s Albemarle, has vowed no contact with any Koran, no matter how Jeffersonian. |
Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison—the guy who seriously pissed off Virginia Rep. Virgil Goode when he said he’d like his ceremonial swearing-in to be done on a Koran, not a Bible, and who was subsequently ruffled when Goode penned a xenophobic letter condemning Muslims in the United States—has scored a copy of the Koran that belonged to Thomas Jefferson himself, The Washington Post reports today. Boo-yah! Ellison is borrowing the book from the rare book division of the Library of Congress—it’s an English translation circa 1750 by George Sale that has TJ’s trademark initialing on the pages. How’s that for what the Founding Fathers envisioned? Goode, who represents TJ’s native Albemarle, had no comment for the Post.
Thursday, January 4
Unemployment up, but not enough
The Virginia unemployment rate went up .1 percent to 2.8 percent for the month of November, according to a report released by the Virginia Employment Commission today. This was due to more job-seekers reporting they were searching for holiday employment in retail and other sectors. Still, excepting hard-hit areas like Danville, (which is represented in Congress by Virgil Goode, by the way) with 7.1 percent unemployment, the state jobless rate is still extremely low. Charlottesville’s unemployment was a miniscule 2.1 percent.
Friday, January 5
Protecting the F-bomb
“What the FCC happened to free speech?”
That’s what Creative Voices, a free speech media organization, demanded of the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals at a hearing last month, according to the organization’s newsletter, released today. The Center for Creative Voices, headed by executive director and Charlottesville resident Jonathan Rintels, acted as an intervening party to a case alleging the FCC’s recent indecency decisions are unconstitutional. At the hearing, Carter Phillips, a lawyer for Fox, apparently for the purpose of airing what the FCC finds so profane, got things out in the open by dropping the F-bomb in front of judges, who threw it right back. Creative Voices is expecting the FCC’s restrictions to be overturned by the court.
Saturday, January 6
Local Bar backs two potential judges
The Charlottesville-Albemarle Bar Association has made its recommendations for a new circuit court judge to succeed Paul Peatross, The Daily Progress reports. Charlottesville General District Court Judge Robert H. Downer, Jr. and former County prosecutor Cheryl V. Higgins both nabbed the endorsement, though the Bar wouldn’t rate one over the other. Five other candidates were vying for the seat, including bow-tied Albemarle Commonwealth’s Attorney Jim Camblos. Speculation says he could still be a favorite among a Republican General Assembly even without the Bar’s endorsement. The Bar will deliver its recommendations when the assembly convenes on Wednesday.
Sunday, January 7
A little celeb schadenfreude
Why do we love to watch so-called “train wreck girls”—i.e. Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears and Nicole Richie—careen over the cliff? UVA Professor John Portmann, author of When Bad Things Happen to Other People is quoted in the Washington Post Style section this weekend on just that topic. Why does it feel so good when Lindsay goes on another bender between AA meetings, Nicole drops below 90 pounds or Britney accidentally forgets to wear drawers? “Schadenfreude is not only envy,” Portmann says. “We’re really disappointed in them. …And we want to punish them. We believe that we wouldn’t slip up. We’d be really cool, we would have been elegant, always correct.” Yeah, being a celeb is tough, but…we still believe we’d do better than that trio of tragedy if we were in the spotlight.
Monday, January 8
Julia hearts Dave Matthews
 Julia Roberts is pregnant again. Her baby soundtrack? Dave Matthews Band. |
Julia Roberts is expecting her third child with husband Danny Moder, US Weekly reports in its new issue. Likely, the newest bundle of joy will get the same treatment as Roberts’ twins, now 2—DMB tunes in utero. Roberts appeared in Dave’s video for “Dreamgirl” in 2005 and is apparently a big enough fan to sing DMB songs to her unborn babies. Aww.