Month: December 2011

Current Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is set to announce he will be running for governor in 2013, reports The Washington Post. 


According to the article, Cuccinelli was previously interested in running for re-election or for Senate against Democratic Senator Mark Warner, but changed his mind.

Lt. Governor Bill Bolling, in the meantime, has also expressed interest in running for the governorship in 2013 and Bolling’s spokesperson told the Post that “Lieutenant Governor Bolling has made clear that he intends to run for governor in 2013, and we hope that Ken will be a part of our ticket,’’ he is quoted as saying. “We think that would be best for the Republican Party.”

Cuccinelli has made a name for himself for suing the federal government over the constitutionality of the health care law; he filed a petition against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); he wrote an opinion telling institutions of higher education in Virginia that they did not have the legal authority to ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, and distributed a pin with the state seal that had the goddess Virtus, who is usually pictured with an uncovered breast, dressed with an armored breastplate.

For more on Cuccinelli’s opinions and controversies, read C-VILLE’s cover story here. 

Occupy Charlottesville’s permit to camp in Downtown’s Lee Park expired yesterday at 6pm. By then, tents and the occupiers’ belongings were gone. At 11pm, the exact time when the curfew for the park kicked in, that Charlottesville Police issued their first warning to the protesters.

After a few warnings, police arrested 18 occupiers, two of whom were issued summonses, reports the Daily Progress.

About two dozen police officers removed the protesters, who were sitting, arm in arm at the north side of the park, one at a time. Most were handcuffed and walked to the police vans, while a couple were dragged and two more were taken into custody on stretchers.

Meanwhile, protesters huddled on the sidewalk chanting Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech and thanked those who decided to get arrested for their courage.

Among the bystanders was City Councilor Kristin Szakos. “It’s no secret that I actually support the Occupy movement,” she said. “I wanted to be there as an individual, not getting arrested.” As a Councilor, Szakos said she felt that it was important to be there as a witness, without taking an active role.

As for the future of the movement, Szakos said that it may be beneficial to the group to now focus on the issues that brought them together.

“The kind of logistics of first setting up camp and what’s allowed and all of that, have taken up a lot of the dialogue time, a lot of action time. It may be at this point that there can be more discussion of some of the issues that brought folks there,” she said.

According to the Occupy Charlottesville website, occupiers are planning to meet at the Free Speech Wall on the east end of the Downtown Mall tonight at 6pm for their daily general assembly meeting. 

Occupy Charlottesville protesters on the sidewalk chanting.

Protesters holding signs before in Lee Park. 

Protesters who were willing to get arrested sat in a circle.

A protester stripped down in sign of protest.

Police Chief Tim Longo briefs protesters on the eviction procedures.

One of the first arrests at Lee Park.

Charlottesville Police officers stood in front of those protesters sitting on the grass blocking the view.

City Councilor Kristin Szakos among the protesters.

One of the protesters who was arrested is walked to one of the police’s vans. (Photos by Chiara Canzi).

 

Have you raked your leaves yet? I haven’t.

I never do, actually. Our yard is edged by five large poplar trees, which drop not only leaves but detritus from their prominent flowers. All this stuff sifts down over the garden, scatters across the lawn and gathers in drifts against the back door. Mixed in are the leavings of our smaller trees–oak, maple, walnut and sassafras. And I don’t do a thing about it.

On one recent walk down our rural road, I saw one neighbor out with a leaf blower, driving small piles into a huge pile in the center of his yard while the machine roared and sputtered on his back. Down the way, another fellow was herding his leaves onto his sidewalk, then setting fire to them. Plumes of smoke issued from both places.

All over America, leaf blowers are combusting and leaf piles are smoldering. And my leaves are lying there, untidy, unmolested.

Perhaps our yard is just open enough that we can get away with the lazy approach. It seems like each year, by the time the new leaves are out in the spring, the old leaves from last fall are just…gone. I guess they blow away. I don’t really know.

I’m just glad not to use gas, or start fires (or–most importantly–spend my time) battling with organic matter. Weeding the garden is plenty for me.