Gas guzzlers
Area drivers raced to the pumps last week after word spread that a cybersecurity attack had shut down the Colonial Pipeline, a massive fossil fuel artery that runs from Texas to New Jersey. The supply chain disruption, combined with a wave of panic buying, left the pumps dry at stations across the Southeast.
By midday Tuesday, cars were lined up around the block at gas stations across Charlottesville. On Thursday evening, 72 percent of Charlottesville gas stations were without product—the highest proportion of empty stations anywhere in the state at the time, according to fuel market analysis site GasBuddy. (The rush on gas—and information about gas—was severe enough that GasBuddy itself experienced outages last week.)
The worst seems to have passed, however, as the pipeline has resumed normal operations. At 8am on Monday, 70 percent of stations in Virginia were back to full service—though prices had gone up, with an average increase of 18 cents per gallon, according to GasBuddy.
Sheffield’s wild ride
Eight thousand dollar plane tickets to Paris. Eleven grand for a week in a hotel in Las Vegas. A $2,300 steakhouse dinner for four. You might not be surprised to hear that some big-shot CEO was cutting those kinds of checks…but the CEO of a regional public transportation system? That’s a new one. According to reporting from Charlottesville Tomorrow, these are a handful of the expenses CEO Brad Sheffield incurred during his last year as the head of JAUNT, central Virginia’s 85-bus public fleet.
Sheffield was ousted from the board late last year, and has since created a website to defend himself. On the site’s opening page, he compares himself to Billy Beane, the 2002 Oakland A’s manager who was immortalized in the movie Moneyball for his ability to find success on a shoestring budget. You’re right on the money there, Brad.
News briefs
Vaxes approved for kids
Last week the FDA approved the Pfizer vaccine for kids ages 12 and up. Locally, the Blue Ridge Health District is now vaccinating children, though a parent or guardian must be present. As of Monday, 44 percent of Charlottesville residents have been fully vaccinated.
Masks off, says Gov
Governor Ralph Northam says vaccinated individuals are no longer required to wear masks indoors, to align with new CDC guidance. (Businesses are still allowed to require masking if they choose.) Northam also says all gathering restrictions will be lifted on May 28, two weeks earlier than previously planned.
Groves says goodbye
Longtime UVA Dean of Students Allen Groves is leaving this summer for a job at Syracuse University, the school announced on Monday. Since joining the admin in 2006, the bow-tied, silver-haired dean became one of the more recognizable public figures at the university. Groves earned praise for charging into the crowd to help students during the August 11, 2017, torchlit rally on Grounds. He “balanced humor, deep intellect and empathy as he navigated difficult issues and changing times in higher education,” colleague Pat Lampkin told UVA Today.
Jailer jailed
How about this for karma: Former Rockingham County Regional Jail superintendent John Marshall Higgins will spend four years behind bars for various crimes committed while he was in charge of the central Virginia detention center. In 2020, Higgins was found guilty of denying medical care to certain inmates, failing to protect two inmates from physical abuse, and committing mail fraud.