All this time we’ve been looking at the wrong house?
Ever notice that President James Monroe’s house seemed like the poor cousin compared with the more palatial digs of his fellow prezes Thomas Jefferson and James Madison? Now we learn that the humble abode at recently renamed Ash Lawn-Highland was the guest house, not Monroe’s more substantial 1799 home.
Psychic Catherine’s future is cloudy
Sandra Marks, who ran Readings by Catherine before it was raided by the feds in 2014 and who was indicted last July on 34 counts alleging she bilked clients of millions, will plead guilty to one count of mail fraud and one of money laundering May 17, according to her attorney. Marks, 41, met some of her alleged victims at Synchronicity Foundation for Modern Spirituality in Nelson County.
Mindfulness U
UVA hired San Francisco architectural firm Aidlin Darling Design to design its Contemplative Sciences Center, which will occupy a sweet spot beside the Dell on Emmet Street. Billionaire Paul Tudor Jones, who ponied up $35 million for the John Paul Jones Arena, and his wife, Sonia, whose Jois Yoga launched a “spiritually conscious line of clothing,” donated $12 million for the center.
Make the Republican convention great again
UVA law student Erich Reimer, whom you may remember from his Student Bar Association vice presidential campaign to build a wall between the law school and main Grounds (and make undergrad Student Council pay for it), has been confirmed as one of two electors at-large for the Virginia GOP this year. Fourteen hopefuls filed for the position and Reimer, 25, was selected for his campaign to woo millennials to the Republican party.
Nice work if you can get it
Virginia’s parole board members, appointed by the governor, make $125,000 a year, and with no public scrutiny about their decisions, rarely parole any of the state’s 1,000 prisoners over 55 who are eligible—and who cost $28,000 a year to house, according to a Sandy Hausman report on WVTF.
Quote of the week
“It occurred to me then: This is getting to me.” Former police chief Tim Longo tells the Daily Progress about his decision to retire after undiagnosed symptoms, for which doctors could find no cause, affected his health after 15 years on the job in Charlottesville. Longo attributed the stress of the job to the symptoms and started planning for retirement.
