AFP Focus | Shannon pushes crime-fighting credentials
It’s hard for Steve Shannon to understand being criticized for saying that as Virginia attorney general he would make it his priority to fight crime, but it’s out there.
“My focus is always on keeping people safe, and I don’t view that as a weakness. I view it as a great strength,” said Shannon, the Democratic Party nominee, who by most accounts is fighting an uphill battle in his bid to become the first Democrat elected to the attorney-general post since Mary Sue Terry’s 1989 re-election, in an interview with the AFP on Monday. Read more
UVa. football parking impacted by JPJ event
An event in the John Paul Jones Arena on Saturday (Oct. 31) will impact football fans planning to use the venue’s surface parking lot for the Virginia-Duke football game that day.
A Disney on Ice show is scheduled to begin in the arena at 3:30 p.m. and the football game is scheduled to begin at the same time. Due to the Disney on Ice show, parking in the arena’s surface lot will not be available for fans attending the football game.
Football parking is available for free on a first-come, first-served basis in the University Hall parking lots. Once all of the University Hall lots are full, attendants will direct individuals looking for football game parking to the John Paul Jones Arena’s parking garage. The JPJA parking garage is also available for free on a first-come, first-served basis.
Additional parking is available for $10 at the Emmet-Ivy Garage, the Central Grounds Garage and the Health Systems Garage.
Baker undergoes minor surgery
Calvin Baker, a senior guard on the Virginia’s men’s basketball team, had arthroscopic surgery on Tuesday to remove a loose piece of cartilage in his right knee.
Baker is expected to be out two to three weeks.
Baker has lettered twice for the Cavaliers since transferring from William and Mary. He averaged 8.4 points, 2.3 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 24.9 minutes played a game last season. He was second on the team in steals (32), tied for second in assists and third in scoring. Baker played in all 28 of the team’s games in 2008-09 and started 22.
He has played in all 61 of Virginia’s games the last two seasons, starting 30, and has averaged 8.5 points, 2.4 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 25.1 minutes played a game.
Earth Talk | Butt, seriously
Dear EarthTalk: Has anyone ever studied the environmental impact of discarded cigarettes? I’m constantly appalled at the number of drivers I see pitching their butts out their car windows?
- Ned Jordan, via e-mail
It’s true that littered cigarette butts are a public nuisance, and not just for aesthetic reasons. The filters on cigarettes—four fifths of all cigarettes have them—are made of cellulose acetate, a form of plastic that is very slow to degrade in the environment. A typical cigarette butt can take anywhere from 18 months to 10 years to decompose, depending on environmental conditions. Read more
Two polls: McDonnell up 13 in Rasmussen, 18 in VCU
A new Rasmussen Reports poll has Republican gubernatorial nominee Bob McDonnell leading Democrat Creigh Deeds by a 54 percent-to-41 percent margin, and a new Virginia Commonwealth University Commonwealth Poll has McDonnell leading by a 54 percent-to-36 percent gap.
Both polls, released on Wednesday, make clear that the strategy of the Deeds campaign to hinge its chances for victory on Nov. 3 on the fallout from the controversial 1989 McDonnell grad-school thesis that blasted working women, public education and gays and lesbians, among others, has failed, and failed miserably. Read more
AFP InDepth | ‘Babysteps’ to good health
‘Wise choices’ guide overweight, obese back on the right track
Chris Libby feels like he could run forever.
“If you get on a Stairmaster for an hour, I can match you step for step,” said Libby, a fit and trim 173 pounds, after a midweek workout at the RMH Wellness Center.
Not that long ago, Libby could barely walk from the living room to the kitchen. He once tipped the scales at 600 pounds plus, and even after losing 200 pounds was at the 419-pound mark in June 2008 when he checked into Rockingham Memorial Hospital for gastric-bypass surgery.
“The best way I can describe it is it’s like I’ve won the lottery, I just don’t have the bank account to prove it. I feel tremendous. I feel like I can do anything anyone else can do. I have so many small victories. I love being able to walk around in a locker room with a towel wrapped around me. That’s something I couldn’t do. So many little things like that that I can do now,” Libby said. Read more
Chris Graham | Winners and Losers: Obama, Deeds, Zorn, World Series, McDonnell
PUSH: Barack Obama campaigns for Creigh Deeds
My inclination is to say that Obama ends up losing on this one. I’m surprised he even followed through, to be honest. Not only because Deeds distanced himself from the Obama campaign back in the summer, but because of the obvious – the stink of this campaign is going to be something for Democrats to overcome heading into the ’10 midterms.
I rate this a push because I think the president deserves something for being willing to expend political capital on this lost cause of all lost causes. Read more
PPP: McDonnell by 15
It’s looking like it’s going to be a short Election Night.
“At this point it’s pretty hard to see Creigh Deeds pulling it out,” said Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling, which released a Virginia state election poll on Tuesday that has all three Republican statewide candidates up and up big over their Democratic challengers, including having Bob McDonnell ahead of Creigh Deeds at the top of the ticket by a 55 percent-to-40 percent margin. Read more
Daily Rant | Big Mac, Hold the Special Sauce
Mark McGwire is returning to Major League Baseball to serve as the hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals. Great. Sample hitting tip from Big Mac: The secret to hitting a two-strike offspeed pitch is to use friggin’ andro. Yeah. Seriously? Come on, big fella. Come clean on whatever horse pills you were takin’ back in the day. We’ll forgive you, eventually. That’s the message from AFP editor Chris Graham in his Daily Rant. AFP Video. Length: 2:18. Read more
Press Gaggle | Press Secretary Robert Gibbs
Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2009
Q Hey, Robert, some of the moderates in the Senate – moderate Democrats – are really balking at the health care plan that Senator Reid announced. What’s the President going to do to try to help him line up the support he’ll need to get that through the Senate?
MR. GIBBS: Well, obviously right now, I mean, the President is working to ensure we get this through. I don’t – I have not heard of any specific calls that the President has made, and obviously Senator Reid is working this through the caucus. But I’m sure we’ll get involved in due time.
But look, I think we’ve been – we’ve been working through these issues for many months, and we’ll continue to do so to make progress. Read more
Dinner Diva | How do I thaw?
I get e-mails from time to time on my website, www.savingdinner.com. Leslie from Minnesota asked a question that I thought I would answer, especially since stocking your freezer by doubling up on your cooking is just plain smart. The reasoning behind such a notion would be to keep your family in dinners for the holidays. And while SavingDinner.com has another solution to that “what’s for dinner” question (check out our Five for the Freezer and other dinner kit menus for the freezer) it’s always a good idea to have something stashed in the freezer for dinner. Read more
The FlyLady | Favorite holiday words
Today I was asked by a magazine editor if I could give one tip for having a good holiday season, what would that be? The answer came so quick that I even surprised myself.
Let go of your perfectionism!
If I can talk you into letting go of your perfectionism, then you can cruise through the holidays without all the stress that being a perfectionist puts on you!
I know you are looking for that perfect picture postcard feeling, but let’s face it! That only happens in paintings or in the movies. I want you to allow yourself the freedom to celebrate the holiday without this undue stress.
Let’s look at how your perfectionism ruins your holidays! Read more
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