(Commentary) It all began about a hundred years ago, when American streets were unlike what they are today. It was common to find horse-drawn vehicles, push-cart vendors, pedestrians and children sharing street space. As the number of automobiles increased, and the number of casualties rose, an all-out feud ensued between pedestrians and motorists, according to “Street Rivals – Jaywalking and the Invention of the Motor Age Street,” a paper by Peter D. Norton, associate professor of science, technology and society at the University of Virginia.
(Commentary) Researchers from UVA and James Madison University followed 165 adolescents as they aged from 13 to 30 to learn what best predicted who would experience satisfying romantic relationships in their late 20s and much later in adulthood. It turns out the best practice comes from friendships. The study's lead researcher, Dr. Joseph P. Allen, UVA’s Hugh P. Kelly Professor of Psychology, says the "greater stability found in same-gender friendships, allows for more long-term practice with the kinds of give-and-take needed to successfully handle romantic relationships in adulthood."
Next year, the census bureau will release new numbers for the nation, documenting, among other things, the racial makeup of the United States. But experts at the University of Virginia say there’s one big problem – the way the census counts multi-racial people.
A study co-authored by Kevin Pelphrey, the Harrison-Wood Jefferson Scholars Foundation Professor of Neurology at the University of Virginia Brain Institute, suggested that autism may be fundamentally different in girls and boys. Pelphrey's work is the latest in a series of recent investigations into a fascinating -- and perplexing -- statistic: Boys are four times as likely as girls to be diagnosed with autism.
Combining stem cell transplants with cutting-edge immunotherapy prevents leukemia relapses in young people and improves their chances of survival, new research suggests. The findings – published recently in the Journal of Clinical Oncology – suggest that stem cell transplants offer long-term benefits for young patients who get CAR T-cell therapy, according to the University of Virginia researchers.
UVA School of Engineering and Northwestern University researchers create a new polymer-based electrical insulation for circuits that could help put more power in smaller spaces.
A Friday report by the University of Virginia’s Biocomplexity Institute said – just as anticipated – a highly contagious variant of COVID-19 “has become or is very close to becoming the predominant strain in Virginia and the U.S.”
Tthe B.1.1.7 variant is close to becoming the predominant strain in the state, according to the latest weekly update from UVA’s Biocomplexity Institute. The institute warns that if the B.1.1.7 variant, which is more contagious, becomes more dominant, the state could experience another peak in cases this summer that would be worse than the January peak.
Virginia’s state lab, which has been ahead of other states in its ability to analyze samples for traces of a variant, is averaging about 100 to 150 per week. The federal government, which is pulling data from public repositories and its own private contracts, reported that just 8,500 samples were analyzed for variants in the U.S. last week. “We’re sequencing almost nothing right now,” said William Petri, an infectious disease expert at the University of Virginia. The state plans to execute contracts with the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech.
(Video) UVA’s Federalist Society hosted a virtual debate on the death penalty with former federal prosecutor Bill Otis and Carol Steiker, a Harvard law professor and author of “Courting Death: The Supreme Court and Capital Punishment.”
For the second time this year a UVA landmark is lit up for an evening. As part of the University’s “Brighter Together” show series, the Rotunda had a light show on display. Those in attendance said it was a great way to stay entertained on Grounds.
Mr. Farrell was devoted to UVA. He attended the University as an undergraduate and received a law degree from the UVA’s School of Law. Later, he would serve as rector and a member of the board who guided both its governance and fund raising.
When police shoot and kill someone, the officers’ descriptions of what they saw and felt – and accounts of the danger facing them or someone else – can be a major part of the defense, experts say. “In many of the shooting cases, the officer will say, ‘I perceived a threat in the form of reaching for a gun, or an aggressive move towards me,’” said Rachel Harmon, a UVA law professor. “It is difficult for the state to disprove the perception of that threat.” In George Floyd’s case, Harmon said, “there’s not the same kind of ability to claim a perception of a threat.”
(Commentary by Marva Barnett, professor emerita of French) My former student, Virgil Motley, recently died of respiratory failure. A sad loss of a memorable character, I thought – but I didn’t know the half of it.
UVA provides a case study in flux for public flagship universities. More than 48,000 applied, up 15% from the year before. The University offered admission to about 9,900, or 21%. It also set up a sizable wait list. The target is an entering class of 3,788. What happens next is anyone’s guess. “I’m not sure I’ve ever gone into a summer so uncertain about what’s going to happen,” said UVA dean of admission Greg W. Roberts.
Amanda Rutherford, a second-year at the University of Virginia School of Law and articles development editor for the Virginia Law Review, said spring submissions surpassed last year's numbers well before a published March 30 cutoff. “It seems like we have more submissions from practitioners and people outside [law schools] ... and more from what I'd call the credentialed white males,” she said. “We've had to be super conscientious about what a COVID life looks like for authors, and the priority is get the best scholarship from as diverse a group as possible. It's an ongoing project.”
A commitment to equity and a record to back it up helped Abel Liu make history. The San Anselmo resident broke barriers in his landslide University of Virginia Student Council election victory last month that made him the nation's first openly transgender student government president at any university, and the first Chinese American in UVA's 202-year history. Liu captured more than 81 percent of the vote running a campaign focused on student government reform, equity, empowerment, and what he described as “radical compassion.”
The movement to remove the statues began in 2016 when Zyahna Bryant, then a ninth-grader at Charlottesville High School, started a petition to remove the statue of Lee and rename the park. Bryant, now a second-year student at the University of Virginia, said the Supreme Court of Virginia’s opinion was “both exciting and long overdue.”
Ruth Mason, professor of law and taxation at the University of Virginia, told Tax Notes in an email that generally, it is hard for states to win conditional spending cases because the state can always turn down the federal money. “But [the National Federation of Independent Business] reinvigorated the test the Supreme Court set out for conditional grants in South Dakota v. Dole. Congress does not have the power under the Constitution to forbid states from cutting taxes,” Mason said.
Baseball players, especially pitchers, know the term well. So do golfers. They know it well enough to avoid mentioning it: “the yips.” There’s no strict definition, although Dr. Jason Freeman, the sports psychologist for UVA’s Athletics Department, has a provisional one: “the override of a well-learned or routine motor script.” You can throw a 99 mph fastball. You can sink a 20-foot putt or 20 straight free throws. Then something happens, and suddenly you can’t do those things, and you begin to fixate on the fact that you can’t, and then everything goes bad.