The swirling puff of smoke lingered briefly in the air before escaping outside through cracks in the base of the window.

Prepare to turn the air conditioner on full blast again.

I just made a deposit in my spiritual future.

The Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia is scheduled to host a “stakeholders’ dialogue” to discuss a plan outlined two years ago by an Albemarle County supervisor.

Media General News Service

Charlottesville’s City Council is expected Monday to expand its $200 speeding fine to three additional city streets and to raise utility rates.

Route 616 in Albemarle County will be closed Monday for work on a railroad bridge, the Virginia Department of Transportation said.

Charlottesville area residents can air their concerns about the state of local transportation on Monday during a Town Hall meeting organized by Del. David J. Toscano, D-Charlottesville.

For women in the Charlottesville area who want to build their careers, the FOCUS Women’s Res-ource Center might be able to help.

Advocates of a streetcar system in Charlottesville paint an alluring picture of the city’s future if it installs 3 miles of rail from downtown to Barracks Road.

The Bama Works Fund of Dave Matthews Band will give out nearly $200,000 in grants in the second half of 2008 to local nonprofit groups.

The author of “Shooting yourself in the Left foot” (The Daily Progress, June 8) has an extremist view of the way Americans vote, and mocks a large population of people who do not have the same political views as he does.

What can I say in reply to the two insightful letters to the editor in the June 8 Daily Progress, “Shooting yourself in the Left foot” and “Liberals afraid of U.S. values” except “amen, amen!”?

Jim Gilmore’s slash-and-burn campaign tactics at the Republican Party convention recently did a disservice to the voters of Virginia.

Do you remember the April fool’s joke of sending a post card to a friend and writing: “Please disregard previous message” when indeed there was no previous message?

The good news: The United States no longer needs vast stockpiles of nuclear weapons.

A former top CIA counterterrorism official excoriated the two major presidential candidates at a University of Virginia forum Friday for failing to articulate a vision to defeat Islamist terrorists and for promoting a continuation of President Bush’s policies in the Middle East.

Dr. Steven DeKosky, a leader in the field of Alzheimer’s research, will become vice president and dean of the University of Virginia’s School of Medicine on Aug. 1.

Barbara Totschek said she would love to walk her son, Hayden, to the Pantops Shopping Center.

A federal grand jury in Charlottesville this week indicted a Virginia Beach man in connection with drug activity.

Ann Hanna is missing a kidney, Tommy Eavers has it and everyone is fine with that, thank you very much.

Many a phone call came into Charlottesville’s City Hall on Friday from residents concerned about the mysterious smoke that had snaked into the area.

This month the Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company of Central Virginia celebrates its 100th anniversary.  Not only is it 100 years old, but it is still owned and operated by the same family.

I want to congratulate and thank the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors for taking decisive action to protect the health of our residents and the natural environment.

On a whim, I recently drove to Oklahoma City to watch the Women’s College World Series in softball. I am so glad that I did.

With his family literally starving, John Lawrence Locher, like so many people in the Great Depression, dropped out of high school to help feed his family. Not only was his father out of work, he also was stricken with tuberculosis. And then, like so many of his peers, Mr. Locher went off to fight in World War II, serving in the Pacific.

Tim Russert has died of an apparent heart attack.

Rising water from the Cedar River forced the evacuation of a downtown hospital Friday after residents of more than 3,000 homes fled for higher ground. A railroad bridge collapsed, and 400 city blocks were under water.

In response to Albemarle County’s barking dog ordinance:

After viewing the June 1 baseball match-up between the University of Virginia and Cal State Fullerton, I’m convinced that “home cooking” is alive and well and that this game truly belongs among the more blatant botched calls in Cavalier lore.