Week in review

Competing currency

What's to be done about the plummeting dollar? It's time for Virginia to start printing her own currency, says Del. Bob Marshall. Since 2001, the dollar's value has fallen nearly 40 percent and Marshall told Fox News that the Virginia currency would create "competition with the U.S. dollar." There's only a slight problem: the Constitution explicitly prohibits states from coining their own money, and economists predict 50 statewide currencies would produce "economic catastrophe." Marshall said the Founding Fathers debated over whether to give the federal government power to print money, and says he'll still try to pitch the plan to legislators this year.

Virginia victors

Virginians swept the World Cup this week with a different kind of team: robots. Mechanical engineers from Virginia Tech created CHARLI 2, an adult-sized humanoid robot that defeated Singapore's robot 1-0 in the RoboCup 2011. Tech was the only team from the United States to enter a robot in the soccer competition, which was held in Istanbul, Turkey and involved two robots chasing and kicking an orange ball on a small yellow court. CHARLI took home the U.S.'s first trophy in the RoboCup, which has been dominated by either Germany or Japan since the competition began in 2002.

Beating the heat

With the massive heat wave that's swept the East Coast this week, it's not surprising that thieves get hot too. One Dumfries-area man is accused this week of stealing an air conditioning unit from a home under construction, InsideNoVa.com reported. Police found a vehicle, which they say was allegedly driven by Jonathan Fields, in a ditch after midnight. The vehicle contained an air conditioner believed to be stolen, wire cutters, a pry bar, a torch cutter, and a knife, according to a police spokesman. Fields, 26, was charged with grand larceny, destruction of property, possession of a concealed weapon and possession of tools used to commit burglary. He's currently being held without bond-- here's hoping the jail has air conditioning.

Cat caper

A 28-pound cat named Thomas is back with his owner after animal control officers rescued him from a four-foot deep storm drain Monday, the News Virginian reports. A heavy rain could have washed the cat down the drain, animal control officers worried, and because the cat was heavy and declawed, he was unable to climb out. The 13-year-old cat fell into the drain when he was being chased by a dog, according to his owner, and the rescue took six hours before Thomas's cat caper was finally closed.

Getting their gander up

Some suburban Richmond residents are upset by the planned killing of Canada geese that are fouling their neighbors' lawns. The Canterbury Lake Board Association voted in favor of exterminating the birds from the Henrico County subdivision. That didn't sit well with some fellow residents, a dozen of whom protested the decision on Thursday. They came with a life-sized decorative goose. Resident Luke Floyd told the Richmond Times-Dispatch some of his Canterbury Lake residents are "absolutely livid" about the decision to put down the geese. He cast one of two dissenting votes by the association's board. He has since resigned. An official with the U.S. Agriculture Department's Wildlife Services program said the agency is assessing the best time to round up the geese.

Cropping up

Virginia wheat production and yields are up, as well as other field crops such as barley and tobacco. The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services reports that the state's wheat producers expect yields to average 70 bushels this year, with wheat production expected to total 18.2 million bushels. That's up 123 percent from last year's total wheat crop. Barley yields are also up per acre, as well as production. Barley production is expected to total just under 6 million bushels, up 85 percent from 2010. Flue-cured tobacco production is expected to total 44.4 million pounds, up 11 percent from 2010.

Disciplinary disparities

The Virginia Department of Education says it plans to improve how it monitors school divisions that report disparities in student suspension and expulsion rates. The U.S. Department of Education found Virginia failed to review policies, procedures and practices at school divisions that reported wide disparities in disciplinary actions taken against disabled versus non-disabled students. The federal agency said Virginia didn't scrutinize the 23 districts reporting such discrepancies in 2009-10 as required by law. State education spokesman Charles Pyle said Wednesday his agency intends to follow up with school divisions to review policies and practices that might contribute to disparities in long-term suspensions and expulsions.

The findings were part of a review of states' compliance with the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Virginia met IDEA requirements on most other measures.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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