Charlottesville has seen a significant increase in the size of its work force, largely due to the University’s presence, according to the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce.

In a report released Wednesday, the region experienced a 3.8 percent job increase during 2006, with professional and business services seeing the most growth. On the other hand, manufacturing has steadily decreased, down 4.2 percent between 2003 and 2005.

The number of jobs in the private sector of Charlottesville was particularly high, increasing 4.4 percent compared to 1.6 percent growth in the Commonwealth as a whole. This growth marks the third consecutive year during which there has been a job increase in the region, which includes the City of Charlottesville, Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa and Nelson counties.

Although the region experienced job loss between 2000 and 2003, job opportunities have risen 26.2 percent over the last 12 years.

This continued increase is not surprising to Lee Witherow, president of Adams & Garth Staffing and Executive Search, one of the underwriters of the report.

Witherow cited the fact that “a lot of groups in Charlottesville do a good job of working together.”

According to Witherow, Charlottesville is a community where the opportunities available for sustainable jobs are high, noting that one of the major contributors to employment opportunities in the area is the University.

“U.Va. is by far the biggest employer in the region, and their growth and prosperity has a big impact on what goes on in the region,”Witherow said.

Witherow added that the University has the ability to attract jobs by bringing in top-tier companies to the Fontaine Research Park and expanding the information industry.

“There is a good opportunity for companies to move here,” Witherow said. “This economy is raw and relatively unaffected by recession in other places.”

Chamber of Commerce President Timothy Hulbert echoed a similar sentiment, noting that the University is not only the largest single employer in the area, but that it continues to grow.

Of the 102,000 jobs in the area, 19,000 are at the University, Hulbert said, with several thousand more jobs offered through University affiliates like the health care services.

“U.Va. is the straw that stirs the drink,” Hulbert said.

Students planning to take the Graduate Record Examinations in November will be faced with two new additional question types, one math and one verbal; however, there is no need for them to panic. Educational Testing Service announced yesterday that the two new question types will not be scored for this crop of test-takers.

Tom Ewing, spokesman for ETS, said the new questions will be used for ETS testing purposes only in an effort to assess the validity of the new questions.

“The questions that are going to be introduced in November have been field tested and studied, but there’s nothing like trying them out in actual tests,” Ewing said. “We need to ensure completely that they are measuring what we want.”

According to Susan Kaplan, the director of the graduate program at Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions, the first question type is called Numeric Entry and will appear on the quantitative portion of the exam.

“Typically for GRE questions there are multiple answer choices,” Kaplan explained. “Instead, for this new type of math question the test taker will need to fill in a blank.”

This new test format has the potential to increase the difficulty of the GRE exam because of its open-response nature, Kaplan said.

The second new question type, known as Text Completion, will be included in the verbal section.

“Test takers will need to fill in two or three blanks within a passage, and the correct answer for each blank will be from separate multiple choice banks,” Kaplan said.

In the past, the answers for the blanks came from only one multiple choice bank.

Ewing said he expects to see these new questions permanently integrated into the GRE in the future.

“These are the kind of improvements the graduate community told us they wanted, so they’re all coming, but they will come gradually,” Ewing said.

According to Aaron Mills, associate dean for graduate programs at the University, these changes will not affect graduate admissions in the near future.

“We were promised that the new questions will not have any relation to the score … they are experimental only,” Mills said. “At present I don’t see anything that’s going to change our practices at all.”

Television viewers can expect to see more alcohol safety commercials while channel surfing after the Virginia Attorney General’s Office launched a new ad campaign this week designed to better educate Virginia citizens about the dangers of drinking and driving.

The ad campaign is the next phase of Checkpoint Strikeforce, a six-month statewide effort initiated in July to crack down on drunk drivers through education and increased enforcement, according to David Clementson, deputy director of communications in the Virginia Attorney General’s Office.

“Intense programs like Checkpoint Strikeforce are aimed at bringing the rising figure of DUI arrests and convictions down as much as possible,” Clementson said.

With Virginia DUI arrests reaching almost 30,000 a year, the state attorney general’s office and the Albemarle Police Department are looking at various ways to address the issue.

“The educational aspect of the program is very important, but a big part of the ad campaign is to let Virginia citizens know there will be a checkpoint or saturation patrol every week somewhere in Virginia,” Clementson said.

According to Sgt. Sean Hackney of the Albemarle Police Department, the saturation patrols and checkpoints are funded by the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, and their sole responsibility is to patrol for drunk drivers.

“We are trying to tell folks that by driving drunk you are not just taking your own life into your own hands, but the lives of everyone else on the road,” Clementson said.

According to Hackney, the increase in enforcement is a response to normal fluctuations in drunk driving incidents.

“The number of arrests changes throughout the year, but is particularly high during the summertime, football season and the winter holiday season,” Hackney added.

According to Hackney, the number of DUI arrests does not noticeably rise when the University is in session.

“Many more U.Va. students are living off Grounds on the county-city line, but students are usually good about walking home in groups and packs,” he added.

Kurt Erickson, president and CEO of the Washington Regional Alcohol Program, works as an official on Checkpoint Strikeforce and emphasized the importance of enforcement during the upcoming Labor Day weekend.

“Labor Day weekend is the third deadliest holiday for drivers on the road,” he added. “Stepped up enforcement is vital to safety on the road.”

Both the attorney general’s office and the Albemarle County Police emphasized the previous success of Checkpoint Strikeforce and its importance in future years.

“Our highest priority is to save lives from such a preventable tragedy,” Clementson said.

The Virginia Tech Review Panel identified oversights by the state’s mental health system and slow response time as factors that contributed to the occurrence and extent of the April shootings at Virginia Tech.

The report, released yesterday and compiled by a panel formed by Gov. Tim Kaine, outlines topics such as Virginia Tech’s security, the timeline of events, shooter Sueng-Hui Cho ‘s mental health, information on federal privacy laws and the emergency medical services response. The panel was charged with investigating the circumstances that led up to the shootings as well as the manner in which officials responded when the violence began.Members of the panel spent the past several months engaging in numerous interviews and hearing testimonies from experts of pertinent areas. Shortly after the report was released, Kaine responded to the findings.

In the wake of the tragedy, the workings of the state’s mental health system have been debated and criticized by many. The panel found that there are issues that need to be addressed within that system.

“The response of the state mental health system, in the one instance when it dealt with Cho, suggests that there are problems concerning the way Virginia implements its mental health laws,” Kaine stated in a press release.

As an example, Kaine cited specific instances of Cho’s experiences in the mental health system. Following concerns about his psychiatric stability, Cho was sent to St. Albans Behavioral Health Center in December of 2005 and was diagnosed as a danger to both himself and society. According to Kaine, there was no official follow-up that took place to determine if the required outpatient procedure was completed.

Kaine also commented on the response time discussed in the report, stating that the campus community should have been notified “in the immediate aftermath” of the first two fatal shootings.

One of the faults identified in the delayed response time was the fact that Virginia Tech police officers were not able to issue a notice themselves. Kaine added in a press release that, “the fact that the Virginia Tech Police Department did not have the ability to initiate such notice without convening an administrative committee and working through the wording of the notice was a problem.”

The report characterized Virginia Tech’s Emergency Response Plan as “deficient,” noting that the response plan was not only two years outdated, but also did not include provisions for a shooting scenario. The report also indicated that Virginia Tech had not established a threat assessment team.

“The protocol for sending an emergency message in use April 16 was cumbersome, untimely, and problematic when a decision was needed as soon as possible,” the report read. “It is critical to alert the entire campus population when there is imminent danger.”

Virginia Tech President Charles Steger responded to the report yesterday and said the process of notifying students in emergency situations, as well as the identification of troubled students, will be improved.

“As we move forward we need to be more aggressive in identifying and assisting students of risk,” Steger said.

He added that laws will need to be changed and that Virginia Tech would not be a “bystander” in the political process.

“If there are laws that need to be changed, we’re going to be advocates for them,” Steger said.

He also later pointed out that no one can know what would have happened that day if different decisions had been made. Steger dismissed suggestions that there had been a “two-hour gap” in responding to the shooting by saying there had been continuous action taken after the first shooting occurred.

Regarding Cho, Steger said he hid his depression when offered help and added that nobody at Tech had any previous knowledge of Cho’s problems.

Steger described the panel’s review as “extraordinarily comprehensive.”

“We respect and commend the panel for what they have done,” Steger said. “They’re illustrative and useful for future actions.”

According to a press release from the governor’s office, the panel’s recommendations will be reviewed in the weeks to come to determine what action would need to be taken to implement them.

The Virginia women’s volleyball team continues competition against non-conference teams this weekend in the Marriott Jefferson Cup at Memorial Gymnasium. The Cavaliers will face Arkansas tonight at 7 p.m. Saturday, Virginia will battle Norfolk State at 1 p.m. and Temple at 7 p.m.

With Virginia (2-1, 0-0 ACC) falling just short of the NCAA Tournament a year ago, it is essential that the Cavaliers begin the season on a good note against a series of tough non-conference opponents. Success against these teams will enhance the team’s Ratings Percentage Index, a tool utilized by the tournament selection committee.

“These games are almost more critical than ACC play,” All-American senior outside hitter Sarah Kirkwood said.

Virginia started building its tournament resume last weekend in Las Vegas, winning two out of three matches against quality opponents. The Cavaliers defeated Texas Tech and 2006 NCAA Tournament participant Arizona State before falling to University of Nevada, Las Vegas in the third match.

Leading the way for the Cavaliers this weekend will be Kirkwood, who was named to the All-Tournament team in Las Vegas. In addition, Virginia returns four other starters, including defensive specialist senior Melissa Caldwell at libero, sophomore Lauren Dickson at the other outside hitter position and middles junior Shannon Davis and senior Katie Oakes. Oakes earned honorable mention All-American honors last year.

Virginia, however, did lose Emily Kirkwood, last year’s All-American setter. Taking her place are junior Marlow Bruneau and freshman Kelly Irvin. The presence of new faces in the lineup suggests that it might take some time for the offense to completely find its rhythm.

“I’m trying to expand my game to acclimate to the new setters,” Kirkwood said. “I have confidence the offense will come.”

With a new setter, the Cavaliers continue to build team chemistry and this weekend will try to identify and play to their strengths.

“We are trying to find a way to best utilize our 14 players,” coach Melissa Aldrich Shelton said.

After competing on the road last weekend, the team is looking forward to playing in Memorial Gymnasium for the first time in 2007. Virginia was 12-2 at home in 2006.

“There is an atmosphere [at Memorial Gym] you can’t find anywhere else,” Kirkwood said.

Arkansas, the Cavaliers’ first opponent of the weekend, enters the Jefferson Cup at 3-1, having lost its first match to Georgia Tech. The Razorbacks should be the stiffest competition for Virginia, receiving several votes in the latest AVCA/CSTV coaches poll after defeating Pittsburgh, Pepperdine and Oral Roberts.

Norfolk State comes to Charlottesville 0-4 after competing last weekend in the North Carolina Central Tournament. Norfolk State fell to Elon, North Carolina Central, Loyola and Campbell.

Temple, Virginia’s third and final opponent of the Jefferson Cup, will compete with a 2-3 record after wins over Rider and Lehigh. The Owls’ losses came to Youngstown State, Akron and Delaware.

In addition to Virginia’s matches, Temple and Norfolk State kick off the Jefferson Cup at 5 p.m. Friday. Saturday, Arkansas and Temple will begin the day’s competition at 11 a.m., then Norfolk State and Arkansas will play at 5 p.m. to begin the evening session. Admission for the entire tournament is free.

The beginning of the school year at Virginia is accompanied by anticipation of new classes, parties, old friends and soccer season. Virginia, after all, has traditionally enjoyed great soccer teams, and this year doesn’t look much different. The 2007 Virginia women’s soccer team will begin its season at Klöckner Stadium tonight at 5 p.m. as it takes on Delaware. The Cavaliers come into the contest sporting a No. 17 preseason ranking while the Blue Hens of Delaware are unranked.

The Blue Hens are not traditionally a soccer powerhouse, but they did manage to put together a record of 8-8-3 in 2006. Delaware plays in the Colonial Athletic Association, where it finished ninth in 2006 with a 3-7-1 record in conference play.

Although Delaware has not produced the same results that Virginia has in years past, it is still an opponent that should not be taken lightly. The Blue Hens are led by junior midfielder Kasie Shover, the leading returning scorer, and sophomore forward Melissa Kilker, who turned in a stellar freshman year in 2006.

Virginia, however, appears to have a solid chance of meeting Delaware’s challenge. Delaware has not played an opponent ranked as high as Virginia in seven years, and when the teams last met in 1996, Virginia easily handled Delaware in a 6-1 win. Additionally, Virginia will be aided by the home field atmosphere of Klöckner Stadium. Known as one of the biggest and most daunting soccer venues in the country, Klöckner Stadium has given Virginia a great edge for years. Considering the amount of preseason hype surrounding the Cavaliers this year, Klöckner Stadium will certainly present a difficult playing environment for Delaware.

“It’s nice to be at home here at Klöckner, in front of our fans,” coach Steve Swanson said. “It’s very exciting for all of us.”

There are, however, some lingering questions surrounding the Cavaliers as they head into their first game of the season. The main question comes at the goalkeeper position, where a permanent starter has yet to be named. Currently, the competition is between junior Celeste Miles and redshirt freshman Chantel Jones, neither of whom has substantial starting experience. Whoever ends up earning the job will be forced to adjust quickly to the added pressures that come along with the starting goalkeeper position.

The second question heading into tonight’s game centers around the preseason and its results. Players and coaches agree that much was accomplished and learned during the preseason.

“We worked really hard during the preseason, and I think the team is excited about playing a regular game,” Swanson said.

Virginia, however, was defeated in its two preseason exhibition games, though both losses came at the hands of two higher ranked opponents — No. 2 Notre Dame and No. 8 Connecticut. The Cavaliers don’t seem to be worried about the two preseason losses.

“I don’t think it’s going to have any effect on our regular season at all,” senior defender Becky Sauerbrunn said.”If you look back in the past, [at] the last four preseasons I’ve been a part of, we have lost at least one of our games. But we always tend to do very well at the beginning of the [regular] season.”

The Virginia men’s soccer team kicks off the 2007 season tonight under the lights at Klöckner Stadium. The Cavaliers will take on the Columbia Lions in the first match of an opening weekend doubleheader featuring the Richmond Spiders Sunday night.

“I don’t like to talk about Richmond until I get through Columbia,” Virginia coach George Gelnovatch said. “But Columbia is very well coached. The head coach used to be the assistant coach at Santa Barbara — the current national champions. They are aggressive, they pressure, they are very athletic and we expect this to be a halfway decent game for sure.”

As Columbia prepares for tonight’s match, watching tape of last year’s Virginia squad will help little, if at all. The graduation of goalkeeper Ryan Burke and forward Adam Cristman, along with the loss of defender Bakary Soumare to Major League Soccer, prevents the Cavaliers from retaining the same strategy that took them to the NCAA Tournament semifinals last year.

“We are playing a little differently than last year, in terms of our formation and how we line up,” Gelnovatch said. “So we are working through some of those issues that arise because of those differences.”

Several veteran players have already proven that they are capable of stepping up and assuming new responsibilities on the field. Although he did not see a considerable amount of playing time last fall, senior midfielder Chris Tierney saw a considerableincrease in minutes during spring training and was Virginia’s leading goal scorer. This season, Gelnovatch is planning a formation aimed at increasing Tierney’s touches off the ball.

“Last year I had a role where I was coming off the bench,” Tierney said. “But what [Gelnovatch] said was that the left side is really going to be my spot. My style is focused on crossing and getting the ball into the box for the strikers — it’s a role I like to play, and I’m really looking forward to having the chance to show what I can do.”

As a senior, Tierney recognizes just how different this team is from the one that had such success last fall; however, he does not see change as a bad thing and remains confident that the Cavaliers can adapt and be highly successful.

“It is a whole different look from last year,” Tierney said. “A whole different looking team even, but it is good. We have a really fast passing style and the team looked great last Sunday against South Florida.”

During that same exhibition match, Soumare’s replacement, freshman T.J. Cyrus, got his first taste of what he calls the “college game.” Indeed, at the collegiate level, the pace is faster, the opponents are stronger and self-confidence on the field is critical.

“You can’t play lazy passes; you have to be sure of what you are doing at all times,” Cyrus said. “But also you have a lot more support from your teammates.”

While the Virginia men always prefer to open the season at home rather than on the road, the freshmen in particular are enthusiastic about having the home field advantage for their first collegiate match.

“I am excited to experience the atmosphere of the college game for the first time,” Cyrus said. “It’s my first home game with a lot of fans there. I think I will do well and have a good time doing it.”

Nearly every Virginia student who attended last year’s first home football game against Wyoming remembers the closing seconds. With the Cavaliers up by a point in the first overtime, all the Cowboys needed to do was make the extra point to send the game into a second overtime. The normally automatic extra point sailed right, however, and the Cavaliers escaped unscathed with a dramatic 13-12 win.

Tomorrow, the Cavaliers pay a visit to Laramie, Wyoming for the first game of the 2007 football season against those same Cowboys. If last year’s game is any indication, this year’s should be challenging and fun, too.

“That first game at Wyoming is going to be a challenge,” senior tight end Tom Santi said. “Just going out there is going to be a long trip, a different atmosphere. I’m excited about going out there. Those guys played as hard as anybody we played against. They were pulling out all the stops, fake punts, bringing the ball six yards deep out of the end zone. They want to win. It doesn’t matter to them. They want to beat an ACC team.”

Wyoming did indeed pull out all the stops last year, namely converting two first downs on two fake punts. In the offseason the Cavaliers focused on preventing such mental mistakes.

“These are awareness things, situational things,” coach Al Groh said. “It’s really been at the forefront since the start of practice in the spring. There are certain things that we put in categories called ‘things that make you win or cause you to lose’ that go beyond tackling and blocking.”

Even though these two teams clashed last year, some of the faces on the teams are different. Both teams were relatively inexperienced last year, but this year both teams return a wealth of starters. Virginia returns 10 starters to a defense that ranked 17th in the country last season.

On offense, the main difference for both teams is that the quarterbacks that start Saturday did not even play in last year’s meeting at Scott Stadium. Sophomore quarterback Jameel Sewell started the final nine games for the Cavaliers, throwing for 1,342 yards and five touchdowns. Sophomore quarterback Karsten Sween of Wyoming threw for 1,304 yards and nine touchdowns last season.

“Both of those players had a very positive impact on their team in the second half of the season,” Groh said. “I’m sure each team is anticipating that with experience and the spring [training] and training camp, that each one of those players will be that much better. That will be one of the interesting story lines of the game: Which player can be that much better than he was on the last day of last year.”

Much preseason discussion has centered on who will start at wide receiver opposite junior Maurice Covington for Virginia. Groh has decided that walk-on redshirt freshman Staton Jobe will get the nod. Jobe had been vying for playing time with junior Cary Koch.

“I can’t wait to get out to Wyoming,” Jobe said. “I’ve dreamed my whole life of playing college football, and this is definitely exciting for me.”

The Cavaliers’ dismal road record of 2-9 during the last two seasons is a weakness players said they do not think about.

“We just to have focus on this year and just be prepared to play anywhere,” sophomore defensive end Jeffrey Fitzgerald said.

If the Cavaliers want to improve on their road woes, they know that a key is scoring first. The Cavaliers boast a 37-15-1 record on the road dating back to 1987 when they strike first.

Several well-documented questions surrounding the 2007 football team will finally be answered Saturday in a place the players do not know a lot about.

When asked what he knew about Wyoming, Fitzgerald said, “It’s a long way from here.”

In a back-and-forth goal-scoring frenzy at Turf Field, the Virginia field hockey offense prevailed in a 4-3 victory over Richmond yesterday. The potent offense made up for a lackluster defense that allowed three goals on just six shots, including Richmond’s first two shots of the game.

“We’re happy to put the balls in the net, that’s what it’s all about,” Virginia coach Michelle Madison said. “That’s what we say: get the goals and attack, and that’s what we did.”

The Cavaliers took control early, securing three short corners in the first seven minutes before sophomore forward Traci Ragukas was able to beat Richmond junior goalkeeper Becca Weaver on a breakaway in the eighth minute to give Virginia the lead.

Less than one minute later, Virginia struck again. Junior midfielder Inge Kaars Sijpesteijn fired a ball towards goal from just outside the circle that freshman forward Kaitlyn Hiltz redirected into the net. As the Cavaliers jumped out to a 2-0 lead, it appeared to be only a matter of time before Virginia blew the game open.

“The first 15 minutes, they played just how we wanted to, right with the game plan,” Madison said. “Being able to do that minute after minute is what we have to build on.”

In the 14th minute, however, the tide turned toward the Spiders. Freshman Sarah Blythe-Wood made a run into the shooting circle and snuck a backhand roller through freshman goalkeeper Devon Burnley on Richmond’s only shot of the first half. Despite the Cavaliers’ dominant 6-1 advantage in shots, they went into the half with just a 2-1 lead.

The Cavaliers regained the momentum early in the second half, as sophomore midfielder Kelsey Vonier found freshman forward Taylor Swezey in front of the goal, who touched the ball past the diving Weaver into the lower corner in the 38th minute. The goals from Swezey and Hiltz, the first goals of their college careers, were welcome contributions from a freshman class that will have to play a major role to fill the void left by last year’s talented seniors.

“It’s just a matter of time before they score, they’re very talented players,” Madison said. “As long as they’re leading and passing, we get the ball in the circle.”

Richmond, however, took advantage of its second scoring opportunity of the match to once again pull within a goal of Virginia. On Richmond’s first short corner of the match, Richmond inserted to Blythe-Wood, who blasted a shot that deflected off a Cavalier stick into the upper corner for her second goal of the game.

Blythe-Wood “is a good player,” Madison said. “They really isolated the defenders at the back.”

The Cavalier offense, however, rebounded once again. In the 55th minute, Ragukas came out of a scrum with the ball in front of goal and placed a shot into the lower corner for her second goal of the game and her third this season.

Yet Richmond refused to give up. With just over two minutes remaining in the game, the Spiders got off a shot in the circle that junior goalkeeper Amy Desjadon got a foot on, but was unable to push wide of goal. Richmond sophomore forward Anne Edwards took advantage of the opportunity to put away the rebound, pulling the Spiders within a goal once more.

Virginia, however, was able to hold on for the final two minutes to conserve the win.