Richmond police have arrested three men in connection with thefts from motor vehicles in the Fan. Since those arrests last month, such thefts in the Fan and nearby Randolph neighborhoods have decreased by 66 percent, police said. From July 1 through July 19, when the third arrest was made, there were 22 thefts from motor vehicles in those neighborhoods. From July 20 through Sunday, there have been only seven.

Jennings was voted the league’s offensive player of the year and Rocco the coach of the year after Liberty went 5-0 in conference games, yet missed out on an at-large berth for the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs. Gardner-Webb linebacker Jeffrey Williams was named the Big South defensive player of the year. Stony Brook running back Edwin Gowins was voted the top freshman, and VMI’s Jacob Rochester earned scholar-athlete of the year honors.

Randolph-Macon’s coaches will not distribute slingshots and pebbles prior to kickoff. But perhaps they should. Because the Yellow Jackets are playing the role of David in today’s playoff date with Mount Union, the Goliath of NCAA Division III football.

Kelly Lambert, professor of psychology at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, yesterday was named the 2008 Virginia Professor of the Year.