After months of reporting on the local COVID-19 vaccine rollout, I finally received the email I had patiently been waiting for: I was eligible to get the shot. I scheduled my appointment and headed over to the vaccination clinic inside the former JCPenney at Fashion Square Mall the next day. The long Moderna line moved […]
As millions of people across the country struggle to get back on their feet, an eviction crisis rages alongside the coronavirus pandemic. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s nationwide ban on evictions has been extended until June 30, and states continue to offer rent relief options for struggling tenants—yet these protections have not been […]
For nearly a century, Charlottesville’s downtown statues of Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson have stood as brutal emblems of white supremacy. Local Black activists have fought long and hard for the bronze eyesores to be taken down for good, but the city has faced a string of roadblocks over the past four […]
Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, local shelters have drastically expanded their efforts to house our most vulnerable community members. With support from the Thomas Jefferson Area Coalition for the Homeless and People and Congregations Engaged in Ministry, those experiencing homelessness have been able to stay at hotels, where they receive daily meals, case […]
Joy and laughter filled the summery Friday afternoon air, as dozens of children danced in a church parking lot across from the South First Street public housing neighborhood. People later left the dance floor to tour the inside of a rescue truck and pick out new reads from the Free Book Bus, while others waited […]
Two white Charlottesville police officers who injured two Black civilians in separate incidents are no longer employed by the department, announced Chief RaShall Brackney at a virtual press conference on Friday. One officer, Jeffrey Jaeger, was convicted of assault in December. The other, Joseph Wood, was determined to have breached the department’s internal standards when […]
City Councilor Heather Hill and Mayor Nikuyah Walker’s terms expire at the end of the year, and four candidates have thus far declared their intention to win those seats. Earlier this month, social entrepreneur Carl Brown announced his bid for City Council, joining Charlottesville School Board member Jaundiego Wade, UVA project manager Brian Pinkston, and […]
It’s been over a year since 74-year-old Richard Allan hurled Charlottesville’s former slave auction marker into the James River, frustrated with the city for not creating a better tribute to the thousands of enslaved people bought and sold in Court Square. Ever since, the city has been working to replace the marker. The Historic Resources […]
Writer Sadeqa Johnson was walking the Richmond Slave Trail when she came across a shocking piece of local history. She’d heard of Robert Lumpkin, a notorious figure who ran a slave jail known as the Devil’s Half Acre, where thousands of Black people were brutally tortured and mercilessly auctioned off. But Johnson hadn’t known that […]
“For more than 25 years, redevelopment and public housing in the City of Charlottesville have been conversations and promises to residents,” said Audrey Oliver, standing on a dirt lot near Oakwood Cemetery downtown. “The promises became broken, and residents became discouraged, because the promises were never delivered.” That string of broken promises will soon be […]