Facing the past: Wedding sites to stop promoting plantation weddings

Back in 2018, the wedding site Zola published an article titled “8 Unique Charlottesville Wedding Venues,” including The Jefferson Theater, Meriwether Springs Vineyard, and James Monroe’s Highland—one of Virginia’s most famous plantations. But now Zola is one of several wedding planning websites that will no longer promote former slave plantations as wedding sites. While Zola […]

Pushing forward: Albemarle writer’s lawsuit goes to trial

After paying nearly $11,000 in taxes to Albemarle County, freelance writer John Hart will have a chance to get a refund.  On December 4, Judge Claude Worrell of Albemarle Circuit Court ruled that Hart’s lawsuit against the county will proceed, rejecting the county’s request that it be dismissed. Hart, who filed the lawsuit in July, […]

Changing the game: Esports come to middle school

Amy Brudin has always been a gamer. She grew up playing games like Myst and Doom, back when computers were “way less cool than they are now.” And today, she loves playing games on her phone.  So when Brudin, director of educational technology at the Peabody School, first learned about esports—the world of team-based competitive […]

Tragedy on 29: Pedestrian death highlights need for safer crossings

Before Bradley Shaun Dorman left his Charlottesville home the morning of October 25, he told his mother he was going to look for a job. He would be back in a few hours, in time to bathe their dog Gater. Several hours later, his mother, Annette Simmons, heard a knock at her door. She opened […]

History lesson: Local educators help expand Virginia’s African American history curriculum

Community leaders gathered at the University of Virginia October 28 for the first meeting of the Commission on African American History Education. Charlottesville City Schools Superintendent Dr. Rosa Atkins is among those appointed to the commission, which was established by Governor Ralph Northam. The purpose, says Atkins, is “to recognize that the African American experience […]

Back to the drawing board: Protest over City Council revisions to CRB proposal

Nearly two years after appointing the initial Police Civilian Review Board, Charlottesville City Council inched closer to making a permanent oversight board a reality at their October 21 meeting, with a first reading of the CRB’s ordinance and bylaws. But members of the initial CRB were not pleased, saying councilors had severely weakened the proposal […]

Reporting back: Tracking hate crimes in Heather Heyer’s name

Nearly two years after plowing his car into a group of counterprotesters at the Unite the Right rally—killing Heather Heyer and injuring 35 others—self-proclaimed neo-Nazi James Alex Fields Jr. was convicted on 29 federal hate crime charges. Yet Heyer’s death was one of the thousands of hate crimes not included in official FBI hate crime […]