It’s been over two years since a local resident threw the Court Square slave auction marker into the James River, and Charlottesville is slowly—yet surely—moving toward erecting a new memorial. Since 2020, the city’s Historic Resources Committee has met with several dozen descendants, gathering their input on how to properly memorialize the thousands of enslaved […]
For more than a decade, Charlottesville’s school reconfiguration has remained in limbo, thanks to a plethora of financial setbacks. As the city works to finalize its budget for fiscal year 2023, leadership has struggled to figure out how to fund the $75 million project, which would move fifth grade from Walker Upper Elementary—currently home to […]
After years of public outcry, the James River Water Authority has abandoned its plans to build a water intake and pump station at Rassawek, the historic capital of the Monacan Indian Nation. Last week, the authority—a partnership between Fluvanna and Louisa counties—unanimously voted to apply for permits for an alternative project site, located about two […]
Since defeating Dr. Cameron Webb in 2020, 5th District Representative Bob Good has stayed true to his Trump-loving, Bible-thumping platform. In addition to introducing bills attacking abortion rights, criminal justice reform, gun control, and refugees, the Republican has rejected the 2020 presidential election results, voted against investigating the Capitol insurrection, and supported fellow far-right conservatives, […]
Since the beginning of the pandemic, inmates at the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail have called attention to a host of health and sanitary issues at the facility, including black mold, faulty wiring, leaky ceilings, poor plumbing, freezing temperatures, bug infestations, standing water, and shoddy COVID containment procedures. The jail’s leadership has begun taking steps to improve […]
For nearly a century, Charlottesville’s Robert E. Lee statue—erected during the Jim Crow era, in the heyday of the Ku Klux Klan—towered above the park at the city’s center, signaling to Black residents that they were not wanted downtown. After years of court battles and a deadly white supremacist rally, the city removed the racist […]
For years, some Albemarle County residents have lacked adequate access to high-speed internet. CenturyLink customers continue to experience broadband and telephone outages, sometimes lasting for days or even weeks. And for many residents, CenturyLink is their only option. But for some, better internet and phone service is on the way. Thanks to the 2021 Virginia […]
Virginia’s Republican-controlled House has killed a bill that would have allowed marijuana sales to begin ahead of schedule. The Democrat-controlled Senate passed the bill last month, but some advocates criticized elements of the legislation. Virginia legalized marijuana in 2021, but the laws surrounding the drug are hazy. While everyone 21 and over can legally possess […]
After being released from prison, Hines Washington started a moving business—Hines’s Family Movers. As his business grew, Washington needed office space, but he couldn’t afford it. And, as a recently incarcerated individual, he found it difficult to secure a loan. Washington turned to the Fountain Fund, a local nonprofit dedicated to giving low-interest consumer, vehicle, […]
In January, the highly contagious omicron variant brought coronavirus cases to an all-time high in the Charlottesville area. The Blue Ridge Health District reported over 11,000 new cases and nearly 200 hospitalizations—the largest surge since the pandemic started in February 2020. Over the past few weeks, cases and hospitalizations have significantly declined. On February 13, […]