Slow and steady

After over a year of debate surrounding Charlottesville’s stolen slave auction marker, the Historic Resources Committee began meeting with descendants of enslaved laborers, seeking their input on how to best pay tribute to the thousands of enslaved people bought and sold in Court Square. The memorial’s story serves as an example of the process of […]

Now hiring

For nearly a year, a “now hiring” sign hung at the entrance to Baggby’s on the Downtown Mall. With the arrival of the coronavirus vaccine, owners Jon and Erin LaPanta hoped that applicants would start rolling in—but none came. “Now that business is coming back, we’ve had to turn business away,” says Jon LaPanta, who […]

Heating up

Two weeks ago, Pertelle Gilmore received an urgent phone call—there was a conflict going on at the Westhaven public housing community. Joined by a few other members of the B.U.C.K. Squad, he rushed to the scene to urge everyone involved to stand down and put away their guns. But while the violence interrupters talked to […]

Open doors

While the daily decrease in coronavirus infections offers a light at the end of the tunnel, the nation’s economy continues to struggle to recover from the ongoing pandemic. Millions of Americans remain unemployed, including over 60,000 Virginia residents. Now more than ever, many are looking to start a new job or career, but may not […]

Going green

In 2009, Dr. Latham Murray of Earlysville passed away at age 59 at his childhood home, Panorama Farms. His family decided to take care of the funeral themselves, building him a homemade coffin and burying him in their family cemetery. Without knowing it, they had given him a natural burial, free of toxic embalming chemicals, […]

Inching forward

Charlottesville’s Police Civilian Review Board continues to disagree with city officials over how much power it should wield. Shortly after August 2017, in response to demands for increased oversight of law enforcement, City Council committed to the creation of a Police Civilian Review Board, a body that would give area residents some checks on the […]

Logged on

It’s been over a year since the coronavirus forced local schools to shut their doors and teach thousands of students online. Thanks to a significant drop in COVID cases and the arrival of the vaccine, many students and teachers have returned to the classroom, with health and safety precautions in place. Some students, however, continue […]

Breaking rank

If you’ve voted in more than a few elections, there’s a chance you’ve cast a ballot for a candidate you didn’t particularly like. Maybe you would have voted for someone else, but you knew that candidate didn’t have enough party support to win the race, and you didn’t want to “throw away” your vote. Under […]

Hollowed-out halls

For more than 20 years, Crescent Halls residents have been speaking out about the intolerable living conditions in the public housing apartments, including leaky laundry machines, broken air conditioners, sweltering heat, sewage flooding, busted elevators, bed bugs, and cockroaches. Charlottesville leaders vowed in 2010 to redevelop the 45-year-old complex for seniors and disabled residents—along with […]

Taking notes

From 1941 to 1945, at least 6 million European Jews were deported, tortured, and murdered by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust. In light of these evils, all symbols honoring or celebrating the Third Reich have been banned in Germany for decades—outside of museums, you’ll find no Nazi flags, swastikas, or statues of Adolf Hitler. Yet […]