A jury in a whistleblower case in federal court in Charlottesville last week awarded a former UVA researcher $660,000, determining he was wrongfully fired after drawing attention to alleged misuse of grant funds from the National Institutes of Health—and the plaintiff’s attorney says his client could end up with a much bigger payout. As initially […]
Whether they watched them unfold or not, many Americans point to big moments in the history of presidential debates in this country: Nixon’s no-makeup mistake; Lloyd Bentsen’s “you’re no Jack Kennedy” quip. But do those moments—or even the debates as a whole—really matter? It’s a question reporters and pundits revisit every election cycle. Because despite […]
An architect’s challenge usually hinges on the limits of space and scale, but a team of young Virginia professionals has spent the last nine months tackling a very different task: closing Charlottesville’s income gap. The Emerging Leaders in Architecture program, run by the Virginia chapter of the American Institute of Architects, gives young people in […]
A researcher fired from UVA’s psychiatry department is suing for reinstatement under a whistleblower protection known as the False Claims Act, saying he was forced out after drawing attention to fraud related to misappropriation of federal grant funds. UVA has declined to comment on the suit, and an attorney for the plaintiff, Dr. Weihua Huang, has […]
To qualify for a “Class B” Virginia farm winery or cidery designation, owners have to ensure that 75 percent of the fruit they use comes from Commonwealth vineyards —not necessarily their own. And in 2007, the legislature expanded the farm wineries’ privilege and banned local governments from regulating winery activities whose “purpose is to promote, market, sell, or educate guests about the wine produced.”
Those seeking guidance in the garden have a new resource at their fingertips: the Piedmont Virginia Native Plants Database, a searchable list of 341 native grasses, trees, and wildflowers, all found in the region before the arrival of European settlers, and all accompanied by information about where they can be put to best use. Want […]
GPS data, customer complaints, drivers’ opinions: A lot gets weighed when plotting and tweaking new city bus routes. But Juwhan Lee of Charlottesville Area Transit said there’s one step in the process that you can’t leave out. “The best way, really, is just to take out a stopwatch and run the route,” he said. And […]
When the Charlottesville City Council denied a live music permit for Matteus Frankovich’s Black Market Moto Saloon property near the Woollen Mills neighborhood on Monday, the move came as something of a surprise to those who had worked to reach a compromise between the bar owner and local residents. The 4-1 vote—Dave Norris was the […]
Among the things Albemarle County likes to claim it’s known for, its cell tower ordinance is probably the most unlikely point of pride. The county’s long-standing regulations are credited with forcing wireless structures to keep a low profile, and they’ve been duplicated by other jurisdictions. But with greater demand for strong signals even in rural […]
According to several media outlets, including CNN, Republican nominee Mitt Romney and running mate Paul Ryan plan to campaign in Virginia this Thursday, October 4, a day after the first presidential debate. With country music artist Trace Adkins joining the candidates onstage, the hopefuls will host a Victory Rally at Augusta Expoland in Fishersville, about […]