Four years after white supremacists invaded Charlottesville for the Unite the Right rally, the biggest civil trial in federal court here starts October 25, and could last up to four weeks. The case is Sines v. Kessler. Nonprofit Integrity First for America filed the complaint in October 2017 on behalf of victims of that violent […]
Charlottesville writer Jocelyn Nicole Johnson’s first book is getting a lot of buzz. She’s earned accolades from acclaimed authors, like Colson Whitehead, who called My Monticello “a badass debut by any measure—nimble, knowing, and electrifying.” It’s a Kirkus Prize finalist, and a Netflix adaptation is already in the works. “It’s great and a little crazy,” […]
Longtime NPR host Diane Rehm is arranging flowers as she talks about death. Rehm became involved in the right-to-die movement after watching her husband of 54 years die from Parkinson’s disease. John Rehm could no longer stand, walk, or eat by himself, but his Maryland doctor said there was nothing he could do to hasten […]
A dedicated few have long tried to slay the gerrymander beast that allows politicians to pick their voters. For nearly 20 years, state Senator Creigh Deeds proposed redistricting reform bills that typically died in subcommittee. In 2013, attorney Leigh Middleditch founded advocacy nonprofit OneVirginia2021 to reform redistricting, an initiative that was seen as a long shot […]
Four years ago, former White House chief photographer Pete Souza wouldn’t have imagined he’d be the subject of a documentary and an Instagram superstar. “We hadn’t elected Donald Trump four years ago,” reminds Souza in a phone interview. Three years and 10 months ago, that had changed. Souza began posting photos of former President Barack […]
Some study history through hieroglyphics or bone fragments. Nancy Siegel looks at what we ate, and the political statements food made about the fledgling American nation during the 18th and 19th centuries. Every school child learns about the Boston Tea Party and the dumping of highly taxed tea into Boston Harbor. Not so well known […]
Since the stylish, glass-walled Transit Center first opened in spring 2007 on the east end of the Downtown Mall, the Charlottesville Albemarle Convention & Visitors Bureau has been a tenant in what was the city’s first LEED-certified building. That long-term relationship will soon end. Even before the pandemic turned the mall into a ghost town, […]
Broker Charles Almy’s wife Katharine was involved in one of Albemarle’s longest—and most bizarre—lawsuits. She sued author John Grisham, St. Anne’s-Belfield development director Alan Swanson, and his wife Donna for emotional distress from accusing her of writing anonymous letters and for going through confidential school files to obtain a sample of her handwriting. Now Almy […]
Confederate monuments have toppled across the South since the slaying of George Floyd at the hands of police. In Charlottesville, statues of generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson still stand, and continue to attract nighttime patrols from both statue defenders and opponents. In the wee hours of June 28—three days before a law went […]
WPVC has been a reliable progressive talk radio voice on Charlottesville’s airwaves since 2015. But on June 17, the low-frequency station went off the air. Michigan-based corporation Saga Communications has reshaped the Charlottesville radio landscape in recent months—Saga has laid off staff from the local stations they own, and filed legal petitions to shut down […]