Insurance denied: City footing Lee statue, parking garage legal bills

Since 2016, Charlottesville has faced a larger-than-usual number of high-profile lawsuits, and in at least two cases, its insurance carrier won’t be picking up the tab. And while the carrier hasn’t seen the most recent suit, filed by Albemarle County over the Ragged Mountain Natural Area April 20, that litigation could join the Lee statue […]

An ‘insidious’ and ‘invasive’ threat to democracy

It’s the issue former President Barack Obama will focus on, joining people like Arnold Schwarzenegger and HBO’s John Oliver, who consider it the biggest threat to the United States’ representative government. The menace is not one that comes from outside the country, but a homegrown tradition dating back to the earliest days of the republic: […]

Court costs: After winning jury trial, Eramo settles

Nearly two years after filing a more than $7.5 million defamation suit against Rolling Stone, its parent company and “A Rape on Campus” reporter Sabrina Rubin Erdely—and five months after a jury awarded her $3 million—former UVA associate dean Nicole Eramo settled her case, likely for much less. The November 19, 2014, Rolling Stone article […]

Daily Progress and Newsplex lay off staff

The same week the Daily Progress won a whopping 42 awards at the April 8 Virginia Press Association banquet, including 13 first-place plaques, the paper, which is owned by a subsidiary of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, laid off three employees. The Progress, like many other former Media General-owned newspapers, thought it had been thrown a […]

Two more independents join City Council race

So far, seven people seem eager to devote their Monday nights to City Council meetings. The race for two open seats now held by Bob Fenwick and Kristin Szakos, who is not seeking another term, has drawn three Democrats—Fenwick, Heather Hill and Amy Laufer—for the June 13 primary. Traditionally the primary winners are shoo-ins for […]

Still angry: Kessler pleads guilty to assault charge

Jason Kessler, the right-wing blogger who unsuccessfully petitioned to remove Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy from office, pleaded guilty today to punching a man while gathering petition signatures, but challenged the victim’s statements outside the Charlottesville General District Court. In the same court March 3, the prosecution asked the judge to dismiss with prejudice an assault complaint […]

Perriello’s (mom’s) cookie campaign

While Tom Perriello tours the state seeking support for his gubernatorial run, his mom is running her own grassroots campaign, chocolate chip cookie by chocolate chip cookie. During her son’s 5th District congressional campaigns in 2008 and 2010, Linda Perriello took cookies with her everywhere she went as an icebreaker. “I’m kind of shy,” she […]

Trump’s migrants: Winery seeks more foreign laborers

Trump Winery has applied for temporary visas for another 23 laborers, which it says it cannot find domestically. Earlier this year, it imported six workers to prune grapevines. Critics suggest that if the vineyard, owned by President Donald Trump progeny Eric Trump, paid a living wage, it might be able to hire American workers. Approximately […]