Concealed-carry rattles some ACAC members

Paula Fallon was barefoot in a class at ACAC in November when she stepped on a small stone. She was taken aback when a classmate asked, “Not a bullet?” That’s how she learned that the downtown fitness facility had changed its policy from prohibiting firearms on premises to allowing concealed-carry. “It seems like a strange […]

Grinchy: Skimmers and scammers bilk locals

For local writer Coy Barefoot, it was having his debit card refused December 7 and going home to discover his BB&T account balance was zero. For Amy Paquette, it was a call from BB&T’s fraud department asking about an ATM withdrawal that she didn’t make while she was on a business trip in upstate New […]

Steak of America: Bank building has restaurant in its future

When Bank of America closes its branch doors downtown in February, it leaves a grand 1916 building in its wake that will house a steakhouse, according to building owner Hunter Craig. And while he declined to identify the grilled meat purveyor, he did say it would be locally owned, not a national chain. Also inhabiting […]

UVA alums condemn classmate

These days, Richard Spencer, class of 2001, is being voted least popular by his former classmates at UVA and his Dallas prep school, St. Mark’s. Spencer, who says he coined the term “alt-right” and is president of the white nationalist National Policy Institute, has raised the ire of some UVA alums. A group called Hoos […]

Iced out

Even before Mark Brown listed the Main Street Arena for sale for $6.5 million in September, the rumor mill was working overtime about possible buyers for the prime Downtown Mall location, including speculation back in the spring that a Japanese developer wanted to turn it into a hotel. The current buzz? That Jaffray Woodriff, founder […]

West Grounds: More student apartments in Midtown

Another unremarkably named structure will soon be joining The Flats and The Uncommon student housing on West Main: The Standard. Located across the street from The Flats on the site of the soon-to-be demolished Republic Plaza, the six-story, 70′ structure has already raised concerns about turning West Main into a canyon and about how the […]

Who’s a racist? Wes Bellamy and Jason Kessler speak out at City Council

An overflow crowd packed City Council chambers December 5 for Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy’s first appearance since the racist, misogynist and homophobic tweets he made before taking office were released on Thanksgiving. And the man who created the firestorm, Jason Kessler, showed up with a petition calling for Bellamy’s ouster. The majority of attendees were Bellamy […]

Downtown Mall at 40: Is innovation still around?

Even in November, balmy weather and the Virginia Film Festival had throngs out on the Downtown Mall. But it wasn’t always that way. For years after Charlottesville bricked its main street in 1976, the place was a ghost town after 5pm. Landscape architect Lawrence Halprin’s early 1970s vision of a bustling public space took 15 […]

UPDATE: Bellamy takes leave from teaching position

Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy, a teacher at Albemarle High School, has agreed to take an administrative leave of absence while the school division investigates “vulgar” tweets he made before being elected to Charlottesville City Council, according to a statement today from the Albemarle School Board. “Many of these postings contain extremely vulgar and offensive language that […]

Synchronicity Foundation recalls compassionate response to terrorism

A journey to India for meditation and enlightenment in late November 2008 turned into a terrorist bloodbath that left 164 people dead throughout multiple locations in Mumbai. Among them were a father and daughter from Synchronicity Foundation in Nelson County. Days later, the modern spirituality community made international news again when the mother’s response was […]