A fired Charlottesville Fire Department mechanic, who found a bottle of booze allegedly planted in his desk and a city-installed spycam to catch him with the contraband, was reinstated to his job a year ago. It took a bit longer for the city to agree to pay the $16,000 in legal fees he racked up fighting his […]
In 2000, Charlottesville had seven movie theaters. For most of 2015, it had one—Regal Stonefield Stadium 14 and IMAX—until the Violet Crown Cinema opened downtown late last year. “That’s one theater too many for Regal,” says Adam Greenbaum, owner of the Visulite in Staunton and the beloved Vinegar Hill Theatre in Charlottesville, which closed in […]
The General Assembly is in full swing and the No.1 agenda item is to craft a two-year budget. Governor Terry McAuliffe’s budget included Medicaid expansion, which the Republican-controlled legislature has repeatedly said was DOA, so there was that going into the session. Here’s what some of our many local legislators have been up to. Delegate […]
A year ago, then-mayor Satyendra Huja announced his dislike of a plan for the West Main streetscape that had been in the works since 2013—the third such study on the corridor that connects the University of Virginia and the Downtown Mall since the 1990s, according to his recollection. Thus the West Main Street Action Plan, estimated […]
It was pretty challenging being a pedestrian after winter storm Jonas dumped more than 15 inches on Charlottesville. City code requires that sidewalks be cleared within 24 hours after the snow stops. Once City Manager Maurice Jones declared the storm officially over the evening of Saturday, January 23, citizens received a slight reprieve because it […]
Anthony Martin, the Nelson County commonwealth’s attorney who got a murder conviction without a body in the case of missing teen Alexis Murphy, resigned from his position January 26 after being reelected in an unopposed race in November. In an e-mail, Martin says, “[R]eally it boiled down to wanting a change after 10 years of prosecution. […]
Escafé is a popular place to get a drink, a place a group of people out on the town might choose for a nightcap later in the evening. “It’s an end-up place,” says owner Todd Howard. And that has the restaurant in trouble with the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. That’s because to get […]
An attorney for Jesse Matthew called the search warrant for Matthew’s Hessian Hills apartment so broad it amounted to a “fishing expedition” because it didn’t limit what could be considered trace evidence and biological material. At a January 21 hearing, Judge Cheryl Higgins denied the defense motion to suppress evidence collected. The parents of Hannah […]
Virginia has a history of parties requiring primary voters to affirm they’re loyal Democrats or Republicans. However, three African-American pastors who are Donald Trump supporters filed a lawsuit claiming the pledge required by the state GOP—“My signature below indicates I am a Republican”—will discourage minorities and the poor from voting in the March 1 primary. […]
Ryan McLernan admits he’s an addict. But he’s adamant he never sold drugs until another addict—a confidential informant for the Jefferson Area Drug Enforcement Task Force—asked McLernan if he could help him score. McLernan did, and, six months later, he was indicted for distribution of $50 worth of heroin. The 22-year-old Western Albemarle High graduate […]