“Finally.” That was the first word tweeted on a Twitter account for Jens Soering November 25, the day he learned he and former girlfriend Elizabeth Haysom had been granted parole, 34 years after the savage murders of her parents, Derek and Nancy Haysom. Upon their release, Soering, 53, and Haysom, 55, will be turned over […]
Farmville is not a likely spot for a getaway, unless you’re shopping in the massive Green Front Furniture warehouses or dropping students off at Longwood or Hampden-Sydney colleges. But we’d been hearing from friends who’d been to the quaint, historic town to check out its new High Bridge Trail. And with the opening of a […]
Governor Ralph Northam declared Virginia “officially blue” following Tuesday’s election that gave Democrats control of both houses in the General Assembly for the first time in 26 years. And Dems swept Albemarle County, taking the Board of Supervisors, commonwealth’s attorney, and sheriff races. Yet the local House of Delegates races resulted in no upsets and […]
It started with a chance remark. In 2014, former Crozet resident Ricardo Preve was off the coast of Sudan to film sharks. At the end of his stay in the treacherous shallow waters surrounding thousands of islands in the archipelago, “A guy told me an Italian submarine sank here,” says Preve. That detail sent Preve […]
Last month, corporate radio giant Saga Communications petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to deny license renewal to five small, nonprofit Charlottesville stations. It’s a move one station owner calls “a blatant attempt at economic bullying through litigation” that if successful, would shut down the area’s only progressive talk radio and programming geared toward African American […]
Two days before the October 11 closing of Toddsbury of Ivy, a beloved convenience store in the heart of the small western Albemarle community, its parking lot was paved. That’s something the store’s owner says he’s been asking the landlord to do for over a year, and maintenance was a factor in Bruce Kirtley’s decision […]
Political races in Albemarle County are usually pretty staid compared to Charlottesville’s—except for the commonwealth’s attorney race. Prosecutors Jim Camblos (in 2007) and Denise Lunsford (in 2015) were both ousted after controversial, high-profile cases. And 2019 has promised to be another closely watched contest—even before incumbent Robert Tracci’s opponent received an unheard-of $50,000 donation. Republican […]
Ten Dems running in solidly red General Assembly districts—like the ones that dissect Albemarle County—are doing what rural folk have always done: banding together to help each other out. They’ve formed a coalition called Rural Groundgame, hired a few staffers, and are sharing resources on how to reach the voters who face the same rural […]
Longtime Albemarle County Supervisor Ann Mallek hasn’t had a challenger to represent the White Hall District for the past two elections. That changed with Republican Steve Harvey, whose nickname is “Super Steve.” At a September 11 Senior Statesman forum, the former Army helicopter pilot drew some clear lines about his priorities. In his introduction, after […]
Herb Dickerson and his sister own a house in Fifeville, and when he got a phone call from her telling him to get over there on August 27, “I could hear the frantic in her voice,” he says. He pulled onto Seventh Street and saw “this armored vehicle blocking the street and a state police […]