Psychic indicted: Found some victims at Synchronicity

The business known as Readings by Catherine on U.S. 29 north became even more intriguing when it was raided by federal officers last summer. No charges were filed, and its owner, Sandra Marks, 40, a.k.a. Catherine Marks, disappeared until she was arrested last week and appeared at a bond hearing in New York for a […]

Anson’s crawl: City Council candidate details arrest record

Republican City Council candidate Anson Parker is not the first person running for office with an arrest record—Wes Bellamy had his own bout with unresolved traffic tickets two years ago. Parker has racked up three arrests for public drunkenness since 2006, with the most recent in January of this year. He also was charged with […]

Baby on board in roll-away car

A 2011 Dodge Avenger left running in the parking lot at Guadalajara with a baby in the backseat July 26 rolled across Market Street and crashed into a truck in the parking lot beside the Charlottesville Recreation Center. The baby was unharmed, according to Charlottesville Police’s Steve Upman. Originally the car was believed to be […]

City Council approves William Taylor Plaza

The controversial development that puts a Fairfield Inn on the corner of Ridge Street and Cherry Avenue, nixed by the Planning Commission 5-0 and rejected by more than 500 petition-signing residents, got a 3-2 go-ahead from City Council July 21. The Southern Development project was in front of council a few weeks ago, and a  […]

Middleditch charged with involuntary DUI manslaughter

Local realtor and Ivy resident Andrew Middleditch, 55, was charged with felony involuntary manslaughter while driving under the influence July 13, a charge stemming from a May 25 crash in which Lonnie Wycliffe Branham, 78, was killed on Barracks Road. Middleditch previously had been charged with a DUI, his second. He was released from Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional […]

Tracci responds: Defends experience as prosecutor, denies hitting kill switch

Robert Tracci’s first job out of law school was in Congress as counsel to a House committee. He worked in the Justice Department in Washington in 2006, and was a federal prosecutor in Charlottesville two years later. Despite the glittery resume, some Democrats are asking if the Republican candidate for Albemarle commonwealth’s attorney, challenging incumbent […]

‘Switcheroo’? William Taylor Plaza developer stuns City Council

The darling of 21st-century community design is the “planned unit development,” which typically combines commercial and residential for high-density, pedestrian friendly living. So when the developer of the already controversial William Taylor Plaza PUD told City Council July 6 there was no requirement for a residential component, councilors put the brakes on a rezoning amendment […]