UVA welcomes new head football coach

Just days after former University of Virginia football coach Mike London resigned, Brigham Young University’s Bronco Mendenhall snagged the title December 4, becoming UVA’s 40th head football coach. At BYU, Mendenhall coached the Cougars for 11 seasons with an overall record of 99-42 and ranked 12th in total wins among all Football Bowl Subdivision teams […]

Open dialogue: Group helps special education community

The parent of an eighth-grader who receives special education at Buford Middle School says her daughter doesn’t appear like she’s disabled. Lisa Torres’ daughter is moderately to severely dyslexic and has some difficulty with speech articulation, but she’s enrolled in advanced classes and also in the band. “I’m a parent who’s at a different end […]

Horse owner speaks out about neglect at Somerset farm

A stallion of the Lipizzan breed, Conversano II Aloha II, was trained to the highest level in Grand Prix dressage and ridden by owner Jean Thornton for 20 years. That is, until she sold him to Somerset farm owner Anne Shumate, who promised to care for the aging horse while riding him enough to keep […]

Lightning fast: Ting’s grand plans to expand

Just five months after Ting launched its high-speed Internet network in Charlottesville, the company has given almost half the city access to the gigabit. Ting describes the gigabit as “lightning fast” (gigabit refers to a speed of one gigabit per second, and one gigabit equals 1,000 megabits), and its network requires not just stringing cables up […]

Do the YMCA: Charlottesville site breaks ground—finally

The long-awaited Brooks Family YMCA will offer local families a fitness floor, elevated track, basketball gym and multiple pools—all coming to McIntire Park in the summer of 2017 at a cost of $18,744,384. Exactly half of that has been raised so far. “You may have your door knocked upon soon,” Suzanne Jessup Brooks, vice president […]

Know your water: Recent rainstorm boosts levels

As part of a national campaign called Imagine a Day Without Water, members from the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority, Albemarle County Service Authority and City of Charlottesville set up booths last week on the Downtown Mall and asked passersby to describe the many ways they use water. Making tea, brushing teeth, filling water balloons […]

McAuliffe warns of worst case scenario

On September 30, well in advance of Hurricane Joaquin, Governor Terry McAuliffe declared Virginia in a state of emergency. In a teleconference October 1, McAuliffe and other Virginia safety officials said everyone in the commonwealth can expect between 4 and 10 inches of rainfall, whether or not Joaquin turns east and heads out into the ocean. […]

Switching formats: WVAI picks up where WUVA left off

On September 18, WUVA listeners who tuned in to 92.7 FM, the only urban station in Charlottesville, were surprised by the country twang pouring out of their radios. “Obviously, the main reason is economic,” station manager David Mitchell says about WUVA’s sudden transition from one genre to another. Over the past few years, Mitchell says […]

Motions in Jesse Matthew trial to be filed under seal

At a previous motions hearing, Judge Cheryl Higgins allowed police to unshackle Jesse Matthew’s belly chain, freeing his hands to only handcuff restraints. Nonetheless, in a September 30 hearing, Matthew appeared, once again, with handcuffs attached to his belly chain, making it difficult for him to raise his right hand when he waived his rights […]

Traffic changes on U.S. 29

Beginning September 28, expect nightly closures of the Rio Road crossover at U.S. 29, as a part of a grade-separated intersection project involving excavation and construction of abutments on which bridge beams will rest when they are placed next summer, according to VDOT. During the closure, Rio Road traffic will not be able to cross […]