In brief: UVA returns in spring, COVID hits Wintergreen, and more

Back again? After a semester that featured dorm lockdowns, gathering limits, maskless masses flooding bars, and more than a thousand positive tests among students, staff, and contract employees since August, UVA announced last week that students will return to Grounds in person for the spring semester. The university will essentially replicate its fall reopening plans […]

Hard decisions: New learning center comes to Stonefield, as controversy reignites over in-person instruction

Beginning next month, Albemarle County Public Schools will bring kindergarten through third grade students back to classrooms for in-person instruction two days a week. That’s frustrated some teachers who maintain that the safety concerns outweigh potential benefits. Meanwhile, off-site learning centers aim to assist with childcare by hosting virtual learning. As local schools began the […]

In the running: Shelter for Help in Emergency fights on

By Laura Drummond The phone has been ringing a lot at the Shelter for Help in Emergency. Since the pandemic began, SHE, which provides safe housing and other services for domestic violence victims in the Charlottesville area, has received approximately 50 percent more hotline calls than during the same time period last year. SHE has […]

Charlottesville Free Clinic finds a new home

For the past 24 years, the Charlottesville Free Clinic has provided no-cost physicals, prescriptions, mental health services, dental care, and more for the uninsured and underinsured from its Rose Hill Drive facility, which it has long shared with the Thomas Jefferson Health District. But in May, the Virginia Department of Health announced it was terminating […]

In brief: Keeping the pressure, breaking the law, and more

Defunders keep fighting “Does abolition really mean ending the police? Yes.” So said community organizer Ang Conn, as she spearheaded last Wednesday’s Zoom conversation on policing, hosted by Defund Cville Police. Over 80 community members joined in on the call. The group hopes to keep the pressure on as the summer of protests moves into […]

Uncovered: How racist redlining shaped our urban forest

The trees you see around town are more than just nice to look at. On a hot day, they provide much-needed shade. When it rains, they absorb flood waters. They help filter air and absorb noise pollution, especially when planted near busy streets. And they’ve been linked to reducing stress and anxiety, among other benefits. […]

Trees company: A tour of some of Charlottesville’s landmark trees

“The Charlottesville area has a wonderful diversity of trees, and a climate that allows them to grow into old age,” says Robin Hanes, who heads up the Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards’ Notable Trees Project. “We have some fine specimens just out right where everybody drives or walks.”  The Tree Stewards, who plant, tend, and advocate […]

Ash disaster: Local ash trees face their own pandemic

As if COVID-19 weren’t enough, central Virginia is fighting another plague, only this one—the emerald ash borer—threatens our trees. The beetle may look like a tiny jewel— it’s a bright metallic green, small enough to sit on a penny— but it’s been scything down local ash trees like a malevolent Paul Bunyan.  “No ash tree […]

Generational ties: UVA first-gen students pass down lessons learned

When Andjelika Milicic began looking at colleges, she felt like a lab rat. Her parents, originally from Serbia and Bosnia, did not go to college, and she was the oldest of her siblings, leaving her with no one to guide her through the application process. “I did not know what I was doing whatsoever,” says […]