In the best of times, it’s difficult to balance the big-ticket projects in Charlottesville’s Capital Improvement Plan, the city’s five-year budget schedule for large infrastructure projects. That’s only become more challenging during the pandemic, when municipal coffers have taken a hit. Last week the Planning Commission debated the merits of a variety of upcoming projects, […]
In the best of times, it’s difficult to balance the big-ticket projects in Charlottesville’s Capital Improvement Plan, the city’s five-year budget schedule for large infrastructure projects. That’s only become more challenging during the pandemic, when municipal coffers have taken a hit. Last week the Planning Commission debated the merits of a variety of upcoming projects, […]
Going viral On February 12, UVA confirmed that a case of the extra-contagious B.1.1.7 British coronavirus had been found in the university community. (Though the British variant of the disease is more infectious than previous strains, it isn’t any more dangerous once the subject has been infected.) “These are concerning developments, but we believe we […]
By Geremia Di Maro With the one-year anniversary of COVID-related shutdowns just a few weeks away, many people in the area and around the country have a pressing question on their minds: When will we be vaccinated? Though distribution in the commonwealth began slowly, Virginia now ranks seventh out of 50 states in percent of […]
For decades, activists around the state and country have been fighting to abolish the death penalty in Virginia. In 2019, the issue rose to the forefront when Democrats won control of the Virginia General Assembly. On Friday, the House of Delegates voted 57-41 to end the death penalty, with three Republicans joining all the Dems […]
City Hall’s recent struggles have been well-documented. A series of high-profile positions have gone unfilled for extended stretches, and councilors have publicly clashed. Those challenges have prevented the city from carrying out one of its main duties: fully supporting its boards and commissions. Charlottesville’s Human Rights Commission and Office of Human Rights, a volunteer board […]
Joint resolution Let’s start by putting it bluntly: On Friday, Virginia’s legislature voted to legalize marijuana, becoming the first state in the South to do so. Some details of the bill still need to be hashed out, however. Retail sales of legal marijuana to Virginians 21 and up won’t begin until 2024, and the new […]
Since the spring, Charlottesville City Schools has given out hundreds of free to-go breakfasts and lunches daily. But for many students, particularly those with special dietary needs, these meals have not been enough to alleviate food insecurity—now at an all-time high. “Families are struggling to put enough nutritious fresh foods on the table…and the meals […]
LaQuinn Gilmore felt sick to his stomach. He had not eaten enough before taking the antibiotics his doctor had prescribed him for a hand infection, and knew he needed to throw up. While driving down Monticello Avenue on the night of January 11, Gilmore pulled over, got out of his car, and leaned over next […]
Nothing special Charlottesville’s fraught debates over how to address the city’s affordable housing crisis continue. At Monday night’s meeting, in a 3-2 vote, City Council denied a special use permit that would have allowed a modest number of new affordable units to be constructed in Belmont. The proposed apartment complex at 1000 Monticello Rd. would […]
By Sam Baars One of the best things about my cat is that he can’t read a newspaper. Nearly half a million people have contracted COVID-19, and the body count of this global health crisis continues to climb. The planet is warming at an alarming rate. And a certain white supremacist ex-president staged a literal […]