On February 10, local conservative radio host Rob Schilling posted a photo of a Black History Month poster from Cale Elementary School on his blog, with the headline “Fomenting dissension at Cale Elementary.” Three days later, Albemarle County Public Schools Superintendent Matt Haas left a comment agreeing that the poster was causing dissension among students, […]
On February 10, local conservative radio host Rob Schilling posted a photo of a Black History Month poster from Cale Elementary School on his blog, with the headline “Fomenting dissension at Cale Elementary.” Three days later, Albemarle County Public Schools Superintendent Matt Haas left a comment agreeing that the poster was causing dissension among students, […]
Money talks City Manager Tarron Richardson presented his proposed budget for fiscal year 2021 at the City Council meeting on March 2. If that sentence made you yawn, we understand—but the tail end of the hours-long council meeting represents the beginning of the end of the budget cycle, some of the more important city business […]
Last August, Chinikqua Joseph’s Buckingham County home burned down. Thankfully, no one was injured or killed by the fire, but she, along with her mother and godmother, lost everything. They were homeless. While looking for housing, Joseph stayed with friends, and later with a boyfriend. When that relationship became abusive, she had to find a […]
Mike Bloomberg’s Charlottesville campaign office is cavernous—and, on a Wednesday afternoon with the Virginia primary less than two weeks away, totally empty. The ninth-richest man in the world set up shop across the street from Friendship Court, one of Charlottesville’s largest low-income housing neighborhoods, but it doesn’t seem to have led to any foot traffic. […]
Charlottesville’s Office of Human Rights and Human Rights Commission have an intimidatingly broad mission: to reduce discrimination in the city. So perhaps it’s not surprising that the office and its volunteer commission, which are tasked with both investigating individual complaints of discrimination and reviewing city polices for systemic discrimination, have received their fair share of […]
Back to the drawing board Three weeks after the Court Square slave auction plaque was stolen in the middle of the night, the hole left in the sidewalk has been bricked in, leaving little evidence that any memorial ever existed. The city quickly removed unauthorized replacement plaques by local artist Richard Parks, but discussions are moving forward […]
For most of her life, Margaret O’Bryant has called the library home. After receiving a master’s degree in library science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she worked in libraries at Ferrum College, Lenoir-Rhyne College, and UVA, later moving to the reference department at the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library. While at the public […]
Keeping our waterways swimmable, fishable, and drinkable seems like an uncontroversial goal—but the Trump administration apparently disagrees. Since assuming control, the administration has made a series of efforts to weaken long-standing protections for America’s waterways. Local environmental groups have grave concerns about the potential effects of these suggested laws in Virginia and across the country. […]
Barracks Road Shopping Center’s go-to location for bird feeders, peacock wind spinners, and outdoor furniture is nearly empty now. Plow & Hearth will end its 30-year-plus run at Barracks Road March 1, and increased rent was a factor in the decision to shutter the store. “Our lease was coming to term and it had some […]
The Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation, a historic preservation group that installed a monument to Confederate soldiers in Winchester last year, is now angling for a $1.6 million grant from the state of Virginia for the creation of a different kind of monument—an African American history center. Some local black history organizations have expressed concerns. “We […]