Back to the drawing board: Protest over City Council revisions to CRB proposal

Nearly two years after appointing the initial Police Civilian Review Board, Charlottesville City Council inched closer to making a permanent oversight board a reality at their October 21 meeting, with a first reading of the CRB’s ordinance and bylaws. But members of the initial CRB were not pleased, saying councilors had severely weakened the proposal […]

Filling out the ballot: Other races to watch (and who’s running)

By Spencer Philps Albemarle County Board of Supervisors Three of the six districts in Albemarle County have elections for the Board of Supervisors, where members serve four-year terms. Scottsville District Lawyer and retired Navy captain Donna Price (D) is squaring off with Mike Hallahan (R), also a lawyer and a former deputy sheriff for Albemarle […]

License to bully?: Local nonprofit stations say Saga is out to bankrupt them

Last month, corporate radio giant Saga Communications petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to deny license renewal to five small, nonprofit Charlottesville stations. It’s a move one station owner calls “a blatant attempt at economic bullying through litigation” that if successful, would shut down the area’s only progressive talk radio and programming geared toward African American […]

Reporting back: Tracking hate crimes in Heather Heyer’s name

Nearly two years after plowing his car into a group of counterprotesters at the Unite the Right rally—killing Heather Heyer and injuring 35 others—self-proclaimed neo-Nazi James Alex Fields Jr. was convicted on 29 federal hate crime charges. Yet Heyer’s death was one of the thousands of hate crimes not included in official FBI hate crime […]

In brief: Barefoot is history, first-gen funds, Daily Progress staff unionizes, and more

Barefoot is history The executive director of the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society has resigned less than two years into his tenure. Coy Barefoot, a well-known local author and media personality, was hired in March 2018 after his predecessor Steven Meeks resigned amid questions of mismanagement. Barefoot told at least one person, who later described the […]

Flipping the script: Behind bars, finding freedom in feminism

By Sydney Halleman Richie Edmond-Vargas sits on a shaded bench on the University of Virginia law school terrace. He’s digging into a vegetarian burrito bowl, enjoying a brief break from traveling. He pauses to point to some of the tattoos on his forearms—the Green Bay Packers logo, piano keys. “Eventually, I want to get bell […]

Repair despair: Ivy’s Toddsbury closes after 25 years

Two days before the October 11 closing of Toddsbury of Ivy, a beloved convenience store in the heart of the small western Albemarle community, its parking lot was paved. That’s something the store’s owner says he’s been asking the landlord to do for over a year, and maintenance was a factor in Bruce Kirtley’s decision […]