Controlling the narrative: Panel looks at black Charlottesville’s stories

Why Charlottesville was targeted by a white supremacist rally, ostensibly to protest the removal of a Confederate statue, has led to several theories. That was the starting point for a panel sponsored by the UVA library August 12, two years after the Unite the Right rally. “Beyond the statues: The invisibility of black Charlottesville” began […]

Moving forward: Two years after A12, how do we tell a new story?

It’s been two years since the “Summer of Hate,” and Charlottesville, to the larger world, is still shorthand for white supremacist violence. As we approach the second anniversary of August 11 and 12, 2017, we reached out to a wide range of community leaders and residents to talk about what, if anything, has changed since […]

Why are Charlottesville cops still driving this car?

Whether you were on Fourth Street that afternoon or not, you know the car: the low-slung gray muscle car with the distinctive brake lights that James Fields used to murder Heather Heyer and injure dozens of others on August 12, 2017. From video footage and the shocking photograph that won local photographer Ryan Kelly a […]

Complain here: City’s app helps resolve issues more quickly

A common gripe in Charlottesville among residents and city officials alike is how long it takes local government to get things done. But keeping track of complaints isn’t easy: Deputy City Manager Mike Murphy says the city receives so many emails that it can take a while to review them, and sometimes officials miss them […]

In brief: Not the Daughters of Confederacy tour, City Council is back, no confidence in Cumberland, and more

Tour de force For the past couple of years, Jalane Schmidt, UVA professor and activist, and Andrea Douglas, Jefferson School African American Heritage Center director, have been conducting tours of our downtown monuments, providing new context for the Confederate statues that have long dominated Court Square and Market Street parks. Now, those who haven’t seen […]

Nothing sacred: Houses of worship beef up security

Pittsburgh. Christchurch. Charleston. The list of communities devastated by mass murderers continues to grow, as the past weekend attests. And houses of worship have found that nothing is sacred to those determined to target people of certain religions or races. Congregation Beth Israel realized that the weekend of August 12, 2017, when neo-Nazis marched through […]

Equal protection: Judge ponders city’s last statue defense, rejects another

The City of Charlottesville recently came up with another theory on how to defend itself in the lawsuit over its allegedly unlawful tampering with statues of Confederate generals: that the city never formally accepted the oversized bronze equestrian statues of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. But Circuit Court Judge Richard Moore rejected that argument […]

Game on: Monticello High will compete in Virginia eSports pilot

Virginia high schools will put a new spin on the word “athlete” when they launch an eSports competitive video gaming league this fall. The Virginia High School League announced earlier this summer that it’ll be rolling out a one-year pilot program for the 2019-20 school year that includes three different video games: League of Legends, […]