Meet the candidates: The 2020 5th District ballot is already crowded

Labor Day has traditionally represented the start of the presidential and congressional election seasons, providing candidates a window of one year and two months during which they campaign, meet with voters, and raise money. With the federal holiday now in the rearview mirror, that season is underway in the 5th District of Virginia. Three (potentially […]

Deer crossing

There are more than 50,000 deer-vehicle collisions in Virginia each year. One local scientist has a low-cost solution.    May 3, 2013. It’s 7:50 in the morning. A 51-year-old man driving an SUV west on I-64 collides with a deer. The man is unhurt; police notify VDOT that they’ll need to remove the carcass. October […]

‘You are not alone in this:’ Inside a local abortion clinic

By Sydney Halleman The waiting room of Whole Woman’s Health mimics that of a spa foyer. A selection of organic herbal teas lies on a back table, amid an array of fitness and mindfulness magazines. On the wall is a quote from Georgia O’Keeffe, in pale purple: “I’ve been absolutely terrified every moment of my […]

Clothes call: Local gym demands gender-specific attire for kids

Julia Lapan’s 3-year-old daughter was excited to take her first gymnastics class at Classics Gymnastics. “She ran onto the floor,”—only to be sent back because she was wearing a T-shirt and shorts. “I bristled at that because she was wearing what the boys were,” says Lapan, who asked that her daughter’s name not be used. […]

Crossed off: Petition to close Fourth Street withdrawn

The woman collecting signatures to close the Fourth Street Downtown Mall crossing has withdrawn her petition and deleted her Twitter account. “There was so much outcry, so much hatred,” says petitioner Aileen Bartels. Safety was her primary concern, and she wanted people to be able to visit the mall without worrying about cars. Although her […]

Where’s Denver?: Riggleman refutes claims he hasn’t been accessible

Amid complaints from local residents that he hasn’t made himself available to constituents, Congressman Denver Riggleman has scheduled his first in-person town hall meeting for August 28—in Danville. The Republican representative of Virginia’s 5th District in the U.S. House of Representatives took office in January, when he published a pledge that said he would “conduct […]

Bridging the gap: Charlottesville’s first supervisor of equity and inclusion talks about creating a new culture

When T. Denise Johnson was growing up in Charlottesville’s Westhaven neighborhood, she was one of the few black kids in her honors classes at school. Decades later, that’s a disparity that hasn’t changed—the city’s public school system has one of the widest racial achievement gaps in the nation. In both Charlottesville and Albemarle County schools, […]