Muzzled: Free speech wall creator shuts down

During its heyday, the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression was known for calling out censorship with its Muzzle awards and for launching the Downtown Mall’s Free Speech Wall in 2006, where luminaries like John Grisham and Dahlia Lithwick turned out to chalk the first messages on the monument. Over the past […]

One way: Wintergreen wants an emergency exit

There’s only one way in and one way out of Wintergreen, where residents and the local fire department have called for a second emergency exit for more than a decade, and where the topography is strikingly similar to that of Gatlinburg, Tennessee—the site of the November 2016 inferno that killed 14 people and injured nearly […]

Ground-ed: UVA considers requiring second-years to live on campus

Every college student knows it’s coming. Do it right, and you’re securing an enjoyable experience for two semesters of your college career. Mess it up, and you may be looking at a 12-month sentence of living with that guy who never learned how to do the dishes. Signing that first lease, even if it’s only […]

Going it alone: Charlottesville Tomorrow dumps Progress, broadens mission

When Charlottesville Tomorrow began in 2005, it was one of the first nonprofit, local news orgs in the country. Its mission was so narrow—land use, community design, transportation—that another local weekly called it a “growth watchdog.” The online publication broadened its name recognition and reach when it began sharing content with the Daily Progress in […]

Plea denied: James Fields gets life behind bars for car attack

James Alex Fields Jr. sat before the judge, his thick, black hair grown just long enough to touch the collar of his black-and-white striped jumpsuit. The 22-year-old wore glasses, and spent most of Friday morning and early afternoon staring at the wall in front of him as the victims who were harmed when he plowed […]

Where’s McFadden? Emotional plea from family of missing teen

The family of Dashad, aka Sage, Smith made a moving, at times tearful request for help in finding the man last seen with the teen missing since 2012, while urging the community to not get hung up on pronouns or the name by which Smith is identified.  At a June 27 press conference, Charlottesville police […]