Vape escape: Raising the vaping age hasn’t deterred teens

Bathrooms. Locker rooms. Cars. Check any of these places on a typical school day, and you’re likely to find students taking part in the latest teen trend: vaping. “It’s pretty common around my crowd,” says one Charlottesville High School senior, who estimates about 25 percent of his classmates vape. “Kids will duck out of class […]

Putting up a fight: Rural Dems band together in deep-red districts

Ten Dems running in solidly red General Assembly districts—like the ones that dissect Albemarle County—are doing what rural folk have always done: banding together to help each other out. They’ve formed a coalition called Rural Groundgame, hired a few staffers, and are sharing resources on how to reach the voters who face the same rural […]

What’s in a name?: Behind the recommendation to rename Cale Elementary

By Ali Sullivan The final meeting lasted just a few minutes.  After months of investigation, an advisory committee determined that Paul H. Cale Elementary School—named after a former Albemarle County Public Schools superintendent—should change its name. The recommendation comes nearly four months after the Cale Advisory Committee’s first meeting and almost a year since Lorenzo […]

In brief: UVA hospital makes amends, a yak on the run, and more

Kinder, gentler health care UVA Health System says it will revamp its financial aid guidelines and sue fewer patients after facing a massive backlash from a Washington Post story about the university’s proclivity to go after nonpaying patients. A Kaiser Health News report revealed that from 2013 to June 2018, the state-owned health system sued […]

Under fire: Pet Paradise blaze raises concerns about lack of oversight

By Spencer Philps Mallory Cypher’s husband dropped their dog, Teddy, off at Charlottesville’s Pet Paradise on August 26 before the couple went on vacation. The boarding facility operates in nine states, and Teddy, a regular at the Harris Street location, seemed to love it there. Cypher says the staff was great, and she never had […]

Mallek challenged: White Hall candidates gently spar at forum

Longtime Albemarle County Supervisor Ann Mallek hasn’t had a challenger to represent the White Hall District for the past two elections. That changed with Republican Steve Harvey, whose nickname is “Super Steve.” At a September 11 Senior Statesman forum, the former Army helicopter pilot drew some clear lines about his priorities. In his introduction, after […]

Permanent injunction: Judge says Confederate statues are here to stay

A judge has ruled that Charlottesville can’t remove the two Confederate statues that stand downtown, saying Wednesday that doing so would be in violation of a Virginia historical preservation law. On the first day of a three-day trial, Charlottesville Circuit Court Judge Richard Moore issued a permanent injunction that essentially demolished the defendants’ last argument […]