Bridge builders: Charlottesville’s unsung heroes

By Kay Slaughter Each day, people cross the Drewary J. Brown Bridge on West Main Street oblivious of this memorial to Charlottesville’s history. Nothing announces the bridge over the railroad tracks as a special space. It was rebuilt in 1998 and renamed by City Council for Brown, a civil rights leader who had recently died. […]

Rugby Avenue gets the green light

A test to make the intersection of Rugby Avenue and Rose Hill Drive safer by installing four-way stop signs concluded this week with plastic bags coming off the old stoplights and the removal of the stop signs. When the signs went up at the end of March, neighborhood website Nextdoor was abuzz with reports of […]

Ahead of the curve: CHS offers free SAT exams for select students

Many Virginia high school students see taking the SAT or ACT as almost a basic requirement—it’s a cultural norm. But according to a recent study published by University of Virginia researchers Sarah Turner and Emily Cook, there are some who don’t even consider it, reducing the number of students who apply to college. “If you […]

Life plus 419 years: Judge goes with jury recommendation in Fields case

After a four-hour hearing July 15 in the cramped room temporarily housing Charlottesville Circuit Court, a judge handed down the same sentence recommended by the jury that found James Alex Fields, Jr. guilty of murder and maiming last December: life plus 419 years in prison. Self-proclaimed Hitler fanboy Fields was convicted of killing Heather Heyer […]

Side effects: Cell tower emissions at Western still issue for some

By Caroline Eastham Aesthetics seemed to have gotten more discussion than health risks when Albemarle County approved a cell tower at Western Albemarle High last fall. The tower will provide sorely needed cell service to Crozet and internet access to over 400 homes and businesses, yet some say the health risks outweigh the connectivity benefit. […]

A green dream: City Council passes ambitious goal for carbon neutrality

The City of Charlottesville has set a plan in motion to reduce its carbon footprint—and it’s not messing around. On June 24, City Council unanimously approved a proposal to curtail carbon emissions by 45 percent over the next 11 years and achieve an end goal of carbon neutrality by 2050. It’s an aggressive plan, one […]

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 […]