Gruesome testimony: Convicted animal abuser appeals

An Orange County woman will remain out on bond as she appeals a conviction of 25 counts of animal cruelty in what some have called the worst case of its scope they’ve ever seen. When police arrested Anne Shumate Williams, the owner of a nonprofit horse rescue called Peaceable Farm, on October 19, 2015, hey […]

Local Food Hub’s Fresh Farmacy program cultivates a healthier community

It’s about 40 degrees Fahrenheit in the colder of the two warehouse storage rooms at the Local Food Hub, and the air smells of cardboard and brown paper, of bell peppers and root vegetables, and the earth that grew them. Boxed bushels of apples—which keep for months when refrigerated—sit on tall industrial shelves. Printed in […]

Proposed court docket would offer treatment programs for incarcerated

Increasingly, jails have become asylums. City and county officials are hoping to change that with a new court docket aimed at diverting people with mental illness from jail by the end of the year. The therapeutic docket follows 18 months of data gathering by the local Evidence-Based Decision-Making Policy Team, which found that 23.1 percent […]

Wavyleaf menace: A culprit in the ‘rambunctious garden’

By Mary Jane Gore Of all of the invasive plant species in Virginia, a new one has risen to No. 1, according to the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation in Richmond. Wavyleaf grass was introduced in Virginia only in the past 15 years, with its earliest spotting in Shenandoah National Park, says Kevin Heffernan, […]

In brief: Smear season, Kessler’s farewell and more

Big John’s run Fewer than two weeks before the November 7 election, veterans advocate John Miska launched a write-in campaign for Albemarle supervisor in the Rio District, where Dem Ned Gallaway is uncontested. Miska says he’s running as a conservative because he hates to see just one person on the ballot. “Call me Don Quixote. […]

Magic bullet: Trademark issues halt Harry Potter event for a spell

By Natalie Jacobsen This year’s Halloween was supposed to mark the fourth, and predictably largest, Harry Potter festival Scottsville had ever hosted. But the magic was quelled with a phone call from Warner Bros. Entertainment citing trademark infringement. The town’s spellbinding transformation, including businesses and their owners, has transfixed children, students and adults alike. “Halloween […]

Secret history: Is the Charlottesville historical society a thing of the past?

By John Last There’s an open secret among Charlottesville’s historians: Something is very wrong at the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society. Under the near-singular control of an amateur historian, plagued by infighting and, now, facing eviction by the city, even some lifetime members are saying the 77-year-old society should meet its demise. Conversations with more than […]