Father’s plea: Details of shooting revealed in court

When then 84-year-old Donald Short shot his mentally ill son to death last November, he said he was defending himself and his family. The former University of Virginia cop entered an Alford plea to involuntary manslaughter in Albemarle Circuit Court on August 25, which is not an admission of guilt, but means he believed the […]

Statues shrouded: Black plastic covers Lee and Jackson

In fewer than 48 hours after City Council unanimously passed a resolution to cover statues of generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, the black tarps went up over the monuments this afternoon to commemorate the city’s mourning over the deaths following a hate-filled rally August 12. The draping went up without public notice […]

President Sullivan’s candid reply

In a Facebook Live video posted to the UVA Students United Facebook page Sunday evening, a student who was present at the Rotunda on Friday, August 11, approaches President Sullivan to ask a few questions about administrative inaction the night of the white supremacists’ torchlight march. “Where were you Friday night? And why were you […]

Standing together: UVA students refused to back down from the face of hate 

On the evening of Friday, August 11, a group of about 20 students from colleges and universities across the commonwealth, all still on summer break, got together for dinner. After dinner, they’d planned to go to St. Paul’s Memorial Church on University Avenue, where hundreds of people, including clergy, had gathered to pray and collect […]

Defense strategy: UVA prof fends off white supremacy invasion

Walt Heinecke had planned to hold nonviolent direct action training the night before the August 12 Unite the Right rally. Instead, he ended up doing nonviolent intervention and defending UVA students from torch-carrying white nationalists in front of the Rotunda Friday night, running two counterprotests at McGuffey and Justice parks on Saturday, and contradicting in […]

In brief: Money pours in after hate rally, legal landscape and more

Healing heart Over the last week and a half, this austere graphic has become a ubiquitous symbol of healing and hope in Charlottesville, found on Facebook profile pictures, store windows and on posters and T-shirts for unity events. But its creator, Rock Paper Scissors’ co-owner Dani Antol, says she couldn’t have imagined the overwhelming response. […]