Fall Family Fun:  Orchard Hopping in Central Virginia

By Ken Wilson – Fall colors and fall flavors go together. Fall is when we go leaf-peeping and pumpkin picking, when we make apple sauce and pumpkin butter, when we enjoy stunning colors by day and mouth-watering pies at night. Fall is also festival time at area orchards, of which we have aplenty. “Apples have […]

Drinking Local: Distilling Spirits in Central Virginia

By Ken Wilson – As an underage college kid, Ian Glomski made “crappy” beer in his mother’s house. As an adult he makes whiskey in an alternative school—a former school, that is. Let’s not get the wrong impression. What Glomski is up to in the former Henry Avenue Learning Center in Charlottesville, and what an […]

In brief: A new reputation, a boycott and scary statistics

Rebranding hate If the #cvillestandsforlove looks familiar, like the “Virginia Is For Lovers” logo, for instance, that’s because Susan Payne, wearing her chair-of-the-Virginia-Tourism-Corporation-board hat, created the hashtag using the state’s 50-year-old iconic logo. “It’s the same family,” says Payne. “And it’s all free. No city money is being used.” According to Payne, Governor Terry McAuliffe […]

Sold: Brown Automotive becomes Umansky Automotive

A Memphis-based car dealership chain bought Charlottesville’s Brown Automotive Group, an institution in the community for nearly 40 years, on September 19. Umansky Automotive Group, a family-operated company, has 850 employees across 16 dealerships, says owner Dan Umansky. The five local Brown dealerships will be his first locations in Virginia, with the others in Tennessee, […]

‘Wait, what?’ UVA names Harvard dean, UVA law grad new president

The University of Virginia has chosen James E. Ryan, a UVA law school graduate and faculty member for 15 years, and the dean of Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, as its ninth president, succeeding Teresa Sullivan in fall 2018. Ryan addressed the Board of Visitors and the university community in front of the Rotunda this […]

Haves and have nots: Unity concert divides Charlottesville

Dave Matthews Band wanted to help the healing in its hometown with a free concert following the hate fest here in August, and called upon fellow musicians Pharrell Williams, Justin Timberlake, Chris Stapleton, Ariana Grande and others to join the show at Scott Stadium, a rarity in the middle of UVA football season. Instead, the […]

Tarped: Students shroud Jefferson statue in black at Rotunda

By Natalie Jacobsen “No Nazis, no KKK, no racist UVA!” a parade of students crossing University Avenue chant. “Louder!” shouts a woman with a megaphone. Just after sundown around 8pm Tuesday night, as the rain fell, more than 100 students gathered in front of the Rotunda and surrounded the Thomas Jefferson statue. Two students drummed […]