Exit interview: Steve Sellers sets the record straight

When Steve Sellers took the job as chief of Albemarle County Police in late 2010, he came to a department where, earlier that same year, four officers had been disciplined for inappropriate behavior on the job. He took over an organization where a dashcam video of an officer listening to the Black Eyed Peas’ “My […]

SWAT standoff: Local Internet celeb behind bars

Not one to shy away from a camera, a Charlottesville man and Internet celebrity had a more somber cameo than he’s used to during January 4 video appearances in Charlottesville General District Court and Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court. A day after a police standoff, which lasted several hours and required the presence of a […]

UPDATED: Suspect taken into custody after 6th Street standoff

“Everything in that house will be ruined,” homeowner Marcus Shifflett said when police began shooting what appeared to be tear gas into a 6th Street Southeast home he rents to a tenant. “Furniture, clothes, everything.” The Downtown Mall’s Union Bank and Trust was robbed January 4, and city spokesperson Miriam Dickler says police obtained a […]

Signer elected mayor, Bellamy vice mayor

Newly elected Mayor Mike Signer promised respect and results at the first City Council meeting of the year but received a test in maintaining order when he was greeted by protesters and disrupted twice by angry constituents. The council elected another first-termer, Wes Bellamy, vice mayor. Rumors that Signer would be the next mayor were […]

Union Bank robbed again

Union Bank on the Downtown Mall, a favorite for bank thieves and conveniently located only a block away from the Charlottesville Police station, was robbed Monday morning. Police got a call at 10:58am, and were there within moments. A witness told officers she’d seen a man hanging out in front of the bank earlier. Police […]

Red Onion sued: Coal tower shooter’s guardian seeks $23 million

The man charged with killing two people at Charlottesville’s coal tower in August 2001 was found unresponsive and unconscious in a blood-smeared, solitary confinement cell at Wise County’s Red Onion State Prison in April 2014, bound by a makeshift rope tied around his neck and ankles and with a three-quarters-inch slit on his left wrist. […]

New leases signed at 5th Street Station

A real estate firm out of Virginia Beach has signed five leases at 5th Street Station, a soon-to-be 465,000-square-foot shopping center on Fifth Street. The 72-acre space has already promised a Wegmans, but thanks to the 66,900 square feet Divaris Real Estate has signed off on, locals can now expect a Havertys Furniture, A.C. Moore, […]

‘Stinky neighborhood’: Will a $9.3 million project pass the smell test?

Nauseating smells from a wastewater treatment plant have long plagued the neighborhoods of Belmont-Carlton, Woolen Mills and others nearby. After a series of semi-unsuccessful smell-combatting projects, the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority says these odors may finally meet their match. RWSA Executive Director Tom Frederick, a member of RWSA since 2004, says the smells from […]

Family ties: Sales at Trump Winery skyrocket

With Trump Winery and the Albemarle Estate situated on a massive 1,300-acre plot south of Charlottesville, some Central Virginians may have more ties to the Trump family than they’d like. Others take advantage of it. Robert Harllee, owner of the Market Street Wineshops, tells the story of a liberal couple who visited his store in […]

E-Z peel exposé: Thai slave labor puts crimp in holiday shrimp

The Associated Press investigation the week before Christmas revealing that slave labor routinely is used in Thailand to clean and peel the shrimp that makes its way into major American grocery chain freezers has some locals fretting about whether to serve the nation’s favorite crustacean over the holidays. AP reporters followed and filmed freshly peeled […]