Kid’s menu: Schools offer healthier options

It’s 3:30pm on a Tuesday at Jackson Via Elementary School, and students as young as 5 are biting into fresh Pink Lady apples twice the size of their hands, nodding to one another in approval. They enthusiastically drain small cups of locally pressed apple cider, and several kids raise their hands to ask for a […]

UVA welcomes new head football coach

Just days after former University of Virginia football coach Mike London resigned, Brigham Young University’s Bronco Mendenhall snagged the title December 4, becoming UVA’s 40th head football coach. At BYU, Mendenhall coached the Cougars for 11 seasons with an overall record of 99-42 and ranked 12th in total wins among all Football Bowl Subdivision teams […]

Honorable discharge: Will toxic water be dumped in the James?

Environmental groups and concerned citizens worry that Dominion’s intentions to dump millions of gallons of wastewater per day into the James River won’t go swimmingly. Alleging that the wastewater potentially being discharged from a Fluvanna County power station will contain coal ash and toxic metals, some are worried about the environmental impacts on the river […]

Jesse Matthew in court for motions hearing

The Jesse Matthew hearing December 7 was the last court appearance in the charges stemming from the murder and abduction of UVA student Hannah Graham for outgoing Commonwealth’s Attorney Denise Lunsford, and the man who defeated her in November and will take over the capital case, Robert Tracci, was in the Albemarle courtroom. Tracci hugged Gil […]

Another slaughter: Senate rejects gun restrictions

Within a few days, Colorado Springs and San Bernadino became the scenes of the most troubling trend in America: The mass murders of unarmed citizens by gun-wielding killers. The day after Syed Farook, aided by his wife, Tashfeen Malik, mowed down 14 of his coworkers at a holiday party, the U.S. Senate blocked legislation to […]

Gene Washington appears for last motions hearing of the year

The man charged with brutally beating a mother and daughter to death before setting their Rugby Avenue home on fire one year ago appeared in Charlottesville Circuit Court December 7 for a motions hearing. Gene Washington faces capital murder charges for the death of special education teacher Robin Aldridge and her daughter, Mani. Judge Rick […]

The blade has landed at the Paramount

The last piece of the recreation of the historic Paramount Theater was hoisted into place Thursday morning when the 33′ blade was secured to the front of the theater. “This is giving me chills,” says Jane Belisle, one of the onlookers gathered on the Downtown Mall around 9:30am to watch a crane hoist the 3,000-pound Blade into […]

Open dialogue: Group helps special education community

The parent of an eighth-grader who receives special education at Buford Middle School says her daughter doesn’t appear like she’s disabled. Lisa Torres’ daughter is moderately to severely dyslexic and has some difficulty with speech articulation, but she’s enrolled in advanced classes and also in the band. “I’m a parent who’s at a different end […]

SWAT PTSD: Albemarle police sued for false imprisonment

How many cops does it take to check on a man when his employer is concerned that he hasn’t shown up for work? At least a dozen, by Benjamin Marshall Burruss’ estimate. According to his November 19 lawsuit filed in federal court, Albemarle County Police held Burruss for two hours in his truck after he […]