Keys to the kingdom: As election day looms, we have issues

Hard to believe, but yet another election is upon us, bringing with it the annual deluge of attack ads, yard signs, candidate forums and billowing clouds of special interest money. Per usual, a vast majority of the General Assembly races that will be decided next Tuesday are a foregone conclusion. Thanks to gerrymandering and a […]

Orange County woman charged with 27 counts of animal abuse

Officials have seized just under 120 animals from a Somerset woman involved in what police say is an animal hoarding investigation at Peaceable Farm—not counting the ones that died before intervention. Anne Shumate Williams, also known as Anne Goland, was charged with 27 misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty October 26 and is being held at […]

Scarlet letters: Dean responds to BSA’s ‘shaming narrative’

In a scathing open letter e-mailed to UVA’s Office of African-American Affairs and later posted on Facebook, the university’s Black Student Alliance attacked the office’s strategic outcomes for the upcoming year for wording the group felt painted black students as a problem. Of particular offense to the BSA was the following statement: “The new director […]

Local haunt: The Moon ghost of Albemarle

Reports of the ghost’s frequent appearances had everybody buzzing. The fantastical newspaper accounts mesmerized the entire state—no one more so than the students at the University of Virginia. Thoroughly intrigued, a crowd of 40 students tramped the 16 miles to Church Hill, the John Schuyler Moon property in southern Albemarle County where the hauntings were […]

FERC receives letter from 30 concerned organizatons

In a letter sent to the Federal Energy Regulatory Committee October 26, 30 organizations in Virginia and West Virginia called on FERC to do a single, comprehensive review of all four of the major natural gas pipeline projects currently proposed in the Blue Ridge and central Appalachian regions, rather than doing them separately. This review, […]

Political season: Timing of e-recording announcement questioned

In the competitive race for Albemarle County clerk of court, incumbent Debbie Shipp’s October 20 announcement that her office is using electronic recording for real estate and other documents two weeks before the election has her opponents questioning the timing. “E-recording is a great idea,” says John Zug, Shipp’s Democratic opponent in the race. “What […]

Signer fed up with ‘eyesore’ called the Landmark

City Council candidate Mike Signer stood before the skeletal Landmark Hotel, an unwelcome landmark on the Downtown Mall since 2009, and quoted the graffiti scrawled on its boarded up side: “We’re fed up.” And he promised to explore all legal actions for resolving the situation, including eminent domain. Flanked by fellow Dem candidates Kathy Galvin […]

‘Brutally assaulted’: Martese Johnson sues ABC for $3 million

Lawyers for fourth-year UVA student Martese Johnson, whose bloody arrest splashed across national media in March, filed suit for $3 million against the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, an agency that’s no stranger to being sued by UVA students in high-profile cases. Named in the suit along with the agency are the three agents […]

Plan for gun range in Greene gets shot down

The Greene County Board of Supervisors denied on October 13 Big Iron Outdoors’ special use permit, which would have allowed owners of the gun shop to build a 20-lane open-air firing range right outside its headquarters. At the end of September, the Planning Commission recommended denial of the permit because of safety—about 160 homes are […]

Mix masters: Charlottesville’s MMA Institute

It’s 5:30pm and the gym of Charlottesville’s MMA Institute is alive with the leathery crackle of boxing gloves and the muffled, scuffle-thud rhythm and squeak of bare feet on padded flooring. There is the litany of sharp nasal inhalations and grunts as well as the barked instructions of a squadron of coaches. Housed in the […]