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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Frank Birckhead, 61, a former member of the University of Virginia Board of Visitors, founder of MoneyWise Payroll Solutions and Birckhead Consulting, ardent UVA basketball fan and community volunteer, died unexpectedly at home October 18. Birckhead was a lifelong resident of Charlottesville, graduating from Albemarle High in 1972 and UVA in 1976. Except for a […]
If it seems like Francis Fife has always been an integral part of Charlottesville, for most of the 20th century he was. “It’s hard to imagine a program here he didn’t have a finger in,” says his wife of 33 years, Nancy O’Brien, who was Charlottesville’s first female mayor. She remembers meeting him when he […]
On Wednesday, October 14, the People’s Climate Movement called environmental activists to Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall to rally on climate change. Dominion Power’s potential installation of a pipeline that would run throughout Virginia wildlife areas was the big issue, and the free speech chalkboard was filled with “No Pipeline” signs, buttons and stickers opposing Dominion. Olivia Lewis, a […]
Former UVA basketball star Sean Singletary’s trial appealing his conviction for refusing to take a breathalyzer has once again been continued. At an October 15 hearing, defense attorney Scott Goodman said he would not be able to submit the 25-minute police dashboard video from Singletary’s March arrest to the judge. “I found out late last […]
As part of a national campaign called Imagine a Day Without Water, members from the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority, Albemarle County Service Authority and City of Charlottesville set up booths last week on the Downtown Mall and asked passersby to describe the many ways they use water. Making tea, brushing teeth, filling water balloons […]