Bear necessities: Sightings in Shenandoah National Park up this year

Although increased bear sightings this year in Shenandoah National Park are causing some visitors to worry, park officials are offering insight into why that’s happening, as the height of black bear activity winds down during the late summer months. Rolf Gubler, a wildlife biologist at the SNP, estimates there have been between 30 and 60 […]

Homestay hullabaloo: State legislation could bring big change locally

While only about one-third of more than 500 homestays operating in town are compliant with local rules and regulations, the city’s commissioner of revenue, Todd Divers, says proposed state legislation is slowing the process of tracking down offenders and demanding they pay up. The limited residential lodging act introduced by Virginia Delegate Chris Peace, R-97th, […]

Heartbreak hotel: An unwanted vision of West Main?

C-VILLE took an in-depth look at the 3,700 hotel rooms for rent in Charlottesville and Albemarle in May, but with the August 29 announcement of a $26 million loan secured for another hotel on West Main Street, those looking for a place to stay in town can now count on another 150 chances to do […]

Sign of the times: Supes don’t take kindly to city plaque

An item on the Albemarle Board of Supervisors consent agenda August 3 was to allow the city to put up a historic plaque in Court Square in front of the county’s courthouses. Only instead of rubberstamping the request, one supervisor took issue with the content, and others complained it was yet another missed opportunity for […]

A Dozen Winter-Prep Tips

Although we still can expect plenty of warm weather in Central Virginia, days are getting shorter, evenings are getting cooler with hints of fall and—well, it’s true—winter is coming. The 2017 Old Farmer’s Almanac—traditionally about 80 percent accurate—predicts this winter will be colder than last year, but with less overall snowfall in our region. It’s […]

Slow burn: New traffic project doesn’t calm all concerns

Last month, the city announced the initiation of a traffic calming project on Locust Avenue, where locals have been concerned about the influx of cars whizzing up and down the street for some time. But a resident who has persistently tracked the traffic himself says the project has had “no apparent benefit.” After a 12-year-old […]

Bronco Mendenhall plays by his own rules

“Bronco’s office is under renovation,” I’m told as I walk into UVA head football coach Bronco Mendenhall’s temporary office in July. “They’re adding bookshelves.” Mendenhall sits at the end of a long table in a conference room, surrounded by pieces of paper. He looks every bit the part of a head coach in a Virginia […]

Femme fatale: Literary allusions in the Haysom homicides

The tale of UVA students Elizabeth Haysom and Jens Soering, who were convicted in the 1985 double murders of Haysom’s parents, has long riveted central Virginia, and a new documentary reveals how the two saw themselves as tragic characters out of Shakespeare and Dickens. Initially Soering confessed to the murders, he says, to protect his […]

In brief: New bridge, 10-story luxury hotel, funky smoothies and more…

Good news for smoothie fans Charlottesville has no reports of hepatitis A cases like the outbreak that struck 28 Tropical Smoothie Cafe patrons throughout Virginia that was thought to be caused by contaminated Egyptian strawberries, according to the local Virginia Department of Health office. Understudy steps in While UVA drama professor Walter Francis Korte Jr., […]