Family feud: The growing rift in Virginia’s GOP

You would think, following their spectacular showing in the 2014 midterm elections, that Virginia’s Republicans would be in a joyful, backslapping mood, and ready to present a unified front going into the November elections, when all 100 House of Delegates and 40 Virginia Senate seats will be up for grabs. And indeed, the recent conclusion […]

City police: Spycams in the workplace ‘rare’

Who is the city spying on? Charlottesville’s use of hidden cameras to monitor city employees became news in the recent case of Charlottesville Fire Department mechanic J.R. Harris, who was fired after city police put a camera in his office to find the perp who hid a bottle alleged to be alcohol in his desk. […]

2.5 cents: Supes vote to advertise bumped-up property tax rate

For the second year in a row, Albemarle County’s property tax rate could go up. When County Executive Tom Foley presented his $371-million budget to the Board of Supervisors, he based it on increasing the property tax rate by one penny to 80.9 cents per $100 of assessed value. The board went 1.5 cents better, […]

City refuses to pay attorney fees in spycam case

A personnel appeals board gave Charlottesville Fire Department mechanic J.R. Harris the job back from which he was fired last October, along with back pay and benefits. The city declined, however, to cover the $16,000 he spent on attorney fees to get reinstated. Human Resources Director Galloway Beck said that’s because there’s no legal authority […]

Trapped: Birdwood threatens lawsuit over dangerous exit

The Birdwood neighborhood off the Route 250 Bypass bore the brunt of inconvenience during McIntire interchange construction, with backed-up traffic making it difficult to exit and no easy way to head west. Now the residents say traffic engineers’ refusal to reopen Birdwood Road has had them sliding down a steep and icy Hillcrest Road into […]

Alumnae fight back over planned closure of Sweet Briar College

A week after Sweet Briar’s board of directors announced plans to close the 114-year-old women’s college in Amherst, shock and grief among students, faculty and alumnae has given way to anger, defiance and questions about the basis for the decision. “I just think it was handled so badly,” said Sweet Briar biology professor Lincoln Brower, one […]

Proposed 13-cent tax on downtown properties is a no-go—for now

Plans for a downtown business district funded by a 13-cent tax on properties on and near the Downtown Mall have been put on hold after numerous property owners objected. But proponents of a Community Improvement District (CID), researched and proposed by a committee of Downtown Business Association (DBA) members, hope there’s still a future for […]