Downtown developer files suit over Water Street garage land appraisal

Developer and businessman Mark Brown’s takeover of the company that controls most of the public parking in downtown Charlottesville last August was the sale of the summer, but the saga of the Charlottesville Parking Center acquisition isn’t over. Last week, Brown filed suit against appraiser Ivo Romenesko, who valued one of the company’s key holdings—the […]

Illegal norms: Is the 21 drinking age working?

Americans have an uneasy and contradictory relationship with alcohol—and with how underage drinking laws are enforced. Last week, while Virginia was reeling from another high-profile arrest of a 20-year-old, the Richmond Times-Dispatch published an editorial that urged rethinking the nation’s minimum drinking age of 21. The same day, Mothers Against Drunk Driving sent out a […]

SRO at Martese Johnson’s first court date

A standing room only crowd of dozens of supporters packed Charlottesville General District Court Thursday morning for Martese Johnson, the 20-year-old UVA student bloodied by Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control agents early March 18. Johnson, accompanied by his attorney, UVA Law School grad Daniel Watkins, stood before Judge Robert Downer for fewer than two […]

Alexis Murphy’s aunt finds inspiration in new career

The death of any loved one can be staggering, but when someone simply vanishes, it can be even more difficult, said Trina Murphy, the great aunt of Nelson County teenager Alexis Murphy who disappeared in 2013 and who is presumed dead, although her body has never been found. After spending the past 18 months seeking […]

Outrage in Orange County: Black history program upsets cop

Orange is the new Black History Month flashpoint following a March 12 high school program titled “Black Lives Matter.” An anonymous deputy called the event “anti-police” and “political” in a Facebook message that went viral, and by Monday, March 16, parents were keeping their children home because of alleged threats of violence. Students at Orange […]

Sweet Briar fight: First legal salvo fired by alumnae legal team

Weeks after the board of Sweet Briar voted to shutter the school following the spring semester, alumnae and faculty are fighting back, raising more than $3 million through the nonprofit Saving Sweet Briar and hiring the international law firm of Troutman Sanders to pursue legal action to block the closure. That action began with a […]

Corner bar releases statement on Martese Johnson arrest

The Corner bar that denied Martese Johnson entry shortly before the UVA third-year was arrested in a bloody confrontation with Virginia Alcholic Beverage Control (ABC) police early last Wednesday morning has released a statement about the incident, and has told reporters Johnson appeared neither drunk nor belligerent. Johnson was charged with public intoxication or swearing […]