The Airbnb question: City struggles to regulate short-term lodging industry

Unregulated short-term lodging is a booming business in Charlottesville, but as more and more locals rent out rooms and houses to guests on sites like Airbnb, city officials are increasingly anxious to get rules on the books and find a way to make hosts pony up for required taxes and fees. Charlottesville’s Department of Neighborhood […]

Anticipation: Local author predicted another Harper Lee book

Charlottesville writer Charles Shields was not surprised to learn that more than 50 years after the publication of Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book, To Kill a Mockingbird, a second novel has been discovered and will be published this summer. “I knew of its existence,” said Shields, who wrote Mockingbird, an unauthorized biography of Lee, in 2006. […]

UVA sorority sister: Why I quit

Last week UVA’s Greeks showed up on the national news once again, this time thanks to a decision by sorority leaders to ground their UVA chapters on Boys’ Bid Night, a men’s pledging celebration and one of the biggest party nights of the year. The mandate infuriated sorority members at the University. Simmering discontent over […]

Meadow Creek Parkway, Bypass interchange to open Thursday

The last part of the Meadow Creek Parkway, a controversial road that’s been on the books for decades, will open to traffic on February 5. The interchange at the U.S. 250 bypass will connect with McIntire Road Extended, Charlottesville’s portion of the parkway, which was completed in August 2013. That section goes up to Melbourne […]

ABC renews lease on West Main store

The liquor store on West Main that sparked petitions both for and against its moving, as well as discussions on race and gentrification in the midtown corridor, will stay in its current location for another five years. ABC Chair Jeff Painter said in a January 28 statement that he signed the lease renewal at 502 […]

UVA sorority women speak out over party ban

You could call it Rolling Stone fallout, part two. Sorority women at UVA are furious over the collective decision of the leaders of their 16 national organizations to bar them from the Greek-wide party known as Boys’ Bid Night, scheduled for this Friday, January 31, and are speaking out nationally about what they see as […]

Hire or be hired: Moonlighting app taps ‘sharing economy’

First there was Airbnb, which helped people rent out their abodes for extra cash. Then Uber made it possible to earn money using your car. Those businesses are examples of what’s known as a “sharing economy,” and the latest entrant is the Charlottesville-based Moonlighting mobile phone app, which helps people hire or be hired and […]