99 problems that could lead to DNA collection

Extending DNA collection to include convictions of misdemeanors seems to enjoy bipartisan support, but two local delegates are carrying separate bills with different visions of how to expand the DNA databank. House Minority Leader David Toscano (D-57th) was the first to answer Albemarle Sheriff Chip Harding’s call for misdemeanor DNA collection after the abduction of […]

Dominion withdraws some suits, but forges ahead with pipeline plans

Dominion Resources has dropped 14 lawsuits against Nelson County landowners it says it sued in error, but dozens more suits over the company’s right to survey land for its proposed 550-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline are going ahead as many residents continue to voice their opposition. Dominion spokesman Jim Norvelle said Friday, January 16, that the […]

‘Smells and bells’ empty Wells Fargo building

The Wells Fargo building on the Downtown Mall was evacuated around lunch time Monday because of smoke on the seventh floor. A locked-up motor in a mechanical room on that floor caused the alarm, according to Charlottesville Fire Department Battalion Chief W. A. Hogsten. Even though the ladder truck was extended to the top floor, […]

Holdout fraternities sign new rules agreement with UVA

The two UVA fraternity chapters whose national organizations issued statements earlier this week saying they wouldn’t sign a new rules agreement with the University have capitulated, according to a recent news release. UVA’s Kappa Alpha Order and Alpha Tau Omega fraternities have signed a new Fraternal Order Agreement, or FOA, which defines the frats’ relationship with the […]

To drip or not to drip: Old-school advice in new-construction apartments?

Anton Largiader lives down the road from Treesdale Apartments on East Rio Road. He watched the 88-unit affordable housing being built in 2009, and when he saw a “freeze warning” sign in December—before temperatures plunged in January—advising tenants to leave their faucets dripping, “I was astonished,” he said. “This is like out of the ’70s.” […]

UPDATED: Some UVA fraternities refusing to sign new rules agreement

At least two UVA fraternities are refusing to agree to new rules regulating house parties. The additional rules were drawn up by student fraternity leaders during a more than month-long suspension of Greeks at UVA that followed a controversial Rolling Stone story alleging a woman was gang-raped at the school’s Phi Kappa Psi chapter in 2012. […]

Bills-ville: Local legislators–and issues–go to Richmond

A week before the General Assembly session began, Waldo Jaquith, the creator of the legislation-tracking website Richmond Sunlight, reported the absence of a recent tradition: “I haven’t seen the bills that are candidates for Virginia becoming a national embarrassment.” He listed examples from sessions past, such as the mandatory transvaginal ultrasound or the droopy drawers bills. […]