The Hairstons on Yardley’s last list

Pulitzer Prize-winning book reviewer Jonathan Yardley bowed out this week after 33 years as a critic with The Washington Post. On his list of 30 favorite books, he included local author Henry Wiencek’s The Hairstons. Published in 2000, the nonfiction account of a Virginia family’s white and black sides “is a milestone in the history […]

Preschooler handcuffed and shackled in Greene

An allegedly out-of-control 4-year-old prompted a call to the Greene County Sheriff’s Office in October, according to a report by Hawes Spencer on WVTF radio. The child apparently raised a ruckus in a pre-K classroom at Nathanael Greene Elementary School in Stanardsville when he allegedly threw blocks, climbed over desks, and hit, scratched and kicked […]

Two-hour shuffle: Biz group wants free street parking axed

As owner of the Charlottesville Parking Center, Mark Brown acknowledges right off the bat that his push to eliminate free street parking downtown raises an obvious question about whether he has the most to gain from such a move. Brown became the downtown parking czar in August when he bought for $13.8 million CPC, which […]

Witnesses come forward to support Mark Weiner’s claims of innocence

Two new witnesses have come forward in the case of former Food Lion manager Mark Weiner to dispute the story of the young woman who claimed he abducted her. The woman, Chelsea Steiniger, testified Weiner incapacitated her with a mysterious chemical, then took her to an abandoned house on Richmond Road that she’d never been […]

Buried history: A 1954 case of sexual misconduct at UVA comes to light

Again and again in the national debate over UVA’s handling of campus sexual assault that followed Rolling Stone’s explosive and discredited story about an alleged gang rape, news outlets—including this one—have stated that the University has never expelled a student over accusations of sexual misconduct. That, it turns out, isn’t true, but you have to […]

Journalism prof: Rolling Stone debacle illustrates “dilution of ethics”

More than two weeks after Rolling Stone’s “A Rape on Campus” exploded onto the national scene and then imploded into a victim-blaming retraction, the story itself promises to live on—as a cautionary tale in journalism classes. “[T]his will be an object lesson in reporting and editing, especially high-impact stories on an emotionally charged issue such […]

Police: Mother, daughter found dead in burned Rugby Ave. home suffered blunt force trauma

Police announced this afternoon that their investigation into what was initially believed to be a fatal fire on Rugby Avenue is now a homicide investigation. The bodies of 58-year-old Robin Christine Aldridge and her daughter, 17-year-old Mani Viktoria Aldridge, were found inside their home at 1627 Rugby Ave., where police and firefighters responded to a blaze late Friday night. […]