House rules: Republicans fight to hold on to a bellwether seat

Odd Dominion is an unabashedly liberal, bi-monthly op-ed column covering Virginia politics. By now it is generally accepted wisdom that Democrats are not going to do well in this year’s midterm elections. There are myriad reasons for this, but what it basically boils down to is this: A sizeable chunk of the 2014 Senate elections […]

What’s Happening at the Jefferson School?

Literacy Volunteers’ Wordplay Delights and Challenges for the Seventh Year On Wednesday night, nearly 400 team members, scorekeepers, and audience members filled the Paramount Theater for a night of trivia in support of Literacy Volunteers’ mission to provide free one-on-one tutoring for adults learning English or working to improve their basic literacy. For the seventh […]

Kickst-Art: Fundraiser helps Ix undergo creative metamorphosis

In the past several weeks, the Ix property between Elliott and Monticello avenues has begun to transform from a former industrial complex that’s home to retail businesses, restaurants, and the Newsplex television offices to an art park. Ix developers Ludwig and Fabian Kuttner envision a European-style piazza where the community can mingle amid a thriving […]

Education beat: County balks at funding Yancey learning center and other school news

Our education reporting appears thanks to a partnership with Charlottesville Tomorrow. The funding future for an “intergenerational learning center” at Yancey Elementary is unclear after the Albemarle School Board met last week. “We need to define what the programming for an intergenerational center is to get a better vision of where we take this,” school […]

State seeks dismissal of Daly’s $40 million ABC suit

Last week, the $40 million dollar lawsuit of 21-year-old third-year UVA student Elizabeth Daly against the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control was moved from Richmond Circuit Court to the federal U.S. District Court in Richmond under Judge Henry E. Hudson. Now, the state of Virginia is asking the judge to dismiss the case, according […]

Harding’s charge: Albemarle County Sheriff takes aim at wrongful convictions

Albemarle County Sheriff Chip Harding has always approached his work as a cop through his background as a social worker and through his Baptist faith. But after a four-decade law enforcement career that includes nearly 30 years putting criminals behind bars as a Charlottesville Police Department investigator, he had a come-to-Jesus moment reading John Grisham’s […]

Is the Campus SaVE Act the answer to stopping sexual assault at UVA?

This spring, colleges across the country are rewriting the rulebook when it comes to preventing and reacting to sexual assault on campus, thanks to the implementation of a law called the Campus Sexual Violence Elimination (SaVE) Act. Passed last year, it sets new requirements for schools when it comes to education and punishment. “This is […]

New search in Alexis Murphy case

Two weeks before the murder trial of Randy Allen Taylor is scheduled to begin on May 1, investigators from multiple law enforcement agencies searched property around his former Nelson County residence, according to NBC 29. Taylor is charged with first-degree murder in the disappearance of 17-year-old Alexis Murphy, who was last seen around 7:15pm last […]