Day 3: Randy Taylor denies seeing Alexis Murphy in police interviews

Randy Allen Taylor said he’d never seen 17-year-old Alexis Murphy before. He said he wasn’t at the Liberty gas station in Lovingston on August 3, the day the Nelson County teenager disappeared. And he said she had never, ever been in his camper in two separate interviews with police, recordings of which were played in […]

What’s coming up in Charlottesville-Albemarle the week of May 5?

Each week, the news team takes a look at upcoming meetings and events in Charlottesville and Albemarle we think you should know about. Consider it a look into our datebook, and be sure to share newsworthy happenings in the comments section. The Albemarle County Architectural Review Board meets at 1pm Monday, May 5 at the […]

Randy Taylor Trial Day Two: Alexis Murphy’s blood found, defense pushes human trafficking

On the second day of the murder trial of Randy Allen Taylor, Commonwealth’s Attorney Anthony Martin’s 40-minute opening statement laid out his case against Taylor, accused of slaying 17-year-old Alexis Murphy, who was last seen on August 3 at the Liberty gas station in Lovingston. Martin detailed the physical evidence found in Taylor’s camper—Murphy’s blood, […]

What’s Happening at the Jefferson School?

JABA Members Share Stories with Local Students Ten eighth-grade students from Saint Anne’s-Belfield (STAB) interviewed seniors at the Jefferson Area Board for Aging’s Mary Williams Community Center last week, according to NBC 29. The students are studying the civil rights era in their history class and partnered with the Piedmont Housing Alliance (PHA) to put […]

Day One: Jury selection in Randy Allen Taylor trial

The murder trial of Randy Allen Taylor, accused of the murder and abduction of 17-year-old Alexis Murphy, began May 1 in Lovingston with the selection of a jury in a case with no trace of the victim since she was last seen August 3. Members of Murphy’s family already were seated in the Nelson County […]

Buzz kill: ABC claims illegal drugs abounded at Lockn’ music festival

The Lockn’ music festival’s food concession contractor faced three charges at an April 30 disciplinary hearing at the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control office in Lynchburg, but time ran out before testimony could be heard about the topless woman or the dim lighting that threaten the festival’s ABC license. Instead, the six-hour hearing only covered one […]

Split personality: Eric Cantor’s ongoing war with himself

Odd Dominion is an unabashedly liberal, bi-monthly op-ed column covering Virginia politics. As longtime readers may have noticed, we here at the Odd Dominion have a minor obsession with Virginia’s 7th District U.S. Representative Eric “Ol’ Chiseled Chin” Cantor. The current House majority leader (and only Jewish Republican now serving in Congress), Cantor is the […]

UVA Law funds the first jobs of many of its grads—should it matter?

A degree from a respectable law school used to all but guarantee you a job, but in today’s post-recession market, that’s no longer the case: According to statistics from the American Bar Association, only 56 percent of 2012 law school grads landed in full-time positions requiring bar passage. UVA’s School of Law, however, is sitting pretty […]