In brief

Staffers attacked Two staffers were attacked with a metal bat in Virginia Rep. Gerry Connolly’s district office on Monday, May 15. While police are still unsure of the attacker’s motive, the suspect was identified as Xuan Kha Tran Pham, a 49-year-old man from Fairfax. The assailant reportedly entered the congressman’s office, hit the staffers, and […]

‘Crying out for help’

Since the beginning of the pandemic, people incarcerated at the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail have called attention to poor COVID containment procedures and unhygienic living conditions at the nearly 50-year-old facility—conditions that reportedly have been significantly worsened by employee negligence and misconduct. Today, staff continue to mistreat the jail’s population, claims Cletorious Rose.  “The officers antagonize […]

They’re no scrubs

Nursing students in the University of Virginia’s Class of 2023 have lived through the full breadth of the COVID-19 pandemic—from the first cases being detected overseas in 2019 to the end of the federal public health emergency in May. It’s been a long and rugged road for the entire world, but the nursing students experienced […]

Connective dissonance

The City of Charlottesville is in the process of purchasing property to build a 1,700-foot shared-use path on Barracks Road from Emmet Street to Buckingham Road. That’s about halfway up the hill, and drew questions from one long-time observer of local government.   “What are we thinking?” says Rugby Road resident John Pfaltz. “It’s too […]

Walking the Lawn

The last four years have been anything but conventional for the University of Virginia’s Class of 2023. Ahead of Final Exercises, I spoke to my peers about their unique time at UVA. During spring break of our first year, we encountered our first major challenge with the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. That time was […]

In brief

Whole Woman’s Health sues FDA Whole Woman’s Health Alliance has filed a lawsuit against the Federal Drug Administration. The suit follows a wave of recent rulings over the drug mifepristone, which is commonly used for medication abortions. While the U.S. Supreme Court has already blocked a Texas federal court ruling banning the drug, WWHA is […]

Resilient students

On May 10, the first class of students since 2019 will graduate from the Resilience Education program at Fluvanna Women’s Correctional Center. The graduation also marks the first time program participants will receive UVA course credit for their studies. Resilience Education is a business education program designed to provide inmates with the tools they need […]

Good won’t go green

Rep. Bob Good has introduced legislation aimed at blocking U.S. contributions to the United Nations Green Climate Fund.  The bill—No Taxpayer Funding for Green Climate Fund Act—would halt $1 billion promised to the fund by the Biden administration, and stop any future U.S. endowments. “Domestic energy production has helped make America great, but President Biden […]

Preserving the past

An organization that seeks to foster appreciation for older buildings in the hopes of preserving them for the future now owns a significant Woolen Mills landmark.     “The 1887 Woolen Mills chapel is one of the earliest still surviving historic houses of worship in the city,” says Genevieve Keller, president of Preservation Piedmont, which […]

The machines are learning

Artificial intelligence was once the stuff of sci-fi dreams, and though it has been available in some form for many years, 2023 has marked a sea change for AI. New chat bots seem to launch by the day, and backlash has already begun to foment. The “godfather of AI,” Geoffrey Hinton, left Google, warning of […]