Education Beat: SOL reform tops schools’ legislative priorities list

Our Education Beat coverage appears thanks to a partnership with Charlottesville Tomorrow.  Officials from Charlottesville and Albemarle schools are hoping their students take fewer standardized tests in the coming years. At recent meetings with the area’s Virginia General Assembly delegation, representatives from both divisions cited reforming the Standards of Learning tests as a priority. Albemarle […]

Prison as psych ward: The cost of incarcerating the mentally ill

High-profile acts of violence tend to bring with them a spike in public awareness of mental illness, but the stigma associated with being mentally ill never subsides. The system still seems to favor locking people up rather than treating them. My wife and I lived five minutes away from the Safeway in Tucson, Arizona, where […]

What’s happening in Charlottesville-Albemarle the week of December 9?

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. Both Charlottesville City schools and Albemarle County schools are operating on a two-hour delay […]

Pay back: Former Bel Rio owner Jim Baldi sentenced for embezzling

The former Charlottesville restaurateur and accountant who duped clients out of more than $200,000, then went on the run, is likely to remain behind bars for less than three years, a judge ruled in Charlottesville Circuit Court on Thursday, December 5. Fifty-year-old James Kirk Baldi told Judge Edward Hogshire that shame led him to flee […]

Apple a day: Health care providers struggle to treat migrant workers

The several hundred migrant workers who flood Albemarle and surrounding counties every apple season have come and gone. But the community of nonprofit health care providers that supports them each season is already thinking about next year. The Blue Ridge Medical Center (BRMC), which provides medical care to more than 10,000 patients each year in […]