Environmentalists warn federal bills could threaten public land

In the latest chapter of the debate between resource extraction and conservation, Virginia environmentalists are taking aim at a crop of legislation moving through the U.S. House of Representatives that they say would damage protected wilderness areas in Virginia and around the country. Advocacy group Environment Virginia held a press event Wednesday at Darden Towe […]

Officials pull the plug on live music in Woolen Mills

Editor’s note: We used comments in this story that we later realized were shared privately via Facebook—which means we shouldn’t have run them. We talked with the person affected and apologized, and this post came out of that conversation. Please give it a read. City officials have put an end to live music at the […]

Stonefield developer will keep fighting permit violation from city

A cross-jurisdictional fight over storm-water runoff has pitched one developer against another, and city and county are taking sides as the dispute appears headed for court. Edens, the developers of Stonefield, a 65-acre shopping center underway at the intersection of Route 29 and Hydraulic Road in Albemarle County, was told by city staff last month […]

Is Coursera the key to online learning at UVA?

Last week, UVA announced it was the latest university to partner with Coursera, an online learning company started last fall by a pair of Stanford professors. The deal is being presented as a win-win: since no money is exchanging hands, it’s a way for UVA to expand its brand for free, administrators said. But the […]

Non-profit awards housing grants to police officers

If it weren’t for the Charlottesville Police Foundation, Charlottesville police officers Cory Culbreath and Robbie Oberholzer wouldn’t be living in the city they serve. Relatively low salaries and today’s harsh lending environment are making home ownership increasingly difficult for police officers and other public servants, forcing many to live in surrounding, less expensive counties. But […]

Green Dot to tackle income inequality with job hub

On a recent sweltering July morning, Toan Nguyen and Fabian Kuttner stood in a vast basement in the IX complex on Second Street Southeast. As forklifts rumbled across the warehouse floor above them, they explained how the raw space could be a catalyst for change. Despite its relative affluence, Charlottesville has an income gap problem, […]

Charlottesville chef to spotlight saving salmon habitat

More than 4,000 miles away in Bristol Bay, Alaska, a Canadian mining company has been seeking the go-ahead to create North America’s biggest open-pit mine in a search for gold and copper. But the bay is also the site of the world’s largest sockeye salmon harvest. Forty million of the fish come home to the […]

Albemarle approves visitors bureau marketing plan

The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors has backed off its threat to yank hundreds of thousands of dollars in accumulated tax revenue from the Charlottesville Albemarle Convention and Visitors Bureau, instead agreeing to spend the money on a marketing push to draw tourists to the area. The CACVB is funded by both county and city, […]

Albemarle upgrades county trails and recreation space

Dan Mahon has one of the coolest jobs in Virginia. While other Albemarle County staff are stuck behind desks, this ponytailed child at heart spends most of his days running around Albemarle’s parks and trails, which serve as both his office and his backyard. As Albemarle’s Outdoor Recreation Supervisor, Mahon’s duty is to develop and […]

Odd Dominion: Will Cuccinelli and climate skeptics ever learn?

There is, at this very moment, a highly amusing video burning up the YouTubes featuring Aaron Justus, weatherman for Richmond’s CBS affiliate WTVR, delivering an apocalyptic weather report in perfect deadpan. After calmly detailing “a volcanic eruption right near Charlottesville” which will bring local temperatures up to 400 degrees, he explains that the tidewater area […]