Updated farm bill evokes mixed feelings in Virginia

The locavore craze is spreading, and fast. American agriculture has come under public scrutiny, and more and more people want to know the origin of the food on their plates. Central Virginia’s hunger for food produced sustainably and close to home is fed by scores of nearby farms, but Congress may not be keeping pace […]

Common Ground kickstarts fundraising campaign with sit-a-thon

When the Jefferson School City Center opens its doors in January, nine nonprofit tenants with overlapping missions in health and education will share the responsibility of making good on the City’s $5.8 million equity investment in the project. Most of them—like the Jefferson Area Board on Aging (JABA) and Piedmont Virginia Community College—have long track records in […]

UVA grapples with GE in electronic records suit

More than three years after it filed a $30 million lawsuit against the software company hired to design an electronic records system for its hospital, UVA heads to Charlottesville Circuit Court this week, and while the suit is expected to suck up an unusually large amount of the court’s time, it’s just the latest chapter […]

City of Promise settles in

The next round of federal funding for City of Promise is up in the air, but it looks like the cradle-to-college outreach program that came to Charlottesville’s low-income neighborhoods a few months ago is here to stay. Director Sarad Davenport’s team of staff and community members is growing, and last Monday, City Council passed a […]

City pulls benches in effort to stop Mall loitering

As the weather heats up, so does a contentious Charlottesville issue—the presence of panhandlers and loiterers on the Downtown Mall. In response to complaints from business owners, the City of Charlottesville made an effort to break up a regular crowd that frequently occupies Central Place near Second Street by quietly taking away several fountain-side benches. […]

Sullivan reinstated: a timeline of events

Over the course of 16 days, anger, confusion, and ultimately resolution washed over UVA’s Grounds in the turmoil following President Teresa Sullivan’s removal. Here’s the breakdown of the saga—one resignation and one reaction at a time at a time—from the moment the surprise announcement came to the day she was reinstated. The bomb drops Instead […]

Higher ed scholar says Sullivan reinstatement ‘unprecedented’

Leaf to the back of University of Georgia sociology professor Joseph Hermanowicz’s 2011 book The American Academic Profession: Transformation in Contemporary Higher Education, and you’ll find a familiar name. A few weeks ago, Teresa Sullivan’s contribution to the book, an essay on the institutional importance of university faculty that was written while she was still […]

Quoting Thomas Jefferson at UVA

The ever-quotable Thomas Jefferson had plenty to say during his lifetime about governance, transparency, and the future of the university he founded. No surprise, then, that his name and words have been invoked a number of times over the last three weeks by people on both sides of the debate on Grounds over Sullivan’s resignation. […]

Green Scene: Steps to Sustainability

Teri Kent (far left) with members of the staff of Woodard Properties, where employees propelled themselves to a win in the Charlottesville Better Business Challenge by transitioning to a paperless office. Photo by John Robinson. Challenge reveals ways businesses can trim waste More than 100 Charlottesville businesses recently wrapped up the year-long Better Business Challenge, a […]