Women's reproductive rights community rallies against GOP legislative agenda

Charlottesville residents Abby Guskind and Jean Burke were among the 31 people arrested at the State Capitol in Richmond last week for protesting a bill that would have required Virginia women seeking abortions to undergo a transvaginal ultrasound. Governor Bob McDonnell signed a modified version of the bill into law on Wednesday, March 6. (Photo by […]

UVA heads to NCAA Tournament short-handed facing long odds

Senior forward Mike Scott has been UVA’s “big horse” all year long, finishing second in the vote for ACC Player of the Year and being named first team All-ACC. (Photo by Matt Riley)  Sunday evening’s announcement that the University of Virginia’s men’s basketball team was returning to the NCAA tournament for the first time since […]

UVA nursing conference explores health impact of intimate partner violence

 Last month two Charlottesville men, George Huguely V and Barry Bowles, were convicted of second degree murder for killing their sexual partners. Huguely’s trial was national news and Bowles’ was an afterthought, but they were shockingly similar cases. Both men had convictions for violence and alcohol abuse, both had choked their victims in incidents prior […]

Property tax arrangement between UVA and city is unclear, unexamined

Local governments almost always fund their operations by taxing real estate, and that is no different here in Charlottesville, where the city collects $50 million per year in property taxes. Some of the most valuable property, though—from a hospital complex to parking decks to an unused basketball arena—is exempt from the tax under state law […]

Green Scene: Forward to nature

It can get too easy to equate “nature” with what’s in the past. If nature can’t be modern, then our only way to reconnect with it is to turn back the clock on ourselves, too

Are Virginia's Republicans trying to reelect Barack Obama?

 Here’s an interesting fact from last week’s Republican primary in Michigan: Although Rick Santorum recently led Mitt Romney by as much as 15 points in the polls, he ended up losing by a three-point margin. And a huge part of that 18-point swing came courtesy of women voters. In fact, if only men had voted […]

Jinx Kern's draw is deeper than the barbecue

Jinx Kern (Photo by Cramer Photo) “There have been few culinary experiences in my life that have quieted, humbled, and thrilled me with [their] utter perfection, but Jinx’s pork did all of those things,” wrote New York food blogger, Chichi Wang, somewhat hyperbolically, after a trip to Jinx’s Pit’s-Top Barbecue in 2010. “Like true love, […]

UVA's Brooks Museum resurrected through cardboard

 A collaboration between The Cardboard Company and New York artist Tom Burckhardt, “The Brooks Natural History Museum C. 1900: A Creative Interpretation,” opened at Ruffin Gallery on February 24. The installation is a whimsical re-imagination of UVA’s defunct natural history museum, which occupied Brooks Hall from 1877 through the 1940s, constructed of brown cardboard (60 […]

UVA stands firm as hunger strike ends

 On March 1, members of the Living Wage Campaign—all students at the University of Virginia—announced that they had ended a hunger strike that began nearly two weeks before. UVA president Teresa Sullivan had refused to meet their demands that the university raise its minimum wage for employees to $13 an hour. On February 18, 12 […]

City fills $3 million gap in school budget

 When Governor Bob McDonnell released a state budget that changed the retirement plan for public school employees and reallocated a portion of local sales tax dollars, the Charlottesville School Board was left facing a deficit of $4 million for 2012-2013. After two months of wrestling with the new reality, the school board has found a […]