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 […]

Jarmere Jenkins and the Cavaliers set their sights on spring titles

 ‘‘I’m going to retire from this game,’’ mutters UVA junior Jarmere Jenkins. He roots around behind the heavy curtains hanging in front of the wall behind Court 7 at the Boyd Tinsley Tennis Center, the Boar’s Head Sports Club’s cavernous indoor tennis facility, searching for a stray ball and collecting his thoughts. Jarmere Jenkins, UVA […]

Hunger strikers risk health for living wage campaign

 “I feel hungry but hopeful,” said Carl David Goette-Luciak on Thursday, February 23, day six of his hunger strike. Members of the UVA Living Wage Campaign rallied to support 18 students engaged in a hunger strike aimed at forcing the University’s administrators to raise its minimum wage for staff and contractors to $13 an hour. […]