Chickens raise concerns when barnyard is backyard

Most Charlottesville residents must drive several miles to the more rural corners of Albemarle County in search of farm-fresh eggs. For a few downtown Charlottesville residents, however, fresh eggs may soon be as close as their own backyard. Matilda Matheson, 5, right, and Helen Matheson, 8, sit with two of their chickens. The Mathesons haven’t […]

29N plan returns as road funding disappears

Even though the woefully underfunded Virginia Department of Transportation has had to cut $2 billion from its budget since June and allocates zero dollars for new road projects over the next five years, local planners are finally returning their attention to the controversial Places29 master plan. Is this Places29 rendering of a renewed Albemarle Square […]

Appliance science

Dear Ace: How long do clothes need to wash to be clean?—Jim Patient Jim: Mother Atkins, is that you? Ace thought he told you not to bother him at work. He assumed that you learned your lesson back when he refused to answer, “What do you do when your grown son won’t return your hourly […]

Ben Kweller's pony express

As a friend recently told me, “You can’t ride two horses with one tokhes.” For a musician like Ben Kweller, who wriggled his Levi’s into a cozy ass-groove of alt-rock at a young age, that sort of stretch is a bit more difficult.   He’s gone country! Ben Kweller saddles up a new sound on […]

Twenty years of local news and arts in the spotlight

We’re now into the second month of our highly selective tour through the past two decades of local news and arts in C-VILLE. Already, we’ve touted our early jump on the Obama bandwagon (remember, this is the paper that projected DMB’s rise to the top), and this week we revisit some old Downtown construction blues […]

Once again, lawmakers take on predatory lending

New year, same legislative agenda. At least that’s the story when it comes to payday lending regulations. New laws targeting payday lenders went into effect January 1, extending repayment periods and limiting the amount of sequential loans a borrower can obtain. Lenders, however, have quickly discovered ways to get around the new law, putting frustrated […]

Obama adds value to black history relics

If you trekked to D.C. for the inauguration, you probably spotted or even purchased your fair share of commemorative Obama merchandise: the usual t-shirts, water bottles, and baby bibs; the kitschier “Shot of Hope” shot glasses and “Party like a Barack Star” thongs. None of it rare and hardly any of it valuable. Auctioneers expect […]