The balance of power

By Maeve Hayden, Tami Keaveny, Eshaan Sarup, and Courteney Stuart Power is defined as “the capacity or ability to direct or influence the behavior of others or the course of events.” Keeping that in mind, we put together our annual list of the people and organizations that are leading the charge in our community. From […]

In brief: New state budget, JMRL name change, and more

Budget Amendment yays and nays Virginia has a new two-year state budget after the legislature reconvened last week and passed several of Governor Glenn Youngkin’s proposed amendments. Three Democrats defected and voted in favor of an amendment that restricts the number of people eligible for early release under the expanded earned sentence credits. That vote […]

Brackney comes out swinging

By Brielle Entzminger and Courteney Stuart A week after tweeting that a city employee had been at the U.S. Capitol during the January 6 insurrection and faced no consequence, former Charlottesville police chief RaShall Brackney has filed a $10 million lawsuit against the City of Charlottesville and 10 individuals alleging she was wrongfully terminated from […]

Close call

Last month, the day after Politico published a draft U.S. Supreme Court opinion revealing the likelihood that Roe v. Wade will be overturned, the ACLU of Virginia issued a statement that said abortion rights were in “deep peril,” and the commonwealth was “literally just one vote away from banning abortion.”  Last week, that warning nearly […]

Honoring the ancestors

Early Saturday morning, several hundred people gathered at Monticello to celebrate Juneteenth, including descendants of the over 400 Black people who were enslaved at the plantation during Thomas Jefferson’s lifetime. The free community event featured insightful and invigorating panel speakers—including renowned filmmaker Ava DuVernay, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Annette Gordon-Reed, jazz musician Wynton Marsalis, and over […]

Fierce over 40

Most athletes are hitting the end of the road by age 40. Martina Navratilova hung up her racket at age 38. Soccer star Abby Wambach scored her last goal at 35. When Jessica Coleman turned 40, she was just getting started in her sport. Four years later, she won her first national bodybuilding competition, and […]

In brief: Brackney exposes insurrectionist, tax lawsuit ruling, and more

Tax victory  Last week the Virginia Supreme Court upheld Charlottesville Circuit Court’s decision that said the city cannot require freelance writers to pay its business license tax. As a result of the ruling, local freelance writer Corban Addison, who filed the lawsuit against the City of Charlottesville, will receive a tax refund for the $2,461.23 […]

Let freedom ring

By Eshaan Sarup and Brielle Entzminger This Sunday, June 19, marks the 157th annual celebration of Juneteenth, which commemorates the day—June 19, 1865—that Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, to inform enslaved people there that the Emancipation Proclamation freed them, and the Civil War was over. Though President Abraham Lincoln signed the proclamation […]

Exploring freedom

For years, Jack Hanrahan dreamed of visiting historical sites of the civil rights movement throughout the South. In 2018, after retiring from a career as an ad exec and relocating to Charlottesville, Hanrahan and his wife made that dream a reality.  “I was quite moved by what occurred during this trip, and the experiences, the […]

Looking back

For Ashley Reynolds Marshall, the past year has been a whirlwind. A few weeks after she became Charlottesville’s first deputy city manager for racial equity, diversity, and inclusion last May, the city removed its infamous Lee and Jackson monuments, and the Sacajawea, Lewis, and Clark statue. When former city manager Chip Boyles resigned in October—shortly […]