Opening up

It seems that student-athletes have always been placed in a separate sphere from the rest of the UVA community. To non-student-athletes, they are the basketball players, the football players, the NCAA champions—defined by their wins and losses. A project brought to the University of Virginia by three members of the women’s soccer team—Rebecca Jarrett, Lacey […]

Preparing for reentry

The fate of thousands of people eligible for release from Virginia prisons under a new state law that goes into effect July 1 may rest with Governor Glenn Youngkin, once the conferenced budget is approved by the General Assembly on Wednesday.  The expanded earned sentence credit law, passed with bipartisan support in late summer of 2020, […]

In brief: Local anti-racism lawsuit, music teacher retires, and more

CHS music legend retires The woman who built Charlottesville High School’s orchestra into an award-winning juggernaut is retiring after 40 years. “Laura Mulligan Thomas has influenced generations of students in Charlottesville with a music education that is second to none,” said Charlottesville Superintendent Royal A. Gurley, Jr. in a release announcing her retirement. “She leaves […]

In crisis

By Maryann Xue and Brielle Entzminger In the wake of 2020’s Black Lives Matter protests, the Virginia General Assembly passed the Marcus-David Peters Act. Named in honor of a 24-year-old Black high school biology teacher killed by a Richmond police officer during a severe mental health crisis in 2018, the 2020 law required localities to […]

Making a difference

Following the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic, gun violence spiked across Charlottesville, particularly in the city’s predominantly Black neighborhoods. There were four gun homicides in 2020—a notable uptick from the two homicides in 2019 and one in 2018. By the end of the year, the Charlottesville Police Department had responded to 122 shots-fired incidents. This […]

Riding green

In a virtual meeting last week, the Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Citizens Transportation Advisory Committee discussed how Charlottesville and Albemarle County are working to drastically slash their carbon emissions, particularly in the context of transportation. Susan Elliott, Charlottesville’s climate protection program manager, explained that 95 percent of the city’s emissions come from the community. Residential, commercial, […]

Online vs. in person

By Eshaan Sarup Ten years ago, a raging debate over the future of online courses led to the resignation—and reinstatement—of former University of Virginia president Teresa Sullivan. Now, after two years of pandemic-prompted virtual classes at UVA and schools across the country, online learning seems to be here to stay. However, the question of how […]

Above board

After nearly two months of tension that included firings of high-level staff and public accusations of game-playing and racism against the Montpelier Foundation, the dispute between the foundation board and the Montpelier Descendants Committee has ended. At the May 16 foundation board meeting, the board voted in 11 new members recommended by the MDC, two […]

Union bagels

Holding colorful homemade signs and pictures of bagels, Bodo’s employees—joined by several dozen community members—gathered on the Corner last week, urging the restaurant to allow its staff to unionize. A majority of the workers at the shop’s Corner location have presented signed union cards to management in an effort to improve wages, benefits, and overall […]