By Kristin O’Donoghue and Maryann Xue UVA’s McIntire Amphitheater was bathed in the warm glow of hundreds of LED candles on Thursday evening, as members of the UVA and Charlottesville communities gathered for an hour-long vigil to stand in solidarity with Ukraine. The Ukrainian flag was projected at the front of the stage, a show […]
By Kristin O’Donoghue and Maryann Xue UVA’s McIntire Amphitheater was bathed in the warm glow of hundreds of LED candles on Thursday evening, as members of the UVA and Charlottesville communities gathered for an hour-long vigil to stand in solidarity with Ukraine. The Ukrainian flag was projected at the front of the stage, a show […]
There are no leaves on the trees, but signs of spring are visible at the Rivanna River. A dozen turtles sit on a log on the riverbank, their shells bluish, almond-shaped dots from a distance. “What really has inspired us all along is just the wildness that’s accessible right from the city,” says Gabe Silver, […]
School daze Charlottesville’s hopes for a $75 million renovation for Buford Middle School became more complicated last week, as a bill that would have allowed localities to raise taxes for school funding was killed in a General Assembly subcommittee. Area state Senator Creigh Deeds’ SB 298 would have authorized Charlottesville to raise the local sales […]
The Freedmen’s Bureau, founded after the Civil War, was a government agency with the goal of providing goods and services to newly freed African Americans, helping them become self-sufficient following emancipation. An 1867 request to the bureau for food describes a household of five: one 48-year-old, two 80-year-olds, and two 100-year-olds, one of whom was […]
For decades, local governments were prohibited from allowing their employees to unionize in Virginia. Since the General Assembly lifted this ban last year, Charlottesville’s firefighters, bus drivers, and teachers have urged City Council to pass an ordinance allowing collective bargaining for city employees. Though the councilors adopted a resolution last summer allowing former city manager […]
Virginia’s Republican-controlled House has killed a bill that would have allowed marijuana sales to begin ahead of schedule. The Democrat-controlled Senate passed the bill last month, but some advocates criticized elements of the legislation. Virginia legalized marijuana in 2021, but the laws surrounding the drug are hazy. While everyone 21 and over can legally possess […]
Charlottesville’s gargantuan downtown eyesore, the half-finished and abandoned Dewberry Hotel, got a face-lift last week—the front and back of the building have been sheathed in a colorful nine-story vinyl wrap showing an abstract pattern of musical instruments. The art installation was funded by Friends of Cville Downtown, a new nonprofit working on “an array of […]
Running for repair On March 3, 1865, Union army troops arrived in Charlottesville, liberating over 14,000 enslaved people—more than half of the city and Albemarle County’s population. In celebration of Liberation and Freedom Day, the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center is hosting its second annual Reparations Fun Run/Walk from March 1 through 6. The […]
After being released from prison, Hines Washington started a moving business—Hines’s Family Movers. As his business grew, Washington needed office space, but he couldn’t afford it. And, as a recently incarcerated individual, he found it difficult to secure a loan. Washington turned to the Fountain Fund, a local nonprofit dedicated to giving low-interest consumer, vehicle, […]
Charlottesville is getting more expensive, and fast. In the fourth quarter of 2017, the median sales price for a home in the Charlottesville area was $286,000. In the fourth quarter of 2021, the median sales price for the region was $369,000—a 29 percent increase in just four years. Those rising prices affect everyone in the […]