Virginia’s General Assembly session ended its regularly scheduled 60-day run on Saturday. The work of the legislature is far from over, however—the divided assembly has not yet agreed on a state budget and has left a number of bills on the table. Once the budget is complete, a special session can be held later in […]
Virginia’s General Assembly session ended its regularly scheduled 60-day run on Saturday. The work of the legislature is far from over, however—the divided assembly has not yet agreed on a state budget and has left a number of bills on the table. Once the budget is complete, a special session can be held later in […]
In 2004, Charlottesville’s tree canopy covered 50 percent of the city. In 2018, it covered just 40 percent of the city—meaning the city has lost one-fifth of its total tree cover. Eleven of Charlottesville’s 18 neighborhoods—including North Downtown, Woolen Mills, Belmont, Martha Jefferson, and Fifeville—now have below 40 percent canopy cover, according to the city […]
‘I’m with you’ Before the United States abolished slavery in 1865, thousands of enslaved people were sold in downtown Charlottesville. The Reclaimed Roots Descendants Alliance—whose ancestors were enslaved at Monticello, the University of Virginia, Highland, and other plantations in the Charlottesville area—held a vigil at Court Square on March 3, the anniversary of the Union […]
For nearly a century, Charlottesville’s Robert E. Lee statue—erected during the Jim Crow era, in the heyday of the Ku Klux Klan—towered above the park at the city’s center, signaling to Black residents that they were not wanted downtown. After years of court battles and a deadly white supremacist rally, the city removed the racist […]
For years, some Albemarle County residents have lacked adequate access to high-speed internet. CenturyLink customers continue to experience broadband and telephone outages, sometimes lasting for days or even weeks. And for many residents, CenturyLink is their only option. But for some, better internet and phone service is on the way. Thanks to the 2021 Virginia […]
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 […]