State Bar recognizes Block

On June 15, Andy Block was presented with the Virginia State Bar’s 2007 Legal Aid Award. The award recognizes creativity and innovation in advocacy, experience and excellence in service and influence beyond the recipient’s area of service. Block was selected by the state bar for the creation of and his work with JustChildren, the child-advocacy […]

JustChildren's not so small victories

Won a commitment from the State Board of Education to become one of the first states to include graduation rates as a factor in school accreditation. This supports schools that work to retain students, raising awareness (and the funds the accompany it) of public school retention. Educated social workers and foster-care providers about the most […]

UVA students freed from gun charges

Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney Jim Camblos dropped all charges against four UVA students who were arrested for brandishing a BB gun on campus last spring, a week after the Virginia Tech shooting, according to The Daily Progress. In exchange for dropping the charges, each student has to perform 50 hours of community service and pay […]

Real estate firm wants into "honey hole"

A federal judge has ruled to allow a Nelson County real estate company to try again in a lawsuit alleging antitrust actions by the Wintergreen Resort and a local real estate company. U.S. District Court Judge Norman Moon permitted Mountain Area Realty, a Nellysford-based firm, to file an amended complaint and, for now, tossed out […]

"Countdown"

comics DC scored critically and commercially with last year’s weekly comic, "52." It only makes sense that the comic company would follow it up with another weekly book, this one called "Countdown" and ticking down from issue 52 to zero. But while "52" featured a cabal of DC’s best writers turning second- and third-tier characters […]

Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s

game Activision’s Guitar Hero series is that rare specimen that aces what I like to call the waking reality test: When a game effortlessly intrudes on your everyday life—in this case, when you’re walking through a grocery store, hear a Nirvana tune on the Muzak system and immediately begin flipping imaginary fret buttons—you know it’s got […]

Influx of units calms rental market

To put it mildly, the Charlottesville real estate market has suffered a beating in the last year. Mid-year sales slumped in 2007 even as the lending nightmare continues to unfold. All bad news—if you are into the whole home-ownership deal. But Charlottesville renters, especially those connected to UVA, haven’t suffered the slings and arrows of […]

What's left to master plan for Rivanna?

When the Rivanna Village at Glenmore came before the Albemarle County Planning Commission in March, neighboring residents showed up in force. Many expressed concern over the density of the project—521 units and 125,000 square feet of commercial space on 93 acres—and whether it might open up the possibility of even denser development down the line […]