NCAA limits prep year

Dedicated UVA football fans experienced a moment of deja vu this January when they looked down the list of incoming recruits on national signing day and saw the name Ras-I Dowling. Dowling was also on the list in 2006, but he didn’t make the grade for UVA. So he opted to “prep,” spend a post-grad […]

Congrats: You’ve been reassigned!

The details of local guy Will Shaw’s Freedom of Information ACT (FOIA) dispute with UVA read like a classic David and Goliath tale: Shaw, a UVA employee and Louisa county resident vs. UVA, a public entity, major local employer and big cheese. “It’s a little spooky,” says local attorney Debbie Wyatt, who represents Dena Bowers, […]

Council asks for draft lease for YMCA

Plans for a new YMCA at McIntire Park gained momentum at the July 9 City Council work session thanks in part to a figure that rolled onto Parks and Recreations Director Mike Svetz’s deck that day: $565,000 to renovate just the locker rooms at the Smith and Crow city pools. Even councilors that weren’t wild […]

Cindy Sheehan: Impeach or else

On June 20, anti-war activist and perennial pain-in-POTUS’-ass, Cindy Sheehan, will lead a rally on Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall. Sheehan—who in May quit her anti-war activism in disgust only to return recently—is traveling to Washington, D.C., to call for the impeachment of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. She’s also announced that she’ll run against House […]

City fire chief enters bandwidth battle

Correction appended Recently, the Federal Communications Commission adopted rules to govern the auction of the 700mHZ band of wireless spectrum, the largest band left up for grabs in the U.S. that can be used for digital wireless communication. The sale—which should net the federal government billions—has had businesses, open-access proponents and others in a stir […]

Outbursts and gavels at NGIC hearing

Ryan Adams’ delay at LaGuardia Airport assured that the county Planning Commission was the best show in town on Tuesday, July 10, complete with shouting and gavel pounding, accusations and innuendos. Developer Wendell Wood got a narrow vote of approval from the county Planning Commission in a cantankerous discussion of 15 acres he wants rezoned […]

Scottsville Businesses endure retrofit

Try to pin down Scottsville’s Mayor R. Stephen Phipps on the era the town’s shooting for in its downtown streetscape redesign, and he won’t get specific. “It’s not a certain era, per se,” he says, “just a time when we didn’t have power lines.” Scottsville is just one of the towns across Virginia that’s returning […]

Supes take first stab at Biscuit Run

Steve Blaine, the attorney representing Biscuit Run developers, was quick to inform the Board of Supervisors about all the meetings that had taken place prior to that evening on July 11: two public hearings at the Planning Commission, 13 information sessions and more than 200 informal meetings, by Blaine’s count. But last Wednesday’s meeting was […]

Correction from previous issue

Due to a reporting error, the listing for Ash Lawn-Highland’s Fourth of July celebration was mistakenly listed as “free.” The events scheduled for Independence Day were included in the regular price of admission to Ash Lawn-Highland. We hope that the kind folks at Ash Lawn-Highland will forgive the error because, much like freedom, admission isn’t […]

Speaking in tongues

Dear Ace: Why is Rio Road pronounced “rye-o”? Friends from out of town always look at me funny when I pronounce the thing correctly.—Tom Townie Tom: You see, back in Jefferson’s time, there was a farmer who had some bread. Ace thinks you can guess what its name-o was. Wow, that was terrible. But yes, […]