Fighting for rights ain’t easy

There are lawyers who will take on the establishment at any price, suing institutions like UVA or the police for little payoff aside from the greater good. Neal L. Walters is not that lawyer. Though Walters has played the yin to bulldog attorney Debbie Wyatt’s yang on a number of civil rights cases over the […]

How to survive a home invasion

In early June, a woman was home with her son at her apartment in the county when two men with a gun came looking for her boyfriend. They forced their way in, assaulted her, tied her up along with her son, and put them in the bathtub while they robbed the place. It’s the kind […]

Scientific focus for new dean

Two days after former dean of Arts & Sciences Ed Ayers officially took over as president of the University of Richmond on July 1, UVA named Karen Ryan interim dean. Ryan, a Slavic languages and literatures professor, was associate dean for the arts, humanities and social sciences. She temporarily takes the helm as UVA is, […]

Study: UVA $1.1 billion engine

UVA is often called the engine that drives Charlottesville, or the 800-pound gorilla in the room, depending on who’s talking and whether they think UVA’s doing its fair share. Not content with such generalizations, University President John Casteen commissioned a Weldon Cooper Center study to quantify the economic impact on both the local area and […]

With Starr Hill out, will W. Main shine?

As of June 7, Starr Hill is officially defunct after eight years in business, and the word from owner Coran Capshaw’s Red Light Management is that the W. Main Street building’s next commercial reincarnation is still undecided.

Requiem for a parking lot

The expanse of pavement on Jefferson Park Avenue, known as the “JPA Lot” or B1 lot, currently encased in barricades and temporary fencing, through which backhoes dig, was once a thing of beauty. Or, if not a thing of beauty, a thing of lovely utility. During the week, the 247-space lot across from Cabell Hall […]

Meadowcreek Parkway to-do list in city

With City Council’s 4-1 vote to move forward with two designs for the 250 Interchange, the ethereal Meadowcreek Parkway (MCP) lurched one more step closer to existence. Yet the city has a lot of work to do if it plans to break ground in the fall of 2008. Here are the steps standing between the […]

Speeding fines go to $200 on three roads

Seeing the squad car’s blues and reds in your rearview is going to cost a lot more come September. City Council approved a $200 minimum fine for speeding on three roads: Old Lynchburg Road, Avon Street and Altavista Avenue. At its July 2 meeting, Council temporarily increased minimum fines after a survey showed 15 percent […]

“Dangerous” dogs registered online

The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services launched a new online registry for dangerous dogs on July 2. Created through legislation in the 2006 General Assembly, the interactive database allows users to see if there are any dangerous dogs in their area. Neither Albemarle nor Charlottesville has any yet listed. Virginia law defines a […]

City housing rehab on hold

In the rhetoric of business leaders and politicians, the glossy face of the affordable housing issue is a young couple, probably a firefighter and a school teacher, scoping the market for their first home, preferably new and under $190,000. County policy pushes developers to include some such units in their projects, and nonprofits work to […]