Ayers: It’s still all about the benjamins

By some measures, UVA is tops. For one, it’s the only public school to be in the Top 20 for graduation rates (92 percent and above), and it has the highest African-American graduation rate of any public university, two stats which College of Arts & Sciences Dean Ed Ayers says are UVA’s “proudest.” But, the […]

Students swap sex, disease

More UVA students are twisting their tongues around the unfamiliar names of antibiotics like ciprofloxacin and azithromycin these days than they did in years past, and it’s not because they’re going pre-med.

What’s in your backpack?

Sam ChernoffYear: FourthMajor: Economics and musicHometown: New York, NY What’s in your backpack? Books, highlighter, check book, Airborne medicine, map of Venice, beer coaster, stripper brochure, gym shorts, lap top.

City outsmarts scofflaws

Apparently word travels fast—at least among habitual parking violators, anyway. As of January 1, a loophole closed that previously allowed offenders of unpaid parking tickets to go unpunished, and while it’s a little too early see any concrete trends, City officials say for now

Local police to handle illegal immigrants?

State Attorney General Bob McDonnell (www.bobmcdonnell.com) is pushing a law enforcement measure that even some police officers oppose. On January 17, he asked Governor Tim Kaine to allow State Police to enter into agreements with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) (www.ice.gov) to enforce immigration, and is supporting two bills that would allow localities federal […]

Hot cases 3.0

The offenders in these hot cases have more than a few things in common. The former Lutheran pastor and schoolteacher are both accused of liking kids…in that way. And two cousins who share the name Cook (albeit spelled differently) have a history of committing crimes together. Now, they’re each suing police officers for $2 million […]

When Trucks hit bridges

What is it about bridges lately that has people wanting so much to slam into them? That’s the question City and County officials may be pondering, with a seeming increase in the number of bridge-related accidents throughout the area—and a special shout out goes to the 14th Street railroad bridge on the Corner, which wins […]

Next stop: Capitol Hill

“We’re here to send a message: Stop the war. No more troops,” says Virginia Rovnyak, swaying at the front of the bus in which I’m riding. Forty-five heads nod in agreement. The bus, filled to capacity, is one of four chartered by the Charlottesville Center for Peace and Justice (www.charlottesvillepeace.org) to carry locals to Washington, […]

Kids join pro-choice group in Richmond

On Thursday, January 26, Planned Parenthood supporters, numbering about 600, headed to Richmond for the annual Lobby Day activities. This year, the group included about 80 local high school students, who got the day off from school

Just give them a ride

Jennifer Behrens is a social worker with the Charlottesville Department of Social Services (www.charlottesville.org). One of her cases, an elementary-age boy who entered the foster system, needed a new place to live that would take him out of his home school district. Local schools are usually flexible—State legislation passed in 2005 says they can let […]