Art and consomme

It is a Saturday morning in early January and Will Richey is making breakfast. He arrived at Revolutionary Soup, the restaurant he owns on the Downtown Mall, a little before 8 …

Thom Pain (based on nothing)

stage “Do you like magic?” Thom Pain asks the audience on three occasions during Will Eno’s dramatic monologue, now playing in Charlottesville one year after the close of its first New York run. The question is emblematic of the play, for Thom Pain (based on nothing) is all about magic, in the sense of a […]

The Virginia Quarterly Review

words There are other places in the world to worry about besides the Middle East. No one knows that better than the folks at The Virginia Quarterly Review. They’re determined to keep Africa in our hearts and minds. Last year, they presented a series of articles on widespread AIDS in Africa. And now, in the […]

George Strait, with Ronnie Milsap, and Taylor Swift

music “Anything but country” is a common sentiment among music snobs, as in “I love Radiohead and the Wu-Tang Clan…really, anything but country.” In Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs, Chuck Klosterman hogties this statement—fans of most music genres can find something to appreciate in songs about trucks and dogs. But Klosterman never addresses the other […]

UVA rapist gets 40 years

A Charlottesville judge issued a 40-year sentence to a man who pleaded guilty to the 2005 rape of a UVA student. John Henry Agee, 38, will be off the streets, but his victim is still fighting a lawsuit brought by a man she wrongly pointed to as her attacker. In September 2005, Agee followed the […]

Bell holds his own judge forum

At the end of the month, Albemarle Circuit Court Judge Paul M. Peatross will retire. The Charlottesville Area Bar Association has already grilled seven candidates, coming out with two they found “highly qualified” to succeed Peatross.

Area nonviolent crime surged in 2006

Despite a recent trend in a violent crime upswing nationwide, it appears that at least for now Albemarle County has dodged the bullet—perhaps even a few of them. Newly released crime statistics show that the county saw a decrease in reported aggravated assaults and rapes (and no homicides) in 2006, while in Charlottesville violent crimes […]

Biscuit Run, Habitat team up

Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville, the local chapter of the nonprofit Christian housing builder, has announced it will be buying the 100-acre Southwood Mobile Home park. Habitat intends to redevelop the site of 371 trailers for a

Surprise! Affordable housing scarce

A new report concludes: The Charlottesville area has a shortfall of affordable housing, low-wage workers have a difficult time finding affordable rentals, a lot of people commute to work in Charlottesville and Albemarle, and college students drive up rental prices. Pretty obvious stuff for any working person who’s tried to find housing recently in the […]

Builders hunt for a greener way

It was the kind of January day when energy use runs high: gray and stubbornly chilly. In a stuffy second-floor classroom in the Albemarle County Office Building, a window was propped open with a coffee cup, leaking heat and lending a certain irony to the occasion: an EarthCraft House (www.earthcrafthouse.com) training session, in which about […]