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 […]

Would TDR plan protect rural areas?

On the streets outside the Westminster Presbyterian Church, gaggles of undergrads migrated toward frat row for Thursday night festivities on January 18. Inside the church, youth was in shorter supply, but energy and emotion were certainly not during the monthly meeting of Advocates for a Sustainable Albemarle Population (ASAP) (www.asapnow.org). Billed as a discussion of […]

Bill fails that would mandate faculty rep

When the Board of Visitors of UVA (www.virginia.edu/bov) is in session, as it will be February 8, the 17 board members gather around a large oval table in the Rotunda. There is one student who has a place at that table—but no seat for University faculty. They are relegated to the chairs that line the […]

Fundraising’s big winners

Amidst UVA’s $3 billion capital campaign (www.virginia.edu.uvacampaign) —$1.08 billion raised as of November 30 —some areas of the University stand to gain more than others. The biggest beneficiaries could include the Health System (well on its way to raise $500 million), Arts & Sciences (shooting for another $500 million) and the athletics program (hoping for […]

Women can get some satisfaction

Anita Clayton may not be the lost member of Salt-N-Pepa, but she sure likes to talk about sex. Clayton, a professor of psychiatry and obstetrics and gynecology at UVA, has a new book out that explores the crossroads of her three areas of expertise. In Satisfaction: Women, Sex, and the Quest for Intimacy,

Courses we love

Q: What do atomic explosions, wild bears and homicidal rapists have in common? A: Their images have all been used in campaign advertisements, and 18 UVA students will be studying them in a new course this semester: Political Advertising and American Democracy. After all, who could go through life without seeing “Daisy,” the 1964 TV […]