Mapping a course

City Council voted unanimously on Monday night to approve a new Comprehensive Plan. The plan, which has been in the works since 2017, will guide Charlottesville’s growth and development in the years to come. The most controversial element of the plan is the Future Land Use Map, which shows the neighborhoods in the city that […]

Firing back

Two months after her controversial firing, former Charlottesville police chief RaShall Brackney has filed formal complaints against the city, and is threatening to bring a lawsuit. In complaints submitted to CPD’s human resources department, the local Office of Human Rights, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the NAACP, Brackney—the city’s first Black woman police chief—says […]

In brief: GOP map rejected, city spokesman resigns

Virginia Supreme Court rejects GOP mapmaker nominees Virginia’s redistricting process continues to lurch forward. Last year, voters approved the Democrats’ legislation creating a new, bipartisan committee to draw the districts for state and federal elections. That committee, however, met for two months and then collapsed, unable to overcome its partisan differences. The state’s redistricting process […]

Sines v. Kessler, day 16

Each day, we’ll have the latest news from the courtroom in the Sines v. Kessler Unite the Right trial. For coverage from previous days, check the list of links at the bottom of this page. At the start of week four of Sines v. Kessler, the lawsuit that claims leaders of the 2017 Unite the Right rally […]

Sines v. Kessler, day 15

Each day, we’ll have the latest news from the courtroom in the Sines v. Kessler Unite the Right trial. For coverage from previous days, check the list of links at the bottom of this page. The third week of Sines v. Kessler concluded with dramatic testimony from the woman named in the title of the suit—and one […]

Sines v. Kessler, day 14

Each day, we’ll have the latest news from the courtroom in the Sines v. Kessler Unite the Right trial. For coverage from previous days, check the list of links at the bottom of this page. An expert in extremist movements testified Thursday in the Sines v. Kessler trial that violence is a core quality of white supremacy—and […]

Sines v. Kessler, day 13

Each day, we’ll have the latest news from the courtroom in the Sines v. Kessler Unite the Right trial. For coverage from previous days, check the list of links at the bottom of this page. The Reverend Seth Wispelwey was not physically injured at the August 12, 2017, Unite the Right rally, but he said he was […]

Sines v. Kessler, day 12

Each day, we’ll have the latest news from the courtroom in the Sines v. Kessler Unite the Right trial. For coverage from previous days, check the list of links at the bottom of this page. Alt-right message board discussions of a false flag attack, racist and antisemitic jokes, and disappearing evidence. Those were among the topics covered […]

‘This is a nightmare’

“This is very unhealthy in here for all,” reads one letter. “No one deserves this kind of punishment.”  In dozens of letters written over a period of months, people incarcerated at the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail reported that shoddy COVID containment procedures, poor general hygiene, and strict visitation policies have plagued the facility. These complaints are […]

Painting the town red

By Kristin O’Donoghue “When I was a young man…I’d get so wrapped up in elections,” says state Senator Creigh Deeds, who represents Charlottesville and some surrounding rural areas. “But an election is not an event, it’s part of a process. The work continues after the election.”  Still, it was a consequential election: For the last […]