Bowers case to go forward

The case of a fired UVA employee seeking $1 million for wrongful termination inched its way up the legal ladder last week. On October 24, U.S. District Court judge Norman K. Moon ruled that while some of her secondary claims wouldn’t hold up, on the constitutional claims Dena Bowers just may have a point.Bowers is […]

City Cop retires after 39 years

Charlottesville Police Officer Ron Webster is retiring after an almost 40-year career that\’s taken him from patrolling the Corner to a foot beat on Main Street\’s “new” Downtown Mall. And, in his time on the forensic unit, he\’s seen technology go from old-fashioned suspect sleuthing to fingerprinting and DNA matching.

Dead tree won’t die

“This is not my comfort zone, I don\’t enjoy being here,” said contractor Don Hicklin of Nielson Construction Company when it was his turn to speak. And a quick glance around the room full of tense faces at the October 26 Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) meeting suggested that he was not alone in those sentiments.

County bridge reopens

The Advance Mills bridge in northern Albemarle County reopened October 24 after being closed almost a week for inspections\-he latest example of the gentle precautions needed to protect an aging bridge.

Water Street runneth over

Water Street was, literally, flowing with water on October 26, when a water main near the City Center for Contemporary Arts broke, creating a bubbling gurgle at its intersection with Second Street SE, just off the Downtown Mall. Was this small gusher a result of incessant utility work that\’s been going on in that corridor?

Library collections going digital

Hold on to your seats—apparently, America is in a library-related crisis. “File Not Found,” a September 2006 Atlantic Monthly article, elaborates on the “digital preservation problem,” an issue that spans from the Library of Congress all the way to the UVA Library System. Basically, since we stopped storing information on stone tablets and papyrus scrolls, […]

Tucker Carlson tapes at UVA

MSNBC anchor Tucker Carlson asked a favor of the crowd gathered at the Rotunda for a live taping of his show “Tucker” on Tuesday, October 24: “Don\’t shout obscenities.” In the end, only Carlson broke the language rule.

Statues and the city

On Thursday, October 26, UVA anthropology Professor and architectural history Chairman Dell Upton spoke with a group of students, faculty and civilians about how the architecture of civil rights memorials in the South speaks to a city, and how the memorials may affect the future.
Upton stuck to memorials based on the summer of 1964, or “Freedom Summer,” a peak year in voter registration drives and nonviolent protests by African Americans.

Race, boats and fish oil

Any high school graduate is familiar with the Bard’s old saw that “brevity is the soul of wit” (well, maybe not any high school graduate, but you get the point). Most people, however, are not aware of that particular proverb’s sister axiom: “Specificity is the soul of academia.” Yes indeed, the key to staking a […]

City voting machines cut off names

Recent reports that voting machines in Charlottesville, Alexandria and Falls Church are cutting off the names of candidates—most notably U.S. Senate challenger James Webb—are fueling many conspiracy theories in the blogosphere.The issue? When voters in Charlottesville reach the “summary page” on the Hart InterCivic voting machines, they will see abbreviated names for every candidate except […]