Robert Duvall headlines Virginia Film Festival

After tackling everything from “Speed” to “$$$” to “Cool” and “Caged,” it seems inevitable that the Virginia Film Festival would eventually find God. Indeed, festival organizers announced the theme for the 19th annual festival in early September: “Revelations: Finding God at the Movies.”

Film casting as art

Do you get a little excited every time Hollywood comes to Charlottesville? Did you drive out to Crozet this summer in hopes of catching a glimpse of Steve Carell as Noah in Evan Almighty? Camp outside John Cusack’s trailer while he shot True Colors at UVA? Does Damon Wayans still have that restraining order against […]

Marriage amendment: What’s the point?

Virginians across the state are talking about whether to vote “yes” or “no” on November 7 concerning the proposed amendment to the State constitution that would ban gay marriage and civil unions. But a fact often glossed over in such discussions: The amendment provisions are already explicitly written into State law.

Citizen lawmaker gets THREE bills passed

Greene County Investigator Les Cash has conceived five ideas now put into law by State Delegate Rob Bell. “It’s fair to say there are delegates who don’t have as many laws as Les Cash has,” said State Delegate Rob Bell at a low-key ceremony outside the County Courthouse September 25. Bell honored Cash, a Green […]

Post-“N-word,” Allen is on the attack

Those tired of "macaca"-gate can now move on to, um, "racier" ethnic slurs: Last week saw allegation after allegation published about racist comments and actions in George Allen’s past. Oh, to be a fly on the wall at the Allen-for-senate headquarters. What can notoriously volatile Campaign Manager Dick Wadhams possibly be thinking as Allen’s reputation […]

Local environmental donors

In 2005, two Charlottesville-based environmental groups put millions of dollars towards conservation efforts, both local and statewide. Though each organization addresses a slew of conservation efforts across the state, they rely heavily on the wallets of locals. And, despite the breadth of their issues, both organizations gave attention to Albemarle’s development issues—a “thank you,” perhaps, […]

Local Lowe’s biggest in U.S.?

Though we hear constant gossip that this Lowe’s on Route 29 is the busiest in the country, company officials won’t confirm or deny the rumor. From time to time here at the C-VILLE Development desk, we hear the purrings of rumors that we just hope will prove true. One of our favorites goes like this: […]

Stay in school

The United States is slipping in terms of college participation and degree completion, a report by the National Center for Public Policy on Higher Education released in September shows. This means fewer students are going to college and more are dropping out once they get there. Though these problems aren’t prevalent at UVA, the University does have a unique tactic to ensure students stay on schedule and graduate on time-hey put an eight-semester cap on undergraduate majors in the College of Arts and Sciences, the school with the highest enrollment.

UVA by the numbers

In the September issue of Black Enterprise magazine, the University of Virginia received national recognition for being one of the “50 Top Colleges for African Americans” (number 35, specifically). This latest ranking caps an applause-worthy month for UVA, which made headlines when it nabbed slot number 24 in the U.S. News & World Report list of top public and private universities, and was named one of Newsweek’s “25 New Ivies.”