As I made my way down Jefferson Park Avenue, I felt a sense of familiarity. Just two years ago, I took the bus this way almost every day, praying I would make it to my classes at the University of Virginia on time. But that familiarity faded to sadness once I arrived at my destination: […]
As I made my way down Jefferson Park Avenue, I felt a sense of familiarity. Just two years ago, I took the bus this way almost every day, praying I would make it to my classes at the University of Virginia on time. But that familiarity faded to sadness once I arrived at my destination: […]
Nationwide, Black and white people use marijuana at similar rates. In Virginia, Black people make up about 20 percent of the population—but 52 percent of citations for marijuana possession in the last year were given to Black people, says Chelsea Higgs Wise, executive director of Marijuana Justice, a Richmond-based group fighting for the enactment of […]
What would you do with $300 million in drug money? That’s the question now facing the Virginia General Assembly. Both the Virginia House and Senate have passed bills promising to legalize marijuana for adult use by 2024. In the coming days, legislators from the two chambers will meet to reconcile the two bills before sending […]
By Amelia Delphos Last Monday, the University of Virginia reached a record-breaking 118 positive student COVID-19 cases in a single day. The next day, 229 students tested positive for coronavirus, making up 10 percent of Virginia’s total new positives that day. Cases continued to climb until the student positivity rate reached 4.2 percent on Friday. […]
By Sean Tubbs The fate of a proposed 300-space city-owned parking garage at Seventh and Market streets—in the space currently occupied by Lucky 7 and Guadalajara—hangs in the balance. Charlottesville City Council has to decide whether or not to include $8 million in next year’s capital budget plan for the project. The proposed garage has […]
Sign of the times After months of debate over Charlottesville’s honorary street name policies, City Council unanimously approved two requests last week recommended by the Historic Resources Committee: Black History Pathway and Byers-Snookie Way. Black History Pathway, located on Fourth Street NW between West Main Street and Preston Avenue, pays homage to the city’s rich […]
By Amelia Delphos The Warminster Baptist Church sits on the corner of Warminster Church and Sycamore Creek roads in Buckingham County. The historic Black church was established in 1866; the congregation has worshiped in three different buildings, but never strayed far from the plot of soil where their traditions began. Across the street, multiple generations […]
For nearly a year, Isabella Gibbons has peered over Charlottesville. Inscribed into the rough-hewn granite of the University of Virginia’s Memorial to Enslaved Laborers, her eyes not only draw attention to the cruel realities of slavery—but ask what we are going to do to rectify them. As UVA continues to atone for its racist history, […]
In the best of times, it’s difficult to balance the big-ticket projects in Charlottesville’s Capital Improvement Plan, the city’s five-year budget schedule for large infrastructure projects. That’s only become more challenging during the pandemic, when municipal coffers have taken a hit. Last week the Planning Commission debated the merits of a variety of upcoming projects, […]
Going viral On February 12, UVA confirmed that a case of the extra-contagious B.1.1.7 British coronavirus had been found in the university community. (Though the British variant of the disease is more infectious than previous strains, it isn’t any more dangerous once the subject has been infected.) “These are concerning developments, but we believe we […]