By Geremia di Maro Amid a surging number of COVID-19 cases in the state, and political turmoil at the national level, the Democrat-controlled Virginia General Assembly will convene Wednesday (remotely in the House) for the 2021 legislative session. Charlottesville’s local lawmakers have an ambitious agenda planned for the marathon 46-day session. Delegate Sally Hudson and […]
By Geremia di Maro Amid a surging number of COVID-19 cases in the state, and political turmoil at the national level, the Democrat-controlled Virginia General Assembly will convene Wednesday (remotely in the House) for the 2021 legislative session. Charlottesville’s local lawmakers have an ambitious agenda planned for the marathon 46-day session. Delegate Sally Hudson and […]
Charlottesville Police Chief RaShall Brackney held a press conference Thursday afternoon to address what the department is calling an “unprecedented” rise in gun violence in the city. There have been eight incidents since November 5, a period that caps off a year in which police responded to 122 reports of shots being fired. There were […]
Vaccine scene Charlottesville Fire Department Captain Lance Blakey was the first to receive a coronavirus vaccine at the Blue Ridge Health District’s new vaccination facility in the Kmart parking lot last week. The city continues to move through phase 1A of vaccinations, which includes doctors, nurses, EMTs, pharmacists, social workers, and other frontline health care […]
Last month, Charlottesville public defender Ray Szwabowski announced his campaign for commonwealth’s attorney. Current Commonwealth’s Attorney Joe Platania was elected in 2017 and has not announced if he’s running for re-election. If Platania runs, the two will face off in a Democratic primary in June, a year after a summer in which nationwide protests once […]
U.S. immigrants have faced an amazing array of challenges during the last four years, but as of December 1, 2020, the outgoing administration left them one last present: a significantly more difficult citizenship exam. The exam, something immigrants must pass in order to become citizens, has an English language and civics portion, and the civics […]
The local vaccine rollout process continues. About a month after the first coronavirus vaccines were shipped to hospitals across the country, Charlottesville’s frontline health care employees who work outside of hospitals are now getting vaccinated. On Monday, the Blue Ridge Health District (formerly known as the Thomas Jefferson Health District) began offering the first dose […]
Jump in The 2021 race for the governor’s mansion in Virginia got a little more complicated last week, when northern Virginia Delegate Lee Carter declared his candidacy for the office. In his campaign announcement, Carter emphasized economic stratification as the driving force of discontent in the commonwealth. “[Virginia] is not divided between red and blue. […]
Holiday hope COVID-19, like the Grinch, has threatened to stop Christmas. But Dr. Alvin Edwards, senior pastor at Mt. Zion First African Baptist Church, says, “We decided early on we weren’t going to let this crisis drive us, we were going to make it work.” Jonathan Spivey, Mt. Zion’s minister of music worship, agreed. Back […]
Last Tuesday, UVA hospital’s ICU director Taison Bell became one of the first people in Charlottesville to receive the newly approved coronavirus vaccine. It was a moment of “mixed emotions,” says Bell, who has worked with COVID patients throughout the crisis. “It was definitely a good feeling to finally have something that can potentially protect […]
It’s been a long year; a year many of us might rather forget. But reflection is important too, and plenty of important and weird stories stuck in our heads this year. So, do you remember… …the historic Black church? In May, we took a deep dive into the history of the church at the corner of […]