Who is the city spying on? Charlottesville’s use of hidden cameras to monitor city employees became news in the recent case of Charlottesville Fire Department mechanic J.R. Harris, who was fired after city police put a camera in his office to find the perp who hid a bottle alleged to be alcohol in his desk. […]
Who is the city spying on? Charlottesville’s use of hidden cameras to monitor city employees became news in the recent case of Charlottesville Fire Department mechanic J.R. Harris, who was fired after city police put a camera in his office to find the perp who hid a bottle alleged to be alcohol in his desk. […]
For the second year in a row, Albemarle County’s property tax rate could go up. When County Executive Tom Foley presented his $371-million budget to the Board of Supervisors, he based it on increasing the property tax rate by one penny to 80.9 cents per $100 of assessed value. The board went 1.5 cents better, […]
A personnel appeals board gave Charlottesville Fire Department mechanic J.R. Harris the job back from which he was fired last October, along with back pay and benefits. The city declined, however, to cover the $16,000 he spent on attorney fees to get reinstated. Human Resources Director Galloway Beck said that’s because there’s no legal authority […]
DNA taken from beneath the fingernail of the victim in a 2005 sexual assault in Fairfax is the only evidence tying Hannah Graham’s accused killer, Jesse Matthew, to the Northern Virginia attack, according to court documents filed in Fairfax County and reported by NBC29. The documents allege that Matthew choked the woman and penetrated her […]
A three-person city panel ruled that J.R. Harris, the Charlottesville Fire Department mechanic who was fired in October because his bosses said his work was a safety hazard and because a liquid alleged to be alcohol was found in his desk, should be reinstated. The one-sentence February 26 letter to Harris said, “After considering oral testimony […]
Believe it or not, there is some actual good news concerning the Affordable Care Act (aka Obama-care) in Virginia. With the most recent enrollment period now ended, it turns out that the number of residents signing up for health insurance on the federal exchange has far exceeded expectations, with around 385,000 Virginians taking advantage of […]
Lena Seville first came to Charlottesville more than a decade ago when she transferred to UVA from Virginia Tech to study environmental science and the application of environmental thinking to planning and design. She said she grew to love the community and stayed, and for the last several years, she’s been a full-time activist and […]
As Charlottesville grapples with its proposed 2016 budget, one line item has garnered much of the attention: A proposal to increase the city’s meals tax from 4 to 5 percent. The penny-on-the-dollar hike is actually a 25 percent increase in the rate, and would generate an estimated $2.1 million in new revenue for the city’s […]
Longtime Charlottesville Fire Department mechanic J.R. Harris was well known to be a teetotaler, and even his bosses said they didn’t think the alleged bottle of booze one of them found in his desk was his. Nonetheless, when Harris got an October 7, 2014, termination letter, one of the reasons cited for his dismissal was […]
How did our elected officials fare in the General Assembly session that ended February 27? Here’s a snapshot of some of what local legislators got passed that’s awaiting the governor’s signature. Delegate Rob Bell (R-58th) Tebow bill: Maybe the sixth time is the charm, because Bell’s bill that allows home-schooled kids to play in public […]