Campaign pain: Joe Biden talks about Charlottesville a lot. Charlottesville isn’t sure he’s listening.

When Joe Biden announced last year that he was running for president, the first words he uttered were “Charlottesville, Virginia.” The campaign video that followed featured footage of the Unite the Right rally overlaid with a voiceover from Biden, responding to President Trump’s infamous comment: “[You] had people that were very fine people, on both […]

Reporting back: Tracking hate crimes in Heather Heyer’s name

Nearly two years after plowing his car into a group of counterprotesters at the Unite the Right rally—killing Heather Heyer and injuring 35 others—self-proclaimed neo-Nazi James Alex Fields Jr. was convicted on 29 federal hate crime charges. Yet Heyer’s death was one of the thousands of hate crimes not included in official FBI hate crime […]

Life plus 419 years: Judge goes with jury recommendation in Fields case

After a four-hour hearing July 15 in the cramped room temporarily housing Charlottesville Circuit Court, a judge handed down the same sentence recommended by the jury that found James Alex Fields, Jr. guilty of murder and maiming last December: life plus 419 years in prison. Self-proclaimed Hitler fanboy Fields was convicted of killing Heather Heyer […]

Plea denied: James Fields gets life behind bars for car attack

James Alex Fields Jr. sat before the judge, his thick, black hair grown just long enough to touch the collar of his black-and-white striped jumpsuit. The 22-year-old wore glasses, and spent most of Friday morning and early afternoon staring at the wall in front of him as the victims who were harmed when he plowed […]

In brief: Money flows, DP/CTom breakup, Tracci runs, and more

Funding cut loose Long-on-the-books redevelopment plans for Friendship Court, Southwood Mobile Home Park, and Crozet’s town center got millions in funding last week. Southwood and Crozet Plaza each got a $3.2-million go-ahead from Albemarle’s Board of Supervisors  June 19, contingent upon rezoning approval in August. And Friendship Court can start phase one of its redevelopment […]

‘It’s a relief:’ Fields pleads guilty to federal charges

Some victims of the August 12, 2017, car attack are breathing a sigh of relief that they won’t have to endure a second trial, after the white supremacist who murdered Heather Heyer pleaded guilty to 29 federal hate crimes on March 27. In a state trial in December, James Alex Fields, Jr., a 21-year-old from […]