By Brielle Entzminger and Courteney Stuart A week after tweeting that a city employee had been at the U.S. Capitol during the January 6 insurrection and faced no consequence, former Charlottesville police chief RaShall Brackney has filed a $10 million lawsuit against the City of Charlottesville and 10 individuals alleging she was wrongfully terminated from […]
By Brielle Entzminger and Courteney Stuart A week after tweeting that a city employee had been at the U.S. Capitol during the January 6 insurrection and faced no consequence, former Charlottesville police chief RaShall Brackney has filed a $10 million lawsuit against the City of Charlottesville and 10 individuals alleging she was wrongfully terminated from […]
Budget Amendment yays and nays Virginia has a new two-year state budget after the legislature reconvened last week and passed several of Governor Glenn Youngkin’s proposed amendments. Three Democrats defected and voted in favor of an amendment that restricts the number of people eligible for early release under the expanded earned sentence credits. That vote […]
Running for repair On March 3, 1865, Union army troops arrived in Charlottesville, liberating over 14,000 enslaved people—more than half of the city and Albemarle County’s population. In celebration of Liberation and Freedom Day, the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center is hosting its second annual Reparations Fun Run/Walk from March 1 through 6. The […]
The Charlottesville Police Civilian Review Board was among the key criminal justice reforms put in place following the 2017 Unite the Right rally. More than four years later, the board remains mired in controversy, with conflict between its appointed members and persistent legal questions about its powers hampering the board’s ability to keep law enforcement […]
“Typically, everyone just goes away. They make these agreements and people go away,” says former Charlottesville police chief RaShall Brackney. But she’s not going away. Two months after her controversial termination, Brackney—the city’s first Black woman police chief—filed a string of formal complaints against the city, accusing government leaders of directly retaliating against her efforts […]
Two months after her controversial firing, former Charlottesville police chief RaShall Brackney has filed formal complaints against the city, and is threatening to bring a lawsuit. In complaints submitted to CPD’s human resources department, the local Office of Human Rights, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the NAACP, Brackney—the city’s first Black woman police chief—says […]
Under new management Charlottesville announced that Marc Woolley will become the city’s next interim city manager. Woolley has spent the last four years as the business administrator of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. “Right now there are certain acute issues that need to be taken care of, namely the budget and the comprehensive plan,” Woolley said at a […]
More than a month after the firing of Charlottesville Police Chief RaShall Brackney, city leadership continues to argue over the decision-making process that led to her dismissal. At Monday’s council meeting, after grilling from city councilors, City Manager Chip Boyles once again offered an explanation for his decision that left some councilors unsatisfied. Though Boyles […]
By Brielle Entzminger and Ben Hitchcock Three weeks ago, Charlottesville City Manager Chip Boyles announced that he had decided to fire Police Chief RaShall Brackney. The city will open a national search for the next chief of police, though community members and city councilors alike feel the reasons for Brackney’s dismissal remain murky. And for […]
Charlottesville Police Chief RaShall Brackney is on the outs—City Manager Chip Boyles terminated her contract last Wednesday evening. Brackney, the first Black woman to hold the job, had been at the head of the department since June 2018. A recent survey of police officers indicated that the rank-and-file had lost trust in Brackney, but other […]