Guns down: City gun control ordinance draws fire

In June, the Virginia General Assembly passed a slew of gun control bills, including one that allows cities and counties to prohibit guns on public property. Localities across the state, like Newport News and Alexandria, have since enacted such a ban—and last week, Charlottesville followed suit. Beginning October 1, guns will be prohibited in parks, […]

In brief: Happy (socially distanced) graduation, Memorial Day, and more

Rad grads Charlottesville’s 2020 high school graduates imagined they’d be walking across a grand stage right about now, with “Pomp and Circumstance” blaring as an auditorium applauded. That’s gone, of course, but the virus hasn’t stopped our schools from showing love for their seniors. Districts around town have held variations on the traditional graduation ceremony, […]

Permanent injunction: Judge says Confederate statues are here to stay

A judge has ruled that Charlottesville can’t remove the two Confederate statues that stand downtown, saying Wednesday that doing so would be in violation of a Virginia historical preservation law. On the first day of a three-day trial, Charlottesville Circuit Court Judge Richard Moore issued a permanent injunction that essentially demolished the defendants’ last argument […]

Moving forward: Two years after A12, how do we tell a new story?

It’s been two years since the “Summer of Hate,” and Charlottesville, to the larger world, is still shorthand for white supremacist violence. As we approach the second anniversary of August 11 and 12, 2017, we reached out to a wide range of community leaders and residents to talk about what, if anything, has changed since […]

Why are Charlottesville cops still driving this car?

Whether you were on Fourth Street that afternoon or not, you know the car: the low-slung gray muscle car with the distinctive brake lights that James Fields used to murder Heather Heyer and injure dozens of others on August 12, 2017. From video footage and the shocking photograph that won local photographer Ryan Kelly a […]

This Week, 7/24

In almost six years of living in Charlottesville, I’ve had two noteworthy encounters with the police. The first time was several years ago, when I left my wallet on the curb in Woolen Mills (don’t ask). A CPD officer not only noticed it and picked it up, he found my email address online and then […]

City vision

Former Charlottesville mayor Maurice Cox, now Detroit’s director of planning and development, talks about managing growth, recovering from a crisis, and the power of telling the right story. There was a time when Maurice Cox couldn’t escape being recognized in Charlottesville. In August 2012, almost a decade after he served as mayor, he sat with […]

A12 appeals: DeAndre Harris attackers contest convictions

Two men convicted of malicious wounding for attacking DeAndre Harris in a downtown parking garage on August 12, 2017, are appealing their convictions, and the Virginia Attorney General’s office will now prosecute their cases. Jacob Goodwin and Alex Ramos were sentenced to eight and six years in prison, respectively, for their part in the brutal […]