In brief: Happy trails, activists arrested, and more

Closing the loop The Rivanna Trail has encircled Charlottesville for more than 20 years. Earlier this month, the trail became a little more complete, when a 140-foot-long pedestrian bridge was lowered into place over Moores Creek, closing one of the few remaining gaps in the trail’s 20-mile loop. Local environmentalists expressed enthusiasm about the bridge, […]

Lending a hand: Black-owned businesses get some relief

When the pandemic struck, “it was like somebody just snatched a chair from under us,” says Jeanetha Brown-Douglas, owner of JBD Event Catering & Soul Food. “It was like having a business one day, and having no business the next day.” Inspired by her grandmother, Brown-Douglas first got into the food industry nearly 30 years […]

Medical field grads face uncertainty

By Claudia Gohn UVA sent its Class of 2020 off into the world (virtually) on May 16. Graduating during a pandemic, with record levels of unemployment and an economic depression likely to last for a long time, means an uncertain future for all of them. But young people entering the medical field are facing unique […]

Playing apart: UVA student Merritt Gibson sings to unite

When rising fourth-year and singer-songwriter Merritt Gibson heard the news that the University of Virginia would be moving classes online for the rest of the academic year, she was devastated. She missed her friends—an integral part of her UVA experience, Gibson says. Then she began to mourn the abrupt disappearance of her daily routine, the […]

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, […]

Cut off: UVA Health furloughs hundreds of employees

COVID-19 has stripped the pockets of businesses all around Charlottesville, including one of the city’s biggest: The University of Virginia Health System. Since the onset of the pandemic, the health system has lost $85 million per month due to a sharp decrease in surgeries and clinic visits. To offset these losses, it announced April 28 […]