C-VILLE Writers



Liz Palmer. Photo: Liz Palmer for Supervisor.

Palmer announces she’ll challenge Duane Snow in Supervisor race

Albemarle County now has a contested race for the Samuel Miller District seat on the Board of Supervisors. Veterinarian and Albemarle County Service Authority Vice-Chair Liz Palmer announced yesterday that she’s seeking the Democratic nomination for the seat, which Republican Duane Snow is running to keep. Palmer, 57, has lived in the county since 1996, [...]

Louisiana-based, blues-infused rocker Marc Broussard ventures north to kick off his April tour, which includes a stop on Saturday at the Jefferson.

ARTS Picks: Marc Broussard

Louisiana heat With musical roots in rock and the soulful blues of the deep south, Marc Broussard may be the right elixir to spark a somewhat latent spring fever. Since the spontaneous beginning of his musical career at age 5 (when he got on-stage with his father’s band), Broussard’s singing and songwriting has evolved into [...]

The University of Virginia. Photo:  Dan Addison/UVA Public Affairs

UVA tells frats to finish initiation process early as it investigates hazing

UVA has told its fraternities to finish their pledge process by Saturday or risk losing their official University recognition, telling the Inter-Fraternity Council’s 31 member groups it’s investigating at least one frat for “inappropriate behavior”—apparently hazing—according to a press release and letter sent out yesterday. The press release says the order to wrap up pledging and initiate [...]

Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park. File photo.

Green happenings: Charlottesville environmental news and events

Each week, C-VILLE’s Green Scene page takes a look at local environmental news. The section’s bulletin board has information on local green events and keeps you up to date on statewide happenings. Got an event or a tip you’d like to see here and in the paper? Write us at news@c-ville.com. Overnight outing: Charlottesville outdoor [...]

Celebrate the warm, spring-infused work of local artisans, with over 210 quilts on display this weekend. Image: Charlottesville Area Quilters Guild

ARTS Pick: Charlottesville Area Quilters Guild show

A Stitch in Time Springtime typically begets a seasonal bedspread switch, and this eighth-installment of the Charlottesville Area Quilters Guild (CAQG) biennial quilt show offers the best of warm, vibrant, and lively linen inspiration. Transforming the East Rivanna Fire Station into a  hub of artistic activity and enterprise, the event includes a silent auction, displays [...]

The Carolina Chocolate Drops continues to elevate traditional folk and highlight African-American heritage. The trio played the Jefferson on April 1. Photo: Hank Strauss

Music review: Carolina Chocolate Drops at the Jefferson

The Carolina Chocolate Drops are in many ways teachers, instructing fans on the history of black music. During the Charlottesville tour stop, they pedantically described the traditional instruments they broke out at various points during the show and explained—somewhat laboriously—the meaning of several songs.

Photo: Barefoot Bucha

Takin’ it to the streets: This week’s restaurant news

The On the Road culinary adventure series begins in Richmond on Sunday, April 21 and travels to Charlottesville for a jam-packed weekend of food events bouncing between the two cities via charter bus. On Sunday, Manakintowne Specialty Growers hosts an outdoor dinner with acclaimed chefs Walter Bundy (Lemaire), Lee Gregory (The Roosevelt), and Aaron Cross [...]

Illustration by Matt Palmer

Take your time: The magic of ageable white wine

Take a look around a few wine cellars. Go ahead, I’ll wait. Now tell me: What’s the one thing that is missing or grossly underrepresented in most of them? Vintage port? ’61 Bordeaux? That wild Jura wine the guy at the wine shop told you about? Close, at least, on the last one. By and [...]

Guinevere Higgins gets her hands dirty in her Belmont yard. The owner of Blue Ridge Backyard Harvest shares her suggestions for getting your garden going this spring. Photo: John Robinson.

Getting your personal patch of earth ready for spring

“In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.” Longer days, birdsong, and the return of warmer weather make it easy to incorporate that Margaret Atwood adage into your spring routine. With a relatively long and cold winter more or less behind us, it’s time to get back into the [...]

Green happenings: Charlottesville environmental news and events

Green happenings: Charlottesville environmental news and events

Each week, C-VILLE’s Green Scene page takes a look at local environmental news. The section’s bulletin board has information on local green events and keeps you up to date on statewide happenings. Got an event or a tip you’d like to see here and in the paper? Write us at news@c-ville.com. Tree town: The Charlottesville Area [...]

City Council candidate Wes Bellamy. PHoto by Graelyn Brashear.

Bellamy: Clerical error over traffic ticket landed him in court

Wes Bellamy, the 26-year-old teacher who recently announced a run for City Council, told reporters and onlookers at a press conference outside City Hall this afternoon that a clerical error following a traffic violation led him to turn himself into police this morning. Bellamy said he was pulled over in February for a traffic violation—driving [...]

Jim Baldi is expected to appear in Albemarle County General District Court on March 28 at 10:30 a.m. and again, on April 1, in Albemarle County Circuit Court at 9:30 a.m. Image courtesy of Albemarle County Police.

Face time: Author Jonathan Coleman visits Jim Baldi in jail

There he was, much as I remembered him: the same mischievous, knowing, somewhat furtive look, jaunty and clean-cut as ever; even the erudite black glasses were not that much of a surprise. He is nearly 50 now, but still incorrigibly youthful, and, despite all that he is up against, hopeful, hopeful for “one more day.” [...]

File photo.

What a pain! What’s the deal with growth spurts?

The biggest growth spurts for children occur in the first year and then again around puberty. The first year of life is an incredible time of growth in all areas—height, weight, and head circumference. The most significant growth spurts usually take place around seven to 10 days of life and again between three to six [...]

Got paperbacks to unload? McIntire Recycling Center's book swap is one option. File photo.

Ask Betty: Local guru answers your green living questions

Teri Kent runs Charlottesville’s Better World Betty, a non-profit organization and online resource for locals looking to shrink their impact on the environment. Betty—Kent’s ’50s-housewife-meets-earth-goddess alter ego—will answer the most burning eco-questions from our readers every month. Send your own queries about energy use, water, waste and recycling, transportation, and green buying to betty@betterworldbetty.org. Question: [...]

A student works in UVA chemistry Professor John Bushweller’s lab, one of many that could see major cuts in federal grant funding due to sequestration. Photo: Christian Hommel

Research on the chopping block as UVA faces sequestration

The University of Virginia expects to lose up to $12 million in research funding in 2013 and could see significant financial aid reductions in the coming years due to sequestration, the massive package of federal spending cuts that went into effect March 1. As the University braces for the effects of the sequester, originally intended [...]

Two men were wounded in an officer-involved shooting at this spot on 2nd Street NW near the Downtown Mall on March 16. Photo by Graelyn Brashear.

Saturday shooting instigated by Elks Lodge fight, warrants show

New details about the Downtown shooting that sent two men to the hospital early Saturday morning—one with a bullet in his abdomen that police believe came from an officer’s gun—were revealed yesterday in search warrants filed in Charlottesville Circuit Court. According to the warrants, Frank D. Brown, 56, of Albemarle, and Leon T. Brock, 22, [...]

Chef Peter Chang and Mary Lee go over the menu during a VIP banquet at Peter Chang's China Grill in Charlottesville last week. Photo: Justin Ide.

Peter Chang sneaks back into town to say ‘thank you’

Very few things about prize-winning Szechuan chef Peter Chang are absolutely clear. He has a Wikipedia page, for instance, but it doesn’t list a birthday. Stanley Tucci is reportedly making a film about his life, but until it comes out, every story about him will likely continue to contain words like ‘elusive.’ In the meantime, [...]