Soundboard 9/7: The week’s top news in a live radio format
Each week, the C-VILLE news team joins reporters from Charlottesville Tomorrow at WTJU 91.1 FM’s on-Grounds radio station for Soundboard, an hour-long, straight-from-the-source news show that touches on the big stories of the week. This week’s program included an interview with the organizer of an upcoming panel discussion about the future of UVA in the [...]
Tim Kaine highlights Virginia’s importance at DNC
When former Virginia governor and Democratic National Committee chairman and current U.S. Senate hopeful Tim Kaine took the stage at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte yesterday, he immediately called attention to his own state—and he didn’t have to look too far to find the Virginia delegation in the DNC crowd. Delegates from the Old [...]
Soundboard, Aug. 31: On the radio with C-VILLE
Each week, the C-VILLE news team joins reporters from Charlottesville Tomorrow at WTJU 91.1 FM’s on-Grounds radio station for a straight-from-the-source news show that touches on the big stories of the week. Last Friday’s topics included UVA President Teresa Sullivan’s town hall meeting with the Faculty Senate, the Meet Yer Eats Labor Day farm tour, the [...]
UVA grad and Reddit founder talks about the Obama interview that shook the Internet
For a lot of locals, Barack Obama’s arrival in Charlottesville Wednesday overshadowed another significant appearance the President made: his half-hour “Ask Me Anything” interview on the crowd-sourced news and information site Reddit. Reddit, which bills itself as “the front page of the Internet,” is a powerful force on the web, a meme factory where news [...]
Sullivan speaks to Faculty Senate on summer’s turmoil, merit pay
Tuesday night’s Faculty Senate town hall meeting with UVA President Teresa Sullivan at Darden’s Abbot Auditorium started on a light note. Faculty Senate Chair George Cohen, a vocal and visible representative of his colleagues’ support of Sullivan throughout the summer’s attempted ouster, welcomed the crowd of hundreds and then brought out a special guest. “I’d [...]
Got an Obama ticket? Get there early
If you picked up a ticket to see President Obama at the Pavilion during his Charlottesville visit Wednesday, don’t wait until the last minute to head Downtown. As with previous presidential visits, the Secret Service essentially owns the east end of the Downtown Mall starting Wednesday morning, said interim Charlottesville Fire Marshal Gary Whiting. nTelos [...]
UPDATE: Charlottesville closures for Obama visit
The city has offered up the following info on logistics and road closures for President Obama’s Wednesday visit. We’ll be updating regularly as we receive more details. UPDATES as of noon: The 2nd and 4th Street crossings at the Downtown Mall will be closed to all vehicular traffic beginning at noon. A map of all [...]
Alternative septic in Albemarle County: new technology, new worries
A slightly abridged version of this story appears in the August 28 issue of C-VILLE. As always, there’s more that we wanted to tell—and we’re glad we can offer it here. —Graelyn Brashear What to do with wastewater has long been a limiting factor in rural development. If space or soil made a septic field [...]
Charlottesville Obama tickets available through Tuesday
Hundreds lined up outside local Obama for America offices Sunday for free passes to the President’s Wednesday campaign appearance in Charlottesville, and despite the enthusiastic showing, tickets to the event at the nTelos Wireless Pavilion are still available. The campaign will distribute tickets between noon and 8 p.m. Monday and Tuesday at the following locations [...]
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. Acorn ask: The Virginia [...]
WillowTree and beyond: Charlottesville’s startup hotspot status
When I landed back in Charlottesville this past spring after 10 years in New Jersey, the fact that the area is starting to get national attention as business and tech innovation hub was one of the first things that made me stop and really look around at what had changed in my native city since [...]
Is targeting voter fraud in Albemarle County worth the effort?
As debate over Virginia’s controversial new voter ID law rages on, Republicans on the Albemarle County Electoral Board have quietly orchestrated an investigation into what they say are serious vulnerabilities in local voter registration lists. It’s a crusade that’s raised legal questions over improper reproduction of court documents and divided the three-member Board. But vocal [...]
Obama to visit Charlottesville Aug. 29
Obama will make a campaign stop in Charlottesville next week. The President will visit Wednesday, August 29, according to a regional press spokesman, though event time and location haven’t yet been announced. The Charlottesville stop will round off a tour of college towns that includes Ames, Iowa and Fort Collins, Colorado. Obama’s last visit to [...]
We love this town: A moment like this
A Charlottesville moment. It’s not an imaginative thing to name it, I know, but what else can you call those times when you’re talking to a server at Skybar for 10 minutes before you realize you grew up down the street from her and the two of you built an igloo with your siblings during [...]
Sullivan speaks with press on Carr’s Hill
It was hard not to draw comparisons yesterday when UVA President Teresa Sullivan met with reporters on Carr’s Hill—her first press conference since she was forced out and then reinstated this summer. Back in June, managing a press corps swollen with TV and print journalists from Washington and beyond became several staffers’ full-time jobs. There [...]
Ultrasound foundation speeds medical advances
Seven years ago this month, Dr. Neal Kassell had an epiphany. The UVA neurosurgeon was struggling with the challenge of treating certain brain tumors too deep for the knife and too big for targeted radiation. At the same time, he was researching how to use sound waves to measure blood flow in the brain. During [...]
Google, Zagat, and Frommers: Where does Charlottesville come in?
Google announced August 13 that it’s buying travel guide company Frommers, and plans to use the brand to build up its local search results. The search engine giant is already doing just that with content from Zagat, which it bought last year—ratings from the famous review guide will soon be folded into Google listings for [...]
Charlottesville Sikhs reflect on Wisconsin massacre
One wall in Charlottesville Mayor Satyendra Huja’s dining room is occupied by floor-to-ceiling built-in shelves packed with teapots of every shape and size. “You have to work for your tea,” he said, chuckling, as he and his friend Dr. Narinder Arora settled at the table. “Pick a pot.” The array and the invitation are evidence [...]
Was UVA COO Strine’s position untenable after failed Sullivan ouster?
Leonard Sandridge spent 44 years as chief operating officer of UVA. His successor, Michael Strine, was on the job for 13 months. Initially hailed as an effective leader whose experience as chief financial officer at Johns Hopkins could put the University and its medical center on firm financial footing, Strine’s brief tenure serves as a [...]
Election e-mail: Watching the race via inbox
There’s no better reminder that we’re in the throes of election season than my inbox. The number of campaign e-mails I get on a daily basis—buildup from years of C-VILLE news editors getting added to the media lists of one flak or another, by request or otherwise—is astounding. And amusing, considering most of them are [...]
Will Wegmans’ arrival spell trouble for existing groceries?
Charlottesville is buzzing about the arrival of a Wegmans grocery store in the planned Fifth Street Station shopping center, which won rezoning approval from the Albemarle County Planning Commission last week. But the chain’s arrival in town could shake up the grocery scene in surrounding neighborhoods, already home to two Food Lion stores. Riverbend Management, [...]
UVA to fight pair of wrongful death suits
UVA has been named as a defendant in two separate wrongful death suits in three months, fallout from a tragic year at the University. But how much blame lies at school’s doorstep in the unrelated 2010 deaths of lacrosse star Yeardley Love and Virginia Quarterly Review managing editor Kevin Morrissey? Love’s mother filed a $30 [...]
On Facebook and mea culpas
Usually, the best way to correct a misstep is to talk about it. We found ourself in that position last week, so we’re here to start a conversation—and eat a little crow. Last week’s story on a dispute over permitted partying in the Market and Meade area included some quotes that it shouldn’t have, quotes [...]
Crowdfunding site Kickstarter is popular here, but does the model hold up?
Use of the crowdfunding site Kickstarter is booming in Charlottesville, and it’s no wonder. The website was created in 2008 as a low-risk fundraising platform for creative projects, and it’s been embraced with a good deal of success here, where indie-minded artists and musicians—and those willing to shell out a few bucks to support them [...]
Josh Ritter talks about songwriting, novels, and the open road
C-VILLE Weekly’s Graelyn Brashear sat down with singer/songwriter and novelist Josh Ritter for a radio interview live on WTJU before his show last night at the Jefferson Theater. Ritter, a remarkably candid interview and a compelling communicator, talks about his friendship with C’ville musicians, his attachment to Appalachia, and his love of writing. Graelyn Brashear: [...]
Chloramine complaints drive decision to go with costlier water filtration
A months-long debate over whether to add a new disinfectant to the area’s water supply or implement a more expensive purification system came to a head last week as elected and appointed officials from four local regulatory bodies heard a final wave of impassioned arguments against the use of chloramines. By the end of the [...]
Stonefield developer will keep fighting permit violation from city
A cross-jurisdictional fight over storm-water runoff has pitched one developer against another, and city and county are taking sides as the dispute appears headed for court. Edens, the developers of Stonefield, a 65-acre shopping center underway at the intersection of Route 29 and Hydraulic Road in Albemarle County, was told by city staff last month [...]