UVA’s two-week January Term offers everything from sculpting to wine history
Most college students use the first half of January to hit the slopes or loaf around the house in sweatpants, blissfully unburdened by academia. But for about 900 UVA students, both on Grounds and abroad, the weeks leading up to spring semester are for intellectual experimentation. This is UVA’s ninth year offering January Term, a [...]
Ellie Kates is on a mission to improve Rwanda’s jewelry-making industry
If someone had told Charlottesville native Ellie Kates 10 years ago that before age 30 she’d be living in Rwanda running an international jewelry business, she likely would have smiled and said, “You’re probably right.” For the 29-year-old artist and entrepreneur, traveling, creating, and helping others has become a way of life. Kates is co-founder [...]
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. Teddy trek: Bundle the kids and [...]
Anti-discrimination ordinance on its way; fate of Human Rights Commission still unclear
A human rights commission may be on the horizon for Charlottesville, but exactly how it will function and address local discrimination is still up in the air. The Human Rights Task Force, a volunteer group created to conduct a study and determine whether or not the city needs a permanent commission to handle discrimination issues, [...]
Rivanna watershed snapshot shows progress, room for improvement
The Rivanna River was recognized in 2000 as a “national treasure,” and local organizations want the waterway to maintain its value. The Rivanna River Basin Commission (RRBC)—a regional organization representing Charlottesville and Albemarle, Fluvanna, and Green counties, that recommends programs for enhancement of the river and its watershed—recently released the 2012 Rivanna Watershed Snapshot to [...]
Hawes Spencer, founder and editor of The Hook, announces his plans to move on
Hawes Spencer, the 48-year-old journalist who’s been covering weekly Charlottesville news for 23 years, has resigned from his post as editor-in-chief of The Hook, effective January 1. Spencer has also agreed to sell his ownership stake back to the Charlottesville Publishing Group, which owns The Hook’s parent company, Better Publications, and C-VILLE Weekly’s parent company [...]
Neighbors complain about traffic patterns near Stonefield
Most shoppers and movie-goers in town are thrilled to have easy access to Trader Joe’s and the Regal Stadium 14. But new traffic patterns around the massive shopping center—which still hasn’t opened entirely—are causing backups and accidents. Residents and business owners who frequent the area for reasons besides a jar of sunflower seed butter or [...]
SACS examines UVA’s governance in wake of Sullivan controversy
Nearly six months after UVA’s Board of Visitors caused an uproar among students and faculty for ousting President Teresa Sullivan, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges has issued a warning to the University about its governing practices. The UVA community and its accrediting organization agree that, despite the Board’s decision to [...]
UVA strategic planning forum focuses on University’s future, warning from SACS
Wednesday evening, about 100 students, professors, and community members gathered in Newcomb Hall to discuss the future of UVA. The forum came a few days after a notice from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) stating that the University had been put on warning for one year. The SACSOC, the [...]
Monticello Bird Club sponsors local teams for national Christmas Bird Count
On December 16, dozens of local conservationists and bird lovers will spread out across the Charlottesville area, armed with binoculars, cameras, and bird guides. Camped out under trees or near creeks, they’ll spend anywhere from a few morning hours to the entire day watching and listening for nearby birds, collecting information to later give the [...]
The search for Dashad “Sage” Smith continues
The last time Charlottesville resident Dashad “Sage” Smith talked to his family was Tuesday, November 20, two days before he was supposed to visit his mother’s house in Louisa and surprise his younger sisters for Thanksgiving. He never showed. That weekend, the Huffington Post ran an article about the black gay transgender 19-year-old from Central [...]
Zach Buckner thinks Relay Foods’ online grocery model is ready for the national stage
Zach Buckner was on his hands and knees in the crawlspace under his house with a tool belt and the wrong type of screws in his hands when the original idea for Relay Foods was born in 2007. He’d already made several trips to Lowe’s that weekend, and had no desire to make another hour-long [...]
In a crowded field of grocery options, loyalty goes a long way
From Feast! to Food Lion, Charlottesville is home to dozens of grocery stores, and recent months have brought more to the already crowded field of options for shoppers. The city is packed with small urban markets, specialty shops, and big box stores. Trendy chain Trader Joe’s arrived with great fanfare last month, and two new [...]
Experts and locals weigh in on the arrest of Boy Scout leader David Brian Watkins
The arrest of a former Keswick Boy Scout leader last week for forcible sodomy of a young boy has brought a national scandal over sexual misconduct in the organization to Charlottesville. Albemarle County Police arrested David Brian Watkins, 49, on November 28, charging him with assaulting a boy in his Scout troop, Troop 1028, in [...]
Search continues for missing 19-year-old Dashad “Sage” Smith
Latasha Grooms was surprisingly calm and collected last Saturday when she and at least 80 other Charlottesville residents gathered to conduct a search for her 19-year-old son, Dashad “Sage” Smith. The transgender teenager went missing the day before Thanksgiving, and was last seen near the 500 Block of West Main Street, allegedly on his way [...]
Silverchair Learning Systems to close Charlottesville office
Silverchair Learning Systems, a local designer of online training products for the senior care industry, announced this week that its Charlottesville branch is closing. According to Mike Mutka, the company will merge with Essential Learning, LLC, and consolidate in Cary, North Carolina. Vista Equity Partners acquired both Essential Learning, LLC, and Silverchair Learning Systems earlier [...]
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. Solo safe: Whatever the season, safety [...]
Outdoor Adventure Social Club stays busy, even when the mercury drops
Charlottesville is crawling with outdoor and nature enthusiasts, and who wouldn’t want to be outside when it’s 75 degrees and sunny? As the days get shorter and colder, though, it’s tempting to stay indoors and save the outdoor action for springtime. One group of local adventurers sees no reason to slow down. The Outdoor Adventure [...]
Veteran Peace Corps volunteer turns attention to recruiting UVA students
April Muniz has been back in the U.S. for three months, and she is still readjusting to traffic and iPads. After two years in Senegal with the Peace Corps, she said she wasn’t prepared for her return to the never-ending fast pace of American culture. The photos of her students hanging on her office walls, [...]
Experts say money is the answer to the childcare crunch. The question is, who pays?
Families of every income level in Charlottesville and across the country are struggling to find quality childcare, and studies show that costs are still rising as gaps in licensing and training requirements persist. Nonprofits and government agencies have been examining the issue for years, and experts say they’ve always known how the numbers add up: [...]
Planning Commission approves permit for an even bigger Plaza on Main Street
The Plaza on Main Street, an eight-story, 595-bedroom apartment building proposed for the property between the Hampton Inn and Amtrak station, is seen as the final piece of the West Main development puzzle. But while developers, city officials, and the media have been discussing the project’s potential transformation of the stretch between Downtown and UVA, [...]
New Dumler motions claim former lovers trying to wreck Supervisor’s reputation
Nearly one month after his arrest for forcible sodomy, Albemarle County Supervisor Chris Dumler filed motions in Albemarle County General District Court claiming that he’s the victim of a conspiracy to thwart his career and ruin his reputation. The motions, filed Tuesday, say that on or about October 23, Dumler provided law enforcement with a [...]
UVA students team up with Hollywood designers for first ever ‘creature’ course
While most UVA students were finishing up homework at 8:30 last Wednesday night, 25 architecture, art, and drama majors were covered head to toe in sawdust and coming up on their 13th consecutive hour in the drama studio on Culbreth Road. Last week, as part of a new course offering called Art of the Moving [...]
Albemarle County approves new police training facility despite neighborhood opposition
The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors approved a controversial plan last week to build a police training facility and firing range in a quiet corner of Albemarle. Officials agreed to construct the center at the site of the 169-acre, county-owned Keene landfill off Route 704, despite loud and lengthy arguments against it from neighbors. Rural [...]
The shopping mall battle: Stonefield vs. Barracks
After a decade of planning, the largest development project in Albemarle County’s history is finally almost open for business. Last Friday Pier One Imports made its debut as the first retailer to open at The Shops at Stonefield, the new upscale shopping center on the corner of Hydraulic Road and Route 29. I was one [...]
Childcare crunch: What happens if you’re not poor enough for federal aid?
This is the third installment of a four-part series on childcare in Charlottesville. The first story looked at choices parents make in regards to their careers, with input from working parents and stay-at-home moms. Part two focused on the most expensive options in the area and families’ financial sacrifices for quality. Parents and providers agree that every [...]
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. Ag school: The Local Food Hub’s [...]