Reb on the run: Albemarle County votes to remove courthouse statue; Lee still stands
Last Thursday, six days before the third anniversary of the Unite the Right rally, the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors voted 6-0 to remove the statue of a Confederate soldier, known as “Johnny Reb,” which stands outside the county courthouse. The Board of Supervisors vote comes after the newly Democratic Virginia legislature narrowly passed laws […]
‘Our streets’: New activist committee hosts Black Joy Fest
A chorus of “We gon’ be alright” bounced out of DJ Flatline and DJ Double U’s speakers, signaling the beginning of Saturday’s Black Joy Fest. The festival was the first event hosted by the newly formed Charlottesville Black Youth Action Committee. Young people tossed beanbags back and forth at a set of Dallas Cowboys cornhole boards. […]
Running for governor: Jennifer McClellan wants to hear your perspective
In June, State Senator Jennifer McClellan announced her candidacy for governor of Virginia. McClellan is a 14-year veteran of the Virginia legislature who grew up in Petersburg. In this year’s session, she was a sponsor of significant clean energy and abortion access bills, as well as Virginia’s ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. If elected […]
This week, 7/29
Last month, I was lucky to be able to head for the hills with two old friends—we spent a long weekend hiking and camping on the Appalachian Trail in southwest Virginia. We’re all amateur campers. From the top of a mountain, we marveled at a far-off hailstorm, only for it to sweep over us and […]
Pipeline voices: Activists look back on a historic victory
On July 5, Dominion Energy abruptly canceled the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, an $8 billion project that would have carried natural gas 600 miles from West Virginia to North Carolina. Environmental activists of all persuasions spent six years fighting the project before finally prevailing over the gigantic power corporation. As the victory set in, C-VILLE caught […]
This week, 7/15
The main character in the story on page 10 of this week’s paper doesn’t have a name. He doesn’t have a face. Shortly after a video of the brutal arrest of Christopher Gonzalez was posted on Instagram July 8, the Charlottesville Police Department released 17 minutes of body camera footage of the incident. Since arriving […]
Use of force: Violent arrest of homeless man on Downtown Mall concerns activists, experts
“If you can stay off the Downtown Mall and I don’t see you again, then I won’t take you,” said the Charlottesville police officer. “That’s not going to happen,” said Christopher Gonzalez, who had been lying on his back on the mall outside CVS. It was 5:30pm on Wednesday, July 8. The sun was shining. […]
Factory-made: Brewery, restaurant, café hint at the future of Charlottesville’s woolen mill
Charlottesville’s old woolen mill, peering over the Rivanna River on the town’s eastern edge, had been gathering dust for years. Now, the rubble has been cleared, and it’s time to drink beer. In 2018, app development company WillowTree began a $25 million overhaul of the building. WillowTree’s employees will move into their 85,000-square-foot offices […]
This week, 7/1
A month ago, George Floyd was murdered by the police. Since then, Damani Harrison has led a group of artists “coming together to speak truth to power” in the multimedia “One for George” project—our cover story this week. Also in this week’s issue: The Charlottesville police department has been harming Black and brown people for […]
Leaving a mark: Police department out for arrests after protesters spray paint street
Arrest warrants were issued for six people accused of spray painting the street outside the Charlottesville Police Department over the last two weeks. Police say the demonstrators “vandalized the streets and the sidewalks with cruel, threatening, and hate-filled language.” The first four charges, announced in a June 25 press release, concerned paint on the sidewalk […]
Willing watchdogs: New Police Civilian Review Board votes to give itself more power
Two and a half years after the events that sparked its creation, the official Charlottesville Police Civilian Review Board held its first meeting on Monday. National events have led to increased scrutiny of police departments, and so the inaugural meeting of this body dedicated to police oversight was highly anticipated (to the extent that any […]
Foot on the gas: Anti-pipeline activists fight on, undeterred by Supreme Court
Last week, the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that the Atlantic Coast Pipeline would be allowed to cross underneath the Appalachian Trail. Dominion Energy, the pipeline’s main backer, has characterized the Supreme Court’s decisions as a significant step forward for the controversial project. If completed, the pipeline would carry natural gas 600 miles from West Virginia […]
This week, 6/24
“Coronavirus Could Be the End of Alt-Weeklies,” declared a Mother Jones headline in March. Around the country, venerable snark-slinging rags have dropped employees or shut down entirely, crippled by cratering ad revenue. C-VILLE, unfortunately, has not escaped the crash. Our staff is a lot smaller than it was just a few weeks ago. (The […]
Denver’s done: Far-right challenger Bob Good wins 5th District GOP nomination
In his two years in the House of Representatives, Denver Riggleman sided with Donald Trump on 94.5 percent of votes, according to FiveThirtyEight. But that wasn’t conservative enough for central Virginia’s Republican loyalists, who ended Riggleman’s run in Congress after just one term. At a June 13 drive-thru party convention, Riggleman lost the nomination […]
Under scrutiny: Will ongoing protests finally lead to better police-community relations?
The nation is up in arms. After the murder of George Floyd, protesters filled the streets of Charlottesville, Richmond, Washington D.C., and cities across the country, demonstrating against police brutality. As the smoke clears in coming weeks, these activists will look to translate the energy of the protests into lasting change. “I think we’re in […]
Hey, hey, hey, goodbye: As protests continue, Richmond will remove Robert E. Lee statue
The six-story-tall equestrian statue of Robert E. Lee has towered over Richmond’s Monument Avenue since 1890. Soon, it’ll be gone, replaced by empty sky. “That statue has been there for a long time. But it was wrong then and it’s wrong now. So we’re taking it down,” said Governor Ralph Northam during a June […]
Zero crimes, zero cases: Charlottesville’s progressive pandemic response has long-term implications
As the pandemic took hold in mid-March, Charlottesville and Albemarle’s criminal justice decision-makers started letting people out of jail. Two months in, it looks like the emergency measures have paid off: The Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail has not reported a single coronavirus case among inmates, and those transferred to house arrest have not posed any […]
‘A total disaster’: Families report AWOL admin, insufficient precautions as COVID runs rampant in Buckingham state prisons
“When we found out he had it, we was pretty sure he was going to die,” says a sibling of a man incarcerated in Buckingham Correctional Center. Buckingham is home to the fourth-worst coronavirus outbreak of any correctional facility in Virginia—112 inmates have tested positive. Dillwyn Correctional Center, a lower-security facility across the street, […]
‘We got a lot of history in there’: The 10th and Grady church tells the story of a city
A crane looms over a huge glass rectangle. The shiny office block, just completed, sits behind Preston Avenue’s old Monticello Dairy factory, where renovation work has been underway since 2018. When the new Dairy Central corner is fully operational next year, the complex will boast state-of-the-art office space, swanky apartments, and a “Brooklyn-based coffee […]
Primary roundup: Dark horse Democrats, and how to vote in a pandemic
Three Marines and a doctor walk into a bar… Cards on the table: It’s going to be difficult for a Democrat to win the race for Virginia’s (heavily gerrymandered) 5th Congressional District. In 2018, on the back of historic turnout and a nationwide blue wave, and running against a Republican who didn’t have an […]
COVID cases soar in Buckingham state prisons; Charlottesville poised for reopening
Correctional facilities, where inmates live in tight quarters, have proven (entirely predictably) to be hotbeds for coronavirus outbreaks. Some jails and prisons in the area have managed to avoid major transmission within their walls—as of May 8, the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail has reported just four cases, all among “support staff” who do not come in […]
Stop and smell the roses: COVID has changed the way we’re relating to nature
Just about everything has changed in the last month—and as our habits have shifted, so has our relationship with the local environment. “People aren’t flying, people aren’t driving,” says Jamie Brunkow, the senior advocacy manager of the James River Association. Those transportation changes have effects for our air and our water. “Typically we think […]
A Ramadan like none before: Local Muslims adapt to a holiday under quarantine
Coping with coronavirus is hard even when you’re surrounded by all your favorite creature comforts. And observing Ramadan, the month-long Islamic holiday that includes fasting during daylight hours, is an arduous task even when there isn’t a pandemic sweeping the globe. This year, the two have coincided. Ramadan began on April 23, and local […]
Furloughed future: In time of turmoil, Daily Progress staffers lean on new union
Local newspapers faced an uncertain future even before coronavirus ground life as we know it to a halt. Now, with events canceled and commerce limping along, advertising revenue has cratered and the industry is in crisis. Over the past month, weeklies and dailies around the country have paused operations or gone dark completely. The […]
Coping with confinement: Stuck inside, senior living residents reflect on crises past
“I was a boy during the Cuban missile crisis, and we felt we were going to be blasted off the face of the Earth,” says David Speedie, who now lives in Westminster Canterbury, a large senior living complex on Pantops Mountain. Though the Cuban missile crisis was shocking, Speedie says it wasn’t as disruptive […]
Busted budget: Schools, housing initiatives among programs affected by coronavirus crash
The City of Charlottesville was almost all the way through the always-laborious yearly budget process when the coronavirus crisis derailed its plans. City Council held an online meeting Monday night—its first meeting in a month—to discuss the city’s deeply uncertain finances. The most recent projections, delivered by City Manager Tarron Richardson, suggest $8.5 million […]
Mourning in isolation: Hospice workers prepare families for grieving in the time of coronavirus
For decades, Betty Pittman was a U.S. history teacher at Lane and Charlottesville high schools. “My mother taught half of Charlottesville,” says her daughter, Cookie Ferrier. But when Pittman was dying, of pancreatic cancer, no one was allowed to visit. While the casualties from COVID-19 continue to mount, the virus is changing even the […]