Eyes wide open: Sleep disorders can turn goodnight into a bad night
Ahhhh. The kids are finally in bed. You’ve settled down on the couch for a little Netflix, maybe poured yourself a glass of vino. This is your time. And then AAAAAAAAAHHHKKKK! The shriek from upstairs sounds like someone’s been stabbed, and when you race up the stairs—two at a time—you arrive in your child’s bedroom […]
Lightning rod: Commonwealth’s Attorney Denise Lunsford talks Mark Weiner, capital murder and that dress
It’s a Friday morning in late June, and Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney Denise Lunsford is sitting on the patio at Java Java Coffee Shop on the Downtown Mall, a few blocks away from the courtroom where, in a hearing a day earlier, Albemarle Circuit Court Judge Cheryl Higgins declined to recuse herself from the Jesse […]
Democracy’s lessons: Up close with a Mandela Fellow
As features editor for Zimbabwe’s largest daily paper, The Herald, in the capital city of Harare, Roselyne Sachiti doesn’t shy away from tough stories, even if they place her in danger. The 33- year-old journalist has gone undercover to investigate the smuggling of clothes into her country, an episode that found her temporarily locked in […]
Double crossed: Businesses bemoan Second Street closure
For lovers of independent movies and vino, the construction of the Violet Crown Cinema and wine bar in the former Regal theater space on the Downtown Mall is a sign of good things to come, but for nearby small businesses along the mall and the Second Street crossing, the ongoing street closure and noise brought […]
Legal Aid, Sexual Assault Advocacy Fund team up to support UVA victims
As University of Virginia grad Lisa Richey read the now retracted Rolling Stone article on sexual assault at UVA last November, she felt compelled to do something to make a difference. On an impulse just hours after the story’s publication, she launched an online fundraiser with the general but somewhat undefined goal of providing independent legal counsel to victims […]
Building opportunity: Kuttner’s Second Street project morphs along the way
A year ago, developer Oliver Kuttner announced plans for a three-story building on the Glass Building site at the corner of Second Street SW and Garrett Street. The structure, the first part of a multi-phase project he has planned for the site, is now well underway with several commercial tenants already signed on to occupy the […]
Sweet Briar President Jones will skip graduation
In the midst of legal turmoil over the future of Sweet Briar College, and two days after a professor penned an open letter urging him to skip the commencement ceremony on Saturday May 16, President James F. Jones has agreed to stay away. “In the last twenty-four hours, it has come to my attention that there […]
Prof to Sweet Briar Prez: Stay away on graduation day
When the Sweet Briar College class of 2015 walks the stage at commencement on Saturday, May 16, hundreds of their family members, professors and friends will be present to see what may well be the school’s last graduation ceremony. Sweet Briar Professor Marcia Thom-Kaley is urging one person to stay away. “Your presence at graduation […]
Gang charges: Accused killers of Kevin Quick go on trial
Fifteen months after Waynesboro Police Reserve Captain Kevin Quick was allegedly abducted and killed in a case that put a spotlight on the presence of gangs in Central Virginia, six people will stand trial on racketeering, murder and other charges in U.S. District Court. The sprawling legal proceeding, which began with jury selection on Monday, […]
Sweet Briar suit gets court date as activists say financial situation better than school claimed
As the battle over the fate of Sweet Briar College heads to the courtroom, a forensic accountant hired by the nonprofit Saving Sweet Briar has issued a report finding that as of August 2014, the school’s financial picture did not warrant the decision to close. “An initial review of Sweet Briar College’s finances shows that […]
Alexis Murphy’s aunt finds inspiration in new career
The death of any loved one can be staggering, but when someone simply vanishes, it can be even more difficult, said Trina Murphy, the great aunt of Nelson County teenager Alexis Murphy who disappeared in 2013 and who is presumed dead, although her body has never been found. After spending the past 18 months seeking […]
Saving Sweet Briar: Inside the fight to save the 114-year-old women’s college
Dressed in the school’s colors of pink and green, waving signs bearing welcoming messages—“Holla Holla,” and “Vixens forever”— Sweet Briar alumnae from around the country converged on the bucolic women’s college campus on Sunday, March 15 to welcome students back from spring break. Two weeks earlier, on March 3, Sweet Briar interim president James F. […]
Sweet Briar fight: First legal salvo fired by alumnae legal team
Weeks after the board of Sweet Briar voted to shutter the school following the spring semester, alumnae and faculty are fighting back, raising more than $3 million through the nonprofit Saving Sweet Briar and hiring the international law firm of Troutman Sanders to pursue legal action to block the closure. That action began with a […]
Video footage of March 18 Martese Johnson protest
“It really surprised me a lot, anything like this happening in Charlottesville,” said 17-year-old Greg Nachmanovitch, who documented the Wednesday, March 18, protest over the arrest of UVA student Martese Johnson by Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control agents. Also filming the protest, organized by UVA’s Black Student Alliance, were Will Jones, 17, and recent VCU film […]
‘Sibling’ support: Hampden-Sydney alums launch fundraiser for Sweet Briar
When the board of Sweet Briar College recently announced plans to close the school after the Spring 2015 semester, students, alumnae and faculty took action, launching a nonprofit with a goal of raising $20 million and hiring a law firm to fight the decision. Now, the women have support from alumni of Sweet Briar’s official […]
Alumnae fight back over planned closure of Sweet Briar College
A week after Sweet Briar’s board of directors announced plans to close the 114-year-old women’s college in Amherst, shock and grief among students, faculty and alumnae has given way to anger, defiance and questions about the basis for the decision. “I just think it was handled so badly,” said Sweet Briar biology professor Lincoln Brower, one […]
Jesse Matthew trial postponed, Fairfax court documents reveal details of 2005 attack
DNA taken from beneath the fingernail of the victim in a 2005 sexual assault in Fairfax is the only evidence tying Hannah Graham’s accused killer, Jesse Matthew, to the Northern Virginia attack, according to court documents filed in Fairfax County and reported by NBC29. The documents allege that Matthew choked the woman and penetrated her […]
Documentary screening aims to get people talking about race
How do you get teens to talk about race in a way that prompts action and meaningful change? That’s a central question posed in the 2013 documentary “I’m Not Racist…Am I?,” which follows 12 New York City teenagers from diverse racial and socioeconomic backgrounds as they go through a series of workshops and conversations on […]
Note-worthy: Charlottesville’s classical music scene is going strong
Charlottesville is a music town, no doubt. What other small city can boast that it’s seen the likes of The Rolling Stones, U2 and Lady Gaga come through, not to mention hosts a healthy local scene that’s launched a couple of groups into straight-up rock stardom and keeps a slew of smaller venues booked almost […]
Law enforcement, Worsky family react to convicted killer Glenn Barker’s death
When Albemarle County Sheriff Chip Harding learned last week that Glenn Barker has been dead for six months, he said he slept well for the first time in decades. “It’s a relief, because he had threatened me and my family during the course of the investigation, and even in the courtroom,” said Harding of the […]
New evidence: Police build timeline of accused killer Gene Washington
In the days after the early December slayings of a mother and daughter on Rugby Avenue, the man charged with their murders attempted to sell their stolen car, and a television belonging to the victims was found inside his Barracks West apartment, according to information provided to C-VILLE by sources close to the case and […]
Hundreds mourn Aldridges as friends of accused killer Gene Washington question evidence
Days after hundreds of mourners gathered at events in Earlysville and Charlottesville to remember slain mother and daughter Robin and Mani Aldridge, friends of the man accused in their murders are struggling with their own shock and disbelief. “He’s not a violent person,” said Jasmine Speller, a longtime friend of 30-year-old Gene Everett Washington, who […]
“Evil, senseless and brutal”: Police hunt killer in Rugby Avenue slayings
At a press conference three days after a mother and daughter were found beaten to death inside their burned Rugby Avenue home, Charlottesville Police Chief Tim Longo asked for the public’s assistance in tracking down the person or persons who killed 58-year-old Robin Christine Aldridge and 17-year-old Mani Viktoria Aldridge, then set their home ablaze […]
Alums decry lack of leadership at UVA as sexual assault issue boils
As the controversy over UVA’s handling of sexual assault cases continues to build, some alums are expressing their frustration over what they see as a lack of leadership at the school and even calling publicly for the resignation of President Teresa Sullivan and replacement of the Board of Visitors. “If the BOV felt strong enough […]
Alum launches fundraiser to support sexual assault victims at UVA
This story is part of our ongoing coverage in the wake of the Rolling Stone story on rape at UVA. There’s more: An in-depth look at the University’s sexual assault policy, a Q&A with Board of Visitors member Helen Dragas on her reaction to the story, responses from the Rolling Stone reporter and women she interviewed as well […]
Publicity prompts responses from other sexual assault victims
This story is part of our ongoing coverage in the wake of the Rolling Stone story on rape at UVA. There’s more: An in-depth look at the University’s sexual assault policy, a Q&A with Board of Visitors member Helen Dragas on her reaction to the story, responses from the Rolling Stone reporter and women she interviewed as well […]
For UVA victims who went public years ago, new uproar is déjà vu
This story is part of our ongoing coverage in the wake of the Rolling Stone story on rape at UVA. There’s more: An in-depth look at the University’s sexual assault policy, a Q&A with Board of Visitors member Helen Dragas on her reaction to the story, responses from the Rolling Stone reporter and women she interviewed, a look […]