Hundreds gather to remember Trayvon Martin
The cry rang up and down Charlottesville’s rainy Downtown Mall last Wednesday evening, a call-and-answer chant heard at rallies across the country in the weeks since George Zimmerman was acquitted of murder in the February 2012 shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida. “I am!” “Trayvon Martin!” But Eden Zekarias, the UVA third-year who […]
The rite stuff: What the Episcopal Church’s position on gay marriage can teach us about the middle ground
Ten years ago last month, a sharecropper’s son from Kentucky was elected Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire. Because Gene Robinson is gay, his elevation to one of the highest positions of authority within the Episcopal Church rocked and splintered the church to an extent that no other issue in its history ever […]
Construction, housing market growth signal local economic health
When it comes to the local economy, the good omens are stacking up. Recent analyses from the city and an area realtor’s association show that total construction value in the city reached an all-time high in 2012, and the volume and value of home sales is showing sustained growth. And while market watchers are hesitant […]
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. Eco-activist onscreen: The Thomas […]
UVA professor helping develop powerful forest mapping satellite
Hank Shugart has been waiting a long time for a view from space. Shugart, UVA’s W.W. Corcoran Professor of Environmental Sciences, is a global forest ecologist whose work has made him a key consultant on Earth-mapping projects. He was with a crew of researchers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland on February […]
Questions still swirling in wake of UVA swim coach Mark Bernardino’s departure
Two weeks have passed since the abrupt retirement of beloved UVA swimming and diving coach Mark Bernardino, and a successor is already in place. But for the University’s swimming diaspora, which includes some of the sport’s top international athletes, a lot of questions remain unanswered—and they’ll likely stay that way, thanks to an apparent nondisclosure […]
Ivy Creek experts offer tips on after-dark bug hunting
Last week, two volunteer naturalists offered visitors to the Ivy Creek Natural Area’s Education Center a new take on local nightlife. In an evening lecture at the preserve off Earlysville Road, Ivy Creek Education Programs Coordinator Bruce Gatling-Austin and volunteer guide and Master Naturalist Rachel Bush shared some illuminating facts about local nocturnal insects, and […]
Craddock named interim Scottsville supervisor
William “Petie” Craddock is the pick to serve as interim Scottsville representative on the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors, filling the seat left vacant when Chris Dumler abruptly resigned after months of controversy following his arrest on a felony sodomy charge and eventual guilty plea to a misdemeanor sex crime. Board members officially voted on […]
Labor pains: How a local case helped resurrect Virginia’s labor investigations
Last week, the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry made a small change to its website: It added a link to a downloadable wage claim form, something that had been missing since the state slashed DOLI’s budget and eliminated six wage theft investigators from its Wage and Hour Department almost exactly a year ago. The […]
What’s coming up the week of July 8?
Each week, the news team takes a look at upcoming meetings and events in Charlottesville and Albemarle we think you should know about. Consider it a look into our datebook, and be sure to share newsworthy happenings in the comments section. Albemarle County’s Acquisition of Conservation Easements Committee (ACE) will meet at 5pm Monday, July 8 at […]
Fare play: Yellow Cab angles for exclusive rights to Amtrak passengers
When Main Street Arena owner Mark Brown shook up the local taxi industry by buying up two aging cab fleets and installing card swipe machines and GPS trackers in his cars, he didn’t win many fans among the dozens of independent cab companies in the city, who complained he came swinging into a business he […]
Capshaw’s Starr Hill Presents enters partnership with The Southern
Coran Capshaw is expanding his live-music footprint on the Downtown Mall, today announcing a new partnership with The Southern Café & Music Hall. Starr Hill, the concert promotion arm of Capshaw’s Red Light Management, released a statement today that confirmed the new relationship pairing the small venue on South First Street with the local industry giant, […]
Dominion rolls out solar purchase program
Dominion Virginia is wading into the renewable energy credit market, and it’s offering its customers a way to cash in. Andy Bindea, co-founder of Waynesboro-based residential and commercial solar installation company Sigora Solar, said Dominion’s new solar power purchase program, launched June 20, is a big step for sustainable energy in the Commonwealth. The power […]
UVA Foundation-owned Boar’s Head under fire for wage issues
Hospitality staff at the Boar’s Head Inn, the Ivy resort owned and operated by UVA’s nonprofit development corporation, are complaining of unpaid wages and retaliation by management, and their outcry has shed light on a history of labor law violations at the University-affiliated hotel and country club. In an anonymous letter mailed last month to […]
One year on: What’s changed at UVA since the meltdown over Dragas-gate?
This story’s publication date marks a year to the day that UVA’s Board of Visitors defied public outcry for the reinstatement of ousted president Teresa Sullivan by holing up in the Rotunda for 11 hours and doubling down on its decision to force her out. It took eight more days for the University’s governing body […]
Commonwealth’s attorney clears boy, parents in Crozet shooting
Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney Denise Lunsford has determined that the 10-year-old Crozet girl who was shot to death by her brother in their living room last month was killed accidentally. According to a legal analysis Lunsford delivered to Albemarle County Police Chief Colonel Steve Sellers Thursday morning, no charges will be filed against either the […]
Councilors say city utility fees are becoming too big a burden for residents
The Charlottesville City Council adopted rates for the city’s three public utilities for the coming fiscal year last month, and the numbers weren’t dire: Water and wastewater rates are up, but they’re offset by a slight drop in gas prices. But two Councilors still aren’t content. Dave Norris and Dede Smith say two fees that […]
Dumler’s out—what’s next?
Eight months after his felony sexual assault arrest, four months after he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor sexual battery, and just five days after a judge denied a petition to force him out of office, Scottsville representative Chris Dumler announced his resignation from the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors, surprising some of his harshest critics and […]
UPDATE: Albemarle man killed in area’s second police shooting in two weeks
UPDATE, 3:30pm Monday, June 10: State police have confirmed that the man killed in an officer-involved shooting early Saturday morning in western Albemarle was Gregory A. Rosson, Jr., 21, of Crozet. According to the latest news release issued this afternoon, police received a 911 call for a “domestic situation” at an Afton address on Route […]
To the polls Tuesday: Democratic primary recap
The Democratic primary is Tuesday, June 11, and besides the statewide contests for Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General (in which Albemarle residents will cast votes, too), Charlottesville voters will select Democratic candidates for three upcoming races in November: Commonwealth’s Attorney, Commissioner of the Revenue, and Charlottesville City Council. Dave Chapman, who has served as Commonwealth’s […]
“The door that opens when all other doors are closed”: An interview with ASG’s Peter DeMartino
As a reporter, you sometimes find yourself with a really great interview on your hands—one with a subject who is so compelling and well-spoken that you sort of want to sit back and let their words tell the whole story for you. I had that experience last week, when I sat down with Peter DeMartino, […]
Put to the test: Why Charlottesville’s AIDS advocacy group is taking on Hepatitis C
Peter DeMartino did not witness the arrival of the AIDS epidemic in Charlottesville, but he knows the stories. “Quarantine, nurses in suits, food left outside the door, people not being bathed or touched,” said DeMartino, who in 2010 became the executive director of the city’s AIDS-HIV Services Group (ASG). “It was that time in the […]
Good judgment: Hogshire awarded first-ever Gideon award
On Thursday, Judge Eward L. Hogshire addressed a packed Charlottesville Circuit courtroom—not an unusual occurrence. But he didn’t do it from the bench. Hogshire, dressed in his usual bowtie but not his usual robes, offered a few words from a lectern, the guest of honor at a ceremony held by the Citizens Advisory Committee for […]
As Halsey Minor files for personal bankruptcy, former Landmark creditors get long-awaited payout
Former CNET CEO and would-be hotelier Halsey Minor filed for personal bankruptcy in Los Angeles County last week, just days after a federal judge’s order in a Virginia bankruptcy court ended a long battle over debts owed to Minor’s former Landmark Hotel contractors. Minor, a Charlottesville native who has faced escalating financial troubles since selling […]
The cost of living: At least a third of residents pay more than they can afford for their homes. What next?
Most charming. Most walkable. Healthiest. Number one place to retire. Charlottesville loves its accolades. But there’s one distinction it could do without: Least affordable. The city’s high housing costs are not a new phenomenon, and neither are efforts to correct them. In 2010, the City Council adopted the goal of increasing its proportion of supported […]
Council approves Human Rights Commission with enforcement powers
After two years of study and debate, Charlottesville has a blueprint for a Human Rights Commission. The City Council voted 3-1 last Monday to adopt an anti-discrimination ordinance and an agency to enforce it. For months, the discussion over what to do with recommendations to form a commission—first from the Dialogue on Race, and later […]
A bug’s life: Cicada emergence is a mysterious, massive phenomenon
Sachin Gadani and a few friends recently spent a weekend combing Charlottesville for cicadas. The UVA MD-PhD graduate student is head of the University’s entomology club, and he and several fellow amateur bug lovers haven’t had to look hard to find the first local representatives of one of the greatest spectacles of the insect world: […]