Join the Fun! 54th Annual Parade of Homes Continues this Weekend
By Celeste M. Smucker – The best of the best of Charlottesville’s new construction is on display again this weekend—Saturday and Sunday, October 7 and 8 from noon to 5:00 p.m.—at the Blue Ridge Homebuilders Association’s (BRHBA) 54th Annual Parade of Homes, featuring 41 homes from 17 builders. Everyone is invited and even if you […]
The price of delay: Why court backlog is a serious problem for Charlottesville
The Charlottesville Circuit Court stays busy: The city’s police department reported a total of 381 crimes committed in 2012. The Circuit Court opened 399 criminal files and 406 civil files that same year. For a population of roughly 44,000, that’s no small potatoes. It seems one of the many legacies left by the city’s patriarch […]
Court Squared: Legal community weighs in as Assembly fills circuit court bench
Ever wonder how somebody becomes a judge? As the powers-that-be gear up to find a replacement for retiring 16th Judicial Circuit Judge Edward L. Hogshire, we’ve got a chance to watch the process play out from start to finish. For those seeking a seat on a local bench, that process starts here in the community […]
Prison as psych ward: The cost of incarcerating the mentally ill
High-profile acts of violence tend to bring with them a spike in public awareness of mental illness, but the stigma associated with being mentally ill never subsides. The system still seems to favor locking people up rather than treating them. My wife and I lived five minutes away from the Safeway in Tucson, Arizona, where […]
Finger on the scale? Debating the fairness of Virginia’s limited criminal discovery
Court Squared is a regular column on local legal and justice issues by Charlottesville attorney Ron Cooper. If you’ve ever sat in on a trial, on top of the multitude of emotions you’re experiencing depending on why you’re there, you’ll instantly recognize that real world litigation looks nothing like an episode of Law & Order. […]
Former Albemarle staff sue county to get their jobs back
Imagine your boss approaches you one day, takes you aside, thanks you for your many years of dedicated service to the company, and then offers you a chance to retire early with increased retirement pay. Doesn’t sound too bad, does it? Now imagine that you accept the offer, taking early retirement in reliance on the […]
Proposed Trump golf course runs afoul of conservation easement
Like my golf game, the proposed golf course that Eric Trump envisions for Albemarle County may never materialize. While Trump purchased the land encompassing the former estate of Patricia Kluge, the Virginia Outdoors Foundation (VOF) holds a conservation easement on nearly 217 acres. After more than two years of correspondence between the VOF and Trump […]