Nearly three weeks ago, most of Virginia moved into Phase 2 of the state’s coronavirus reopening plan, loosening restrictions on a range of businesses. As the percentage of positive COVID-19 tests continues to trend downward, Virginians can now sit down to eat inside in a restaurant, work out at the gym, or hit the pool. […]
Back to school, more or less “All Virginia schools will be open for students next year,” said Governor Ralph Northam at a press conference last week. “But the school experience will look very different.” Northam laid out his administration’s guidelines for the reopening of Virginia’s schools, fully detailed in the state’s 135-page “Recover, Redesign, Restart” […]
Masked up On May 26, Governor Ralph Northam declared that all Virginians 10 years and older must wear masks while in public indoor spaces, including retail stores, buses, and restaurants (when you’re not eating, of course). Some have wondered how business owners would enforce such a rule with recalcitrant customers, and Tobey’s Pawn Shop owner […]
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 [...]
On Friday, May 15, a number of Virginia businesses got the green light to reopen (with restrictions), as part of Phase One of Governor Ralph Northam’s plan. But locally, response has been mixed, with some establishments instituting new safety measures to bring in badly needed customers, while [...]
Bluegrass blues What gives a town its character? It’s a complicated question, but here are two easy answers: great food and local rituals. For years, Bluegrass Grill and Bakery has offered both. There’s the pre-meal ritual of waiting outside, rain or shine, for a chance to squeeze into a [...]
Deadly disparities While the COVID-19 pandemic has affected people of all backgrounds across the globe, statistics show that it has had a disproportionate impact on black Americans. Data is limited, because only about 35 percent of U.S. cases specify a patient’s race, according to the CDC. But [...]
In August 2006, 24-year-old William Charles Morva made national headlines when he sent the Montgomery County Police on a manhunt unlike any the town of Blacksburg had seen before. While awaiting trial for an attempted armed robbery, Morva was taken to Montgomery Regional Hospital for minor [...]
Community leaders gathered at the University of Virginia October 28 for the first meeting of the Commission on African American History Education. Charlottesville City Schools Superintendent Dr. Rosa Atkins is among those appointed to the commission, which was established by Governor Ralph [...]
Presidential address Following a brief introduction by UVA President Jim Ryan—where Ryan mentioned he’d gotten food poisoning from the White House the first time he met Bill Clinton—the former leader of the free world then took the lectern in Old Cabell Hall to close out the Miller Center of [...]
Governor Ralph Northam was in Charlottesville today to announce a budget amendment that would end the automatic suspension of driver’s licenses for nonpayment of court fines and costs. The amendment would also reinstate driving privileges for 627,000 Virginians whose licenses are [...]
Bad choices Photos appeared February 3 of Kappa Sigma fraternity members wearing American Indian headdresses (pictured above), and a since-deleted social media post captured Zeta Tau Alpha sorority sisters in sombreros and carrying maracas. UVA’s Inter-Fraternity Council condemned Kappa Sig’s [...]
Ralph Northam’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week Up until a week ago, Governor Ralph Northam had great approval ratings. Then last week hit, and with the fallout from a photo of a person in blackface beside someone in a KKK robe on his page in the Eastern Virginia Medical School 1984 [...]
With Richmond in turmoil over Governor Ralph Northam’s blackface past and assault allegations against Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax, it’s been hard to focus on the legislature. But the session is halfway through, and February 6 is crossover day, when each house sends the bills it’s passed [...]
The parents of two young women who were murdered here were among those in the dignitary-filled room June 21 at Charlottesville’s Central Library, where Governor Ralph Northam signed legislation expanding the collection of DNA for misdemeanor crimes that, had it previously been in effect, could [...]