Nearly two years after appointing the initial Police Civilian Review Board, Charlottesville City Council inched closer to making a permanent oversight board a reality at their October 21 meeting, with a first reading of the CRB’s ordinance and bylaws. But members of the initial CRB were not pleased, saying councilors had severely weakened the proposal […]
Herb Dickerson and his sister own a house in Fifeville, and when he got a phone call from her telling him to get over there on August 27, “I could hear the frantic in her voice,” he says. He pulled onto Seventh Street and saw “this armored vehicle blocking the street and a state police […]
When Charlottesville Police Chief RaShall Brackney took her oath in June, she was sworn in to a position already highly scrutinized by citizens of a town where many are wary of the cops. Perhaps the thing locals wanted most in a new chief was transparency, and Brackney says she has spent the past nine months […]
Using ACA insurance? Read this first Yes, the Affordable Care Marketplace is still here, and sign-up ends December 15. Counselors at the Jefferson Area Board for Aging have seen a few surprises in the process, and want residents to be aware they could face some unpleasant results if they simply [...]
Former Charlottesville police chief Al Thomas may have left last year, but it hasn’t stopped him from collecting a paycheck. Although the city said in December that Thomas’ retirement would be “effective immediately,” it turns out, as first reported by WINA’s Rob Schilling, that Thomas has [...]
In sharp contrast to an August 13 press conference, in which 18 officials representing public safety agencies thanked and congratulated each other for a job well done over the August 12 anniversary weekend, city councilors heard a different assessment the next night. Around three dozen citizens [...]
The August 12 weekend passed with no loss of life or serious injury, but many Charlottesville residents were not reassured by the show of police force and the restrictions on pedestrian access to the Downtown Mall that were announced a couple of days before they went into effect. The Virginia [...]
When Corey Long was found guilty of disorderly conduct last month for pointing a homemade flamethrower at white supremacists on August 12, a slew of local activists who’ve dubbed him a “community defender” waited until the sun went down to take to the streets and protest his conviction. In [...]
By Jonathan Haynes Indignation hung in the air during the July 12 city-sponsored #ResilientCville event as around 150 Charlottesville residents filed into the pews of Mt. Zion First African Baptist Church to confront a panel of public officials about the city’s failure to contain white [...]
An unlikely pair of lawyers sat together in Charlottesville Circuit Court June 12 to defend clients that don’t have much in common, except that they attended last summer’s Unite the Right rally and are being sued for it. The Georgetown University Law Center’s Institute for Constitutional [...]
Riggleman snatches 5th District Republican nomination Five days after Congressman Tom Garrett announced he would not seek re-election to deal with alcoholism, distiller and former gubernatorial candidate Denver Riggleman fended off 10 other candidates in a five-hour marathon meeting June 2 at [...]
On the second day of a jury trial against Detective Andrew Holmes for racial profiling in his stops of black motorists—the first of five such suits—plaintiffs’ attorney Jeff Fogel rested his case around noon March 22, and Judge Norman Moon ordered it tossed because Fogel did not prove Holmes [...]
Mental health focus Lucas Johnson isn’t old enough to vote yet, but the 17-year-old Monticello High senior and his peers from two other county high schools—Choetsow Tenzin at Albemarle and Alex Moreno at Western Albemarle—didn’t let that stop them from demanding the General Assembly support [...]
When Jason Kessler leaves a courthouse in Charlottesville, he’s usually greeted the same way, and that’s by an angry mob. A group of dozens of anti-racists followed him in a large circle around Market Street until he receded to the police department next to the general district court. He exited [...]
Three people charged with wearing a mask at the July 8 KKK rally in Justice Park were in Charlottesville General District Court today, where the prosecution dismissed their felony charges because tear gas used by police could have been a factor in why they covered their faces. Diego Trujillo, [...]
After initially refusing to confirm reports that Charlottesville police Chief Al Thomas had resigned and was packing his office on Monday and would be out of the building by 5pm, the city issued a release Monday afternoon that said Thomas would be retiring, effective immediately. The hasty [...]
Case study Cities are always involved in one sort of minor litigation or another, typically for unpaid taxes, but over the past two years, Charlottesville has been embroiled in a lot of high-profile cases, mostly as a defendant. Having a hard time keeping up? We are, too. Let’s review. Militias [...]
In her most recent court appearance, a judge dropped an assault charge against activist Veronica Fitzhugh after her accuser failed to appear. Alleged victim Jason Turner blamed Fitzhugh for yelling at him and pushing him in Emancipation Park on May 21 as he attempted to take a photo of the [...]
Updated Tuesday, October 24 at 3pm with a second story about court appearances on Monday, October 23. Even months prior to August 12, the community was up to its figurative elbows in lawsuits stemming from the emergence of Unite the Right organizer Jason Kessler into the local spotlight [...]
The Albemarle County police officer who is the defendant in three lawsuits alleging racial profiling picked up a fourth complaint last month. Officer Andrew Holmes heads to court September 21 and says that although his number of stops and arrests of black people far exceeds the rest of the [...]
The fight against hunger September is Hunger Action Month, when people across the nation raise awareness for empty bellies by supporting the country’s network of food banks. Locally, we have two main groups fighting the good fight—the Emergency Food Network and the Thomas Jefferson Area branch [...]
It’s the time of year C-VILLE editorial staffers dread most: landing on the final names for our Power Issue, followed by the inevitable complaints that the list contains a bunch of white men. Sure, there are powerful women and people of color in Charlottesville. But when it comes down to it, [...]
The heavily watched June 13 primary in Virginia offered several surprises, most notably record-setting Democratic turnout and Corey Stewart’s near upset of Ed Gillespie in the GOP gubernatorial race. Conversely, hometown favorite Tom Perriello’s race against Ralph Northam for governor was [...]