When Joe Biden announced last year that he was running for president, the first words he uttered were “Charlottesville, Virginia.” The campaign video that followed featured footage of the Unite the Right rally overlaid with a voiceover from Biden, responding to President Trump’s infamous comment: “[You] had people that were very fine people, on both […]
Nearly a thousand protesters took to the streets of downtown Charlottesville May 30, demanding an end to police brutality and justice for the murders of black people across the country, including George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and Tony McDade. In solidarity with the dozens of other Black Lives Matter demonstrations around the nation, people […]
On a chilly Thursday evening last week, several dozen people gathered at the Central Library for a talk on “the risks and rewards of public engagement” by someone who knows them all too well. Jalane Schmidt, a community activist and professor of religious studies at UVA, was recently sued for a comment she made in […]
Just a little over two years after white supremacists marched through the streets of Charlottesville, the final criminal court case opened as a result of the events that unfolded August 11-12, 2017, came to an end Tuesday evening. Tyler Davis, 51, was sentenced to two years and one month in [...]
More than a year and a half after a freelance reporter requested the Virginia State Police and the Office of Public Safety turn over its Unite the Right public safety plans, a judge ruled today that it’s time for the state to cough them up—although with some confusion about redaction and [...]
Where’s Red Beard—and Sunglasses? Although four people have been convicted in the August 12 assault of DeAndre Harris in the Market Street Parking Garage, video and photographs from that day show there were other attackers joining the fray who have not been arrested—or even identified. On [...]
The National Socialist Movement, a defendant in a post-Unite the Right lawsuit, made a bizarre shift when its former leader signed over the organization to black civil rights activist James Hart Stern, who then filed a motion admitting liability for the neo-Nazi group. The complaint, Sines v. [...]
The most frightening movie on this year’s Virginia Film Festival schedule doesn’t feature supernatural ghouls, but it had Larry Sabato shaken. Charlottesville is the real-life horror story that took place on UVA’s Grounds and in city streets when white supremacists and neo-Nazis came to town in [...]
The photo shows a pale, skinny young man in a white shirt and dark sunglasses, face contorted and veins in his head and neck popping as he appears to throttle a dark-haired woman. They are standing in front of the parking lot of the First United Methodist Church on Second Street NE in [...]
After plaintiff Jason Kessler showed up 45 minutes late to federal court for his own motion to order Charlottesville to grant him a permit to hold an event the weekend of August 12, it took the judge about two seconds to grant Kessler’s attorney’s request to withdraw the motion. “He’s not going [...]
Red Hen refusal ignites firestorm When two former C-VILLE Weekly writers opened the Red Hen in Lexington in 2009, they loved everything about the Rockbridge County college town—except its lack of a farm-to-table eatery. Since then, the restaurant has become a renowned fine dining option, and [...]
A Florida man charged with malicious wounding in the August 12 Market Street Parking Garage attack on DeAndre Harris can thank the attorney of another man for his arrest—and for dubbing him “Boonie Hat.” Tyler Watkins Davis, 50, of Middleburg, Florida, was in Charlottesville General [...]
Another high-profile case went through Albemarle County Circuit Court on January 31, where motions for a self-proclaimed racist who found himself in trouble after the weekend of the Unite the Right rally had two motions denied and one granted. Christopher Cantwell is accused of using a [...]
Three out-of-towners who were charged following the August 12 Unite the Right rally were in court December 14 for preliminary hearings, where a judge determined there was probable cause to seek grand jury indictments. Baltimore resident and Confederate White Knights of the KKK imperial wizard [...]
After initially refusing to confirm reports that 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 that says Thomas is retiring effective immediately. Thomas, who previously was police chief in Lexington, was the [...]
The scene December 14 at Charlottesville Circuit Court was like a flashback to August 12. A heavy police presence closed High Street outside the courthouse and barricades kept protesters from the man many consider the perp of the day’s fatal finale, Unite the Right organizer Jason [...]
Permission denied Minutes before a decision was due, City Manager Maurice Jones denied several special event permits for rallies and counterrallies proposed on the weekend of August 12 in Emancipation, Justice and McGuffey parks—ground zero for the summer’s Unite the Right rally that left three [...]
Two of three felony charges were thrown out in a more than six-hour-long preliminary hearing November 9 for “Crying Nazi” Chris Cantwell, the New Hampshire man accused of pepper spraying multiple people at the violent August 11 tiki-torch march across the University of Virginia. Hundreds of [...]
Two men who were charged with punching two women in the face at unrelated August 12 Unite the Right rally events entered guilty pleas today in Charlottesville General District Court, and one, with a history of assault who was sentenced to eight months in jail, is appealing the [...]
Monolith on West Main What wasn’t quite clear from renderings of The Standard, the deluxe student apartments now under construction across from The Flats on West Main Street, was just how massive and Soviet Bloc-looking the 499-space parking garage is. Good news: It’s going to be covered by the [...]
The Georgia man charged with kicking a counterprotester who was on the ground in the Market Street Parking Garage August 12 was denied bond this morning in Charlottesville General District Court. Alex Michael Ramos, 33, appeared before Judge Bob Downer seeking bond for his release from [...]
Charlottesville civics 101 At last week’s tumultuous City Council meeting, many citizens asked questions that suggest Charlottesville’s form of government is not well understood. Here are a few basics. City Council: Five elected members choose a mayor and vice-mayor. The mayor is one among [...]
Usually it’s hard to squeeze personnel matters discussed in closed session out of city councilors. That’s why the August 25 leaking of a confidential Mayor Mike Signer-written memo to City Manager Maurice Jones demanding explanations of the events leading up to the August 12 hate rally was such [...]