A protest calling for a ceasefire in Gaza at the University of Virginia is approaching its third consecutive day, with no sign of stopping. UVA students will be allowed to continue on-campus demonstrations protesting U.S. involvement in the ongoing conflict between Israeli military forces and Hamas militants in Gaza as long as no university policies are broken, said David Hawkins-Jacinto, executive director of strategic communications at the UVA Division of Student Affairs. The day’s long protest was one of two that began this week. A separate protest organized by UVA Apartheid Divest Coaliti ..read more

Rabbi Tom Gutherz of Congregation Beth Israel, Charlottesville’s only synagogue, says it’s “political theater” to compare the campus protests against U.S. involvement in the war in Gaza to the white supremacist rallies that took place in Charlottesville in August 2017 — which is what former president Donald Trump did last week. On April 24, after a day in a felony criminal trial in Manhattan, Trump criticized President Joe Biden’s handling of college protests by comparing them to the violent events in 2017, including the car attack by a neo-Nazi on counter-protesters that killed Heather Heyer ..read more

Last month, the Virginia Department of Historic Resources approved a plaque to acknowledge the more than 100-year period during which enslaved people were bought and sold in Charlottesville’s Court Square. The marker will read: Sales of Enslaved People in Court Square Between 1762 and 1865, auctioneers sold enslaved men, women, and children at various locations in Court Square: outside taverns, at the Jefferson Hotel, at the “Number Nothing” building, in front of the Albemarle Co. Courthouse (where sales were then recorded), and, according to tradition, from a tree stump. Auctioned at Eagle H ..read more

To better meet the needs of the communities we serve, Charlottesville Tomorrow has filled two new positions on our team. Aliyah Cotton, People and Culture Officer, and Ashley Harper, Product and Technology Officer, will give our nonprofit news organization the capacity to grow and innovate. Charlottesville Tomorrow welcomed Cotton as the People and Culture Officer in October 2023. Cotton brings a varied professional background and a strong passion for fostering connections. She fills this newly created role at Charlottesville Tomorrow to help create a positive work environment, promote equity ..read more

Robert already had a plan for what he’d do when the shelter closed. On Saturday, April 13, he’d wake up on a sleeping pad on the Trinity Presbyterian rec room floor. He’d pack his bag, head out the door and into a van that brought him from the church on Fontaine Avenue to the Downtown Charlottesville area. Between working shifts at a local diner and welding classes at Piedmont Virginia Community College, he’d need to find a place to hang up his rope hammock and get some shuteye. “Gotta find somewhere safe to set it up,” he said. When it rains, he’ll pop a tarp over the hammock to stay dry. Ro ..read more

After two years of campaigning, the Albemarle County School Board passed a collective bargaining resolution.  In a unanimous vote, the county School Board voted to engage in collective bargaining with the Albemarle Education Association. The two parties will negotiate items — such as benefits and wages — for all workers within the school system, but only after the union completes an election. “I’m excited that the Board and the AEA could come to this point and that we’re finally here after a really long time,” Allison Spillman, at-large board member for Albemarle Schools, said at Thursd ..read more

A Charlottesville City School student is now in custody after staff at Cherry Avenue Boys & Girls Club found a gun near their bag, according to a news alert from City Schools.  At 1:30 p.m. Monday, police arrived at New Pathways Academy, located at the Boys and Girls Club, the district said. Charlottesville Tomorrow reached out to the Charlottesville Police Department for further information but did not get a response in time for publication. Charlottesville Police rushed to the Cherry Avenue Boys & Girls Club after getting a call from a City Schools staff member at the center r ..read more

What is the future of local journalism? A diverse and vibrant local news ecosystem is a critical element of a healthy democratic culture, keeping people informed and engaged with their communities and institutions. Join a panel of journalists working in the Charlottesville area as they discuss the current state of local journalism and possible solutions to reinvigorate the industry and ensure that the needs of local communities are being met. On Friday, April 19, Charlottesville Tomorrow CEO and Editor-in-Chief Angilee Shah will join local colleagues Courteney Stuart, host of WINA’s Charlotte ..read more

This is the second of a series about Buck Island, by Philip Cobbs for First Person Charlottesville. Read the first story here, and then join the author in a conversation on April 23. My brother and I were born at home in the 1950s because my mother said she felt safer there than at the University of Virginia’s hospital. It was a tradition on the Garland Farm in Albemarle County that had been carried on for generations. Family folklore was that Black women for generations often came to the farm — then the largest, Black-owned farm in the area, which my family now calls Buck Island — from Richm ..read more

Have you read Philip Cobbs’ stories about his family’s legacy in Albemarle County? Want to know more? Join Cobbs for a presentation called “Sarah Garland Boyd Jones, Voices from the Garden: A relative’s perspective.” The event begins at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 23 at the Northside Library on 705 Rio Road West in Charlottesville. In his series about Buck Island, Cobbs tells the story of how the largest Black-owned farm in Albemarle County came to be — and the amazing people who called it home. Among them is Cobbs’ ancestor, Sarah Garland Boyd Jones, the first African American woman doctor in ..read more