Politics & Government

News

Tech parents file legal appeal to try university president

By Olivia Patton | October 15, 2012

The parents of two Virginia Tech students who died in the April 2007 shootings at the school are initiating legal action to take the university’s president, Charles Steger, to court. The parents filed an appeal Wednesday in the Virginia Supreme Court to release the bar on Steger that protected him from being tried as a separate entity from the state in a wrongful death lawsuit decided against the school in March. Steger’s attorneys contend that the case is not subject to appeal because the state has already been tried for the wrongful deaths of the two students, Erin Peterson and Julia Pryde.

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News

Record shows 120,700 Virginians paid at or below minimum wage

By Anna Perina | October 15, 2012

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released a report Friday that found 7.1 percent of the 1.7 million Virginia workers were paid hourly wages at or below the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour in 2011, more than double pre-recession levels.

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News

Dalai Lama visits Charlottesville, brings peaceful message

By Krista Pedersen | October 11, 2012

His Holiness the Dalai Lama spoke at the nTelos Wireless Pavilion Thursday afternoon as part of a two-week tour of the East Coast promoting the teaching of compassion within education systems.

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News

Fungal meningitis outbreak hits Virginia

By Alia Sharif | October 11, 2012

A strain of chronic fungal meningitis has affected an estimated 137 people in 10 states nationwide, and Virginia is the third-most infected state.

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News

Charlottesville housing market begins bounce back

By Racine Fraser | October 11, 2012

Charlottesville’s real estate market is showing signs of recovery, according to the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors’ third-quarter market report, released Tuesday.

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News

Virginia senatorial candidates spar in second debate

By Joseph Liss | October 10, 2012

In a one-hour debate Monday evening addressing everything from job creation to the upcoming Supreme Court decision on affirmative action, former Democratic Gov.

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News

Radford student body supports smoking ban

By Donald Sensabaugh and Racine Fraser | October 4, 2012

Signs outside Dabney and Bonnycastle dorms on McCormick Road that tell students “No Smoking in Building or Within 20 Feet of Building” do so incorrectly since the correct distance is 25 feet. Confusion about the University’s smoking rules, however, goes beyond official signs.

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News

McDonnell advocates alternative energy

By Grace Hollis and Helen Ardila | October 4, 2012

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell Tuesday announced an effort to convert all state vehicles to alternative fuel sources and to provide alternative-fuel infrastructure for the Commonwealth. McDonnell’s announcement came at the beginning of a three-day energy conference in Richmond.

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News

Va. Film Festival announces 2012 lineup

By Kaelyn Quinn | October 4, 2012

The Virginia Film Festival, which will screen more than 100 films in Charlottesville from Nov. 1-4, celebrates its 25th anniversary this year.

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News

Gov. set to keep promise on restoring voting rights

By Jordan Bower | October 3, 2012

Gov. Bob McDonnell is scheduled to fulfill his election promise that he will restore voting rights to more rehabilitated felons than any past executive in the state’s history. McDonnell has granted about 3,800 restorations of rights to felons since announcing his goal in 2010, according to a spokesperson.

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News

Trump buys deceased TV mogul's Albemarle mansion

By Joseph Liss | October 2, 2012

The Trump Organization, owned and operated by celebrity CEO Donald Trump, purchased Albemarle Mansion last week. The mansion in the Albemarle countryside belonged to entrepreneur and TV mogul John Kluge, who was worth $6.5 billion in March 2010.

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News

Faculty, staff launch charity campaign, hope to raise $750,000

By Alex Stock | October 2, 2012

The University Monday launched its annual drive to raise money for the Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign, a collective effort of Virginia public employees that aims to raise money for more than 1,300 charities worldwide. Last year University faculty raised $982,143, a record for the campaign.

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News

Sullivan to join City’s commerce board

By Emily Hutt and Claire Fenichel | October 2, 2012

University President Teresa Sullivan was among eight people nominated to the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Board of Directors last week.

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News

Commonwealth favors Obama, Kaine

By Olivia Patton | October 1, 2012

Growing liberal tendencies in Virginia mean the state may no longer be a toss-up in the upcoming presidential and senate elections, according to predictions in Center for Politics Director Larry Sabato’s most recent Crystal Ball report. “It’s a polarized era,” Center for Politics spokesperson Kyle Kondik said.

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News

Huguely team files appeal

By Grace Hollis and Andrew D'Amato | September 27, 2012

Attorneys representing former University lacrosse player George Huguely are appealing his murder conviction, according to a notice filed Tuesday with the Charlottesville Circuit Court.

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News

U.S. higher education hiring rates decline

By Kaelyn Quinn | September 27, 2012

Hiring rates at U.S. higher-education institutions have decreased in response to the economic downturn, according to a report released Tuesday by the National Center for Education Statistics, a branch of the U.S.

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News

Kaine campaign stumbles

By Joseph Liss and Katherine Ballington | September 25, 2012

During a debate last week with former Sen. George Allen, R-Va., the first in the campaign for Sen. Jim Webb’s seat, former Gov.

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Virginia polls give Democrats clear lead

By Lizzy Turner and Will Keel | September 21, 2012

Democrats have taken a clear lead in Virginia’s two biggest national elections this year, according to two new polls that show President Barack Obama maintaining a slight edge against GOP nominee Mitt Romney while Tim Kaine gained a new advantage over George Allen in the U.S.

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News

Judge overturns sentence

By Kelly Kaler and Andrew D'Amato | September 20, 2012

After years of work on the part of the University Innocence Project, Maligie Conteh boarded a bus as a free man for the first time in several years.

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News

Mann, U.Va. triumph again in legal battle

By Lizzy Turner | September 19, 2012

Michael Mann, former University environmental science professor, will not have to give the American Tradition Institute access to his email correspondence and various other documents pertaining to his controversial climate change theory, the Prince William Circuit Court ruled this week. Should the ruling stand, it could set a precedent that researchers in public institutions do not have to disclose to the public proprietary documents relating to their research.