Cover Stories
Stocking up: Gourmet eats... après le déluge
Published on Sep 1st, 2011
2 comments Fortunately Hurricane Irene didn't bring the rain and winds and days without power that 2003's Isabel did, nor did the Cuckoo quake leave us electricity-less. But with microbursts and Snowpocalyse-...
Commemorations planned for tenth anniversary of 9/11
Published on Sep 1st, 2011
15 comments The public can watch a march of Charlottesville's first responders and get a peek at the city's own chunk of World Trade Center steel as part of the "Weekend of Remembrance and Honor" to commemorate...
What's next: Is the quake just the beginning?
Published on Aug 31st, 2011
10 comments Unless you were in the presence of a perceptive animal– and there were scattered reports of skittish dogs– it came without warning four seconds after 1:51pm on a sunny Tuesday, August 23...
Right to bare? TSA screeners face lawsuit
Published on Aug 30th, 2011
12 comments Aaron Tobey, the 21-year-old Charlottesville native who made headlines last December when he was arrested after stripping down to his shorts at the Richmond International Airport while going through...
Quake closed Carmike
Published on Aug 30th, 2011
1 comments In the immediate aftermath of the Tuesday, August 23 earthquake, it appeared Charlottesville had avoided the building damage that closed two schools for a year and crumbled countless chimneys in...
Books, bags, iPads-- oh my! Local students show school spirit
Published on Aug 25th, 2011
7 comments Summer may be ending, but for Charlottesville and Albemarle County students, the start of a new school year brings the excitement of picking out new clothes, planning extracurricular activities, and...
Un-super size me: Can city schools stem the obesity epidemic?
Published on Aug 23rd, 2011
17 comments If Ivana Kadija ever hears Tony the Tiger telling kids his Frosted Flakes are "Grrrrreat!" she'll probably tell him to shut his furry trap. It's high-sugar food like that, says Kadija, chair of...
Corridor cleaning: Strings attached to 29 Bypass money
Published on Aug 23rd, 2011
7 comments When Secretary of Transportation Sean Connaughton told the Metropolitan Planning Organization July 27 which Charlottesville and Albemarle projects he'd recommend funding in addition to the Western U....
Where's Waldo? At the White House, in your computer... where *isn't* Waldo?
Published on Aug 10th, 2011
16 comments Where's Waldo? It's a clichéd question to ask about a man by that name, but in the case of Waldo Jaquith– who so resembles the famous find-the-character cartoon that he changed his first name...
FLAWS- Tripled rates, spun numbers, and Conservancy conflicts: Why the war on dredging slogs on
Published on Jul 28th, 2011
138 comments Just when you thought it was safe to save the reservoir, the war against dredging it has reached flood stage. Waterworks director Tom Frederick– perhaps rattled by a yank of his permit to build...
Hot contests: Democrats clash in dog days of summer
Published on Jul 21st, 2011
63 comments Across Virginia, voters go to the polls in November to elect state and local legislators, but in Charlottesville, the election will pretty much be sewn up in August. In this overwhelmingly Democratic...
Shenandoah secrets: Pork, propaganda, and the creation of a COOL national park
Published on Jul 14th, 2011
20 comments A lot can change in three quarters of a century. Walk along the Hughes River in Madison County in a place called Nicholson Hollow, and there's little trace that this was once a thriving village. Now...
The Hook presents: A Restaurant Week guide to summer entertaining
Published on Jul 7th, 2011
5 comments Special insert This is an insert in the July 7 edition of the Hook to promote Charlottesville Restaurant Week, the July 11-17 extravaganza of savory delicacies. It never truly feels like summer...
Rock Hill forever: Charlottesville's not-so-secret gardens
Published on Jul 6th, 2011
12 comments Forget about the impending Meadowcreek Parkway and the 250 Interchange project for a minute, as well as the fabulous history of the nearby eight-acre Rock Hill estate, once the site of a circa-1820...
Whatever happened? 10 updated stories
Published on Jun 30th, 2011
22 comments Whatever happened after authorities slew the geese in Forest Lakes? Whatever happened to Oliver Kuttner's remarkably light car? What's the latest on the search for Morgan Harrington's killer? This...
The wedding issue
Published on Jun 29th, 2011
7 comments The summer edition of the Hook's spectacular quarterly wedding guide is here, and in addition to its presence as a special insert inside the June 23 edition you can read it in a digital edition....
Riding the rails: It's the only way to fly
Published on Jun 22nd, 2011
20 comments Nobody brings rail closer to the airplanes than Reagan National and Metro. PHOTO BY HAWES SPENCER It's late afternoon, and I'm standing inside New York's JFK airport with over a dozen of my favorite...
Fast track: Western Bypass shifts into overdrive
Published on Jun 14th, 2011
63 comments It had been a long, politically charged night in Lane Auditorium. Inside this main room of the Albemarle County Office Building, there were accusations of "socialism" vs. "flat earth" in a standing-...
Double recantation: Is an innocent man in jail for the Crozet murders?
Published on Jun 8th, 2011
12 comments It was the crime that rocked Crozet: a mother found stabbed to death in bed, her three-year-old son dead from the smoke of a cover-up fire. Amid whispers of witchcraft, four neighborhood teens were...
Extreme makeover: rich edition-- State program benefits those who need it least
Published on May 31st, 2011
53 comments Ask most preservationists what they think of Virginia's Rehabilitation Tax Credit Program, and you'll hear them proudly say it's one of the most generous, if not the most generous, programs in the...
Trendless summer: Uncovering fun in Central Virginia
Published on May 24th, 2011
9 comments Every good townie knows his or her stuff when it comes to summer sunning and funning. Looking for live music? Stop by the nTelos Pavilion for the free Fridays After Five show. Craving a relaxing...
Up tick: Why you should be worried about Lyme disease
Published on May 17th, 2011
40 comments Scuttle aside, cockroaches. You're losing your spot as the most feared insect in Virginia, and your competition doesn't even look that scary. So tiny it can scarcely be seen, the black-legged tick...
Midnight rider: How Jack Jouett saved Virginia
Published on May 10th, 2011
24 comments It was the evening of June 3, 1781– a Sunday– and war was on its way to Charlottesville.Nearly forty miles to the east, at Cuckoo Tavern, John Jouett Jr. had finished dinner and gone...
'Still a fighter': Why this woman is suing UVA for $50 million
Published on May 3rd, 2011
70 comments Five years ago, Barb Tocci was working as a real estate agent in downtown Scottsville, riding horses and motorcycles on the weekends. Today, the 54-year-old woman relies on a cane to walk. She's...
On the road again: Local bands hit the festival circuit
Published on Apr 28th, 2011
6 comments Who hasn't begged Mom and Dad to let them take a roadtrip over a summer weekend to catch their favorite bands or been thrilled to see multiple artists performing on the same bill? And what great...
Submission guidelines: Will the fallen VQR rise again?
Published on Apr 21st, 2011
29 comments For 86 years the Virginia Quarterly Review, UVA's award-winning literary journal, had appeared on bookstore shelves and in mailboxes each season. But that publishing streak was threatened last...
Gag me: Does censuring the censors really work?
Published on Apr 13th, 2011
7 comments   20 years of Muzzles Total awarded: 212 Lifetime Achievement Muzzles: 2– NYC Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and the FCCGeographical distribution of Muzzles:Alabama - 2Alaska - 0Arizona -...
Broken trust: Sex allegations against therapist prompt investigation
Published on Apr 4th, 2011
29 comments Patients came to him in their darkest hours, going through divorce, struggling with substance abuse, perhaps grieving over the loss of a loved one. But while some call Albemarle County social worker...
Equinoxer to activist: The making of a soldier in the war against the war on drugs
Published on Mar 31st, 2011
27 comments "Just say no." –First Lady Nancy Reagan Jamie Graham did not say no. He said yes. In fact, he said yes many times. Yes to that bottle of champagne his friends were passing around in high school...
Long gone: How UVA lost Pat Collins
Published on Mar 24th, 2011
45 comments  Barbara Shannon was so nervous about flying overseas that she called her son in Charlottesville, where the 27-year-old had recently moved from California. "Pat's last words to me were, ‘Don't...