Charlottesville Breaking News
Cloudy water: Murky billing soaks Autumn Hill residents
Mike and Natalia Bost say
they can't afford to pay a $100 water/sewer bill at Autumn Hill
apartments. PHOTO BY LISA PROVENCEWhen Natalia and Michael Bost moved into Autumn Hill apartments with their new baby in July, they thought the $827 a month rent for a two-bedroom apartment was a pretty good deal–- until the day they received a $200 water and sewer bill. Now, they're among several tenants at the Commonwealth Drive-area complex who think water is being used as a profit center.
"We were told that water, sewer, and trash payments would be made directly to the leasing office and that they would run $30-40 a month," says Natalia Bost. "In our last apartment, we paid about $25."
At Autumn Hill, the lease reveals that residents may be paying for utilities consumed not only in common areas but also in other residential units, as well as paying an a...
Hitchhiking: Missing Morgan Harrington sought a ride
Morgan Harrington is a 20-year-old
junior majoring in education at Virginia Tech. FILE
PHOTO BY HAWES SPENCERThe young woman who disappeared after leaving a Metallica concert on October 17, was last seen seeking a ride on the Copeley Road bridge, according to Virginia State Police spokesperson Corinne Geller, who also released an image of a necklace Morgan Harrington was wearing the night she disappeared.
"We now can confirm that she was hitchhiking," says Geller, noting that Harrington, who had been stuck outside the John Paul Jones Arena after she was denied reentry and had told friends by cellphone that she'd find her own way home, was allegedly seen by multiple witnesses on both sides of the br...
1,600 strong: High turnout in Charlottesville for Morgan Harrington search
Volunteers in the search for Morgan Harrington
file into the Virginia Department of Forestry building around 9am
Sunday. PHOTO BY HAWES
SPENCERThey came from Richmond, from Falls Church, from Buena Vista, and beyond. They came alone, in pairs, and trios of friends. There was even a busload from the Roanoke medical center that employs the father of Morgan Dana Harrington, the young woman who disappeared October 17 during the Metallica concert in Charlottesville.
"We've had people from North Carolina, West Virginia, and even some from Pennsylvania," said Janice Liggett, the volunteer coordinator for the Laura Recovery Center, the Texas-based non-profit which has been coordinating a civilian search effort which has tallied, Liggett, said, about 1,600 volunteers in three days.
"I...
New details: Smart arrives as Morgan Harrington's parents launch search
Smart brought a message of hope to Morgan's
parents, Gil and Dan Harrington. PHOTO BY HAWES
SPENCER"We will stop at nothing until she is found," says the father of missing Morgan Harrington, as he and his wife were joined in Charlottesville Wednesday by the father of once-abducted but miraculously recovered Utah resident Elizabeth Smart.
But before the November 4 press conference announcing that the public would be invited to join the search, new information suggests that the injured 20-year-old Virginia Tech student's efforts to regain entry to the John Paul Jones Arena after she somehow ended up outside during an October 17 Metallica concert were more intense than previously reported.
"She did make a few attempts to get back into the arena at different entrances," says Virginia State Police spokesperson Corrinne G...
50 years later: Piedmont Flight 349 gets its due
Click photo for slideshow!
How could a plane go missing over American land? How could one man survive? The 50th anniversary of the last flight of Piedmont Airlines Flight #349, which hit a mountain west of Charlottesville and was the subject of the Hook's October 8 cover story, took place Halloween morning near Crozet.
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