Charlottesville Breaking News
Train pain: Bus boss says Amtrak could doom Starlight
Kuttner and David New created the Starlight
Express. FILE PHOTO BY JEN FARIELLOOne of the founders of the Starlight Express linking Charlottesville to New York says his popular bus service might be doomed by a planned daily Amtrak train that the governor would like to subsidize.
"If the Amtrak really gets successful, we'll almost certainly close our doors," says Oliver Kuttner. "We're marginally profitable now," Kuttner adds, "so if we lose 20 percent of our customers, it probably won't make sense to continue."
Launched in October 2004 with a single refurbished Trailways motorcoach as a weekend-only round-trip, the Starlight Express has grown to a fleet of five vehicles with a daily schedule (even showing how many seats are available) as well as additional stops in Lynchburg and Warrenton.
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Unlettered capitalism: Circuit City has yanked its signs
Eager shoppers swarmed the store in the final
days. FILE PHOTO BY HAWES SPENCERThe Circuit City location in the Albemarle Square shopping center has closed, and, according to a witness, the giant letters were removed by crane-carried workers on Tuesday, December 30.
Part of a company-wide shedding of stores announced November 3, the closing of the Charlottesville store and 154 others didn't stop the electronics retailer from declaring bankruptcy a week later. Its stock was trading at 13 cents a share at post time.
Back in the late 1980s, when the Richmond-based company embarked on a national expansion, its branding strategy included making the store entrance look like a giant red electrical plug. However, by the ti...
Madoff arrest: Finally makes Dowdell's ponzi 'small potatoes'
The once dapperly pin-striped
Dowdell now wears a striped suit of a different sort.
FILE PHOTO BY ALBEMARLE-CHARLOTTESVILLE REGIONAL
JAILFive years ago, when pleading for lenient sentencing, the lawyer for convicted Charlottesville-based ponzi schemer Terry Dowdell downplayed Dowdell's tens of millions in thefts as "small potatoes." Now, the arrest of New York financier Bernie Madoff appears to have finally taken a step toward moving that spud-based contention toward reality.
Back when Dowdell was forced to give up his million-dollar residence in the tony Ivy-area Rosemont subdivision, his ponzi was considered one of the largest in history. But what Madoff is ...
Story archive - Hook water supply articles
hook graphicThe dream of providing a 50-year water supply has been controversial, as Hook water articles demonstrate. This page also includes links to official and other documents linked by these stories.
This page also includes links to official and other documents linked by these stories.
• February 28, 2008 - COVER- Reservoir dogged: A $142 million boondoggle?
2005 report - Gannett Fleming: Ragged Mountain Reservoir Expansion [PDF]
2008 maps - Hook: the urban water system and reservoir proximity to airport [html]• March 6, 2008 - NEWS- Higher and higher: Frederick claimed dredge cost $225 million 2005 minutes - RWSA - regulator meeting between local officials and regulators [PDF]
Vinegar Hill back from the dead!
Adam Greenbaum
reopened the 1930s-era Visulite Theater in Staunton in 2006.
Now, he's saving Vinegar Hill. FILE PHOTO BY JEN
FARIELLOPut away your tissues, dry your eyes, and change out of that somber funeral wear. Less than 24 hours after news of its demise, the word on Charlottesville's only independently owned movie theater: It's Aliiiiive!
"We're taking over Vinegar Hill," exclaims Adam Greenbaum, owner of Staunton's own Visulite Cinemas, the art house that opened in 2006. Greenbaum says Vinegar Hill will indeed close down after Sunday–- but only for two weeks.
"We're going to get in there, do some technical upgrades primarily, and reopen on November 14 with Rachel Getting Married," Greenbaum explains. "Charlottesville is...
