News+

Coy Barefoot's already known around town as a radio host, historian and author, and he's adding another title to his already lengthy resumé: TV host. On Sunday, May 19, Barefoot's latest effort, Inside Charlottesville, premieres on the local CBS affiliate WCAV, channel 19. read full story

The red-light cameras that Albemarle County installed at the intersection of Route 29 and Rio Road in 2011 have caught thousands of red-light runners and generated thousands in ticket revenue. But according to a story first broken by the Chicago Tribune, representatives of the Australia-based company that operates the cameras, Redflex, have been caught red-handed bribing a Chicago transportation official. The company is now under federal investigation. read full story

Dear Tom and Ray:        read full story

Nearly a year after the Main Street Arena General Manager sent the city a letter complaining about the condition of the crumbling bricks along the building's east side, the walkway has at last been repaired by the city. But who's responsible for paying for the repair is up for dispute. read full story

Hi, Carolyn: How do I start trusting my wife again? Three years ago, I caught her (52) having an affair with a 29-year-old aide who came to our house to help with our autistic son.       One of my first questions to her was "What did I fail to give you?" We went the counseling route and, as the months passed, I knew she would text or write him, but I dealt with these things as they came up. She was repentant and wanted to make it work ... and, I love her.       read full story

Get ready, Nation. Funny-man Stephen Colbert, host of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, is coming to Mr. Jefferson's University to deliver the 2013 valediction keynote speech on May 18. But which Colbert will show up? The "well-intentioned, poorly informed high-status idiot" he plays on the show or the guy who, along with his UVA alum wife, Evelyn McGee Colbert, funded a new Arts Scholars program in the UVA College of Arts & Sciences? Maybe both. read full story

Closest tie to Boston Marathon bomber: The body of Tamerlan Tsarnaev was refused burial space all over the northeast. He's quietly buried in a Doswell cemetery in in Caroline County, and outrage ensues. read full story

"Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in." – Robert Frost   Bell returns to her roots read full story

This was the last movie review Roger Ebert filed. Released less than two years after his The Tree of Life, an epic that began with the dinosaurs and peered into an uncertain future, Terrence Malick's To the Wonder is a film that contains only a handful of important characters and a few crucial moments in their lives. Although it uses dialogue, it's dreamy and half-heard, and essentially this could be a silent film– silent, except for its mostly melancholy music. read full story

As a supporter of local music and a WTJU classical announcer, I thought that the recent edition of the Hook (April 25) did a superb job covering the local music scene and its support from the community. But the article ignored one essential feature– local classical musicians and ensembles. From orchestras such as the Charlottesville University Symphony Orchestra and the Waynesboro Symphony, ensembles such as Three Notch'd Road and Zephyrus, and many individual musicians, our area abounds in great classical music. read full story

Buttercups. Pretty but poisonous. Ingestion causes burning of the mouth, abdominal pain, vomiting, and bloody diarrhea. Skin redness, burning sensation, and blisters following contact with cell sap. ––NCSU~Commentator Bill Emory puts up a new photo nearly every day at billemory.com/blog. read full story

Donald Trump is aiming for a hole-in-one with reported plans to build a public golf course on the former Kluge estate in southern Albemarle, but several hazards stand in his way. For one, the 217-acre would-be golf course in the front yard of Albemarle House is under conservation easement– and it's also under litigation from the John Kluge Jr. Trust, which claims Trump stiffed it on the purchase price. read full story

Talk about a development vision that won't die. Despite some enormous setbacks, including the fiery plane crash on Bundoran Farm that killed one of the original developers and an associate, and a real estate market collapse that saw the 2,300-acre property auctioned off on the steps of the Albemarle County Courthouse, the original vision for the property as a "preservation development" appears to be intact. read full story

Nothing says May Day quite like a protest. Around 50 public housing residents and supporters, chanting, "C-R-H-A, stop evicting us today," marched the Downtown Mall on May 1 to deliver a message to the city housing authority– only to find that the agency had locked the doors, cut off the lights, and were pretending they weren't home. Related story Public housing fray: HUD says no Norris conflict of interest read full story

Even in jail, James Halfaday can't seem to stay out of trouble. The City Council candidate who didn't live in the city served two months for felony election fraud, picked up four months for probation violation, and, while serving that sentence in Albemarle Charlottesville Regional Jail, has been charged with a second probation violation. Related stories 4 months: Halfaday sentenced for probation violation read full story

Dear Tom and Ray: read full story

Due to a contagious and hopefully short-lived myopia that swept the Hook offices last week, our cover bore several errors. As most of you already know, and as the Hook staff has now learned the hard way, we are in the year 2013, not 2012. Furthermore, the Biscuit Run story so proudly touted on last week's cover and yet so noticeably absent from that issue's pages is, as you now will have seen, this week's cover story. A last minute story swap resulted in the error. And finally, the words "weigh in" should not be hyphenated when used as a verb. read full story

Cupcakes, cookies, macaroons, muffins, tarts, croissants…you can't swing a rolling pin these days without hitting a sweet shop somewhere in town. Come May 6,  you'll be able to sink your sweet tooth into goodies at Pearl's Bake Shoppe between Sweethaus and the Albemarle Baking Company on West Main in the historic ‪Peyton-Ellington Building at 711 West Main Street. The Richmond-based cupcake-centric bakery comes with an impressive resumé. read full story

A little over two years ago, UVA student Kyle Smalkowski founded the student organization START, Sustainable Transportation Advancement and Research Team, with hopes that the group would help fulfill a goal of his—to bring a publicly accessible electric vehicle charging station to Charlottesville. On Friday, April 26, that goal got charged to life with the opening of a 240-volt charging station next to the elevators on the second level of UVA Central Grounds Parking Garage at 400 Emmet Street. read full story