The year is barely two weeks old and yet we already have so much to talk about. We’re going to start with what City Councilor Michael Payne has called a “leadership crisis” in city government. After an avalanche of resignations, the city was able to announce a hire this week. Chip Boyles will take over as city manager on February 15th. We’ll talk about the decision with Charlotte Rene Woods of Charlottesville Tomorrow. And stay tuned for conversation with Sri Kodakalla & Ramona Martinez. They’re local artists behind the Feminist Union of Cville Creatives and they’ve recently put ou a new zine called Mala Leche. _

UVA Hospital employees have begun to receive the vaccine! In our last episode of 2020, we look back on some of the big stories of year: the pandemic, the election, the racial justice protests this summer. Plus we’ll talk a little bit about a recent incident in which the Charlottesville Police Department was accused of racial profiling.

Last episode we were worried that COVID-19 cases might surge after the Thanksgiving holiday. And now they have. But it’s not all bad news. UVA Hospital plans to start distributing the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to some of it’s employees on December 15th. Plus, we talk to Sunshine Mathon and LaTasha Durrett of Piedmont Housing Alliance about the redevelopment of Friendship Court, gentrification, and how their families are making it through the pandemic. 

While cases are exploding around the US, COVID-19 is pretty under control in central Virginia. At least for now. We talk to Charlottesville Tomorrow about what has kept COVID cases low here and how to keep them that way as we approach the holidays.

And stay tuned for an interview with Barbara Campbell Thomas. She’s a painter and multimedia artist based in North Carolina and her work is currently on display at the Ruffin Gallery at UVA.

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Ruffin Gallery

Election Day has come and gone, but the election process still continues. And while we’re still waiting to know who has won the Presidential election, a whole host of state and local races in Virginia were also on the ballot, as well as a state Constitutional amendment for redistricting reform.

This week, we sit down with Nathan Moore and Aaryan Balu, from Bold Dominion, for a roundtable discussion on this year's election and what it means for Virginia going forward.

The end of this very long, very unusual election season is almost here. We talk to Charlottesville Tomorrow about the future of the Fifth Congressional District and what they’ve learned from Election 2020 so far. Plus, Nathan Moore interviews hometown congressional candidate Dr. Cameron Webb about what he’s seen as a doctor treating COVID patients and what he plans to do if he’s elected on Tuesday.

Meet the creative team behind Lost Home, Win Home. It’s an original work by Charlottesville-native Shelby Marie Edwards running at Live Arts this weekend. In this one-woman show, Edwards interrogates her experience growing up in Charlottesville in relation to the white supremacist rally of August 2017. We also talk about Albemarle County’s decision to bring more students back to in-person school in November.

We are only 32 days out from election day on November 3rd. So we reached out to Charlotte at Charlottesville Tomorrow to get the rundown on voting during a pandemic. But first we sit down with Anthony Guy Lopez he’s a UVA alum who’s been advocating for Indigenous rights in Charlottesville and across the country for over two decades. Recently, he was one of the organizers of the September 10th protest at the George Rogers Clark Statue on UVA’s campus at the Corner.

This week we talk to activists as they mark the removal of the confederate “Johnny Reb” statue in front of the Albemarle Courthouse. Plus COVID-19 has been found in four dorms at UVA. If that’s not enough news for one week, Charlottesville is also getting a new city manager. Stick around for our final segment where we sit down with the folks at Live Arts to talk about their upcoming entirely virtual season of community theater.

This week we meet some of the folks behind a new labor union at UVA, The United Campus Workers of Virginia. Plus we talk about the return of five thousand uva students and how student workers are responding.