VA News Reader

February 28, 2023

Photo by Kori Price for Charlottesville Tomorrow

COVID relief funding has ended and now the rural town of Scottsville has to cut its budget by 25 percent

By Erin O’Hare for Charlottesville Tomorrow

New sidewalks. A new evacuation siren. Body cams for police officers. Upgrades to the farmers’ market, the place to be on a Saturday morning.

These are some of the things that COVID-19 relief money made possible for Scottsville, a small town of about 500 people at the intersection of rural Albemarle, Fluvanna and Buckingham counties. Things the town’s annual budget, which was around $644,000 before the pandemic, couldn’t accommodate.

Read the full article at Charlottesville Tomorrow.


Photo by Hugh Kenny for Piedmont Environmental Council

Afro-American Historical Association of Fauquier County receives $50K grant

By FauquierNow Staff

The Afro-American Historical Association of Fauquier County has been named one of 11 recipients of a Virginia Museum of History and Culture’s Commonwealth History Fund grant. The local association will receive $50,000 from the fund.

Read the full article at FauquierNow.


Photo courtesy of Alex Bentley

Snake’s alive! Salem man discovers new species of boa constrictor in the Amazon

By Emily Hemphill for Cardinal News

Marco Sanchez never would have considered himself a “snake guy.”

Spending the entirety of one’s life in the most biologically diverse place on Earth can dull one’s astonishment to every creature that crosses one’s path. It wouldn’t have been too long ago – just four years – when Sanchez would have glanced at the small, coiled snake and done what he always did when coming across these slithery reptiles: kill it. But not this time. After studying the unknown creature for a few moments, he knew exactly what to do.

Bring it to Alex.

Read the full article at Cardinal News.


Photo by Shaban Athuman for Richmond Times-Dispatch

Uncommon love in Dinwiddie: Siblings give transplants that save grandmother’s and mother’s lives

By Bill Lohmann for Richmond Times-Dispatch

Matthew Cunningham long ago gave his heart to his grandmother. Twenty years ago, when she was deathly ill, he gave her something else: part of his liver.

Three years ago — in February 2020 — his sister, Megan Cunningham Hawkins, did the same for their mother, who was suffering from the same disease as their grandmother.

Two siblings, two liver transplants, two lives saved and one family with the tightest of bonds.

Read the full article at Richmond Times-Dispatch.


Photo by Andrea Dailey for The Farmville Herald

Something’s missing from Prince Edward County’s census data

By Jennifer Holton for The Farmville Herald

Prince Edward County’s population data isn’t exactly accurate. That’s one of several problems the staff at the University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center sees with the 2020 U.S. census results. Though the census records population data every decade, every year demographers with the Weldon Cooper Center develop population estimates for Virginia and its counties.

Read the full article at The Farmville Herald.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *