Following a state executive order prohibiting vaccine mandates among state agencies, the University of Virginia is ending its requirement that employees get vaccinated.
The Virginia Film Festival has been approved for a $20,000 Grants for Arts Projects Award from the National Endowment for the Arts to support the 2022 Virginia Film Festival.
(Video and transcript) Dr. Taison Bell, a UVA assistant professor of medicine, joins discusses Virginia getting rid of its mask mandate for schools, the omicron variant and coronavirus vaccinations.
(Commentary By Kyle Kondik and J. Miles Coleman, UVA Center for Politics) As we mark the first anniversary of President Joe Biden taking office, his first year has been defined in no small part by the persistence of a problem he promised to solve – the pandemic – and the emergence of a problem he was slow to recognize – inflation.
The Virginia State Golf Association has selected Lauren Greenlief as its 2021 Women's Golfer of the Year. The Ashburn golfer earned the award for fourth time in the last five years. Greenlief, a former standout at the University of Virginia, has claimed the VSGA's top women's golfer award six times overall.
The Virginia Chamber of Commerce elected Fred D. Thompson Jr. its 2022 chair on Tuesday. Thompson is chief administrative officer and a business partner at Reston-based Thompson Hospitality Corp. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Hampden-Sydney College and a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Virginia.
Gregory J. Moore, professor at Colorado Christian University in Lakewood, Colo., has declared his candidacy for U.S. Senate, attempting to represent Colorado as a Republican in the fall 2022 general election. Moore joins seven other Republican Senate candidates vying to take back Colorado’s second Senate seat from incumbent Democrat Michael Bennett, who is finishing his second six-year term. Moore is a graduate of Concordia College, the University of Virginia and the University of Denver.
The president of the Boston branch of the NAACP said Tuesday that she is running for the Democratic nomination for Massachusetts secretary of the commonwealth. [UVA alumna] Tanisha Sullivan said in a campaign video that she’ll seek to expand voting rights, make public records more accessible and work to reduce economic inequality.
Once seen as a rising star in the Democratic party, Cheri Bustos is one of seven “crossover” Democrats who managed to win in 2020 despite Donald Trump beating Biden in their districts. Ron Kind of Wisconsin, who has also said he will not seek re-election in the autumn, is another. Both Bustos and Kind’s districts are now seen as pick-up opportunities for the GOP. “Those are some of the few remaining districts I classify as white working-class that the Democrats still hold, and they are evaporating across the country,” said Kyle Kondik of the University of Virginia Center for Politics.
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As President Joe Biden’s administration marks the first anniversary of his inauguration this week, analysts are assessing where his administration has succeeded and failed so far in his time in office. “Biden’s problems start with two big ones: the pandemic and inflation,” said Larry Sabato, director of UVA’s Center for Politics. “In both cases, he has incorrectly believed that they were improving, while objectively they were not.”
The dramatic 16-day courtroom trial, which ended with a whopping $26 million in damages assessed to more than a dozen individual white supremacists and hate groups for their role in the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, also offered a window onto what’s really happening inside today’s far right. Among the courtroom observers was the eminent historian James Loeffler. Loeffler, who directs UVA’s Jewish studies program, tweeted throughout the trial, providing updates in real time. Forward language columnist Aviya Kushner wanted to hear more about what Loeffler saw and heard — and w...
Scientists at the University of Virginia are using computer technology to better understand C. difficile, a potentially deadly, antibiotic-resistant bacteria and the leading cause of hospital-acquired infections in the country. The team at UVA Health believes the work represents a big step forward in the use of a form of predictive computer modeling called GENREs to battle infectious diseases.
Research from the University of Virginia School of Medicine suggests a new gene therapy could prolong the lives of those living with a severe form of epilepsy.
Recent research from the University of Virginia School of Medicine could soon help people with epilepsy. Researchers are working on developing new gene therapy to fight Dravet Syndrome, a kind of severe epilepsy. They say this work is especially important, because it targets the gene mutation that causes seizures, fixing the root of the issue.
Research from the University of Virginia School of Medicine suggests how a newly developed gene therapy can treat Dravet syndrome, a severe form of epilepsy, and potentially prolong survival for people with the condition.
Organizations around UVA are coming together to raise money for high-quality masks for faculty and students. UVA Mutual Aid is working alongside Student Council and the United Campus Workers to raise funds for N95 and KN95 masks.
The University of Virginia is enforcing some new, temporary policies until COVID-19 cases dwindle down. It comes as doctors say the community is in the middle of an omicron surge. In a letter to students last week, Provost Liz Magill and Chief Operating Officer J.J. Davis detailed new precautions, including a pause of all food and drinks at University events until Feb. 4.
(Audio) We discuss the future of voting rights now that Democratic U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema refuse to support changing filibuster rules. Among the guests is Bertrall Ross, Justice Thurgood Marshall Distinguished Professor of Law at UVA.
High infection rates, along with effective vaccines, leads some experts to believe we could reach an endemic phase of COVID-19. That would mean there’s a low level of activity with a virus and only sporadic cases, according to Dr. Bill Petri, a UVA professor of infectious diseases.
“Omicron won’t be the last variant,” says Stephen Zeichner, an infectious disease specialist at the UVA Medical Center. “It’s pretty clear that the virus continues to evolve and going forward there is a need for a universal COVID-19 vaccine or even a universal coronavirus vaccine.” Zeichner is focusing on the fusion peptide region, which is part of the coronavirus spike protein that aids the entry of the virus into host cells, to develop a pan-coronavirus vaccine.