In The News

Jon Stewart, the host of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” is leaving the program that made him an influential figure in politics and popular culture.  “Through it all, he has been caustic and thoughtful at the same time,” said Siva Vaidhyanathan, professor of media studies at the University of Virginia. “If he’s not going to be on our TV four nights a week, America is going to miss that sort of voice.”

Tuesday, Charlottesville's Greater Virginia Green Building Council explained what a nitrogen footprint is, and the impact it has on the environment. University of Virginia professor Jim Galloway and UVA 3rd-year student Lia Cattaneo led a discussion on the development of the nitrogen footprint. UVA became the first school in the country to measure its footprint. The university says it is committed to reducing its emissions.

Criminal actions by London banks alone have bankrupted hundreds of thousands of people, left the economy tottering, empowered drug traffickers and terrorists and caused numerous suicides - but with virtually no consequences to the perpetrators. Imagine if a mafia prosecution was settled with nothing but a hefty fine and a promise on the part of the gangsters never to do such wicked things again. This doesn't go just for banks. Brandon Garrett's recent book, Too Big to Jail, details the US version of this process, under which corporate fraudsters, such as pharmaceutical giant Pfize...

Shout-out to Cammy Leech, the 18-year-old Virginia nursing student who is the co-star of the greatest college basketball dance-off I have ever seen, and also seems like an ace human, you know, just generally. Leech was declared the loser of the dance-off, but she won the Internet’s heart, and that’s all that matters in life anyway, right?

Technology is replacing real jobs and will continue to do so at a record pace over the next couple of decades. We’re accustomed to seeing this kind of thing in certain industries such as manufacturing, healthcare, and banking. But now, says Professor Edward D. Hess, technology will be coming for white collar jobs, too. “Technology will be replacing more jobs at an ever-increasing pace, particularly with this next round of technology, which includes artificial intelligence. AI is the game changer,” says Hess, a professor at the University of Virginia’s Darden Gradua...

The popular NPR podcast Serial is back in the headlines with news that a young Maryland man convicted of killing his high-school girlfriend will get the opportunity to appeal. Here in Virginia, a separate effort is underway to determine whether the guy featured in Serial is the real killer. Serial fans might remember Deirdre Enright. She heads the Innocence Project at the University of Virginia Law School and appears in two episodes of the podcast, talking with host Sarah Koenig about convicted killer Adnan Syed.

In different people, the gene for the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) may carry a smaller or larger number of epigenetic modifications known as DNA methylation tags. People who are low in DNA methylation may be better able to utilize oxytocin, the so-called love hormone. People who are high in DNA methylation may have an exaggerated fear response.This finding, which emerged from a study conducted by scientists at the University of Virginia, suggests that epigenetic markers may be used more generally to predict social behaviors. Perhaps multiple types of markers could even res...

Five years ago, someone at the University of Virginia noticed a little dusting of sand, or something, by the entrance to the school’s iconic Rotunda. A week later, there it was again. Those were the first clues that the capitals atop the columns that line the front of the building, designed by Thomas Jefferson as a symbol of enlightenment and learning, were crumbling. Now, those crumbling, “sugaring” capitals — the result of repairs made with less-expensive marble after a catastrophic fire in the late 1800s and leaks the university couldn’t afford to repair in mor...

The University of Virginia has begun replacing the capitals on its historic Rotunda.The university unveiled one of the new capitals — load-bearing structures at the top of each column — at a news conference Monday morning. The current capitals, which are more than 100 years old, have been shrouded in black construction cloth since 2009 because they are crumbling.

The University of Virginia is installing new capitals on its historic Rotunda. The column-toppers are part of the $50-million restoration of the centerpiece of Mr. Jefferson's university.

Dr. Kimberly Bassett is associate dean of the Office of African-American Affairs at UVa. She joins CBS19's Madeline Curott to discuss the various events going on at The University of Virginia to honor Black History Month. Bassett explains what the most important message is to come from Black History Month and how people can make sure to get that message through various events planned on Grounds throughout the month of February.

Metals company Alcoa Inc. has become a member of the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing, a manufacturing research consortium based in Prince George County. CCAM is a public-private partnership that conducts research in areas such as surface engineering, manufacturing systems and additive manufacturing. Academic partners are Virginia Commonwealth University, Old Dominion University, the University of Virginia, Virginia State University and Virginia Tech.

As part of a new spring series called “What Now? Dialogues on Race and Turmoil in America,” the University of Virginia’s Miller Center’s American Forum program is hosting a discussion with civil rights figure Julian Bond and historian Phyllis Leffler.

The Milstein Commission, convened by the University of Virginia to identify pathways for Americans to achieve middle class success, recently released its findings. The commission's report, "Can Startups Save the American Dream?" identified ways to jumpstart America's entrepreneurial engine by providing new businesses with access to capital, information, and support.

That’s the title of a recent book by Larry Sabato, the premier political pundit from Mr. Jefferson’s Academical Village. A More Perfect Constitution is a very informative read. Now that Larry Sabato is cutting back on his teaching responsibilities at the University of Virginia, maybe he could devote the next ten years of his remarkable career to promoting the modernization of this venerable document.

Chef and author Eddie Huang's best-selling book "Fresh Off the Boat" entered homes across the country as a new sitcom on ABC Wednesday night. The series follows a Vietnamese-American family that moves from Washington D.C. to Florida, and navigate cultural clashes. The title of the comedy has drawn criticism since it was announced. University of Virginia Media and American Studies professor Shilpa Davé explained the term's history. "Initially, it was related to immigration and people literally coming off a boat," Davé said. "More recently, it's bee...

He’s met with a transgender man, told Catholics not to breed like rabbits and washed the feet of a Muslim woman. While all this may sound like he’s ready to overturn dogma, Pope Francis’s real interest is geopolitics. In less than two years in office, he’s nudged the conversation away from abusive priests and used the image makeover to wade into conflicts from helping to restore Cuban- US ties to lobbying for a global climate accord. In September, he will become the first religious leader who serves as a head of state to address a joint session of Congress. “A num...

Seeking to provide universal full-day kindergarten but facing a strained budget, school board members in one of the nation’s most affluent counties have proposed an unusual solution: Make parents pay for it. Chloe Gibbs, an assistant education professor at the University of Virginia, said that most research shows that the benefits of full-day kindergarten fade out by the third grade. But she cautioned that some studies might not adequately account for the many students who attend full-day kindergarten but start at a disadvantage.

Attorney General Eric Holder’s Justice Department on Tuesday announced a $1.38 billion settlement with ratings giant Standard & Poor’s — the last of the big federal financial crisis-era probes. The settlement ends probes by Justice and 17 state attorneys general into whether S&P knowingly inflated ratings of risky mortgages bonds from 2004-07.  “The penalty terms aren’t transparent,” Brandon Garrett, professor at University of Virginia School of Law and author of the book “Too Big to Jail: How Prosecutors Compromise with Corporations,&rdqu...

Ayn Rand, author, thinker and political lightning rod, would have turned 110 years old this week. More than three decades after her death, she remains one of the most influential defenders of the free market. In her 2009 Rand biography, "Goddess of the Market," University of Virginia historian Jennifer Burns described how Rand's breakout book, "The Fountainhead," was "freighted with Rand's symbolic connotations." The story and characters made the book's basic elements "exciting and lively."