“The country is facing a series of crises simultaneously,” said Jennifer Lawless, a UVA professor of politics. “In a lot of ways, she has to be the first lady times two just because the environment is so much more difficult than it has been for the last 100 years.”
“The experience of the past three administrations suggests that despite the relative speed and efficiency that the Biden transition demonstrated in identifying nominees, there are hurdles that will likely delay the confirmation of their carefully picked candidates,” Kathryn Dunn Tenpas, a senior fellow at UVA’s Miller Center who has tracked Cabinet appointments across administrations, wrote earlier this month. “Such a delay amidst a pandemic, economic volatility and historically high levels of racial tension is a most unfortunate setback.”
Philip Zelikow, a UVA professor who served as the executive director of the 9/11 Commission and helped write its bestselling report, said the ongoing FBI investigations into Capitol rioters could create “lots of hindrances and potential delays” along with any investigations into Trump’s phone call with Georgia’s secretary of state.
(Commentary by Andrew Kahrl, professor of history and African American studies and is author of “Free the Beaches: The Story of Ned Coll and the Battle for America’s Most Exclusive Shoreline”) Recently, State Rep. Roland Lemar introduced a bill in the General Assembly that seeks to prevent coastal towns from using access and parking fees to exclude non-residents from public beaches. Critics charge that these exorbitant fees for non-residents are designed to prevent certain “undesirable” groups from being able to enjoy access to public outdoor spaces in towns they could otherwise not afford to ...
(Commentary by Bob Gibson, communications director and senior researcher at UVA’s Cooper Center for Public Service) Virginia and New Jersey are the first two states to elect governors in the Joe Biden presidency, but Virginia is the state to watch this year as nine Republicans running for governor define, or redefine, the party of Trump.
The conclusion of the 2021 ACC Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships on Saturday saw the University of Virginia clean up with a 169-point victory over their rivals from NC State. It’s no surprise, then that the Cavaliers’ top scorer Paige Madden was named the Most Valuable Swimmer by vote of the conference’s coaches for the second straight year.
UVA Health gave updates on COVID-19 and the vaccination process during a media briefing Friday.
UVA doctors are working to track down highly contagious variants of COVID-19 in the community, following reports of the UK variant on Grounds, as well as a confirmed case of the South African variant, B 1.351, from the Virginia Department of Health.
After studying near-death experiences for decades, Dr. Bruce Greyson, a UVA professor of psychiatric medicine, says that much of what he’s learned has been hard to square with prevailing notions of how the mind and brain work. “Our common assumption is that the mind, or consciousness, is just what the brain does,” he says. Paradoxically, NDEs often occur when the brain is heavily disabled or even measurably inactive. “The evidence we have from NDEs seems to suggest that the mind and brain can dissociate under extreme circumstances,” he says.
COVID-19 vaccine without a shot? Researchers study nasal spray as an alternative form of vaccination
Right now, getting a COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S. means getting two shots in the arm. But soon, protection from the virus could come in a non-invasive nasal spray. “There’s no need for needles. We’re working on a device that would actually spray it into your nose, similar to like an asthma inhaler where you inhale through your mouth,” said Dr. Bill Petri at the University of Virginia.
Nearly a year into the pandemic, Virginia is performing well compared to other states on rates of new cases, deaths and vaccinations, the University of Virginia COVID-19 Model announced in its weekly Friday report.
Colleges and universities spent more from their endowments during a fiscal year that ended amid the pandemic despite recording lower-than-average returns, according to the latest annual study of endowments from the National Association of College and University Business Officers. (UVA’s endowment, listed as 18th-largest in the country, is noted as gaining 2.8% in 2020).
The Charlottesville Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. is aiming to improve relationships between young community members and police officers through its “Local Blue and You Virtual Guide Right” panel. Law enforcement officials from Albemarle County Police, Charlottesville Police and the University of Virginia were panelists at the virtual Q&A on Saturday, answering a range of hard-hitting questions.
UVA’s Innocence Project is working to get the innocent out of prison and has had numerous success stories.
UVA punished five fraternities for breaking COVID-19 rules on Grounds, but officials say the problem is much bigger than the Greek system.
UVA officials say the COVID-19 outbreak at the school is the result of many small groups and individual students not following public health guidelines rather than the result of a few super spreader events.
UVA’s president hosted a virtual town hall Friday, apologizing repeatedly to students for new restrictions on their day-to-day lives. Jim Ryan said limits were needed as the number of active cases among students, faculty and staff rose to 844.
Cases of COVID-19 are falling precipitously in Virginia but not in Charlottesville, which is experiencing a “severe outbreak” of the virus. Responsible for the recent uptick in cases is the University of Virginia, where daily case counts have remained well above 100 throughout this week. In a webinar town hall on Friday, UVA officials said they are working with the local health district to monitor transmission of COVID-19 from University students into the surrounding community.
Dr. Michael Williams, an ICU doctor and director of UVA’s Center for Health Policy, said many essential workers are not able to complete tasks, and thus be paid, from home. “They definitely can’t do their job remotely. You can’t package at a meat packaging facility or you can’t stock a shelf from home,” Williams said.
His son’s life was at stake when Woody Jones sat down at a long wooden conference table inside UVA Children’s. It was Christmas Day 2017, and Woody had come with his oldest son, Juan, in hopes of fixing Juan’s failing heart.