In The News

Next month, Charlottesville is set to join a six-month training cohort that focuses on forest and trees carbon accounting hosted through Local Governments for Sustainability, otherwise known as ICLEI. With the ongoing climate action planning, both entities, along with the University of Virginia, will participate in the cohort. As local emissions goals are set, forestry and urban tree management can help capture greenhouse gas emissions.

The University of Virginia’s Racial Equity Task Force released its list of recommendations on Monday, a compilation of funding measures and leadership commitments that ask the university to “commit seriously to racial equity.”

The University of Virginia is hoping to ease fears of the Charlottesville area becoming a COVID-19 hot spot once students return to Grounds. That’s why University leadership held an hourlong virtual town hall, which answered a few questions about issues of public health.

In a virtual town hall Wednesday evening from the University of Virginia, a panel of religious racial justice activists will discuss why they decided to counter-protest and how theology and ethics motivate them to continue the work of racial justice. Panelists include Jalane Schmidt, associate professor of religious studies at UVA; and Grace Ahern, a UVA religious studies graduate and communications director of Showing Up for Racial Justice.

More than 9 million Medicare beneficiaries used telehealth services during the first three months of the crisis. And in the University of Virginia’s network, which already had a more robust telehealth program than many others, virtual visits increased 9,000% between February and May. “COVID-19 changed everything when it comes to telemedicine services,” says Dr. Karen Rheuban, director of UVA’s Center for Telehealth. “The genie’s not going back in the bottle.”

The parking lot of the Church of the Incarnation was packed Monday evening for free coronavirus testing. Several groups, including UVA Health and the Thomas Jefferson Health District, hosted the event at the church, one of several testing events the groups have conducted over the past few months. 

Among those to issue bonds was the AAA-rated University of Virginia, which raised $600 million in July to fund projects such as new dormitories. It paid a 2.256% yield, the lowest ever for a 30-year “taxable” university issue. “The market was incredibly advantageous. We have both (current and future) capital needs, but we also thought that given the opportunity to go into the market, we could advance fund,” J.J. Davis, chief operating officer, said. “At these rates, why wouldn't you?”

(Commentary by Aynne Kokas, assistant professor of media studies) When the Trump administration issued executive orders Aug. 6 blocking transactions with TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, and with the messaging platform WeChat, it threw the tech industry into chaos. On a basic technical level, it’s unclear how the executive orders, due to take effect Sept. 20, could even work. 

Dr. Peter Dean, a UVA pediatric cardiologist who treats the college’s athletes, was co-author of an analysis published last month by the American College of Cardiology about returning to play after a coronavirus infection. Although he hasn't diagnosed myocarditis in any Virginia athletes who have had COVID-19 so far, he said he's had athletes in the past with myocarditis caused by other factors.

(Letter to the editor; subscription required) Having spent my career working on the transmission of respiratory viruses, I am concerned about confusion over the spread of Covid-19. While satisfactory studies haven’t been done to investigate the value of face masks in reducing spread of Covid-19, there is reason to believe masking is effective. Strong evidence comes from the experience with pulmonary tuberculosis. Like Covid-19, it spreads by small particle aerosol. It has long been the practice for patients with open cases of the disease and the medical personnel entering their rooms to wear m...

President Trump’s executive actions for COVID relief offer little relief, but are constitutionally dangerous. But there is plenty that should lead Congress and the public to regard the president’s actions as unconstitutional. And there is nothing contradictory, or even particularly mysterious, about those two differing assessments. A judge has a particular role to play in our system of government. But judicial scrutiny is not the only sort of constitutional scrutiny. As University of Virginia political scientist James Ceaser has put it, the Constitution needs to be understood in two separ...

The dominant message so far in the pandemic is that older people are the most at risk. That’s true, but doctors on the front lines of South Florida’s outbreak are also finding obesity is making it harder for people to fight off the virus, regardless of age. That could have grave implications for the United States, which has one of the highest obesity rates in the world, said Dr. Cate Varney, an obesity specialist at UVA Health.

The sight of professor Steven Runo in sorghum fields in Kibos, Alupe or Mbita, all in western Kenya, would be less alluring. But it is the work in those fields and under the scorching heat of the lake region that saw him win this year’s Royal Society Africa Prize for the best scientific research. Besides, he did a postdoctoral research in molecular biology at the University of Sheffield in UK. He has also been a visiting researcher in genomics at the University of Virginia.

Tax Notes chief correspondent Stephanie Soong Johnston and legal reporter Ryan Finley discuss Ireland and Apple’s state aid win with law professors Ruth Mason of the University of Virginia and Stephen Daly of King’s College London.

(Commentary by Kimberly Whitler, assistant professor at UVA’s Darden School of Business) One of the most interesting interviews I’ve conducted over the past few years was with Dave Morgan, CEO/founder of Simulmedia. He suggested that some of the world’s most vaunted CPG firms (e.g., Procter & Gamble, Unilever, General Mills, etc.) aren’t actually good at marketing. What fascinates me about Morgan is how he is comfortable challenging the status quo; he has a unique perspective and is willing to challenge accepted beliefs in an effort to help businesses succeed. I recently caught up with Mor...

UVA Health is offering four free COVID-19 testing events each week for the foreseeable future. UVA Health and the Virginia Department of Health have worked together to create a testing schedule that will allow more people from Charlottesville and the surrounding region to access COVID-19 testing.

An image of a building with the sign board ‘Babri Hospital’ is being shared on social media claiming it as the design and first look of Babri hospital to be constructed in Ayodhya. In its 2019 verdict on Ayodhya dispute, Supreme Court allotted 5 acres of land to Sunni Waqf Board for constructing a mosque in Ayodhya.

(Editorial) It’s been a long time coming, but shovel-in-the-ground progress is a step closer for a Charlottesville-Albemarle courthouse renovation. The project has been under consideration for the better part of two decades. Albemarle’s population is surging, putting stress on court facilities. County population is expected to jump to nearly 150,000 by 2045, say data crunchers at UVA’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service – up from roughly 109,000, according to U.S. Census figures from last year.

Jeffrey White and Julia Preziosi are two University of Virginia medical students bringing people from all over the country together during the pandemic each Tuesday at 8 p.m. with a self-made virtual trivia game. According to White, the game is known as “Quarantine Trivia” and garners more than 200 participants a week.

The University of Virginia is launching a new website and app, called “HOOS Health Check,” on Monday. The app is meant to provide UVA students and employees a chance to monitor any COVID-19 symptoms.