What’s in a name?
A month after the president of a local descendants organization called on the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library to change its name to something more inclusive, library leadership says the effort would be an uphill battle. According to reporting in The Daily Progress, that’s because a 1974 agreement between the five localities—Charlottesville, Albemarle, Louisa, Nelson and Greene—would require unanimous agreement. Already, Louisa and Greene have threatened to use their veto power to block a name change, the Progress reports.
Library leadership has received 112 comments on the name change, and members of the public on both sides of the issue spoke at the Monday meeting held at the Northside branch. Trustee Lisa Woolfolk, who represents Charlottesville, expressed frustration at the limitations imposed by the regional agreement.
“It feels like they are trying to corner us into a box,” Woolfolk said, according to the Progress. “It makes me feel like I’m being pushed to keep something that I’ve heard from many people is not in line with the organization’s values.”
The board took no action on Monday, and has no plans to make a decision, but the trustees do plan to discuss the topic at the next meeting, and a committee with representatives from each locality will meet later this year to review the original agreement.
Incoming board chair Tony Townsend, a trustee representing Albemarle County who will assume leadership next month, said he intends to keep the subject alive and the conversation productive.
“My agenda here is to make sure that this area’s most inclusive, diverse and free community resource doesn’t get sidetracked or handicapped by this discussion,” he said.
Abortion becomes top issue
An hour after the U.S. Supreme Court decision abolished the constitutional right to abortion, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin praised the ruling. “The Supreme Court of the United States has rightfully returned power to the people and their elected representatives in the states,” Youngkin said in a statement, promising to “take every action I can to protect life.”
In the days since, the Virginia Mercury reports, Youngkin has announced a push to pass legislation that would ban most abortions in Virginia after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
As protests have erupted across the state, abortion is now a top issue as Republicans hope to retain control of the House and retake the Senate in 2023.
At a pro-choice rally outside the Virginia state capitol on Friday, hours after the SCOTUS ruling, Democrat Jennifer McClellan promised to fight to keep abortion safe and legal in Virginia.
“I’m angry today because we are fighting the same fights that our parents, our grandparents and our great-grandparents fought,” she said, according the Mercury. “I’m fighting because for the first time in my lifetime, the Supreme Court has taken away one of my rights. I am angry because my 7-year-old daughter will have less rights when she comes of childbearing age than I do.”
In brief
Top cop search
The city announced that it’s looking for a search firm to help find its next police chief, a position that has been vacant for nearly a year following the firing of RaShall Brackney, who filed a $10 million wrongful termination lawsuit against Charlottesville. On Monday, interim City Manager Michael Rogers told NBC29 that he wants the community involved in the hiring process, but he’s “not prepared to say at this time what that process will look like.”
Best shot
Mobi, the Virginia Department of Health’s mobile unit, parked at Tonsler Park on Sunday and, for the first time, vaccinated children from 6 months to 5 years old. It is currently taking appointments only for children under age 5, but walk-ins older than that are welcome. Go to vase.vdh.virginia.gov/ to make a vaccination appointment.
They won’t back down
More than 50 people gathered on the Downtown Mall last week to protest the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to over turn Roe v. Wade. “We want people to remember this rage and the feelings they’re having because you’re going to need that over the long run,” the Blue Ridge Abortion Fund’s Deborah Arenstein told NBC29. There’s also anticipation that there will be an increase in people traveling to Virginia, where abortion remains legal, to terminate their pregnancies.
Water wonders
UVA women’s swimming has done it again. Current and former UVA swimmers won a total of nine medals at the FINA World Championships in Budapest, according to The Daily Progress. Sophomore Alex Walsh, a silver medalist at the Tokyo Olympics, took home three golds, while Leah Smith, Kate Douglass, and Emma Weyant also earned medals at the competition.