Listen Live
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – The past 12 months have brought a bit of everything to Charlottesville, Albemarle County and the surrounding areas, from stories of hope and heartbreak, to painful endings and promising new beginnings.
The area remained as politically active as ever, with “No Kings” demonstrations in June and October, parts of nationwide protests rallying against the policies of the Trump administration, drawing some of the largest crowds in Virginia.
The region celebrated art and culture with events including the Virginia Film Festival, the Tom Tom Festival, the Dogwood Festival, the Soul of Cville Festival, the Maupintown Film Festival, Charlottesville PrideFest, Cville Sabroso, and the Crozet Arts and Crafts Festival.
2025 was an election year that saw Democrats dominate statewide elections, winning races for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general while picking up 13 more seats in the statehouse.
The area was not immune to the nationwide epidemic of gun violence.
From the February shooting at a Crozet Harris Teeter that killed two people and the shooter, to Fourth of July and Halloween shootings in the city, a Thanksgiving shooting at a roving party in Greene County and a Christmas shooting in Albemarle, the issue that plagues the nation was felt locally all too often.
The year also so longtime Albemarle County Fire and Rescue Chief Dan Eggleston retire and 11-year veteran of the county’s Board of Supervisors, Diantha McKeel, did not seek re-election.
UVA athletics had another strong year, highlighted by the women’s swimming and diving team winning its fifth straight NCAA championship and the football program enjoying a resurgence, winning a program-record 11 games.
So, as the calendar is set to flip to 2026, we take a look back at some of the biggest stories of 2025…
5) Charlottesville grapples with the issue of the unhoused
The city continued to wrestle with the issue of homelessness and its iconic Downtown Mall became a sort of Ground Zero. Business owners and some citizens complained that the abundance of unhoused people on and around the mall made it a less desirable destination for shopping, dining and visiting. Charlottesville City Police said they were not going to move homeless people from the mall unless they were committing a crime. The City Council didn’t want to criminalize homelessness, so it tabled a proposed camping ordinance that would have banned storing personal possessions in public spaces, like the mall. Council indicated it wouldn’t support an ordinance forcing the homeless off the mall unless there was somewhere safe and suitable to send them.
Then, in October, the Council approved the $6.2 million purchase of a property and office building on Holiday Drive with the intention that it would be renovated and turned into a low-barrier homeless shelter.
4) Local natives killed on Colorado hunting trip
In September, many in the area – and across the nation – were captivated by the search for two Charlottesville natives and former James Madison students who went missing during a hunting trip to Colorado.
Their disappearance triggered a massive search and an outpouring of support. Hundreds of volunteers searched the area where they had last been seen, working on foot, on horseback and in the air, using helicopters and drones.
Seven days after Andrew Porter and Ian Stasko were declared missing, their bodies were located by Colorado Search and Rescue teams. The men were killed by a lightning strike that hit the ground where they were standing.
3) Pharma industry invests in Albemarle County
The county’s efforts to attract business and industry paid off in a big way in 2025. In September, local company Afton Scientific broke ground on a $200 million, 285,000-square foot sterile injectable manufacturing facility that is expected to create 200 new jobs for the area. Then, in October, pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca announced it would be building a $4.5 billion compound with two major factories, one for chronic disease drug manufacturing and the second for antibody-drug conjugate manufacturing, at the Rivanna Futures site in the northern part of the county. The AstraZeneca project is projected to bring 600 new jobs to the area.
2) UVA football shooter sentenced
On Nov. 13, 2022, Christoper Darnell Jones Jr. shot and killed three UVA football players – Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D’Sean Perry – and injured another player, Mike Hollins, and another student, Marlee Morgan.
On Nov. 21, 2025, Albemarle County Circuit Court judge Cheryl Higgins sentenced Jones to the maximum allowable penalty – five life terms – for what Albemarle County Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Richard Farley argued in court was the “worst crime in Albemarle history.”
With members of all three of the deceased athletes’ families seated in the gallery, Jones gave an allocution just before his sentencing, sobbing during his 15-minute remarks, while apologizing for his actions. Some family members got up and walked out.
Following the sentencing, Hollins said, “Coming in, I think all the families wanted justice, you know, for the lives lost and the just the long lasting grief that we’ve all been experiencing. I think that to add on to that, we just wanted to look for a little bit of closure out of what happened.”
1) Leadership upheaval at UVA
The University of Virginia’s year began with leadership upheaval when UVA Health CEO Craig Kent resigned in February following an investigation by the Board of Visitors and a no-confidence letter from the faculty. Kent was soon followed by Dean of Medicine Melina Kibbe and University Medical Center CEO Wendy Horton, who left for new positions.
But that was only the precursor for the unrest that was about to hit Thomas Jefferson’s university.
President Jim Ryan stepped down from his post in June, pressured by the Trump Administration which targeted UVA because of Ryan’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Ryan later accused the incoming rector of the Board of Visitors of working behind his and the board’s back to orchestrate his ouster.
While Law School Dean Paul Mahoney shepherded the school as interim president, the BOV rushed through a hiring process – against the wishes of large contingents of students, faculty and staff and Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger – to hire a permanent replacement for Ryan.
Scott Beardsley begins his tenure on Jan. 1, less than six months after Ryan was pushed out.
