Good morning, RVA! It's 63 °F, and it's going to be pretty warm again today. Highs in the mid 80s will fill up the afternoon, but rain continues to stay away. Expect more of the same throughout the weekend, but with a chance of thunderstorms on Sunday.
Water cooler
Richmond Police are reporting another murder. On Saturday afternoon, officers arrived at the 2200 block of Afton Avenue and found Alexander Briggs, 21, suffering from a life-threatening gunshot wound. Briggs died from those wounds on Wednesday.
The RTD has two follow-ups on the Facebook-to-Henrico news. First, Michael O'Connor talks to County officials who are super stoked to have landed the new data center. Second, Michael Martz looks at the $250 million investment into solar power Dominion will make as part of the deal to lure Facebook to Central Virginia. I like this take, from @teevirus on Twitter, "This is good news but also a reminder of the new economy. Almost 1 million square feet, 100 employees."
Full Moon Fever, Richmond's own Tom Petty tribute band, will play the Broadberry tonight at 9:00 PM, and all proceeds will go to United for Puerto Rico. If you've been listening to Tom Petty all week, you should come out, hear some tunes, help out Puerto Rico a bit, and get a little sad with a group of like-minded folks.
University of Richmond hosted a lieutenant governor candidate debate last night (between Justin Fairfax and Jill Vogel—you knew that, right?), and I totally missed it! Luckily they've put the entire thing on YouTube for those of us who, for whatever reason, couldn't be bothered to tune in live last night.
Cool Events Alert! RVA MakerFest is this Saturday at the Science Museum from 10:00 AM–5:00 PM. It's a free event, and there will be a blacksmith there! Sounds like an amazing way to spend a Saturday. Paul Spencer in Style Weekly has more details. Also on Satuday (and Sunday), the 2nd Street Festival returns for its 29th year. Seriously impressive. And! If you can even handle it, today is this month's First Friday Art Walk. Angie Huckstep at RVA Mag has already done the work and figured out all of the not-to-miss exhibits for you. October is a wild time for calendars, hope yours is prepped and ready!
The New York Times published their long investigation into 30 years of sexual harassment by movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.
CORRECTION: The Red Vein haunted house situation I mentioned runs every Friday and Saturday through October (plus the 29th and 31st). I screwed up those days yesterday, because I don't know how to read a calendar.
Sports!
- Kickers head out to Saint Louis for an 8:30 PM match.
- Spiders host Albany on Saturday at 3:00 PM.
- #16 Hokies travel north to take on Boston College at 7:15 PM.
- Wahoos and Duke kick off at 12:20 PM in Charlottesville.
- Nats begin their series against the Cubs tonight at 7:30 PM.
This morning's longread
Here's How Breitbart And Milo Smuggled Nazi and White Nationalist Ideas Into The Mainstream
Whoa man this is a wild and comprehensive piece of reporting from BuzzFeed.
In addition to tech and entertainment, Yiannopoulos had hidden helpers in the liberal media against which he and Bannon fought so uncompromisingly. A long-running email group devoted to mocking stories about the social justice internet included, predictably, Yiannopoulos’s friend Ann Coulter, but also Mitchell Sunderland, a senior staff writer at Broadly, Vice’s women’s channel. According to its “About” page, Broadly “is devoted to representing the multiplicity of women's experiences. … we provide a sustained focus on the issues that matter most to women.”