Good morning, RVA! It's 51 °F, and there was a chance of rain while you were in bed. Now there's just a chance for a ton of clouds and highs in the upper 60s. Look out for tomorrow, though: Temperatures back up near 90 °F.
Water cooler
Ali Rockett at the RTD has a recap of the Richmond Police Department's first of four town hall meetings. Chief Durham and folks in attendance raised concerns about violent crime in the city, particularly in Mosby Court. Two tangentially related thoughts: 1) The physical geography of Mosby Court isolates it from the rest of the city. Take a look at it on a map, and see how institutions, major thoroughfares, and topography box the neighborhood in. 2) The Parks Department made some great points during Council's budget work session about how funding their programming can help reduce violence in the city. Missing from the RTD's coverage is this quote, which WTVR runs as the headline, "We have a problem with firearms in this city." The town hall meetings continue today, April 25th, and April 27th.
Big, giant bus news, y'all: GRTC has released an updated map of the coming changes to the bus system (PDF). An lo! The new route numbers are awesome and cleverly chosen! The super-frequent, 15-minute routes are all single-digit numbers, the 30-minute routes are two-digits, and the hourly routes are numbers greater than 60. Additionally, if a route eventually branches into several, less-frequent routes (say, the #1 for example), you end up with the #1a, #1b, and #1c. Super simple! I'm (unnecessarily?) excited about these new numbers; good numbering is part of a transit system's legibility and is important for spontaneous trips and new riders. Great work, GRTC. P.S. You can find a ton more maps—including proposed stop locations—on GRTC's website.
I love this piece in Style Weekly by Edwin Slipek and Scott Elmquist about storefront churches. The pictures are great!
Excellent headline pun acknowledged, Stephanie Breijo.
For those keeping an eye on #StoneyWatch, the mayor has been named to this year's class of NewDEAL leaders (PDF). Scroll through the list of existing members on the NewDEAL site, and you'll probably recognize some names (Pete Buttigieg!).
Speaking of possibly rising national political stars, democrat Jon Ossoff failed to win outright in Georgia's Sixth Congressional District last night. He'll now face republican Karen Handel in a June run-off.
Sports!
- Squirrels fell to Bowie, 1-4. The second half of that series begins tonight at 6:35 PM.
- Nats beat Atlanta, 3-1. The series continues tonight at 7:35 PM.
This morning's longread
Console Repairmen Explain Why Cockroaches Love PS4s
What.
The PS4’s design accommodates roaches better than other consoles’ because its ventilation grates are wider. Those vents are located at the bottom of the console, so roaches can get in with ease. Also, according to repair professionals, the PS4’s insides gets hotter than the Xbox One’s because of its internal power supply. Warm, in an enclosed space and close to the floor, PS4s are great roach nesting ground