Good morning, RVA! It's 50 °F, and highs are back up near 80 °F. Rain rolls in tomorrow, so spend some time on your bike today for RVA Bike Month!
Water cooler
You can read about how Dave Brat's most recent townhall went in this RTD piece by Patrick Wilson. I love a lot of the sentences in this article and want to get them printed on T-shirts—like this one referring to republican State Senator Amanda Chase: "But the crowd did talk over her. And no one was escorted out." Or this one: "'Give me the evidence of Trump collusion,' he began, and then the boos drowned him out."
Yesterday, the two democratic candidates for governor, Ralph Northam and Tom Perriello, took part in a debate. You can watch a recording of the whole thing on YouTube, which you should do as the June 13th primary quickly approaches!
I really like when Style Weekly's Edwin Slipek lovingly writes about buildings. This week he says goodbye to a small apartment building adjacent to the ICA that was torn down to make way for 14 surface parking spaces. Boooo! We all know surface parking is a bad use of space, but especially so close to the Pulse corridor!
Speaking of development along the Pulse corridor, J. Elias O'Neal has the details on the nearly-completed Metro Sound renovations. Don't blink, because Broad Street is changing and you may miss it.
Before we get to today's longread, here's a palate cleanser: Later this month, two new otters will make Maymont their home. Adorably, "both otters were found raiding crayfish farms in their home state of Louisiana, and local authorities categorized them as 'nuisances'." The male otter is named Louis, after Louis Armstrong. The female otter does not yet have a name, but we'll all get to help choose one as part of a naming contest—Richmond loves an animal naming contest!
Sports!
- Squirrels have now won two in a row against Altoona and go for the sweep today at 12:05 PM.
- Nats lost to Baltimore, 4-5, and now that series moves home with a game tonight at 7:05 PM.
This morning's longread
The Nightmare Scenario: Trump Fires Comey, the One Man Who Would Stand Up to Him
😧
Getting rid of Comey removes the guy who is running the Russia investigation. It removes the guy who can look Congress in the eye and say credibly that the FBI is investigating whether anyone in the Trump orbit was actively working with the Russians. It removes the guy who, in February, reportedly refused the White House’s request to publicly knock down stories about Trump and Russia while congressmen in key positions of investigatory responsibility allegedly complied. It removes the one person of stature (figurative as well as literal) in the government whom everyone knows will—even when he’s wrong—do what he thinks is the right thing and damn the torpedos. It removes, in other words, the essential person for a credible investigation.
Also, if you've got time, you should read Matthew Yglesias on Vox and this piece on the Washington Post where they use Genius.com to annotate the Justice Department's case against Comey (I love this use of Genius).