Good morning, RVA! It's 58 °F, but don’t worry, highs will creep back up into the mid 80s before the day’s out. Expect plenty of sunshine and no rain!
Speaking of, the Richmond Times-Dispatch’s John Boyer has a really great thread on Twitter about this past month’s place in the Weather Hall of History, featuring Edward Avery Evans, Richmond’s first meteorologist.
Water cooler
Yesterday, the mayor tweeted out this picture of himself, Chesterfield County Manager Joe Casey, Henrico County Manager John Vithoulkas, and Hanover County Board of Supervisor Rep Angela Kelley-Wiecek hanging at the Greek Festival. Part of the promise of electing a fresh, young mayor was for him to repair, reestablish, reinvigorate—whatever the right word is—the City’s relationship with the surrounding counties and work together on important things like housing, transportation, and education. I don’t know what, if anything, they’ve got cooking up, but hanging out like actual humans over some baklava certainly can’t hurt.
Today the Planning Commission will consider a resolution to update the City’s Master Plan to include the Public Art Master Plan (PDF)! This has been a looooong time coming, and it’s great to see it finally hit the agenda. I am not a lawyer or even lawyer adjacent, but I feel like one of the plan’s recommendations—to create a separate budget account for public art funds—would maybe reduce the temptation for City Council to steal from the Percent for Arts money like they did this past budget season.
Mark Robinson at the RTD says the Richmond City jail is on the lookout for a new medical contractor after the current group “backed out of its contract” 💸. This seems not great all around. Robinson notes that Chesterfield County has worked with the same group since April 2017, and I’m interested in how they feel about the company. I certainly can’t remember reading any stressful articles about Chesterfield’s jail needing to quickly find a new medical services provider.
RVA Mag has pictures from this past weekend’s March for Justice which was held in response to a Richmond police officer killing Marcus-David Peters. The Cheats Movement has a few more. “Help not death” is a powerful refrain.
Check out this short interview in Richmond Magazine with Monica Manns, Henrico Public School’s new director of diversity and equity. She comes from a very diverse family, and says this, which I am into: “that my lived experiences probably better prepared me than my academic experiences.”
Reminder: Richmond’s School Board will meet tonight at 6:00 PM on the 17th floor of City Hall to, among other things, receive public input on the renaming of J.E.B Stuart Elementary School. I think this is your final chance to let the School Board hear your thoughts and feelings on the matter.
Sports!
Wayne Epps Jr. at the RTD interviewed VCU Athletic Director Ed McLaughlin about this past athletic season. There’s some good non-men’s basketball stuff in there for a change, which is nice to read.
- Squirrels took two of three from Reading and wrap that series up at 9:45 AM this morning.
- Kickers fell to the Riverhounds, 1-2.
- Nats went 1-2 over the weekend against the Braves and have the day off today.
- Caps beat the Golden Knights 3-1 on Saturday, moving to 2-1 in the Stanley Cup Finals. Game 4 starts tonight at 8:00 PM.
This morning's longread
‘People just give up’: Low-income hurricane victims slam federal relief programs
This a terrifying thing to read as we move back into hurricane season.
A first-of-its-kind study, released by FEMA in mid-April, found that low-income homeowners are disproportionately likely to live in flood-prone areas but that those who purchase flood insurance have a median income of $82,000, compared with $55,000 for non-policyholders, suggesting that lower-income families simply choose to do without it. Roy Wright, director of the National Flood Insurance Program, told reporters that the results were “startling.” In Texas, the numbers are even starker. Texas homeowners with flood insurance have a median income of $94,049, compared with $54,085 for those without insurance. Looking just within flood zones in Texas, the median income of families with flood insurance is $82,184, while families without insurance have a median income of just $36,056.
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