Good morning, RVA! It's 74 °F, and that’s basically the temperature for the entire day. I’m sure we’ll see another set of blazin’ hot days before the year’s out, but, until then, enjoy these cooler temperatures. Oh, also, you should probably keep an eye out for a bit of rain today, but the weather for the weekend looks pretty stunning.
Water cooler
Yikes. Patrick Wilson at the Richmond Times-Dispatch has a description of the defamation lawsuit filed by Lt. Governor Fairfax against CBS News, and whoa is it messy. While the lawsuit is focused on CBS News, the Mayor and current 5th District Council Candidate Thad Williamson are thrown under the Uber for kicking off the Lt. Gov’s sexual assault revelations—and, allegedly, doing so for political gain. Personally, I don’t believe it. I can, however, see this public bad blood feud among three local politicians having some sort of impact on someone’s political career. Who though and what impact? I have no idea.
@RVADirt has a Twitter thread covering most of last night’s 5th District council candidate forum. Of note: According to the thread, when asked what they would do to protect pedestrians and bicyclists, Chuck Richardson had “no idea what to do about that problem,” while Williamson pointed to the City’s Vision Zero efforts and McCoy said we need to invest in alternative transportation. Honestly, there was a bunch of pro-multimodal transportation chatter throughout that thread.
Oh, busted! Sen. Glen Sturtevant’s campaign learned that you can’t quote letters to the editor written by your own supporters as if they were from the paper’s editorial board. Patrick Wilson at the RTD has the details on how the campaign has been forced to pull those misleading ads. You probably remember the Sturtevant campaign from their recent appearance in front of at least two RPS elementary schools—on the first day school—protesting a potential rezoning plan that would help reduce racial segregation. You’ll also remember that his opponent is Ghazala Hashmi and elections are November 5th.
If you’re spending any amount of time downtown in the next couple of weeks, make sure you check out two new exhibits. First, the Daily Planet and the National Healthcare for the Homeless Council have an exhibit up at UR Downtown (626 E. Broad Street) featuring photos taken by people experiencing homelessness. You can see some of the photos folks have taken over on this NHCHC website. Second, Growing Up in Civil Rights Richmond: A Community Remembers has made its way to City Hall and is on display through November. This exhibit “seeks to amplify the diverse faces and voices that fueled the local civil rights movement.” Both of these exhibits are basically adjacent to Pulse Stations—if you’re still looking for an excuse to ride.
There are a ton of things going on this weekend, specifically on Saturday, but to pick just a few: The Richmond Veg Fest takes place in Byrd Park from 12:00–6:00 PM and is about vegetables not sitting on the couch watching Cartoon Network; the City will host an e-Cycle day (PDF), from 10:00 AM–2:00 PM, to help you safely get rid of those hard-to-recycle items; and, from 12:00–5:00 PM, you can roll through Brookland Park to check out their community celebration (Facebook)—it’s apparently the community’s 100-year anniversary!
Reminder: Next week is RVA Transit Week, so mark your calendar in various ways. Most immediately, Monday is Bus to Work Day so plan your commute accordingly. Also, check out the Scooter Symposium + Social on Thursday.
This morning's Patron longread
Want to Know How the Cops Actually Trace a Gun?
Submitted by Patron Susan. This piece in GQ about how tracing guns actually works is absolutely incredible (and totally terrifying).
There's no telling how many guns we have in America—and when one gets used in a crime, no way for the cops to connect it to its owner. The only place the police can turn for help is a Kafkaesque agency in West Virginia, where, thanks to the gun lobby, computers are illegal and detective work is absurdly antiquated. On purpose. Thing is, the geniuses who work there are quietly inventing ways to do the impossible.
If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.