Good morning, RVA! It's 49 °F, and highs today are back up around 60 °F. Don’t get your slip-ons out just yet, though, because there’s a solid chance of rain until late this afternoon.
Water cooler
The RTD’s Samuel Northrop has the details on Richmond Public Schools’ increased absentee rate and how the Superintendent’s proposed budget plans to address it 💸. Turns out chronic absenteeism isn’t just kids who don’t want to go to school but involves complicated issues like a student’s housing stability. Related, while poking around the School Board site, I found this pretty interesting (and very readable) FY21 Budget: Board Questions and Answers.pdf) PDF. It’s worth reading because the School Board is just regular people with regular-people questions—probably some of the same questions you’d have if you looked through the budget presentation-compressed.pdf) (PDF).
Whoa! Mallory Noe-Payne, from RadioIQ, has the single best Twitter thread about the General Assembly that I’ve seen all year—and maybe ever. It’s one-sentence reviews, plus bill numbers, for the 75 bills she thinks are worth knowing about—sorted by topical category! For example, you’ve got “You don’t need a photo ID to vote (HB 19)”, “Localities can ban guns (HB 421)”, “To get charged with larceny you have to steal $1,000 of goods (currently it’s $500) (HB 995)”, and “Must be 18 or older to use a tanning bed (HB 38).” This is a simple and wonderful resource. It must have taken forever to put together—and yet she’s considering doing the same thing for Senate bills, too?? Now she’s got me thinking about how to do something similar for RIchmond City Council ordinances and resolutions 🤔.
Sen. Tommy Norment is upset that the General Assembly’s New Democratic Majority have submitted too many bill 💸, says Micheal Martz at the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Lol, Senator Tommy Norment! This, coming from a guy who has a history of submitting bills he has no intention of supporting, just to force votes on them. To this fakest of concerns I give a huge eyeroll and a hearty chuckle. To the Democrats working hard to pass bills addressing decades of priorities Republicans decided to defer action on, I give the coolest of high fives—like one of those where we both jump in the air and it freeze-frames. Sen. Jennifer McClellan puts it better, saying, “It’s a generational power shift and 20 years of backlog on policies that we’re getting pressure to move on.”
Roberto Roldan at VPM has an update on the redistricting amendment (to the Constitution of Virginia), which just passed the Senate. Redistricting reform is so important, and it sounds like we’re so close to getting it across the finish line. OneVirginia2021, the folks who’ve advocated for redistricting reform for the last forever, have put together a bunch of information for you on why an amendment is necessary, how it can be improved, and how you can get involved.
Every once in a while /r/rva debates which local spot has the best French fries. Here’s the latest discussion, which does include the correct answer: Greenleaf’s Pool Room. I will say, though, that just yesterday I had the garlic Parmesan fries at the Quirk Hotel bar, and, whoadang, those are some good French fries.
A travel note for today: Anti-abortion folks will rally at the Capitol and lead a march around Downtown. Richmond Police expect thousands of people and will be closing streets around the Capitol periodically, between 12:00–3:00 PM, including: E. Broad, N. 14th, E. Main, N. 9th, E. Franklin, and E. Grace. If you plan on making your way through that area this afternoon by foot, bike, bus, or even car expect delays. FWIW, I love marches and protests (not this particular one, of course), but I wish the Powers That Be would keep approved routes off the major bike and bus corridors.
This morning's longread
28 Black Environmentalists
This list of Black environmentalists is from last year and seems vaguely familiar so maybe I posted it last year, too? Anyway it’s great, and Dr. John Francis sounds fascinating.
In celebration of Black History Month and with great interest in the individuals directing us toward climate strategies considerate of the socio-economic state of minorities, I used 30 minutes each day in February to appreciate and post the experiences of black environmentalists on my private Instagram account. The amount of interest and inquiries from my friends and family about the people I was sharing was fairly shocking. Don’t get me wrong — my Instagram followers have always been a great support system, but the shock I felt fortified the belief that unlike White environmentalists, the work, patience, leadership and intelligence of Black environmentalists have not reached the eyes of the general public. As an environmental justice advocate of African American descent, I felt considerable inspiration and fulfillment learning about the stories of black environmentalists each of the 28 days in February.
If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.