Good morning, RVA! It's 64 °F, and I think we may get to see the sun today! Expect highs in the upper 70s, almost no chance for rain, and, with any luck, a break in the clouds. Get out there and enjoy it.
Water cooler
If you haven't registered to vote and didn't do so yesterday, it's too late, and I'm disappointed in you. I'm confident, though, that 100% of people subscribed to this email/podcast are registered and have either already voted or have fully made plans to. If not, for some reason, here's the list of upcoming deadlines: October 22nd to request a mail-in ballot, October 30th to vote early in-person, and actual Election Day is November 2nd. Related and mildly interesting, ol' T-Mac has started hosting a bunch of campaign events with a handful of famously talented Democratic women, including Stacey Abrams, Keisha Lance Bottoms, and First Lady Jill Biden. I don't know enough about politics to know if these types of campaign events _do_ anything, but I do think it highlights the level of national importance Virginia's gubernatorial election holds this year.
Ben Paviour at VPM reports on the racial disparity found in the recipients of the State's COVID-19 relief fund for businesses. While a huge chunk of grant recipients chose not to report their race, "white and Black-owned businesses were approved for grants at similar rates during that period. But while Black-owned businesses got an average Rebuild VA grant of nearly $19,500, white-owned businesses received more than double that on average." Paviour also reports that the Commonwealth Club, "an all-male private club that didn’t admit its first Black member until 1988," received money from the program while other nearby black-owned businesses—ones that presumably serve people other than just men—were denied funds. Luckily, there is an additional round of money around the corner and the timing is less urgent at the moment, so the State has an opportunity to take a minute and work a little harder on equitably prioritizing recipients. Also I didn't know where to put this but wanted to point it out, this sentence is just really dark: "Richmond-based floral designer Brom Hansboro got about $20,500 from Rebuild VA...The cash infusion helped him ride out the suspension of weddings and embrace new opportunities like the funeral business."
Jonathan Spiers at Richmond BizSense reports that the Henrico County Board of Supervisors approved the rezoning needed for the GreenCity project, which, if you'll remember, is the Henrico version of Navy Hill. The County and the City do business in such different ways! To be clear, there are positive and negatives to both styles, but the Navy Hill / Green City saga has really put them both on display.
Also at Richmond BizSense, Jack Jacob reports that next week Chop Suey Books will have a new owner. Because it's sure to be a FAQ, WonTon, the bookstore cat, does convey.
Do you remember that guy who got arrested in Chesterfield for having, like, 50 marijuana plants in his house? Originally charged with a felony, his sentence was reduced to a misdemeanor, 10 days in jail, and a $1,000 fine. The Richmond Times-Dispatch's Mark Bowes has all the details. While 50 is way, way more than the four plants allowed by law, and while I was kind of eye-rolly at this guy, his attorney does make some pretty good points! I still maintain that the current lack of a legal retail market for weed is untenable and that—pending the results of the gubernatorial election—we might could see some movement on that at the upcoming General Assembly session. Still though, the new law is having its intended impact: "During the first seven weeks of the new law, only 25 marijuana-related arrests were made in Richmond and the counties of Chesterfield, Hanover and Henrico — a 90% drop from the 257 arrests made during the same seven-week period in 2020, according to law enforcement officials in those localities."
This morning's longread
When You Go to the Loo, a Bat Might Go Boo
OK, what's worse: Bats in the latrine or spiders in the latrine?
Paul Webala, a wildlife biologist at Maasai Mara University in Kenya, who has a forthcoming paper about toilet bats in that country, has observed the large-eared slit-faced bat and the Egyptian slit-faced bat in his own latrine surveys. Dr. Patterson said he suspects that Nycteris bats may be most dominant in latrines because their wing shape allows them to maneuver in tight spaces and trespass through small holes. “There are lots of bats that would love to roost there but are incapable of doing it because of their flight mechanics,” he said.
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