Good morning, RVA! It's 48 °F, and it looks like we have a wonderful day ahead of us. Expect highs in the mid 80s and a reason to get out of bed.
Water cooler
As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 719 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 15 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 82 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 33, Henrico: 33, and Richmond: 16). Since this pandemic began, 1,268 people have died in the Richmond region. The seven-day average of new reported cases across the state sits at 1,117. Another day with a three-digit number of new reported cases! If we keep this up, our seven-day average of new reported cases will dip below 1,000 for the first time since October 20th. Locally, we’re seeing a seven-day average of 123 new cases, or 11% of statewide total. Back during this winter’s horrible peak, our region accounted for about 14% of all new cases. I don’t know if that’s useful information or not, but I’m really interested in the urbanization/politicization of the vaccine. Will the map of case counts per 100,000 people start to look like the inverse of the map of vaccinations per 100,000 people?
Eric Kolenich at the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that Attorney General Mark Herring says colleges “may condition in-person attendance on receipt of an approved COVID-19 vaccine during this time of the pandemic.” I’m still a little confused on what is and is not allowed when it comes to requiring a vaccine that’s under Emergency Use Authorization, but it sounds like we’re pretty close to finding out.
City Council’s Public Safety committee will meet today and hear a presentation about pay raises for police and fire personnel from the Richmond Coalition of Police and the International Association of Fire Fighters Local #995. This conversation is tied up in the Gallagher pay study, one of my new recent obsessions. The Gallagher study—which Council already approved, has partially funded, and is a huge priority in the mayor’s proposed budget—lays out a methodical way of increasing pay for all City employees to raise them all up to market-competitive rates. This year, some Councilmembers have proposed budget amendments to increase pay for police and fire beyond this already approved study, which I think is ridiculous. Last week’s budget session offered a little clarity on this, and Council staff basically said police and fire were unhappy with the existing proposed increases and have submitted their own suggested pay increases instead. That Council would even consider additional pay increases for police and fire, above and beyond the currently planned increases, after the last 18 months of life in America!, boggles the mind. I haven’t listened yet, but VPM’s Roberto Roldan did and says “Richmond City Council is abandoning the idea of trying to implement an increased pay plan for police and firefighters. Both will get the two pay raises already in Mayor Stoney's proposed budget. They're going to hire a consultant to study a new pay plan.” While that sounds better than the alternative, I’m still salty about spending any of the City’s on another study—we have a study! How can I submit a rogue salary proposal for Parks & Rec and Planning employees to force the City into studying giving them some more money? Is there a form on the City’s website or something?
Related and as expected, City Council passed the red pulse lane ordinance yesterday. I imagine it’ll take a while to get this project moving forward, but I fully expect to see Mayor Stoney out on Broad Street with a paint roller before next summer.
The Washington Post has a piece explaining recently-passed federal emergency aid to college students, which opens with a look at how the program helped a first-generation VCU student. As with all of these pandemic programs, the natural next question is “...what if we just kept doing this forever?”
The 2020 Census is out! America officially has a “resident population” of 331,449,281, and Virginia now has a population of 8,631,393. The latter is slightly higher than the Weldon Cooper number of 8,535,519 that I’ve been using (what, you don’t have a favorite population estimate for your state?). Lots of the media coverage I’ve seen focuses on how the new counts will impact congressional seats ahead of the 2022 midterms, but, idk, to me, access to new data seems like a way more interesting thing to care about.
Richmond Public Schools’ #ReopenWithLove2.0 virtual student and family conversations kick off tonight at 6:00 PM with a conversation for Southside families. From the flyer: “[these] virtual conversations will be hosted with RPS and members of the Richmond health community to discuss RPS’s fall reopening plans.” Spanish interpretation is available, too. If you’ve got questions about the general thrust of the reopening plan or needling specifics about what’s happening at your own school, this is a great opportunity to ask. Check out the call info and the rest of the dates and times here.
This morning's patron longread
Conjuring Maine’s Clairvoyant Kush
Submitted by Patron Daniel. I think Virginia’s marijuana legalization laws close this specific psychic delivery loophole, but life finds a way, doesn’t it?
So Justin has remained an Incredibles patron. Earlier this month, he suddenly lost an eighth of an ounce of Bop Gun (sativa hybrid) and another eighth of Raspberry Diesel (indica hybrid). He’d lost other types before but not these. He inquired with Incredibles about recovering them after a jog one afternoon. “We have started to use our Psychic Power to find your lost products,” a text message came back. “Our Psychic is on the way to your location now!” The psychic arrived within five minutes, before Justin had time to take off his socks. The smiling driver passed two sealed jars through the window of the car.
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