Good morning, RVA! It's 71 °F, and today's looking hot. Expect highs in this 90s, and you should keep an eye out for afternoon summer storms, too. NBC12's Andrew Freiden says the potential for storms is low, but, if they do hit us, they could be severe.
Water cooler
Two days after the CDC's big mask-wearing guidance updates, and I'm still looking for changes to our local mask guidance or requirements (two very different things, of course). Sabrina Moreno at the Richmond Times-Dispatch says the Virginia Department of Health and the governor's office are still reviewing the CDC's new guidance—she also says "the percentage of people testing positive has more than tripled from 1.3% to 4.7% in the past month." As of this morning, the CDC Data Tracker reports the level of Community Transmission in Richmond as substantial, Henrico as substantial, and Chesterfield as moderate. I think this highlights the challenge of following the letter of the new CDC guidance: Yesterday, the guidance would have you wearing a mask in Chesterfield but not Richmond or Henrico, today it's the opposite. In my opinion, the only practical thing for humans to do is put a mask in your pocket when you leave the house and wear it when you're indoors at a public place. Meanwhile, in Atlanta their Mayor has reinstated a mask mandate for all public places within the City limits, Miami-Dade County now requires masks indoors at all county facilities, and most Apple stores across the country will also soon require masks.
I'm a big fan of the Richmond Public Library and Director Scott Firestine, so I think you should definitely read his column in today's paper about investing in our libraries. I mean, how rad are libraries? "Our libraries are vital in helping community members get online for research and and job searching. We provide ladders to economic opportunity by providing first-time home buying assistance, homework help in Spanish and English, financial and personal bookkeeping classes, and tutoring, to name a few services. Library staff members often assist residents with low literacy who can’t find help elsewhere. We offer so much more than physical books. We deliver access to information, electronic books, computers, Wi-Fi, copiers and fax service desperately needed by an impoverished community that often cannot afford to purchase those items."
Four days into this week, and I've manage to link to four different city- and civic-related surveys! I feel pretty strong about that! Today, you can fill out this survey from the Task Force on the Establishment of a Richmond Police Civilian Review Board and weigh in on what you think the CRB should look like in Richmond. The Task Force will also hold a virtual town hall tonight at 6:00 PM via Zoom if you'd rather weigh in with your speaking voice instead of your typing fingers. Jessica Nocera in the RTD reports that, over in Henrico, citizens are still working the Board of Supervisors to find a third vote to support a CRB in the County. If you're a Henricoan and would like to see a Civilian Review Board, maybe drop an email to your supervisor.
Jack Jacobs at Richmond BizSense has an interesting report on the Resturant Revitalization Fund, which I totally forgot was a thing. Some of our local restaurant groups banked millions of dollars from this program, which will help them pay off mounds of pandemic debts and, in some cases, even expand operations. For most of my aware-of-government life, America's been so incredibly hostile to social programs, and it's hard for my brain to process all of these "just give folks money" programs!
It's Infrastructure Week! The New York Times reports that the Senate voted to take up Biden's long-debated infrastructure bill—an action that requires more than 60 votes and included 17 Republicans. While I feel like you should always expect some Voldemortian last-minute twist from Senate Republicans, this feels like a good sign that maybe they'll actually pass something? This part bums me out, though: "Many of the bill’s spending provisions remain unchanged from the original agreement. But it appeared that it pared spending in a few areas, including reducing money for public transit to $39 billion from $49 billion."
This morning's longread
The dirt on Hanover tomatoes, well loved in central Virginia
One day I was like, "why are Hanover tomatoes??" I Googled, and this 2011 story in the Washington Post is what popped up.
“It’s a sandy coastal-plain type of soil” in eastern Hanover, says Pattie Bland, a horticulture technician for the county. The distinctiveness of the area’s tomato, she adds, “probably has to do with the way water is held in the soil.” As in, the soil doesn’t hold as much water as the red clay that’s buried just across Interstate 95, which essentially marks the fall line between the coastal plain to the east and the Piedmont plateau to the west. Less water in the soil means a more concentrated, more flavorful tomato with a prominent note of acid, presumably a byproduct of the county’s lower-pH soil. Or maybe the tomato just benefits from the county’s climate. “We have the perfect combination of soil and weather,” Bland says.
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