Good morning, RVA! It's 74 °F, and today's more of the same. We might avoid rain, so, if you can tolerate the humidity, it might be a good day to hop outside and stretch your legs. Storms return tomorrow, though!
Water cooler
Yesterday, federal officials recommended booster shots for folks fully vaccinated with the two mRNA vaccines, Pfizer and Moderna, eight months after receiving their second dose. Assuming the FDA and CDC timelines track with the Whitehouse's timeline, third shots for folks could begin as soon as September 20th. However, since vaccination opened to the general public in the middle of April in Virginia, it sounds like most people we know will have the opportunity to get boosted in the early parts of 2022. Actually doing the date math helped me feel better about two things. First, it helps me feel marginally better about extra dosing Americans while many, many people across the world remain unvaccinated. Second, it means there's still lots of time for someone, somewhere to do the necessary studies to address booster shots for J&Jers like myself. The Surgeon General said we'd likely need a booster shot, too, and that data supporting boosters would be available "in the coming weeks." While my head knows that we continue to see the Johnson & Johnson vaccine providing excellent protection against hospitalization and death, my heart can't help but feel extremely left behind when every major announcement focuses exclusively on the mRNA vaccines. 14 million Americans are J&Jers, and, yeah, that's one tenth of the number of people vaccinated with mRNA vaccines, but it's still almost two entire Virginias. Anyway, if you're feeling feelings like I am, know (with your brain) that more science is on the way and that your vaccine still protects you from the most serious outcomes. The NYT has a medium reassuring piece if you'd like to read more.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch's Ali Rockett reports on this week's Civilian Review Board Task Force's meeting and has some details on the report that the task force will present to City Council at the end of this month. The gist: They'll recommend creating not just a Civilian Review Board but a "new office or department [that] would not only investigate complaints about police misconduct, but discipline officers, review policies, and audit data...Most of these powers were enshrined in a state law passed by the General Assembly last year in the wake of social justice protests, but few current oversight bodies incorporate them all." I know there are at least a few votes already on Council for something this expansive, but we'll see if there are enough votes to actually make it happen.
I'd seen this floating around on /r/rva a bit, but Richmond Magazine's Eileen Mellon confirms that Mamma Zu in Oregon Hill, which has been closed for most of the pandemic, will not reopen. Don't worry, though, Edo's, 8 1/2, and Dinamo are still available for all of your garlicky needs! Tap through to read reflections on the restaurant's time in Richmond from some of our local food industry folks.
Mark Bowes at the RTD reports that Chesterfield police arrested a man for growing more than 50 marijuana plants in his home. 50 is way greater than four, which is the maximum number allowed under the new marijuana laws. While this man's housemate called the cops on him, which I feel Iike was probably the culmination of many conversations and arguments between the two of them, the situation maybe does highlight that folks aren't super clear on the details of the new laws. Remember, if you're going to grow at home, you must "ensure that no plant is visible from a public way," "take precautions to prevent unauthorized access by persons younger than 21 years of age," and "attach to each plant a legible tag that includes the person's name, driver's license or ID number, and a notation that the marijuana plant is being grown for personal use as authorized by law."
Style Weekly released their annual readers' poll of the best whatevers in Richmond. Open, reader-generated lists like these are mostly a measure of who can click a button the most times rather than a measure of the bestness of any particular thing. That said, sometimes readers come up with surprising and wonderful results like this year's second place winner for Best Local Comedy Group. Congratulations, Richmond City Council.
This morning's patron longread
We read the 4000-page IPCC climate report so you don’t have to
Submitted by Patron Susan. I have been wanting someone to read the 4000-page IPCC climate report so I didn't have to, and Quartz came through! I love the text visualizations in this piece, too.
The final Aug. 9 report is nearly 4,000 pages long. While much of it is written in inscrutable scientific jargon, if you want to understand the scientific case for man-made global warming, look no further. We’ve reviewed the data, summarized the main points, and created an interactive graphic showing a “heat map” of scientists’ confidence in their conclusions. The terms describing statistical confidence range from very high confidence (a 9 out of 10 chance) to very low confidence (a 1 in 10 chance). Just hover over the graphic and click to see what they’ve written. Here’s your guide to the IPCC’s latest assessment.
If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.
