Good morning, RVA! It's 61 °F, and later today you can expect almost summery highs in the mid 70s. After some clouds / flog / maybe-even-a-few-sprinkles burn off this morning, we should have one heck of a beautiful day lined up ahead of us. I hope you can find the time to get out there and enjoy it.
Water cooler
Ben Paviour at VPM reports on the continuing issues with Governor Youngkin’s Department of Elections and the “additional 149,000 voter registration records that were affected by an IT glitch over the summer.” This is in addition to the 107,000 registration records impacted by the same issue last month; 175,000 ballots sent to the wrong addresses; and 60,000 that had incorrect information on them. That’s not great! If you’ve recently registered to vote or changed your address, you need to check your voter registration status online today. If something’s gone amiss you can still take advantage of Virginia’s new same-day voter registration law next week, but you’ll want to know your situation before heading to the polls.
With Halloween behind us, we’re now moving into early pre-General Assembly season—when we start seeing reporting on what sort of bills our elected legislators plan on introducing. We’ve got two of those stories today, both in the Richmond Times-Dispatch: The first, by David Ress, about Sen. Locke’s attempts to amend the Virginia Constitution and automatically restore voting rights to people convicted of felonies; and the second by, Charlotte Rene Woods, about Sen. Chase’s plans to introduce a total abortion ban. Virginia and Kentucky are the only two states that permanently prevent someone convicted of a felony from voting—at least unless the Governor decides to restore their rights. Anyway, it’s important to remember that these are early stories and none of the legislation discussed is a done deal. In fact, I don’t really think either of these two examples has a hope of passing this during the 2023 session. That all changes in 2024, though, with each and every seat is up for reelection a year from now. If you don’t typically vote in off-cycle elections, look again at the two aforelinked bills. If Republicans win control of the Senate while Governor Youngkin is still around, Virginia will almost certainly join states across the country in completely banning abortion.
Michael Schwartz at Richmond BizSense reports some important and delicious news: Mama J’s will open up a market in the nearby (and former) Salt & Forge location. Schwartz says the new spot will focus on “grab-and-go bulk orders, such as full trays of mac-and-cheese or candied yams that would be kept refrigerated in the shop and warmed up at home.” Sounds like dinner to me! The Mama J’s team has plans to expand in a couple other ways, too, and I think the short discussion at the end of the article—about returning from the pandemic, facing inflation, and looking ahead to a potential recession—is worth reading.
How much do people who live on Hanover Avenue spend on Halloween candy? Ned Oliver at AXIOS Richmond has the answer! With a little back-of-the-napkin math, Oliver estimates that, combined, folks spend upwards of $40,000 on candy each year. Amazing!
I’m still looking for a great set of photos from this past weekend’s Zombie Walk, but, until I find it, here’s a handful of pictures via RVA Mag from Halloween celebrations all over town.
This morning's longread
The Quiet Mysticism of Almanacs
I enjoyed this thoughtful bit of writing about almanacs and now kind of want to get into reading old, local almanacs, too?
Almanacs force the kind of surrender that comes naturally to a child in the woods. Paging through the almanac, readers must accept things as they come. The reward is a wonderfully freeing randomness: in this year’s almanac, I read about how to plant trees from clippings; learned that Duluth, Minnesota, is famous for “hawk watches”; and prepared for the “full flower moon.” Even the advertisements delight me: at what other one-stop shop could I purchase artisanal sausages, collectors’ nickels from 1935, and a product called “chicken soup for the soil”? I float along the pages, learning things I’ll likely never use — or things that are so obvious as to be useless. This year’s Old Farmer’s Almanac spent an entire section breaking down the pros and cons of owning different species of pets (in case you didn’t know, dogs are friendly but chew shoes sometimes, and cats are cute but independent). That’s part of the charm, too: the almanac doesn’t take itself too seriously.
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Picture of the Day
Leafs!
