Good morning, RVA! It's 60 °F, and the damp weather continues. Expect highs in the 70s, a chance of rain kind of all over the place, and maybe even some thunderstorms. Similar vibes continue through the weekend, but I do hope you’ll find a sunbeam to curl up in at some point.
Water cooler
It’s Friday! That’s not my normal COVID-19 update day, but, for the first time since it’s debut, Henrico and Chesterfield’s COVID-19 Community Level has switched from low to medium (aka green to yellow). Richmond’s level is, technically, still low, but so very on the cusp as to be functionally medium. The 7-day case rates per 100,000 people in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield as of yesterday are: 193, 295, and 226 (with 200 being the threshold between low and medium). So what does this mean? Mostly that more disease is working its way through our communities. The CDC’s guidance between the low and medium levels doesn’t change a ton, but if you are or spend a lot of time with a high-risk individual, you might consider shifting your behavior a bit, wearing masks more, and being generally more thoughtful about your specific context and risk level. Are we headed for another coronapeak or just a taller coronaplateau? It’s hard to tell, but you should prepare yourself for either (or both)!
Best tweet of the week, via @GRTCPulse: “Red median lanes.” The City will close sections of Broad Street between 3rd and 195 for about a week (during off-peak hours!) to start putting down some pavement markings—“this includes preparations for Pulse lane paint.” Yes! Exciting!
If you want to see the gross display of testosterone rage that was Sen. Joe Morrissey’s argument with the producer of his own radio show, Twitter user Brandon Jarvis has pulled it from the digital ether. Unfortunately ironic that the rights of so many women rest on this man who’s clearly steeped in toxic masculinity. Even after reading the reporting on this altercation yesterday, watching it last night, and thinking on it this morning, I don’t have a great sense for which way Sen. Morrissey will vote on the General Assembly’s surely-impending abortion papers.
Whoa, big bike-scene news! Mike Platania at Richmond BizSense reports that Specialized, the huge international bike company, bought local bike shop Carytown Bicycle Co. Tap through and scroll down for a really interesting look, via Outpost’s Braden Govoni, into the bike industry as a whole after the pandemic bike boom.
Here’s a weird story from Olivia Jaquith at WRIC: The City fined a couple for failing to trim back bamboo growing on their property, citing the incredibly interesting “Weeds and other vegetation” section of Richmond’s code. Do you have “any grass, plant, bushes, weeds or any other vegetation 12 inches high or over, other than trees, shrubbery, agricultural plants, garden vegetables, flowers or ornamental plants” growing on your property?? You best not! Bamboo and bamboo-like plants (I’m looking at you, nandina) are invasive species and can grow out-of-control into alleys and sidewalks, blocking humans and City services, so I get it. Honestly, because I’m a grumpy old person, I’d like to get this bit of code enforced even more on properties with bushes and trees growing out into sidewalks—on City-owned properties, too!
VCU’s Spring Commencement, the Big Graduation, the Whole Black and Gold Burrito, is tomorrow, May 14th, from 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM. If you find yourself downtown, beware! Brunch spots will be booked, lunch spots stricken from the map, roads filled with drivers who’ve never once set tire on a city street before! It’ll be a mess—a charming mess, with families wandering around wide- and teary-eyed—but a mess nonetheless.
Finally, check out this awesome compare/contrast gif of an old image taken by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope and one of the calibration images taken by the new James Web Space Telescope. Incredible!
This morning's longread
What’s Behind America’s Shocking Baby-Formula Shortage?
What’s going on with this baby-formula shortage? The confluence of a lot of different things, turns out, and they’re all bad.
America’s baby-formula shortage has gone from curious inconvenience to full-blown national crisis. In many states, including Texas and Tennessee, more than half of formula is sold out in stores. Nationwide, 40 percent of formula is out of stock—a twentyfold increase since the first half of 2021. As parents have started to stockpile formula, retailers such as Walgreens, CVS, and Target have all moved to limit purchases. The everything shortage isn’t new. But rationing essentials for desperate parents? That’s a twisted turn in the story of American scarcity. Three factors are driving the U.S. baby-formula shortage: bacteria, a virus, and a trade policy.
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