Good morning, RVA! It's 68 °F, and cooler weather arrives this afternoon! You can expect highs in the upper 80s, but then, at some point after lunch, a cold front moves through dropping temperatures and maybe even dropping some rain (finally). Tomorrow, and for the foreseeable future, you can expect temperatures mostly in the exceedingly temperate 70s.
Water cooler
VPM's Whittney Evans and Megan Pauly talked to a law professor and a couple legislators about the enforceability of the Governor’s new anti-trans policies for public schools. Unsurprisingly, it doesn't seem like the Governor has the authority to make these changes in policy without some sort of action by the General Assembly, an ongoing theme with this administration. I liked this quote from Del. Marcus Simon from Fairfax: "There’s a whole bunch of things that are wrong with the way this was done, but I think that’s mostly because the governor isn’t interested in the policy here."
Jonathan Spiers at Richmond BizSense explains why there’s been an item about Virginia Union University’s tower signage floating around on various City Council agendas for a while now. Apparently, the signs went up without approval (signage is zoning!), and they may run afoul of the Commission of Architectural Review and historic preservation guidelines. Money can solve a lot of problems, though: "A nearly finalized agreement with the state Board of Historic Resources to allow the signage to remain in place includes an annual payment of $35,000 that VUU would be required to pay every year that the signs remain up, among other provisions." The light-up signs seem fine to me—it is a college campus after all.
The RPS Lit Limo is back! Rising like a phoenix from the literal ashes of a fire at the Richmond Public Schools bus depot back in June, the District's library on wheels is back delivering free books to kids across the city. Rob Cardwell at WTVR has a bit more, and you can find a map of Lit Limo stops over on the RPS website.
AXIOS Richmond's Ned Oliver shows why he's one of my favorite Richmond reporters with this fun story about very cold martinis. "And that's how I found myself alone with my thermometer at the bar at Blue Habanero, where I had recently been served a frozen margarita that was so cold it gave me brain freeze for the first time since I was like 10." I think about Oliver’s story on the goldfish living in the VMFA pond kind of a lot.
Quick reminder: The Richmond Police Department will host their final in-person Conversation With the Chief tonight at 6:30 PM at Barack Obama Elementary School. This meeting is, technically, for 4th Precinct Residents. After tonight, the RPD will host a (truly final) telephone town hall this coming Tuesday, September 27th. So far, the format for these seems pretty set: Questions are submitted in writing by attendees, the Chief answers them, and there's not really a chance for follow-ups or clarifications from residents. The police have hosted a handful of these sessions over the last two weeks, and I'm not sure they've done much in terms of "building community"—the intended outcome. We'll see if the RPD feels like it's now done enough to rebuild community trust in the wake of their Alleged 4th of July Plot, or if they'll commit to more of this work in the coming months. I vote for the latter.
Today, from 12:00–1:00 PM, RVA Rapid Transit will host a virtual Transit Talk featuring GRTC's Chief of Transit Operations Tim Barham and Director of Communications & Marketing Mike Frontiero. They'll discuss the current bus operator shortage, how to fix it, and what expansions of the bus system are possible with a full-strength roster of operators. Just yesterday I wrote about Chesterfield adding a new bus line out past Chesterfield Towne Center—so the demand for more buses definitely exists! But, without plenty of operators, you'll have a hard time maintaining existing routes (just scroll through GRTC’s Twitter to see the number of buses not in service on the regular), let alone launching new ones.
If you love the Capital Trail so much that you wish tending and caring for it were your job, well, you're in luck! The Virginia Capital Trail Foundation is looking to hire a full-time Program and Trail Manager. Seems like a cool job for the right trail-oriented person. You've got until September 28th to apply or share widely with your networks.
This morning's longread
No One Knows What a Slushie Is
I admit it! I, too, did not know the difference between a slushie (which autocorrect desperately wants to be spelled "slushee"), and icee, or a slurpee. Now I do!
Now I am enlightened. If you’ve ever been enthralled by one slushie and disappointed by another, it’s probably because you may be keying into qualities of which you’re not aware: carbonation, expansion, density, flavor intensity. But Big Slushie doesn’t really care whether you understand these differences, because Big Slushie doesn’t care about your needs. It exists to help convenience stores, food chains, and event providers maximize profit margins for impulse purchases, while framing those purchases to you, the slurper, as nostalgic memories of childhood delight. This is a difficult truth, and you may regret your loss of innocence in its pursuit.
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