Good morning, RVA! It's 39 °F, but, after this morning begins a stretch of beautiful weather. Today you can expect sunny highs in the mid 70s and even warmer temperatures over the next five days. With overnight lows in the mid 50s for the next bunch of days, I think it might be a good time to get some plants in the ground!
Water cooler
Richmond’s Interim Police Chief Rick Edwards has launched a new policy to provide “Critical Incident Briefings” to the public after every fatal officer-involved shooting. These briefings will include video and photographic evidence—body-worn cameras, surveillance footage, and crime scene photography—and will be “released to the public within two weeks of the incident(s), unless the Chief determines that a delay is needed to address investigative, prosecutorial, or privacy concerns.” This seems good, and I continue to be impressed with the tone coming out of Interim Chief Edward’s RPD. Of course, it hasn’t been that long since Edwards took over, and he’s yet to come up against an extremely public test of his leadership—but maybe that’s of his own doing. I mean, so far at least, he hasn’t set up an entire press conference to lie about a mass shooting plot. NBC12 reports that Edwards has officially applied to be the actual police chief, so there’s a chance that we’ll see more of him in the future.
Yesterday, City Council announced that they’ve appointed Laura K. Drewry as the new Richmond City Attorney. Drewry is an internal hire, and has worked with the Attorney’s office since 2006. I know absolutely nothing about her but am really interested to catch her vibe once she’s forced to make that first public decision on a complex and stressful topic. Lucky for her, we’re in a much better place than we were a while back when it comes to the relationships between the Mayor and City Council. I don’t see them getting into a disagreement that requires the Attorney to resolve (at least not in the immediate future). If I did have to guess where Drewery will need to weigh in, I’d probably pick some future School Board drama—something to do with the Arthur Ashe Center or building new schools, places where the division of authority between the Board and Council gets a bit fuzzy. Not a place I’d want to find myself, but congrats and good luck!
As expected, yesterday City Council declared a housing crisis by passing RES. 2023-R019. Not a ton of new things happen now that the resolution has passed, but it is something advocates can point to when working for other more concrete policies. Also, I can’t stop thinking about this.
Karen Newton at Style Weekly has a nice profile of Leland Melvin, UR graduate, NFL alum, and a real, live astronaut. Definitely a person that should inspire you about what’s possible, but maybe don’t compare yourself to him directly, because, dang.
Axios Richmond pointed me to this story about Buckingham County’s Republican-controlled Electoral Board harassing the county’s registrar to the point where that entire office up and quit. From the article: “The four departures left residents without a functioning registrar's office; there was no way to register to vote or certify candidate paperwork, at least temporarily.“ This terrifies me because, technically, the Board didn’t break any laws and there’s no real recourse available to the citizens of Buckingham County. The Republican members of the board just acted like a bunch of inane jerks and, as a result, critical public servants resigned leaving the government in a nonfunctional state. This sort of thing is happening in local and state government agencies across the commonwealth—party-nominated Republicans are intentionally and successfully breaking the bones of our governmental structures. It’s bad, bad stuff.
Last night, the Nashville Council unanimously voted to reappoint Rep. Justin Jones after the Tennessee General Assembly expelled him for leading a protest against gun violence. The other member expelled by Republicans, Rep. Justin Pearson, could be reappointed by the Shelby County Board of Commissioners tomorrow.
This morning's longread
The Gambler Who Beat Roulette
I love stories about people who solve gambling—especially when it’s through a mix of weird brain skills and brute-force practice.
Then there was the win rate. Tosa’s crew didn’t hit the right number on every spin, but they did as often as not, in streaks that defied logic: eight in a row, or 10, or 13. Even with a dozen chips on the table at a total cost of £1,200 (about $2,200 at the time), the 35:1 payout meant they could more than double their money. Security staff watched nervously as their chip stack grew ever higher. Tosa and the Serbian, who did most of the gambling while their female companion ordered drinks, had started out with £30,000 and £60,000 worth of chips, respectively, and in no time both had broken six figures. Then they started to increase their bets, risking as much as £15,000 on a single spin. It was almost as if they could see the future.
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Picture of the Day
A classic bar bathroom.
