Good morning, RVA! It's 54 °F, and last night’s rain brought with it some cooler vibes. Today, you can expect highs in the mid 60s, and then, tomorrow, even chillier temperatures when overnight lows could dip towards freezing. Worry not, though: Warmer weather returns early next week—possibly for good!
Water cooler
Last night, the Republican-dominated Tennessee House of Representatives voted to expel two of its members, Representatives Justin Jones and Justin Pearson. The two legislators, both young Black men, led protests against gun violence following the recent Covenant School shooting. A third legislator who also joined the protests, Gloria Johnson, a white woman, kept her seat with a single-vote margin. This morning there will be lots of news and videos and tweets and takes to read about this blatant and anti-democratic step taken by Republicans, but I think you should start with these three videos (all from Twitter, unfortunately):
- If you only want to watch one single thing about last night, make it this speech by Rep. Pearson following his expulsion. It feels historic.
- I think Rep. Jones gets it completely right in his speech immediately preceding his own expulsion: By removing these legislators, Republicans have galvanized folks into sustained action against them and their idolatrous worship of guns.
- When asked why she alone was able to keep her seat, Rep. Johnson says “it might have to do with the color of our skin.”
As for what happens next, regional legislative bodies will appoint interim legislators and special elections will follow. Both representatives could possibly be reappointed as those interim legislators and could also run in those special elections.
Removing democratically elected legislators to punish them for peaceful protest—protests advocating for the safety of children!—feels like a bridge too far and a stupid one for Republicans to cross. Unfortunately, I’ve thought that dozens of times before over the last couple of decades, and, in that time, we’ve only continued to rush headlong into building a society full of guns, fear, and death.
VPM’s Dave Cantor reports that, back in our own General Assembly here in Virginia, Sen. Emmett Hanger has announced that he will not seek reelection. That brings the total number of folks stepping down/aside/finding something a lot less stressful to do with their time to 28—a full 20% of the body! Some of that turnover is retirement, but some of it is due to the redistricting which drew legislators out of their comfy, familiar districts and into another district which maybe already had a strong candidate. Either way, all of that turnover means come January we’ll have a ton of new vibes in the GA and advocates will need to quickly build a ton of relationships with the new legislators. It’s exciting but definitely chaotic and stressful.
Axios Richmond’s Karri Peifer sat down with Dr. Scientist Jeremy Hoffman to talk about something very important to my own life: How climate change will impact Richmond’s spring gardening season. Earlier and warmer springs mean we’ll all need to rethink our early-season gardening strategies and learn what will thrive in Richmond’s new, hotter climate. To that end, Peifer links to these cool (hot?) maps from the USDA, including one with a slider that lets you toggle Plant Hardiness Zones before and after 50 years of climate change. “By 2070, Richmond will likely be in zone 8, per USDA's prediction, which is the zone that today includes South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi.” Yikes. Fewer radishes and more tomatoes, I guess.
Via /r/rva, a picture of a groundhog waaaay up in a tree. How’d you get up there, guy??
The Richmond Night Market kicks off their fifth season tomorrow, April 8th, down at the 17th Street Market from 5:00 – 9:00 PM. Stop by, bring a flannel, and check out vendors, DJs, art, food, and all sorts of interesting stuff. The Night Market takes place every second Saturday from now until December, so you’ve got plenty of opportunities to stop by if you can’t make this weekend work.
This morning's longread
How Cookie Jars Capture American Kitsch
The longreads have been a little intense lately, so here’s one about cookie jars. They’re cute, they remind people of their childhoods, and you can put all kinds of stuff in them—not just cookies! Read this piece and let the soothing decorative ceramic vibes wash over you and carry you into the weekend.
The joy of cookie jars, for many, is finding a jar that feels perfectly suited to one’s own personal taste or identity. In this hunt, the world of vintage cookie jars offers near infinite options. In Chicago, pastry chef Mindy Segal remains smitten with a vintage 1940s ceramic cookie jar that she’s had for decades. “I call him Chef,” says Segal, coauthor of the cookbook Cookie Love. “I’ve had him since I was in my 20s and it was my first major purchase into the vintage world. I love him and will never get rid of him. He’s like my guy.” Chef dons a stiff white chef’s hat and he has been dubbed guardian of dog treats. Recently, Segal bought a second cookie jar, which lives in her popular Mindy’s Bakery. “I put pretzels in it and sometimes I put candy in it. I don’t put cookies in it,” she says.
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Picture of the Day
Beachside construction.
