A Swimming Advisory, Voter Disenfranchisement, and Porcupettes
Cheers RVA!
Today will be mostly sunny with a high of 88 and a low of 67.
the juice:
Parts of the James River are unsafe for swimming with E. coli counts higher than the safety threshold of 235 CFU/100mL due to the unusually high amount of rain in recent weeks.
Samples collected on Friday afternoon from Rockett’s Landing indicated levels of E. coli at more than 10x the safety threshold.
the pulp:
Richmond’s new CAO Odie Donald II answered questions on Monday regarding how he plans to address some of the challenges the city faces, via WWBT. Donald said:
It seemed like the piece that Richmond was missing was somebody who operationally can connect the dots from the desires of his citizenry and the vision of his leaders, chief local elected official. And so for me, I felt as if I was the person to help both of those parties connect and realize their vision. And when can citizens expect change? I think they should expect it from day one.
Voting has begun for the official dog of 804 Day, via styleweekly. The 804 Day music and community festival takes place on August 2nd in Shockoe Bottom.
Maymont has welcomed two new baby porcupines, called porcupettes, and is looking for help in naming one of them. Those who make a donation between now and August 17 will have an opportunity to submit a name suggestion, with voting to occur on social media and maymont.org.
the dive:
Markus Schmidt from the Mercury dives into two new motions in a federal lawsuit that could restore voting rights to those with felony convictions.
In Virginia those will felony convictions must petition the Governor to have their voting rights restored.
Schmidt notes the racial disparity in voter disenfranchisement:
According to the Sentencing Project, a national nonprofit advocating for sentencing reform, one in eight eligible Black voters in Virginia is disenfranchised — more than triple the national rate of one in 22. In 2020 alone, Virginia barred more than 190,000 Black citizens from voting due to felony convictions, the second-highest figure in the country.
Read the full article here.
the vibe:
Have an unclouded day RVA!
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