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May 8, 2025

Actual Accountability, a Tool Rental Startup, and the Ivy Return

Cheers RVA!

Today will be partly cloudy with a high of 81 and a low of 61. Intermittent showers are possible in the late evening, with a slight chance of a thunderstorm in spots.

the juice:

The Virginia High School League’s executive committee ratified legislation that limits participants in girl’s sports to students assigned female at birth, according to Chris Gionta at The Daily Progress.

The VHSL initially planned to keep its current policy (which follows state law) of allowing participants to compete on teams that match their gender identity, but later moved to comply with an executive order issued on February 7th, after the NCAA changed its transgender policy the same day.

Trans boys will not be affected by the policy and will still be allowed to compete.

The VHSL is an association comprising 318 member schools with more than 177k students participating in sports.

the pulp:

  • Jon Baliles offers an opinion on the steps Richmond could take to build a culture of actual accountability at city hall, via RVAMag. Baliles writes:

Sheila White has been the director since Mayor Stoney put her in charge four years ago and it has been one deluge after another of mistakes and stories from the meals tax fiasco, to 66,000 personal property tax bills sent in error, and now the inability to issue one-time real estate rebate checks (they even mailed 156 checks to addresses that don’t exist). There have been stories about poor work conditions, lack of training, et al, but former Mayor Stoney maintained last summer the department was in great shape and running like a Swiss watch. 

  • A Church Hill resident has launched a tool rental startup, via Bizsense. Greg Venditti has started Raven Smith Tool Supply, after recently building a front deck for his house, and realizing he had borrowed many of the tools he needed from his neighbors. The company provides delivery of a variety of power tools for an additional fee.

  • The Richmond Ivy, the only women’s pre-professional soccer team in town, begins their season this Saturday at City Stadium with kickoff at 6:00 pm. Last year’s inaugural season-opener was sold out with over 6k fans attending.

the dive:

The staff at the Richmonder has created a series of charts and graphs across a variety of topics, including recent population growth in Richmond and the surrounding counties (Richmond grew 2.8% in a four-year period while Chesterfield grew 8.3%), median home prices, and household income relative to riding the Pulse vs local buses.

Road improvement, reading scores, and rules regarding city employee residency are also included.

Check out the data here.

the vibe:

Have a pensive day RVA!

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