The River City Half Marathon, Waterfront Towers, and a Bill to Limit Screen Time
Cheers RVA!
Today will begin mostly cloudy with skies clearing up in the afternoon, with a high of 56 and a low of 43, and steady wind. The weekend looks similar with highs around 60 and slightly colder evenings.
the juice:
The Richmond City half-marathon and 10k takes place tomorrow morning, beginning and ending at the University of Richmond campus and traversing Huguenot and Nickel Bridge.
Road closures and no parking zones begin early Saturday morning and end at 1:00 pm. View the individual times for various road closures here.
John from South Richmond News encourages folk to not only come out and cheer on the runners, but to enjoy the Nickel bridge vehicle-free from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm.
the pulp:
Construction of two towers along the river in Manchester is set to move forward after Avery Hall Investments announced it had secured financing, according to Mike Platania at Bizsense. The 16-story and 17-story buildings will include 550 apartment units and a four-story parking deck connecting the two towers at the site just north of Legend Brewing Company's taproom.
The Richmond Renaissance Fair Fundraiser takes place from 5:00 - 11:00 pm at Gallery 5. The mini-fest fundraising event is free to attend and will support the first annual multi-day event planned for next year.
image via Richmond Renaissance Fair on FB
the dive:
The Family Online Safety Institute is urging Governor Youngkin to amend a bill that would limit screen time for those under the age of 16 to include regulation of age-appropriate experiences on apps as well, via WRIC. The current bill reads:
Requires that any controller or processor that operates a social media platform shall (i) use commercially reasonable methods, such as a neutral age screen mechanism, to determine whether a user is a minor younger than 16 years of age and (ii) limit any such minor's use of such social media platform to one hour per day, per service or application, and allow a parent to give verifiable parental consent to increase or decrease the daily time limit. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2026.
The author of the bill, State Senator Schuyler VanValkenburg (D-Henrico) would like the bill to stay as written, noting the bill was crafted to avoid legal challenges for violating the First Amendment.
While a number of states have passed laws protecting data collection of minors and outlining best practices of phone use in schools, no state currently limits the amount of time minors can engage with social media apps.
Utah does require parental consent for social media app use and has a curfew where minors can not use such apps from 10:30 pm to 6:30 am.
Read the full article here.
the vibe:
Have a great day RVA!
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