Good Morning, RVA: Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes?

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

March 17, 2016; 7:08 AM • by Ross Catrow

Photo by: Shreyans Bhansali

Good morning, RVA! It’s 56 °F, and today’s highs are totally not in the 80s. They’re in the mid 70s though, so that’s still great. We’ve got a couple more days of fantastic spring weather until temperatures start to drop–ending with…a chance of snow this weekend?

Water cooler

It is St. Patrick’s Day. A couple of things, 1) Don’t pinch anyone…ever, 2) Erin go Bragh is often translated as “Ireland Forever,” 3) I’m into today’s Google Doodle, 4) If you’d like to drive out snakes, the Richmond Reptile Expo is this Saturday, and 5) Guinness has just a few more calories than your standard light beer and has an ABV of less than 5%–aka perfect lunch beer.

In the current climate of “GAHHHHHH SCHOOLS.”, this piece by Kelly Gerow, is a refreshing balm. While not everyone’s experience with Richmond Public Schools will be smooth and breezy, it’s also true that each and every day in the life of a public school family isn’t a scene from Fight Club.

Today, Ned Oliver and Katy Burnell Evans bring us a small update to the mayor’s ongoing Church Sitch. Depending on how you read this article (or depending on the depth of your knowledge of how our legal system works), you’ll either think this is a Big Deal™ or Barely News™. I’m leaning towards the latter but am starting to feel like the former is just down the road a piece.

Maybe we should all drop whatever we’re doing and become mentors at the Peter Paul Development Center? Susan Howson makes a strong case for doing just that.

It’s hard for me to read these articles about Westhampton redevelopment, but read them I must. RIP best theater in town, RIP. But it’s not just folks who are overly nostalgic about old theaters who have feelings about this project; The RTD’s Carol Hazard talks to The Continental’s Johnny Giavos about the construction that’s soon to encircle him. Fear not Johnny, no amount of construction will stand between me and the Continental’s Cone of Dirty Chips.

President Obama has nominated Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court. The Senate will probably do their best to fart around and avoid voting Garland in or out–even though, just last week, Republican Senator Orrin Hatch said these exact words: “The president told me several times he’s going to name a moderate [to fill the court vacancy], but I don’t believe him. [Obama] could easily name Merrick Garland, who is a fine man. He probably won’t do that because this appointment is about the election. So I’m pretty sure he’ll name someone the [liberal Democratic base] wants.” More from Vox.

Sports!

The true-blue NCAA Tournament begins today at 12:15 PM. Let the sanctioned watching of sports at work begin!

• #3 Hokies survived #6 Princeton in overtime, 86-81. They’ll travel to Provo, Utah to take on #2 BYU on Friday at 9:30 PM.
• #1 Wahoos open tournament play against #16 Hampton at 3:10 PM on truTV.

This morning’s longread

We caused the Metro shutdown when we decided to let our cities decay

Yesterday, all of the D.C. metro system shut down for the entire day for “emergency inspections.” This piece points out why while filling me with sadness.

It isn’t, of course, just the Metro system. As you walk the city today, take note of the urban landscape — the broken benches, crumbling curbs, rusting light posts. If you drive, suffer the pot holes one by one, cross your fingers and hope you’re not on one of the country’s more than 70,000 structurally deficient bridges, and remember: We made this landscape, through neglect and dysfunction. It represents our loss of faith in ourselves, our contempt for beauty and, ultimately, our anger and our pessimism.

This morning’s Instagram

https://instagram.com/p/BDCX7UrS2xz/

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March 17, 2016 7:08 AM 0