Good Morning, RVA: Bad news

Rough start to the week, you guys. At least it’s an unseasonably warm start.

November 24, 2014; 6:58 AM • by Ross Catrow

Photo by: sandy’s dad

Good morning, RVA! It’s 66 °F, and today’s high of 77 °F seems made up. What I further place in the “seems made up but is totally not” category is Wednesday’s chance of snow. No joke.

Water cooler

Over the weekend, Richmond’s Southside saw three fatal incidents–one the Richmond Police Department is calling a homicide investigation while the other remains a double “fatal shooting.” The homicide brings the number of murders in 2014 to 40 for the first time since 2010 (41).

Here’s a maybe sad thing in the RTD about the loss of farms and rural properties in Hanover to suburban sprawl. This brings to mind what Aaron Williams said in Day 98 of 100 Days to a Better RVA: “Instead of a poor city center surrounded by wealthy suburbs, a wealthy city center will be surrounded by a ring of poverty surrounded by a ring of wealthy exurbs.”

UVA President Theresa Sullivan has suspended all “all fraternal organizations and associated social activities until January 9th” in the wake of the Rolling Stone article. Student leaders will hold a press conference today at 10:00 AM.

The city of Ferguson still awaits the grand jury decision of whether or not to indict Darren Wilson. Meanwhile, their local gun shop has seen sales increase ten fold.

Sports!

• Wahoos (roundball) held off a tenacious George Washington to win 59-42.
• Hokies (roundball) fell on a last second layup to App State, 63-65.
• Spiders scored 80 in a win over High Point.
• Hokies (prolate spheroid) lost to a pitiful Wake Forest team and Wahoos (prolate spheroid) beat a decent Miami team. That sets up this Friday’s matchup in Blacksburg as the (sad) Battle for Bowl Eligibility.
• Caps couldn’t get it done against Buffalo, fall to 9-8-3.
• Washington moves to 3-8 with a loss to the 49ers.
• #15 Rams face #12 Villanova tonight at 7:00 PM on ESPN2.

This morning’s longread

How One California City Began Bringing Its Murder Rate Down–Without Cops

Different Richmond, similar problems.

Muccular and his co-workers at ONS tackle the problem of shootings and retaliatory murders with an approach that seems counterintuitive. While other cities are busy flooding high-crime areas with squads of armed police officers, who spend their days stopping, frisking and arresting young men for minor infractions, the ONS team seeks out high-risk Richmond residents–and offers them mentors and financial support.

I also can’t stop thinking about this: “Slutkin, as an epidemiologist examining homicide patterns in Chicago in the mid-1990s, noticed that violence was actually behaving like an infectious disease. The patterns of shootings conformed closely to those of an infectious outbreak, clustering in specific areas.”

This morning’s Instagram

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November 24, 2014 6:58 AM 2