Good Morning, RVA: Coffee!

Thunderstorms and free coffee move in today to drown our bike race blues.

September 29, 2015; 7:05 AM • by Ross Catrow

Photo by: WINTER BIRDS OF SWEDEN

Good morning, RVA! It’s 73 °F at the moment, and highs today should hit the low-80s. This afternoon and evening we’ve got a real chance for thunderstorms, so locate your rain gear now or smell like a wet dog later! Your choice!

Water cooler

Last night City Council deferred a ton of items off of their mega agenda, but what remained passed without comment or conversation. This includes a funding request for the 29th Street bike-walk street and funding for a new Bank Street / Franklin Street bike lane. Bike stuff moving forward post-Big Bike Race™!

Richmond Public Schools has decided to close Armstrong High School today due to “mechanical issues within the air conditioning systems.” With highs in the 80s, those kids would eventually start to cook in their own juices, which no one wants to see (or smell). Since a bunch of students count on school as a place to get lunch, Armstrong will provide grab-and-go lunches between 11:30 AM and 12:30 PM. HVAC improvements were over $19 million of the $35 million in funds for school facilities the Board originally requested from the mayor.

Karri Peifer at the RTD talks to some restaurant owners about doing business during the Big Bike Race™. A generally positive report, turns out.

Speaking of, if you read one Big Bike Race™ think piece, let it be this one by Susan Howson. I will entice you with the following perfect quote, “But I think that moving forward, we will understand a little better that the big cities, the hardier cities, the ones who get more fun things to do-they’re all used to this sort of thing. We show our provinciality by moaning and groaning. We will stay small if we think small.”

Today is “National Coffee Day” and many places have deals for free coffee. WRIC rounds them all up for you here. I’m snobby about my coffee, but free is free!

Governor McAuliffe sent out a release yesterday saying that he would not intervene in Thrusday’s execution of Alfredo Prieto who has been convicted of rape and double homicide. This will be Virginia’s 111th execution since the reinstitution of capital punishment in 1982 and the first under McAuliffe.

The MacArthur Foundation announced the winners of their 2015 genius grants, and it totally includes a puppetry artist!

Sports!

• Nats took one from the Reds last night, 5-1. They’ll start a series with the Braves tonight at 7:10 PM.

This morning’s longread

An illustrated history of papal transport, from horse-drawn carriages to the bulletproof popemobile

Popemobiles!

In 1800, Pope Pius VII assumed leadership of the Catholic Church in an unprecedented way — he rolled there. For the first time in the history of the church, the pope-elect came by carriage, not on horseback, to Vatican City. Since then, popes have employed all sorts of four-wheeled vehicles to get from place to place.

This morning’s Instagram

You did well last week, Richmond. #richmond2015

A photo posted by Brian Beard (@brianwbeard) on Sep 28, 2015 at 2:22pm PDT

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September 29, 2015 7:05 AM 0