Good Morning, RVA: Goodbye, fundraising, libraries, and primaries.

Sad news, but life (and Good Morning, RVA) goes on!

June 7, 2016; 7:11 AM • by Ross Catrow

Photo by: 2nified

Good morning, RVA! It’s 71 °F, and the majestic heat and humidity continue! Throughout the day there’s a small chance of rain to which I turn up my nose. Patios and porches and happy hours for all!

Water cooler

Big news in both Richmond’s media landscape and the landscape of my life: This Friday, I’ll be shutting down RVANews. If you want, you can read my weepy thoughts on the whole thing. While you’re there, take some time to read through all those comments, because dang! The outpouring of support has been amazing and surprisingly life-affirming. Thanks Richmond, y’all are great. Oh! Also! Good news for readers of Good Morning, RVA: This column will continue on, because, as Marie Kondo says, it sparks joy.

While I was busy weeping, Ned Oliver was busy stalking the Virginia Public Access Project updates to Richmond’s mayoral fundraising totals. Keep in mind this is money raised and spent between April 1st and June 2nd. There are several more financial reporting deadlines ahead of us, so this is definitely not the final picture. It’s also not even a great initial picture as totals are missing for a bunch of candidates that have probably raised at least some cash. While we wait for more info to trickle in, let’s sit and stare in awe at the $303,641 raised by Levar Stoney in the first reporting period. To put that in context: Mayor Jones spent $314,499 in all of 2012 (running unopposed, of course)! Mayoral candidates in 2008 spent between $400,000 – $500,000, and Wilder spent $277,897 in 2004. What all that means, I think, is that Stoney has taken Richmond’s mayoral race to the next level. Half a million bucks might no longer be enough to get it done. I guess we will have to wait until November to see if that’s a good thing or not?

Last night, School Board made the first steps towards a regional computer science high school, and Louis Llovio has all the details. Check out CodeRVA’s website and prepare to be fascinated by the concept.

Yes! Libraries serving meals to kids over the summer! Food insecurity is a big freaking deal in our region, and schools do a lot of the heavy lifting to make sure children get fed throughout the year. But once dumb ol’ summer hits, a lot of that insecurity gets even more insecure. Libraries seem like a logical place to fill some of that gap. Although, I would love to hear some thoughts from actual librarians about pushing libraries to become more community hubs and less shelves of books.

Speaking of libraries, Valerie Catrow fell in love with Henrico’s newest (and beautifulest) library.

I feel weird about beauty pageants–is that even what they’re called? Regardless, I did want to point out that Miss USA 2016 Deshauna Barber is a VSU grad. Remember, too, that Miss America 2010 Caressa Cameron was a VCU grad. Central Virginia: Hotbed of American beauty pageant titleholders.

Ugh. I realize this Vox article does a shallow, cherry-picking job talking about the media’s racial double standards, but ugh nonetheless.

Californians (and folks from a few other states) head to the polls today to pretty much close out the 2016 primary season. The Republicans will have their convention on July 18-21 and the Democrats on July 25-28.

Sports!

• Squirrels kick off their away series against New Hampshire tonight at 7:05 PM.
• Nats and White Sox begin their work at 8:10 PM.

This morning’s longread

Louisiana Refuses to Budget for Public Defenders

Read this over the weekend and have thought about it at least once an hour since then.

Statewide, public defenders represent more than 85 percent of those who pass through the criminal courts, many of them black and uneducated. Without public defenders available, pretrial detainees awaiting representation will clog the jails, judges will be unable to clear dockets, detention costs will rise, and the state will sink, eventually, into a constitutional crisis for failure to provide adequate counsel.

This morning’s Instagram

https://instagram.com/p/BGUwDj8pvQ9/

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June 7, 2016 7:11 AM 1