Good Morning, RVA: RVANews Live, Zika, Double Dutch, and Roots

Mixed bag of weather today—but better than a homogenous rain bag.

May 31, 2016; 7:11 AM • by Ross Catrow

Photo by: Sunny_mjx

Good morning, RVA! It’s 68 °F, and today we’re in for all sorts of weather. Early on we should see the sun peak through the clouds, then maybe some rain after lunch, and then clear skies again before everything wraps up for the day. Highs in the mid 80s though, so that’s nice.

Water cooler

People! Tomorrow we host RVANews Live #007: The State of Education in Richmond at the wonderful Coalition Theater. It will be an excellent night of conversations and Q&As with teachers, advocates, and even a school board member. We are very excited. Tickets are $15 and you can get them right now.

Teresa Cole, who you may remember from our EDU FAQ series and who you can totally meet and hangout with at the aforementioned RVANews Live, drops some education knowledge and context for WRIC. She nails one of the core issue facing Richmond Public Schools: the School Board is going to have to “make tough decisions that may be unfavorable to white and/or affluent families in the city, such as those who use Holton, Fox, and Munford…” Read more in her absolutely brutal EDU FAQ #006.

The state is taking the threat of Zika pretty seriously, according to this article on Roanoke.com. They’ve spent $700,000 of federal money on prevention kits (that include condoms!) and are trying to “determine if they have an ordinance that allows officials to enter private property to look for mosquito breeding grounds.” That last thing sounds intense and controversial! But I tell you what, I’m going to do a loop around my yard this morning looking for mosquito-sheltering containers of standing water: “If you are bitten in your yard by a mosquito, there’s a 95 percent chance it is an Asian tiger and that it came from a container in your yard or your neighbor’s yard. They do not come from anything but containers.”

I don’t think my brain groks how Double Dutch works. Seriously, watch the video in this Richmond Magazine piece by Tina Griego, and tell me that makes sense within your understanding of the laws of physics.

Dang teens, with their Hulk-like strength!

Brent Baldwin has a surprisingly long and charming interview with Steven Glover aka Steve-O from Jackass. The later is in town at the Funny Bone June 2nd – 5th.

Bernies! Vox has a list of folks running for congressional seats that match up with the Vermont senator’s lefty vibe and are trying to create a “Bernie Congress”. This is super interesting. When was the last time a presidential candidate who didn’t get the bid inspired a platform for other folks to run on?

The Roots remake started last night and will continue to air over the next couple of days–with part two showing tonight. If you missed it, you can catch part one over on the History Channel’s website.

Sports!

• Since we last spoke, the Squirrels won a few and lost a few. Tonight they return home to face Bowie at 6:35 PM. Welcome back! (Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back).
• Nats take on the Phillies tonight at 7:05 PM. They’re up 1-0 in the series.

This morning’s longread

Everybody Loves Walter

An amateur bird watcher, he saw right away the place was special – it had least terns, one of several endangered species of shorebirds that shelter in the area. “Oh, I like this!” he thought, and returned day after day during breaks from his security guard job toting his binoculars. Later, after a series of layoffs left him out of work, he spent all his time there, watching for birds and keeping copious notes about what he saw. His records became prized by city officials and environmentalists. At one point, the nearby Navy air base even used them for flight planning to prevent bird strikes. When Fuller became homeless, the city brought in a shipping container, strung it with fluorescent lights and plopped it down by the parking lot.

This morning’s Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/p/BGC1qimxtyR/

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May 31, 2016 7:11 AM 2