Good Morning, RVA: Triple digits!

Today’s the edge case your thermometer has prepared for all year.

June 23, 2015; 7:06 AM • by Ross Catrow

Photo by: bark

Good morning, RVA! It’s 77 °F and today’s highs could bust into the triple digits. If that’s not severe enough for you, this evening brings with it yet another chance for severe thunderstorms. It looks like most of the risk is north of the city, but it’s definitely something to keep an eye on.

P.S. Sticky Rice has dollar PBRs when the temperature is over 100 °F.

Water cooler

School board met last night to discuss “leveling,” which sounds a lot like the reaping from The Hunger Games. This process redistributes teachers across the school system to help lower class sizes without increasing spending. You can imagine that schools, students, and parents, that lose teachers and programs feel differently than those that gain teachers and programs. Last week, School Board punted on a leveling decision when faced with a group of vocal Open High students–they’re losing teachers and possibly programs. This week School Board decided to move forward, and the RTD’s Katy Burnell Evans has the details.

Council also met last night and continued the decision on renaming City Hall to L. Douglas Wilder City Hall. I also hear tell of an attempt to change the City’s zoning laws to allow for Airbnb rentals ahead of the Big Bike Race™. Councilman Baliles says they’re “expediting it and holding special meetings to try and get it in place before the race.”

I enjoyed this meditation on bacon and chocolate from Style Weekly’s Brandon Fox.

Two Confederate battle flag updates: First, the governor of South Carolina and many other politicians from both the Left and the Right have called for that state’s legislative body to remove the flag from the State House building. Second, Walmart will stop selling Confederate flag merchandise. And don’t forget, Mississippi’s official state flag contains the Confederate battle flag, which the state reaffirmed in 2001, and Georgia has a sneaky flag which is basically just the stars and bars plus a hard-to-read seal.

Sports!

• Squirrels fell to New Britain, 3-7. They’ll sally forth against Trenton tonight at 6:35 PM. Get your tickets now (assuming the weather holds).
• Nats host the Braves in a three-game series that begins tonight at 7:05 PM.
• USA defeated Colombia, 2-0, in the Women’s World Cup. The team advances but Lauren Holiday and Megan Rapinoe both collected their second yellow cards and will not play in Friday’s game against China.

What to expect

• It’s week four of 1708 Gallery’s ultra-neat 10 x 10 program
• A giant list of summer reading suggestions for your kids, provided by a real, live librarian
• The arts district is a real, live place downtown

This morning’s longread

Basic parenting gets fathers a gold star, and other things I learned on paternity leave

Your mileage may differ on this one. Introverts, in particular, would probably hate walking around with a baby. But personally, I turned out to really enjoy lots of low-pressure chitchat with strangers.

Ugh, low-pressure chitchat is the worst.

This morning’s Instagram

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June 23, 2015 7:06 AM 0