Podcast appearances and mentions of david plunkett

Hey HFW, welcome to the 6 weeks of summer szn series. In this series I am having conversations with mums who are walking into this summer holidays with eyes wide open and juggling it all. First on the series we are joined by a fellow Highly Favoured Woman Chido Plunkett, mom of 2 boys, wife to head chef and business partner David Plunkett in their 2 businesses "Dachi's Restaurant To You and Food Without Thought. Chido and I discuss what inspired her to leave her fulltime job, start her business and how she and hubby juggle their business empire and their boys. To learn more about Chido and David - check them out www.dachis.co.uk By part of Highly Favoured Woman Community: Join the FB Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/highlyfavouredwomancommunity Work with me 1:1 Life Coaching https://calendly.com/hfwpodcast/1-1-lifecoachingdiscoverycall

Taleeb Noormohamed, Liberal MP; Michael Cooper, Conservative MP; Rachel Blaney, NDP MP; Ailish Campbell, Canadian Ambassador to the E.U.; Jonathan Wilkinson, Natural Resources Minister; Brian Gallant, former N.B. premier; Lisa Raitt, former Conservative Cabinet minister; Tom Mulcair, CTV News Political Analyst; Robert Benzie, the Toronto Star; Ben Rowswell, the Canadian International Council; and David Plunkett, former Canadian Ambassador to the E.U. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission President (Live Event).

There are 32 days left until the summer solstice which will mark the longest time this year that the rays of our star will soak our area of the planet with light and other forms of radiation. However, this is the first day of the year when temperature gauges on the Fahrenheit scale will come very close to triple digits. What will Charlottesville Community Engagement say about the matter in this May 20, 2022 edition of the program? Very little, but the host, Sean Tubbs, is sincere in wishing everyone well in the heat to come. On today’s program:A historical marker is unveiled at the Central Library in downtown Charlottesville to honor the legal battle to admit a Black man to the University of Virginia Law School Charlottesville City Council is briefed on efforts to get a handle on what property the city leases out and whether all of the tenants are paying their fair shareFifth District Republicans will meet tomorrow to select a nominee for the U.S. House of Representatives And work on a Regional Transit Vision will culminate next week in a long presentation to regional officials about what could happen if the area found a new mechanism for more funding for expanded transit Shout-out for an ACHS program on the Fields of Honor This year, the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society has been working with a group called the Fields of Honor to identify soldiers who were killed in action in the Second World War. Since February, ACHS researchers have helped locate several photographs of the fallen, including that of Private Clarence Edward McCauley who was tracked down through high school records. There are 18 remaining photographs to be found, and on Thursday, May 26 at 7 p.m. the ACHS will host Debbie Holloman and Sebastian Vonk of the Fields of Honor Foundation to talk about how you can take part in their volunteer efforts honoring the service and sacrifice of US WWII service members buried or memorialized at US war cemeteries in Europe. That’s Thursday, May 26, at 7 p.m. via Zoom or Facebook Live.Historical Marker unveiled at Central Library for crucial desegregation caseA crowd assembled yesterday afternoon at the intersection of East Market Street and 3rd Street NW in downtown Charlottesville to watch the unveiling of a historic marker to commemorate an important moment in the desegregation of education in Virginia. In 1950, Gregory Swanson applied to attend the University of Virginia School of Law, but he was denied a space because he was Black. He sued in federal court citing 14th Amendment rights to equal protection, and a three-panel judge heard arguments on September 5 that year. David Plunkett is the director of the Jefferson Madison Regional Library, and he noted the historic nature of the building that is the library system’s headquarters.“This building is formerly a federal building and home to the courtroom where Gregory Swanson won his legal petition for entry into the University of Virginia law school,” Plunkett said.     Plunkett said Swanson’s case was part of the NAACP’s legal strategy to challenge the system of desegregation. “While the law school had admitted Mr. Swanson on his merit, with the support of staff including Mortimer Caplin, the Board of University Board of Visitors subsequently denied his admittance based on his skin color,” Plunkett said. “The case tried here overturned that ruling and helped lead to the desegregation of higher education in the South.”Risa Goluboff is the current Dean of the UVA Law School, and she said the marker celebrates Swanson’s bravery and persistence. “He did all this for a belief, for a legal and constitutional principle, for his own growth as a lawyer and a person, for his race, and for the nation as a whole,” Goluboff said. Swanson was represented by the law firm of Hill, Martin, & Robinson, with future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall serving as his legal counsel. Goluboff said the denial back in 1950 must be remembered, as well as the University’s condoning of slavery and the continuance of Jim Crow era laws. She said Swanson’s case should be celebrated.“And when he succeeded, he became the first Black student not only at the University of Virginia Law School, not only at the University of Virginia writ large, but at any state in the former Confederacy,” Goluboff said. “Telling his story both forces and enables us to remember those aspects of our history of exclusion and segregation that we must know in order to repudiate them.” Also on hand at the ceremony was M. Rick Turner, a former president of the Albemarle-Charlottesville NAACP. He said Black students at UVA have always challenged the status quo of an institution founded to perpetuate racial and class inequalities. “It is worth remembering that the [admittance] of Black students at UVA years ago was not a benevolent gesture on the part of the UVA administrators and state officials, but rather the presence of Gregory Swanson paved the way,” Turner said. To hear the event in full, visit the Charlottesville Podcasting Network where the full audio is posted and is available.Fifth District Republican convention tomorrowRepublicans across Virginia’s new Fifth Congressional District will gather tomorrow at Hampden-Sydney College in Prince Edward County to select a candidate for the November 8 election. Over 2,000 attendees are pre-filed for the event, according to the draft program. Incumbent Bob Good of Campbell County faces challenger Dan Moy in the race, and the program states that each will give a speech before the votes are taken. There will also be remarks from outgoing Chair William Pace and incoming Chair Rick Buchannan. The program contains multiple endorsements for Good from Republican leaders across the United States, as well as several Delegates and Senators of the General Assembly. Moy’s sole endorsement is from the group Chasing Freedom Virginia.There are a total of 24 Republican committees in the fifth District. The convention will be called to order at 10 a.m. and will use a weighted voting system. The winner will face Democrat Joshua Throneburg in the November election. Regional Transit Vision updateConsultants hired by the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission to craft a vision for how public transportation might work better in the Charlottesville area will present more details next Thursday. The firm AECOM is the lead consultant with Jarrett Walker and Associates serving as a subcontractor. The study may recommend the eventualtransition to a unified regional transit authority. (meeting info)“There will be a 90 minute presentation from the consultants to go over what we’ve done so far, survey the results of the first round of public engagement, and then also what they found for the vision for the community,” said Lucinda Shannon, a transportation planner for the TJPDC. Shannon told a technical committee of the Metropolitan Planning Organization that a three-day workshop was held with the transit providers to imagine new bus routes under a new scenario where there is $30 million in annual funding from a new transportation authority. The consultants modeled that scenario after a new authority in the Richmond area that was created in 2020. “We looked at the Central Virginia [Transportation] Authority’s model of how they collect revenue to kind of calculate how much we could collect if we formed an authority to pay for the vision,” Shannon said.Shannon said that for now, the JWA’s work is more about what the vision will be.  A second round of public engagement will take place soon after next week’s partnership meeting. Shannon said the firm AECOM may also be hired to conduct a governance study to recommend how to actually come up with that hypothetical $30 million. That work is contingent on approval by the Commonwealth Transportation Board at their meeting in June. Shannon said this study will be more about the funding than changing the structure of area transit. “So it’s not going to be looking at how [Charlottesville Area Transit] or any of the service providers are governed or run or anything like that,” Shannon said. “It’s just bringing in money and putting it out for transit.” Funding for these studies come from Albemarle County, Charlottesville, and the Department of Rail and Public Transportation. The budget for the vision plan is $350,000 and the budget for the governance plan is $150,000. See also: Regional Transit Partnership briefed on Regional Transit Vision, looming Charlottesville Area Transit route changes, April 1, 2021Regional Transit Vision may suggest resumption of Regional Transit Authority foundation, December 14, 2021Shout-out to Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards In today’s subscriber-supported Public Service Announcement, the Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards continues to offer classes this spring and summer to increase your awareness of our wooden neighbors and to prepare for the future. Coming up on June 7 is a tree identification course taught on Zoom by tree steward Elizabeth Ferguson followed by a separate hike on June 11 at the Department of Forestry’s headquarters near the Fontaine Research Park. That’s followed by a tree identification walk at the University of Virginia on June 12 for the public. On June 14, Rachel Keen will give a lecture on Zoom on the Social Life of Trees. Do trees really communicate with one another? What is a 'mother tree'? Can a tree do anything to repel a pest? Learn more at charlottesvilleareatreestewards.org.City seeking to know more about what property it rents The City of Charlottesville could be pulling in more revenue from tenants who may be leasing city property at rates well below the market rate. That’s one of the takeaways from a report given to Council at their meeting on May 16. As the City of Charlottesville government seeks to rebuild after a recent era of frequent leadership transitions, the current management is looking at aspects of the city administration that have gone unnoticed or unchecked. Until now, there has not been one central source in city government that controls all of the various leases the city has for its properties as well as service agreements. That makes it hard to track who is responsible or where the public can get information.“So what we’re trying to do at this moment is compile that but one of the first things we had to do was identify an individual who would have that as their job,” said Sam Sanders, the Deputy City Manager for operations. That person will be Brenda Kelley, who has been the redevelopment manager for the city for the past several years. Her position has been elevated to the Office of Community Solutions, and she’ll be presenting a full report to Council this summer. In the meantime, she prepared a briefing for Council for their May 16 meeting which began with a basic definition of what she’ll cover. “Leases or agreement-type leases where either the city is a party,” Kelley said. “This is where the city owns the property or the city is a tenant of a property owned by someone else.” The city has about 155,000 square feet of building spaces that bring in about $580,000 a year in revenue for the city. That doesn’t include about 50 acres under ground lease. The oldest lease dates back to 1922 and allows the city’s utilities office to use space at a pump station at the University of Virginia. One of the biggest amounts of space the city leases is at the Water Street Parking Garage. “The city doesn’t own the Water Street Parking Garage but we lease parking spaces,” Kelley said. The city does own the Market Street Parking Garage, as well as the buildings on East Market Street that are currently occupied by the Lucky 7 and a Guadalajara restaurant. The City Council of January 2017 paid $2.85 million for an eventual parking garage at the location, but the City Council of March 2021 opted to go in a different direction. For now, the city gets rent from those businesses. “The Lucky 7 and the Guadalajara and all of the Market Street Parking Garage retail spaces, those rent funds go into the Parking Enterprise Fund,” Kelley said. Revenues from the Charlottesville Pavilion and the building where S&P Global operates go into the Charlottesville Economic Development Authority fund. Kelley said further research needs to be done into intergovernmental leases with the courts, libraries, and other entities. She said that systems need to be in place to track the leases and make sure that any rent increases due to the city are at least known about for Council’s consideration. Councilor Sena Magill said she appreciated being able to see a more complete picture of the city’s property portfolio, and the potential to get more out of its investment. “When we look at a lot of these rents on a lot of these buildings, they are at about half of market rate,” Magill said. Magill said if the city is charging below market, it should be as a way of helping small businesses who are just getting started. She wanted to see a presentation from the Charlottesville Economic Development Authority on the leases they currently manage. Mayor Lloyd Snook said he wanted any lessees to know that the preliminary report is not intended to raise rates, but just to provide information. “Until this report and this information is gathered, we on Council had no idea who we were subsidizing and we have no idea why we’re subsidizing them in some cases and we may want to make some conscious decisions to continue to subsidize in the form of the rent or we may not but at least we will be doing so from the basis of actual knowledge,” Snook said. More to come as the summer heats up. Help Ting help support Town Crier productions!For one year now, Town Crier Productions has had a promotional offering through Ting!Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode the team investigate the death of David Plunkett in the Manchester Ship Canal in 2004, is this a case of the mythical 'canal pusher' or could something else be behind the case? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A lot of us local policy nerds have been eagerly awaiting the new Charlottesville Comprehensive Plan. This process of laying out a vision for the city started nearly five years ago. On Tuesday October 19th, the planning commission made a major step by recommending the plan to City Council for approval. So we are very excited to get the inside scoop today with Charlottesville Planning Commissioner, Lyle Solla-Yates. Stay tuned in the second half of the show for an interview with the director of our regional libraries, David Plunkett.  https://www.cvilletomorrow.org/topics/land-use-planning  https://www.jmrl.org

In today’s Patreon-fueled shout-out:What’s your perfect holiday weekend in Charlottesville? Hanging with friends outside... Great live music... Maybe breaking a Guinness world record? Then mark your calendar for WTJU 91.1 FM's Freefall Music Festival -- Saturday, September 4 starting at 3 p.m. at IX Art Park. Live performances by Zuzu's Hot Five, Susie and the Pistols, and Good Dog Nigel. There will be an attempt to form the world's largest human music note at 7:30 p.m. Plus, a hot dog and veggie dog cookout for our whole community. Find out more at wtju.net.On today’s show:Albemarle Supervisors to spend more on rural broadband initiativesSupervisors also agree to further review of the homestay ordinanceAn update from the UVA Health System on the latest in the pandemicA database error has prevented a specific number of new COVID cases from being reported by the Virginia Department of Health. Assume they’ve gone up since Friday. This morning, the Food and Drug Administration fully approved the use of Pfizer vaccine, removing the emergency use tag that has been in place. Dr. Costi Sifri welcomed the move. He’s the director of hospital epidemiology at the University of Virginia Health System. “We’ve all been waiting for this day and are very excited to see that full approval has been granted,” Dr. Sifri said. “We know that there are some people in our community who were waiting for that, that felt that full approval was needed before they felt entirely comfortable with the vaccine despite the fact that I think it’s been clear that the vaccine has been safe and effective for months and months now.”Dr. Sifri said this may mean that more institutions will feel more comfortable requiring vaccinations. One such entity is the U.S. Department of Defense, which will not make vaccinations mandatory. There are still no approved vaccines for children under 12, but work is underway toward that effort.“Those clinical trials are going on right now by Pfizer and Moderna and we’ve heard we may start to hear some results of those studies as soon as September,” Dr. Sifri said. Another new vaccine development that Dr. Sifri said might come in September is guidance on whether those who took the Johnson and Johnson would benefit from a second shot. The UVA Health System is also placing more restrictions on visitors to its medical facilities beginning on Thursday. “For in-patients, two designated visitors can be identified by the patient,” said Bush Bell, the administrator of hospitality and support services. “They must remain the same for the duration of the patient’s stay.”Only one visitor will be allowed for out-patient procedures as well as emergency room visits. “And as always, patients who are being evaluated for COVID or are positive will not be permitted visitors unless they are pediatric patients or adults with special needs,” Bell said. The rest of our stories today come from the Albemarle County Board of Supervisor’s meeting from August 16, 2021. The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled earlier this month that the Federal Communications Commission must provide more information about why it has not updated its policies on the potential health effects of mobile phones and the towers that allow them to communicate. The court ruled on August 13 that the F.C.C. must give further justification for a claim that its current regulations are sufficient to "protect against harmful effects of exposure to radiofrequency radiation unrelated to cancer." (read the ruling)The Environmental Health Trust and others had sued the F.C.C. for failing to adequately explain why a process to update rules last adopted in 1996 was abandoned. The ruling directs the FCC to provide a "reasoned explanation" for why it continues to base testing procedures for cell phones on 25-year-old guidelines from 1996, to address the health effects of radiofrequency radiation on children in a world where cell phones are ubiquitous, and to address the impacts of radiofrequency radiation on the environment. Supervisor Ann Mallek raised the issue during consideration of a cell tower on county-owned land at Walnut Creek Park.  "Should we be stopping accepting more and more of this possibly non-compliant [towers] when the rules get straightened out?" Mallek asked. "Wouldn't it be sensible to have the rules straightened out first before we have more things that are put up in the county that we then have to deal with after the fact?"County Attorney Greg Kamptner explained that the F.C.C. halted their review of those guidelines in 2019. "And that process could have ultimately resulted in  updated regulations pertaining to the radiofrequency standards," Kamptner said. "The court also made it clear that it was not making any decision on the viability of the 1996 standard."As a result, Kamptner said the ruling does not affect current applications. In this case, the matter before the Board was whether County Executive Jeffrey Richardson should sign the application from Verizon."It also doesn't affect the federal law preemption of state and local governments from considering radiofrequency emissions in their wireless related decisions and their regulations," Kamptner said. Mallek was the lone vote against the resolution to authorize Richardson to sign off on the application. You’re reading Charlottesville Community Engagement. Interested in the history of the public library system in the area? This subscriber-supported public service announcement urges you to consider tuning Wednesday in to the next edition of the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society’s next video presentation, which is the second part of a look at the The Local Library Centennial: When does "Public" become Public? Filmmaker Lorenzo Dickerson and Jefferson Madison Regional Library director David Plunkett return to talk about how many of the anniversary projects they talked about in January have now been realized!  Exhibits created by the ACHS commemorating the 100-year anniversary of the Public Library system have been installed on the 3rd floor of JMRL’s Central Branch. Learn more by watching this live event or by visiting albemarlehistory.org. (register on Zoom) (Facebook Live)Watch part one here! Supervisors also got an update on how Albemarle’s staff proposes to use the remaining balance of the American Rescue Plan Act funding the county will get in the current and next calendar years. In all, Albemarle will receive $21.2 million in ARPA funds from the federal government. In June, the Board of Supervisors approved a framework for how to spend it. That includes $4 million for support for human services and economic development, an initial $3 million for broadband initiatives, and the balance for capital budget and fiscal planning for upcoming budget years. Nelsie Birch is Albemarle’s chief financial officer. “We will be making a recommendation to increase the funding from ARPA to support our broadband efforts,”  Birch said. Specifically, staff recommended using an additional $1.5 million in the ARPA balance to cover the local match for potential projects funded through the Virginia Telecommunications Initiative (VATI).  Supervisors approved the idea and awards from the state program will be made in January. Mike Culp is the head of the newly created Broadband Accessibility and Affordability Office. “This VATI session we’re going to have at least it seems like 60 to maybe 100 applications so it just goes to show the Commonwealth is really taking a good look at this and they’re going to be funding a lot more programs this year so let’s be in that bucket,” Culp said. Last week, Albemarle released $800,000 of that human services funding for the emergency financial assistance program. There have been many requests for Albemarle to follow Charlottesville in using local ARPA funding to hire attorneys to represent people who are going to be evicted. Albemarle has so far not committed that funding. Emily Kilroy, the county’s director of communications and public engagement, said Albemarle is covered under the extension of the national moratorium on evictions. She also said the county’s approach has been direct payments to those with demonstrated needs. “The Emergency Financial Assistance program that ran from June 2020 through June 2021 provided direct funding to support rent and mortgage payments,” Kilroy sent in an email. “This program was able to serve 2,653 residents, and approximately $2 million of federal CARES Coronavirus Relief Funds were distributed, primarily for rent/mortgage payments.”As mentioned, another $800,000 in funding has been made available. Later that afternoon, Albemarle had a work session on the future of the homestay ordinance, which regulates transient lodging such as AirBnB in the county. The current rules were adopted in 2019 and were intended in part to make sure those who are renting out their homes are complying with regulations. “The number of non-compliant new listings is declining so our message is getting out,” said zoning administrator Bart Svoboda.Svoboda said county staff wanted to know if certain changes should be made to the ordinance. One current regulation is that houses and structures being used for transient lodging are setback at least 125 feet away from a property, unless the Board grants a special exception. “The 125 foot setback reduction is by far our most sought after special exception,” Svoboda said. “Forty-two have been submitted, 29 have been approved, and we still have ten pending.” The Board agreed to allow staff to make changes to the ordinance to allow for administrative approval of those special exceptions. Svoboda said that would depend on whether sufficient screening was present as well as other factors. Other changes might be to change the rule that requires rural area property owners to live in the structure they rent out. Svoboda said he will return to the Board with details about those possible changes after the beginning of calendar year 2022. Supervisors also agreed to continue hiring a third-party to assist with inspection. For more details on this issue, read Allison Wrabel’s story in the Daily Progress. Interested in the shout-outs you hear? Consider a $25 a month Patreon subscription to get a message to the audience! Contact me if you have any questions, as there are a few guidelines. But your support will help the program continue to be produced as often as I can get it out the door! This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode of The Global Exchange, Maureen Boyd speaks to Christian Leffler, David Plunkett, and Jason Langrish about the Strategic Partnership Agreement This episode is from the Canada-EU: Looking Forward webinar that took place on May 19th, 2021, in partnership with Konrad Adenauer Stiftung and the Delegation of the European Union to Canada Participants Bio: Christian Leffler was the Deputy Secretary-General at the European External Action Service (EEAS) in Brussels until his retirement in March 2020. He had previously held the post of Managing Director for the Americas at the EEAS and Deputy Director General at the Commission's Directorate General for Development. https://www.idea.int/about-us/board_of_advisers/christian-leffler David Plunkett is a Trade Treaty Expert for McCarthy. He served as Ambassador of Canada to the EU from 2011 to 2015. https://marcomm.mccarthy.ca/pubs/DAVID_PLUNKETT_bio_EN.pdf Jason Langrish is the Executive Director of Canada Europe Roundtable for Business, an advocacy group that has been deeply involved in the launch of negotiations for a Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement. Host bio: Maureen Boyd is the Founding Director of Carleton University's Initiative for Parliamentary and Diplomatic Engagement and a CGAI Fellow. https://www.cgai.ca/maureen_boyd Colin Robertson is a former diplomat, and Vice President of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, www.cgai.ca/colin_robertson Read CGAI's Policy Perspective on Canada-EU Relations, written by Fellow Bob Hage: https://www.cgai.ca/canada_and_the_european_union_a_new_transatlantic_alliance R&R Bag Man: The Wild Crimes, Audacious COver-Up, and Spectacular Downfall of a Brazen Crook in the White House by Rachel Maddow and Michael Yarvitz – https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/622176/bag-man-by-rachel-maddow-and-michael-yarvitz/ Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson – https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/653196/caste-oprahs-book-club-by-isabel-wilkerson/ The Last Kings of Shanghai by Jonathan Kaufman – https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/555510/the-last-kings-of-shanghai-by-jonathan-kaufman/ Recording Date: 19 May 2021. Give 'The Global Exchange' a review on Apple Podcast! Follow the Canadian Global Affairs Institute on Facebook, Twitter (@CAGlobalAffairs), or on Linkedin. Head over to our website www.cgai.ca for more commentary. Produced by Charlotte Duval-Lantoine. Music credits to Drew Phillips.

We interviewed David Plunkett of BugSplat in front of a live audience online to get an in depth look at his journey as an entrepreneur, how he built his company BugSplat, as well as talk about how to grow a unique and impactful brand to stand out in a crowded market. We also took many questions from the viewers on topics such as fundraising strategies, finding cofounders, how to delegate, how to build the team, and many more. We hope this help you today! https://www.bugsplat.com/

Today’s show comes with support from the Piedmont Environmental Council, who will celebrate their 50th year in 2022, which is soon to be only next year. Check out PEC’s website at pecva.org or their Facebook page to learn more about what they do and why. Tell them you learned about them on this program.In today’s show:James Madison Regional Library Board of Trustees wraps up the yearThe sister of a slain Richmond man runs for Virginia Governor A sinkhole opens up *There are another 4,088 new cases of COVID-19 reported by the Virginia Department of Health today. The statewide seven-day average for positive tests is now at 12.7 percent. In the Blue Ridge Health District, there are another 77 cases reported today. That’s 25 from Albemarle, 17 from Charlottesville, 13 from Louisa, 12 from Fluvanna, six from Greene and four from Nelson.Source: Virginia Department of Health *The sister of a man killed by Richmond police in May 2019 has announced a bid for Virginia Governor. “Hello Virginians, my name is Princess Blanding, and today I am grateful to announce my candidacy for Governor of Virginia as a nominee of the newly-formed Liberation Party,” Blanding said in a video posted to her Facebook page. Her brother Marcus-David Peters was shot by police in the evening of May 14, 2019 on I-95 after a taser blast did not subdue him. Richmond’s Commonwealth Attorney issued a ten-page report in November which cleared officers. Blanding is running to push for further reform. “Since the murder of my brother, Marcus-David Peters, I stood alongside community members and fellow organizers as we fought tirelessly for changes that would put community care and safety first for all Virginians.”Blanding joins a race with several Democrats and Republicans who have already announced. On the Democrat side, that includes former Delegate Jennifer Carroll Foy and Senator Jennifer McClellan as well as former Governor Terry McAuliffe. On the Republican side, Delegate Kirk Cox and Senator Amanda Chase have announced their candidacies. *A sinkhole opened up Monday in the median on U.S. 29 north of Seminole Trail, and crews with the Virginia Department of Transportation temporarily closed the left lanes of both northbound and southbound traffic. They used large stones known as rip-rap to repair damage caused. This is an issue VDOT also dealt with in the same general area in 2007 when a leaking drainpipe undermined the integrity of the earth underneath the roadway. (June 2007 Charlottesville Tomorrow article)*A familiar face returned to the Board of Trustees of the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library on Monday. Tony Townsend of Albemarle County was introduced by Board President Marcia McDuffie of Nelson County. “Tony was on the Board of Trustees from 2003 to 2011 and served as president for two years,” McDuffie said. “After that he was on the Friends of the Library Board as well and served as president there.” McDuffie also pointed out that Townsend is the administrator of a website called the Patrick O’Brian Compendium, which tracks the work of the author of the Master and Commander series. As 2020 winds down, JMRL director David Plunkett gave an update on the system’s transition to its Tier 3 level of service, which allows for in-person browsing by appointment only. The library briefly closed under Tier 5 in mid-march before gradually restoring service. But JMRL offers more than just books. “Since July 1, since the beginning of the new fiscal year, JMRL has put on 295 virtual programs that have been attended by 5,333 people,” Plunkett said. “Circulation for JRML materials since July 1 through the end of November [has been] 424,677 items.”Plunkett said 43 percent of circulation has been of digital materials. The system has also helped to provide Internet service to those who don’t have it at home. “Since the pandemic began, a little over 42,000 people have signed on to use JMRL wi-fi,” Plunkett said. “42,000 people.” Slowly people are beginning to return to in-person service by appointment. “Since September and through the 23rd of this month, Central Library has had 66 appointments made, Gordon Avenue has had 39 appointments made, Northside has had 175 appointments made, Crozet 744, Scottsville 38, Nelson 790, Louisa 464 and Greene 590,” Plunkett said. “So if you think of those as being in groups of either 1, 3, or 5 at a time to keep distances safe, it’s really been a lot of work to get there.”Plunkett also talked about the financial aspects of COVID for the library. They’ve spent about $50,000 this quarter on PPE and other supplies. There are also no fines at the moment, and fines help pay for new equipment. “No revenue effectively is coming in to the equipment fund right now,” Plunkett said. “JMRL has not bought any of the equipment that made it into this year’s budget except for COVID-related expenses basically in the first six months of this fiscal year.”Plunkett and trustees have been meeting with localities about the next fiscal year budget. He described the meeting with Charlottesville officials as “honest.”“Charlottesville as you might have seen in the news is having some issues with the meals and lodging tasks, nobody expected this pandemic to go so long so the revenue that has come in what they were expecting for this current fiscal year,” Plunkett said. “So they are meeting ends as best as they can and as they think about next year they’re really looking at flat funding for most of their agencies and partners.”Calendar 2021 is the centennial of public library service in Charlottesville. Plunkett said JMRL will work with the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society on an exhibit. “We’re also working with filmmaker Lorenzo Dickerson on a short film about the history of library service here in the region tentatively called Free and Open,” Plunkett said. “We hope to explore the growth of the institution locally and to confront and discuss the history of the segregationist past of the institution.” Plunkett and Dickerson will discuss this project on January 27 at a panel held by the ACHS. Thanks for reading! Support my research by making a donation through PatreonSign for a subscription to Charlottesville Community Engagement, free or paidPay me through Venmo This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Today’s show is brought to you by the generosity of supporters who have made a monthly contribution through Patreon or signed up for a paid subscription through Substack. Thank you for supporting community journalism and the launch of this new venture. Now, on with the information.*There are another 450 new cases of COVID-19 reported by the Virginia Department of Health today. That’s the lowest number since July 6, when 354 cases were reported. However the seven day average for new daily cases is 747. The statewide seven-day average for positive PCR tests remains at 4.5 percent today. In the Thomas Jefferson Health District there are another 46 cases, bringing the seven-day average for new cases to 42. That’s another 28 cases in Charlottesville and 15 in Albemarle. Charlottesville’s seven day average for new daily cases is 22 while that figure in Albemarle is 15. The district’s seven-day average for positive PCR tests is also at 4.5 percent today.The University of Virginia reported another 45 cases yesterday, with 42 of them students. The officials COVID tracker lists 224 active cases, with 214 cases of those students. The number of people in isolation rooms has dropped to five percent and the number of quarantine rooms remains steady at 29 percent. Some of those quarantine rooms are in local hotels, as reported by Raghda Labban and Ava MacBlane in the Cavalier Daily yesterday in a story about what life has been like for the students in residence halls where outbreaks have occurred. The Cavalier Daily also has a story today by Sierra Martin about how coursework and examinations are changing during an academic term in which only one quarter of classes have an in-person component. Last week, UVA President Jim Ryan imposed a five-person limit on students gatherings on and off Grounds to help slow the spread of COVID. If cases were to become less manageable at UVA, there is another level of further mitigation that could be triggered. The in-house publication UVA Today has a Q&A with officials about the “Short-Term Restricted Operations” that would include ending in-person classes. * Charlottesville City Council has reiterated a desire to remove the Lewis and Clark and Sacagewea statue from the intersection of West Main Street. The topic came up during a work session on the future of a road improvement project for the street, which has seen construction of at least seven multistory buildings in the past ten years. The statue is within the first phase of the project, which runs from Ridge Street to 6th Street NW and has a cost estimate of $17 million. That’s the result of an urban design study that began in 2013 and was approved by City Council in March 2016. The work will involve removing the slip lane that allows vehicles to travel south onto Ridge Street in favor of a public park. Council discussed how to move forward with removing the statue, and directed staff to proceed with cost-reductions through a “value-engineering study.” “Being one of the newbies I was not around during any previous discussion but part of what I want this project to do is to connect the University of Virginia to downtown at a bike and pedestrian level in a way that is inviting,” said City Councilor Lloyd Snook. I’ll have a longer story and podcast about this available for paid subscribers shortly. *This weekend, Charlottesville public works crews will begin using street sweepers to clean selected roadways in Albemarle County’s growth area. This is a pilot program where the county is paying to use city resources in order to avoid having to purchase their own machines. A quick web search reveals that the cost of a used 2016 model is $170,000. According to an email from the county’s director of Facilities and Environmental Services, the work this weekend will attempt to sweep the John Warner Parkway, Rio Road East and West, Hydraulic Road, Georgetown Road and Barracks Road. “Combined those roads are the longest of the three work areas, and the widest, so it will be a challenge to complete the work in a single weekend,” said Lance Stewart “It also represents the kind of assumption we want to test as part of the pilot – how long it will take per lane mile of busy commuter roads.” In addition to making bike lanes safer, street sweeping helps remove sediment and debris that would otherwise enter into the watershed as pollutants. They are considered one of several dozen Best Management Practices (BMP) in the long-going quest to improve water quality in the Chesapeake Bay. *This weekend, the Jefferson Madison Regional Library will add Sunday hours back at the Central branch downtown. However, the library doors will remain closed and items will be circulated through curbside pick-up. The goal of opening from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. is to give additional opportunities for those unable to some during the week or on Saturday. "This is the ONLY Sunday service in JMRL, so it is a crucial piece of customer service for working families,” said David Plunkett, the system’s director. *In meetings today, The Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission’s Board of Directors meets at 7 p.m. with two items related to pandemic relief. That includes a vote on an agreement with the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development and an update on the Rental and Mortgage Relief Program administered by the TJPDC. As of September 22, the program had received $664,704 in funds and distributed $565,000 in relief. The TJPDC uses 15 percent of the funding to cover its internal costs. In Albemarle, 165 households have received a cumulative $240,087 in funding with another 291 applications pending. Ten were denied. In Charlottesville, $45,778 has been distributed to 32 households with another 171 pending. Twelve were denied. You can see the details in the packet. (agenda packet)You can also find out how Tuesday’s presidential debate may have affected predictions about the outcome. The Center for Politics at the University of Virginia will take another gaze into Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball at 2 p.m. in an event that can be watched live on the center’s YouTube channel. This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Support today comes from Soul House Love, Charlottesville's Guide to Alternative Wellness. This Friday, Soul House Love is taking reservations for a New Moon Ceremony in a gorgeous outdoor location, with powerful guided meditations to cleanse your energy. Visit soulhouselove.com for more information and to reserve your spot.*There are more positive cases reported from the Fluvanna Women’s Correctional Facility today and the first cluster of cases has been reported at the University of Virginia. Of the 84 new cases reported in the Thomas Jefferson Health District today, 48 of those in Fluvanna County. Yesterday there were 41 new cases in Fluvanna. Testing has been conducted at the women’s prison this week, including all inmates and staff.  “The facility will conduct internal contact tracing for the women in the facility,” said Kathryn Goodman, spokeswoman for the TJHD. “Once the contact tracing on the inmates are completed, they share the information with TJHD. It would be a challenge for us to speak with the inmates so this is the best practice for these types of facilities. TJHD will conduct the contact tracing on staff as we do with any other cases.”There has been another COVID-19 death in Albemarle, for a total of 20 in the county and 63 in the district. There were 26 cases reported in Charlottesville.The Cavalier Daily reports there is an outbreak at a University of Virginia residence hall with testing revealing that five students tested positive. The 188 students in the Balz-Dobie dormitory have been told to quarantine while waiting for the results of tests that were conducted last night. It is unclear whether these cases are captured in the COVID-19 tracker, which was updated yesterday to add another five cases for a total of 378 total positive cases since August 17. The outbreak was also detected through monitoring of wastewater.  The Virginia Department of Health is reporting another 1,101 cases of COVID-19 today, and another 36 deaths. The higher-than-usual death rate stems from a data backlog according to officials. The statewide seven-day average for positive tests is at 6.7 percent today, down from 6.9 percent yesterday.   Before the news was announced, the Albemarle Supervisors were briefed by officials from the TJHD, including Ryan McKay. (download the presentation) “We’re certainly seeing increased number of cases among students,” McKay said. “We’re beginning to see some cases that are occurring on Grounds. Working with UVA, we meet with them on a daily basis to make sure we are communicating regularly, with transparency between what we’re seeing in terms of numbers, what they’re seeing, and then how we’re trying to support students.” McKay told Albemarle Supervisors that the area is moving towards more community transmission in urban areas. “And I think this is largely attributable to case counts that have been seen and positivity rates certainly in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County,” McKay said. “We are seeing increased numbers here in Charlottesville.”*The Virginia Senate has passed legislation requiring most utilities to develop debt repayment plans for those who have not been able to pay for electric, gas, or water service. The legislation sponsored by Senator Jennifer McClellan (D-9) was approved 24 to 12 with one abstention. (bill)*The Virginia Department of Historic Resources today will meet to consider nominations for two area properties to be listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places. One is Jackson P. Burley High School on Rose Hill Drive.“Opened in 1951 as a joint high school for African-American students in both Charlottesville and Albemarle County, Burley graduated its last high school class in 1967,” reads the Burley nomination. “Burley is great, and that it continues to function as a school is I think fantastic and I can say as a coach in the city schools and at Charlottesville High School, I wish the student athletes would go over there and walk the halls at Burley and see the accomplishments of back in the fifties and early sixties,” said Jeff Werner, the city’s historic preservation planner. “It’s just an extraordinary place.”The other is River View Farm, which is now known as the Carr-Greer House at the Ivy Creek Natural Area. “River View Farm was established by Hugh Carr, born enslaved, with an initial down payment on land in 1870 near the confluence of Ivy Creek and the Rivanna River,” reads that nomination. “By the time of his death in 1914, Carr had amassed a farm totaling 108 acres, and was among the largest African American landowners in Albemarle County.” The State Review Board meets at 1 p.m. (agenda)*The Jefferson Madison Regional Library has announced it will reopen some library branches for limited hours by appointment, and that curbside service hours will be extended at the others. The in-person hours wil bel offered at rural branches in outlying counties. “JMRL has worked hard to be able to re-open some doors, and is looking forward to the opportunity to serve the people of Greene, Louisa, and Nelson inside library buildings again,” said JMRL director David Plunkett in a statement. “The Library knows that the people in these communities need access to the resources in their local libraries, and are glad to be able to offer these again on a limited and safe basis.” Beginning Monday, the limited in-person appointment services can be used for up to 45 minutes by five individuals at a time. This is a move to tier 3 service, down from tier 4. Additional curbside service will come to Northside and Crozet libraries beginning on September 28. Call for more information. Louisa County Library: 540.894.5853Greene County Library: 434.985.5227Nelson Memorial Library: 434.263.5904In local meetings today, The Albemarle Natural Heritage Committee meets at 5 p.m. Among the items on the agenda is a discussion of using volunteers to clear out invasive species in county parks. (meeting info) (agenda)The Places 29 North Community Advisory Committee meeting that had been scheduled for tonight has been canceled. The 5th and Avon Community Advisory Committee meets at 7 p.m. The group will get an update on the High School Center II that is planned for county-owned property off of Mill Creek Drive near Monticello High School.  (meeting info)The Charlottesville Human Rights Committee meets at 6:30 p.m. (meeting info)At 2 p.m., the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia will take a look at Sabato’s Crystal Ball in a virtual event. (watch) This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

At long last, we discuss originalism with one of its foremost proponents, Lawrence Solum. In this conversation, we focus on Larry's recent effort to identify what constitutes originalism as a category of interpretive theories and what distinguishes it from other theories, including living constitutionalism. This episode's links: Larry Solum's faculty profile (https://www.law.georgetown.edu/faculty/lawrence-b-solum/) and writing (https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=327316) Legal Theory Blog (https://lsolum.typepad.com) (see also Larry's very helpful Legal Theory Lexicon (https://lsolum.typepad.com/legal_theory_lexicon/)) Lawrence Solum, Originalism versus Living Constitutionalism: The Conceptual Structure of the Great Debate (https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3324264) (As mentioned in this episode, this article is a great starting point for understanding the various theories and methods of originalism and non-originalism. It contains excellent references to the key literature, which we'd ordinarily include here in the show notes. But since it's so comprehensive, we'll just include this link.) David Plunkett, Which Concepts Should We Use?: Metalinguistic Negotiations and The Methodology of Philosophy (https://www.dartmouth.edu/~plunkett/metalinguistic-negotiations.pdf) Special Guest: Lawrence Solum.

In this episode of Knowing Animals I am joined by Jeff Sebo. We discuss his book chapter ‘Animals and Climate Change’ which will appear in the book ‘Philosophy and Climate Change’ and it will be edited by Mark Budolfson, Tristram McPherson, and David Plunkett and published by Oxford University Press.    This episode of Knowing Animals is brought to you by AASA. AASA is the Australasian Animal Studies Association. You can find AASA on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/AASA-Australasian-Animal-Studies-Association-480316142116752/. Join AASA today!  

Scott Shapiro joins us to discuss how law relates to, well, everything. His article with David Plunkett argues that theorizing about the nature of law is a project to understand how talking and thinking about law fit into reality. But first, we talk with him about Twitter, writing, collaboration, Joe's innermost psyche, and more. This show’s links: Scott Shapiro’s faculty profile (https://law.yale.edu/scott-j-shapiro) and academic writing (https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=234075) Scott Shapiro, Legality (https://www.amazon.com/Legality-Scott-J-Shapiro/dp/0674725786) Oona Hathaway and Scott Shapiro, The Internationalists (https://www.amazon.com/Internationalists-Radical-Outlaw-Remade-World/dp/1501109863/) Oral Argument 112: Quasi-Narrative (http://oralargument.org/112) (guest Simon Stern) Scott Shapiro and David Plunkett, Law, Morality and Everything Else: General Jurisprudence as a Branch of Meta-Normative Inquiry (https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2964089) Special Guest: Scott Shapiro.

Jeffrey Kaplan joins us to discuss his work in philosophy on the nature of law, law’s connection to morality, and the way law gives us reasons to follow it. We discuss the connection with Christian’s work and also succeed (wildly but sporadically) in providing the usual nonsense. This show’s links: Jeffrey Kaplan’s webpage (https://www.jeffreykaplan.org) First Mondays (http://www.firstmondays.fm) Summary Judgment (https://www.summaryjudgmentpod.com) Jeffrey Kaplan, Attitude and the Normativity of Law (https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2991878) Christian Turner, Models of Law (https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2835112) Christian Turner, Legal Theory 101 (https://www.hydratext.com/legal-theory-101/) (note the links and episodes on Hart, Dworkin, Fuller, Shapiro, and Hershovitz Scott Hershovitz, The End of Jurisprudence (http://www.yalelawjournal.org/pdf/f.1160.Hershovitz.1204_96n1tozj.pdf) Stephen Perry, Hart on Social Rules and the Foundations of Law: Liberating the Internal Point of View (http://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/faculty_scholarship/1107/) Scott Shapiro, The Planning Theory of Law (https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2937990) David Plunkett and Scott Shapiro, Law, Morality and Everything Else: General Jurisprudence as a Branch of Meta-Normative Inquiry (https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2964089) Brian Tamanaha, A Realistic Theory of Law (https://www.amazon.com/Social-Legal-Theory-Modern-Transformation/dp/1316638510) Brian Tamanaha, Necessary and Universal Truths About Law? (https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2799935) Anil Seth, Your Brain Hallucinates Your Conscious Reality (https://www.ted.com/talks/anil_seth_how_your_brain_hallucinates_your_conscious_reality/up-next) (TED Talk)