Podcast appearances and mentions of Jackson Ward

Funeral Language Understood: Alex Eilers on Chaos, Melody & New EP 'Cirque' | 89

Mrs. Bee's Juice Bar moves to Jackson Ward; A new wave of townhomes is coming to Westchester Commons, and Carytown's Byrd Theatre has started replacing its balcony seats.

LINKS:Pod Virginia | PatreonLearn more about Jackleg MediaIN THE NEWS:Last week, Governor Glenn Youngkin presented his budget proposal, highlighting a budget surplus which he used to propose a rebate on the car tax, an initiative to eliminate taxes on tips, stricter policies on sanctuary cities. a new police training facility, expanding mental health services, and more. He's also going all-in on nuclear energy.Democrats have offered mixed reactions to Governor Youngkin's 2025 budget amendments, and have put forth their own legislative priorities: rural health care, increased SNAP benefits for seniors, extending the standard deduction to inflation, maternal health deserts, and preparing for a potential loss of federal money under the Trump administration.TRIVIA: What is the nickname for Jackson Ward's Second Street?Learn more at http://linktr.ee/JacklegMedia

In a historic and heartfelt conversation, Mayor Levar Stoney sat down with Randy Wilson as part of his Farewell Tour, marking the end of his remarkable 8-year tenure as the Mayor of Richmond, VA.

Heads up Richmond residents: the city has $3 million, and they want you to help decide how to spend it. Brad Kutner found out more about the project called the People's Budget. It launched Tuesday in the city's Jackson Ward neighborhood.

In 2023, the murderers of a 15-year-old Richmond girl were convicted, sentenced, and are now serving lengthy prison sentences. Tynashia Humphrey's 2022 murder in Richmond's Jackson Ward neighborhood helped police from both Richmond and Henrico cripple a violent homegrown gang. On Sept. 12, 2022, Tynashia was walking home from a store when she was shot and killed – an innocent teen who was caught in the crossfire of a drive-by shooting. During the murder investigation, detectives identified and charged five members of a homegrown Henrico-based gang, the 30 Boys. Prosecutor Katy Groover was able to get convictions - all summing...Article LinkSupport the Show.

Civil engineer Veronica O. Davis recently released a book called Inclusive Transportation: A Manifesto for Repairing Divided Communities.” Those divisions are largely through Black and brown communities, which were carved up when the federal government built the interstate highway system in the 1950s; the same way I-95 carved up Richmond's Jackson Ward. Davis recently spoke with VPM News transportation reporter Ian Stewart about her connection to transportation as part of VPM News Healthy City.

The first woman and the first Jewish person to serve as Speaker of Virginia's House of Delegates says she won't run for re-election in the General Assembly; A class-action lawsuit filed by Kroger employees in Virginia and West Virginia alleges the company's new payroll software is resulting in missed pay; Virginia Democratic Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner are cosponsoring legislation called the “Disclosure Act"; and other local news stories.

This year, we're bringing you some of our favorite segments from 2022. We're starting in the 60's. Formed in the mid 1960's, The Soulmasters was an interracial soul band from Danville, VA. Jerry Wilson and John Irby were the two African-American lead singers of The Soulmasters and the other 8 members of the band were white. Producer Matt Darroch met up with Jerry to reflect on his three years in the band, and what it was like touring the South during the height of segregation. This interview originally aired in the April episode Music as Escape. And: The first federally registered Black neighborhood in the United States was Jackson Ward, a once-booming economic and residential district in Richmond, Virginia. Through the Skipwith-Roper Homecoming initiative, Sisters Sesha Moon and Enjoli Moon (JXN Project) are working to reconstruct the gambrel roof cottage of Richmond's first known Black homeowner: Abraham Skipwith. The JXN Project has since revealed renderings for the Skipwith-Roper Cottage. This past Autumn they hosted an archeological dig on the site. This interview originally aired in the February 2022 episode Homecoming. Later in the show: Fifty years after the last atmospheric nuclear tests on American soil, radioactive elements remain in our food supply. Jim Kaste says the honey is especially hot. This segment originally aired in the September episode How Hot is Your Honey. Plus: Bruce Cahoon spends most of his summers reading a book called Freshwater Algae of North America. It's fascinating really! But if that's not your thing, he's also got two great audiobooks to recommend. This segment originally aired in the July 2022 WGR's 2022 Summer Reading Recs episode.

This week … you'll be hearing from three current students and one recent graduate as they share their stories. We have a complicated relationship … some thrillers and intrigue …. Aaannnnddd a little comedy to end it off for you today. Featured this week are Joanna Fowlston, Taylor Horn, Jackson Ward and Devin Jones.

Jackson Ward residents are seeking reparations after Interstate 95 split the neighborhood in the 1950s; The Richmond Folk Festival entertained a record number of attendees last weekend; Many colleges across the country started a new type of grading system early in the pandemic, and some are keeping that system around for this school year; and other local news stories.

This week we rewatch and discuss season one episode twenty "The Power of Two". This episode features Piper going away on a business trip leaving Prue and Phoebe alone for the first time ever, Andy continuing to learn more about witchcraft and the beginning of an IA investigation into his involvement in the "freaky cases", and a battle between the sisters and the Ghost of Alcatraz. We discuss our crushes on Jackson Ward, as well as our thoughts on the growing bond between Prue and Phoebe and of course, Prue and Andy's conversation about whether he can handle their secret and there is a chance of a future for the two of them. As always thanks for listening!   TRIGGER WARNING: police corruption, serial killers   You can reach out to us on social media @rewitched_pod on instagram & tiktok, or via email at rewitched.pod@gmail.com.   Intro Beat Provided By https://freebeats.io Produced By White Hot

Who among us is brave enough to introduce an ordinance banning gas-powered leaf blowers??

In his legislative petition of 1785, Abraham Skipwith says, “Do not reference me as a slave. I am a man.” It was Skipwith’s autonomy, audacity, entrepreneurship and vision for creating his own economic stability and generational wealth that shaped so much of the Jackson Ward community of Richmond. While on their journey and discovery of the history of Jackson Ward, sisters Enjoli and Dr. Seisha Moon found Skipwith’s story to be the north star of what would lead the Ward to be known as the Black Wall Street. This conversation talks about the lasting legacy of Abraham Skipwith and the effort to have his estate returned to Jackson Ward. Support the show: https://richmond.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What was meant to begin as a simple Google search to learn the history of a historically black neighborhood, led sisters Enjoli and Dr. Seisha Moon down a rabbit hole that included The Richmond Times-Dispatch and Valentine Museum to open their archives for continual research that ultimately lead to the re-framing and updates to the history of the Jackson Ward neighborhood. The project sheds light on how the true history of a place is too often painted over and how reparative historic preservation can restore pride and appreciation for the past and outlook for the future. Support the show: https://richmond.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Listen to the first episode of this year's The Boring Show before the mayor introduces his budget tomorrow!

The first federally registered Black neighborhood in the United States was Jackson Ward, a once-booming economic and residential district in Richmond, Virginia. Through the Skipwith-Roper Homecoming initiative, Sisters Sesha Moon and Enjoli Moon are working to reconstruct the gambrel roof cottage of Richmond's first known Black homeowner, Abraham Skipwith. And: Kelli Lemon is Virginia's biggest cheerleader. She says that Richmond, Virginia will soon become the top destination for Americans to learn about Black American history. Later in the show: How an image of two unknown women brought arts critic Jessica Lynne back home to Virginia.

Keynote Speakers of CiderCon 2022 Gary Flowers is a keynote speaker, radio host and the tour guide who leads the Jackson Ward history tour. The tour was one of a number of pre-conference tour offerings for CiderCon2022 attendees who had flocked to the city of Richmond, Virginia in the first week of February. The food and cider was abundantly delicious, with stops at the wildly popular restaurant MamaJ's and Cheddar Jackson.  But it was Flowers who really stole the show and kept our small group riveted with fact after fact on the history of the Jackson Ward community. Gary Flowers In this episode hear the beginning of the tour with Gary Flowers.  Woodland Cemetery Bacon Rebellion  Contact for Gary Flowers Website: Walking the Ward with Gary Flowers In Part 2 of Keynotes from CiderCon 2022 Diane Flynt provides the opening keynote for CiderCon 2022 and encouraged the audience to embrace the story of Apples! Hear in this episode her full keynote address! Diane Flynt A bit about Diane Flynt via the American Cider Association website "Diane began in 1997 when she founded Foggy Ridge Cider, the first licensed cidery in the South, by planting cider apples, including many southern varieties. From 2004-2018 Foggy Ridge Cider produced 5300 gallons a year of orchard-focused ciders that was distributed across 15 states. Since its first production, Foggy Ridge Cider gained a national reputation for high quality cider. Foggy Ridge was featured on CBS Sunday Morning Show, and in publications including Gourmet, Imbibe, Saveur, Garden & Gun, Esquire and Martha Stewart Living. Food & Wine magazine named Foggy Ridge a “Small Batch Superstar” in 2010. MADE: In America awarded Foggy Ridge a 2012 American Treasurer's Award, recognition for artisan producers. Foggy Ridge Cider received many “best of” awards, including a top rating from the New York Times for its Serious Cider blend. Flynt herself was nominated for the James Beard Award for Outstanding Beverage Professional in 2015 and 2016, and was a finalist for this award in 2017 and 2018. She speaks on cider, farming and food culture in national and regional forums." Contact Foggy Ridge Cider Website: https://foggyridgecider.com/ Maggie Lena Walker Statue - a key heroine of Jackson Ward Mentions in this Chat Support these Sponsors of Cider Chat so they can continue to support this podcast and help you make great cider! Fermentis - Yeast and Fermentation Solutions for Cidermakers Sraml - Food Processing and Cidermaking equipment specialist Fermentis - Sraml - Food Processing and Cidermaking equipment specialist Help Support Cider Chat Please donate today. Help keep the chat thriving! Find this episode and all episodes at the page for Cider Chat's podcasts. Listen also at iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher (for Android), iHeartRadio , Spotify and wherever you love to listen to podcasts. Follow on Cider Chat's blog, social media and podcast Twitter @ciderchat Instagram: @ciderchatciderville Cider Chat FaceBook Page Cider Chat YouTube  

Elegast Cidery Beginnings Arjen Meeusem shares his story of living in Portland, Oregon and how a stop at Reverend Nat's Hard Cider to taste the cider inspired him to find out more about this niche market and its viability to make cider in the Netherlands. Arjen Meeuwsen outside the estate based cidery Arjen and his business partners began their cidery in an old green house and then moved to their current location in a 250 square meter shed and utilize the outdoor space for storing their cider. In 2022, the cidery is expanded with a new tasting room and expand production area just outside of Amsterdam set to be open in the summer. Elegast's goal is to use the rising interest in cider to help steer consumers to drink cider to help the orchards aka Drink Cider ~ Save Orchards! Elegast Ciders and Seasonal Offerings Elegast's Saison Cider is a lovely frothy cider with a nod to Saison beers with a cider structure all its own. The goal is to balance the acidity and boost the profile so that there is enough mouthfeel to entice the drinker despite the lack of tannins in the current apples now growing in the Netherlands. The cidery has access to old estate orchards with trees dating back to 1939, which is actually an Unesco Heritage Site marking the demarcation line and trenches used during the World War I. All of Elegast Ciders can be drunk year round, but some might find your palate requesting them during select months. Barrel Aged Ciders - Elegast has a range of barrel aged ciders that can be drunk in the winter and equally enjoyed by fans on a chilly spring, summer or fall evening. Fruit Cider Series - Whole fruits are co-fermented and macerated to incorporate the taste and color of the skin and fruit And excellent cider for the Spring and Summer Terroir Series - Apples from specific orchards and allowed to ferment with the ambient yeast or what is often referred to as  spontaneous yeasts Contact for Elegast Cidery Website: https://elegastcider.nl/ Address: Hoorneboeg 4a, 1213 RE Hilversum, Netherlands Mentions in this Chat Gary Flowers Richmond Virginia's Jackson Ward Tour Guide and multi media star and host of the Gary Flowers Show Peariodic Table of Pome Fruit commissioned by Randal Grahm - Put your name into the drawing for Patrons of Cider Chat by becoming a Patron at the Cider Chat Patreon Page for members at the $5 and up level. New York International Cider Competition - February 21, 2022 4rd Annual New York International Cider Competition for commercial makers. Judges are real buyers making this competition stand apart from all others in cider. Send in your ciders now. Commercial Makers - Enter the New York International Cider Competition  Help Support Cider Chat Please donate today. Help keep the chat thriving! Find this episode and all episodes at the page for Cider Chat's podcasts. Listen also at iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher (for Android), iHeartRadio , Spotify and wherever you love to listen to podcasts. Follow on Cider Chat's blog, social media and podcast Twitter @ciderchat Instagram: @ciderchatciderville Cider Chat FaceBook Page Cider Chat YouTube

Now I want to plant something beautiful in my neighborhood's neglected spaces.

The St. Luke Legacy Center was opened in July 2020 with the mission of providing families with wraparound services that would cater to their needs from birth until death.  The Legacy Center is all about seeing and meeting the needs we of our community.  The Legacy Center is dedicated to creating legacy as those who came before us. Located in the historic St. Luke Building in the Jackson Ward community of Richmond, Va, the building once housed the great Maggie L. Walker. Maggie Walker's impact touched the world as the first African American woman to found a bank.

Good morning, RVA! It's 77 °F, and you should expect more of this week's hot weather until this evening—and then you should expect some rain to roll through. Highs tomorrow, though, look like they'll stay below 80 °F!Water coolerAs of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports the seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths as: 172, 16, and 6.7, respectively. VDH reports a seven-day average of 17.1 new cases in and around Richmond (Richmond: -2; Henrico: 15, and Chesterfield: 4.1). Since this pandemic began, 1,359 people have died in the Richmond region. 46.7%, 58.4%, and 55.0% of the population in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Yep, Richmond is once again reporting a negative 7-day average of new cases. VDH reports that the city now has had 17,139 total cases of COVID-19—the exact same number they reported back on June 10th (and again on June 14th and June 17th). Perhaps if you're trying to get a feel for the amount of community spread of the disease (something Emily Oster recommends as a starting point to assess the risks of various coronadecisions) you're better off using the regional case count.As of today, adult use of marijuana is now legal in Virginia. Things you can now do: have up to an ounce of marijuana; use marijuana in your private residence; grow up to four plants in your private residence; and share marijuana with an adult friend (as long as you're not pulling any ”marijuana is given away contemporaneously with another reciprocal transaction between the same parties” shenanigans). Things you still cannot (or should not) do: sell marijuana, drive while high, have marijuana on school property, or use marijuana in public. The state's new website, cannabis.virginia.gov, has a good FAQ that you should read. I still have a hard time believing that URL and its weed leaf favicon exists. Mel Leonor at the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports on reactions from a bunch of folks hoping to grow—or make money off of folks hoping to grow—and a nice look at what's next for the General Assembly to tackle while we wait the interminable amount of time until legal sales start happening in 2024. I still say something changes to shift that 2024 timeline forward. Spending three years in this weird in-between space just seems untenable! And I'm not the only one, the Virginia Mercury's Ned Oliver reports that Virginia NORML's 2022 legislative priority is “to expedite retail access for adult consumers, both through already operational medical dispensaries and by moving up the date VCCA can begin issuing new licenses.”Also, as of today, you can no longer keep a box turtle as a pet. Rex Springston has the details in the Virginia Mercury.Via /r/rva, a picture of yesterday's train derailment down at Rocketts Landing, news I first heard about from this jarring GRTC tweet: “ATTENTION GRTC PULSE RIDERS, WE CANNOT SERVICE THE ROCKETTS LANDING STATION DUE TO AN TRAIN ACCIDENT.” This is the second derailment in, what, about a month?Today at 3:30 PM, the Library of Virginia will host a panel discussion about Virginia's 1971 Constitution. I mean, sign me up: “Join us for a stimulating conversation about the advances made possible by this constitution and the work that still remains.” I live for stimulating conversations about old documents/PDFs! The event is free, but you'll need to register ahead of time. Also, remember, today is the last day for you to stop by the library to see the original copies of Virginia's Constitutions of 1776, 1869, 1902, and 1971.Tonight at 8:00 PM, VPM will premier How the Monuments Came Down over on their YouTube. This local film “explores Richmond's complex history through the lens of Confederate monuments, supported by an extensive visual record never before presented in a single work.” If you're ready to relieve the events of last summer, check it out. You can learn more about the folks behind the film here.This year, assuming things go as planned heading into the fall, the Richmond Folk Festival returns to the riverfront bringing with it live, loud, and in-person music. Trevor Dickerson at RVAHub has the run down on the first set of announced bands, plus…a scavenger hunt?This morning's longreadEnjoli and Sesha Joi Moon's JXN Project is an effort to tell Black Richmond stories ‘truthfully and completely'I've been writing a lot about Enjoli and Sesha Moon's JXN Project over the last couple of weeks. Here's a nice Q&A with them.Last December the Moon sisters combined their research and storytelling skills and co-founded The JXN Project to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Jackson Ward, the nation's first Black urban neighborhood registered in the National Register of Historic Places. Through the project, they hope to educate people on the overlooked history of Jackson Ward, which dates to April 17, 1871, and had a pivotal role in the Black American experience. The sisters are currently working to rename Jackson Ward's streets to honor some notable Black Richmonders, such as Maggie L. Walker, the first African American woman to charter a bank in the U.S., and John Mitchell Jr., editor of The Richmond Planet, an African American newspaper.If you'd like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol' Patreon.Picture of the DayZinnias!

Good morning, RVA! It's 72 °F, and today you can expect highs in the mid 90s with Feels Likes above and beyond 100 °F. We're deep in dangerous heat territory, and if you've got to go outside, be smart about it! We've got at least a couple more days before temperatures cool down.Water coolerAs of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports the seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths as: 165, 7, and 6, respectively. VDH reports a seven-day average of 15.4 new cases in and around Richmond (Richmond: 2.1; Henrico: 10.1, and Chesterfield: 3.1). Since this pandemic began, 1,358 people have died in the Richmond region. 46.6%, 58.2%, and 54.8% of the population in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.The big COVID-19 news this morning is that a WHO official urged the public to continue wearing masks indoors—even if fully vaccinated—as a precaution against the delta variant of COVID-19. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health quickly followed suit and issued the same recommendation for its residents. I've seen this new variant-related mask recommendation framed a couple of ways in the media, mostly as “we don't know enough about the delta variant, and wearing masks helps keep you—even if you're vaccinated—from spreading this highly transmissible variant to folks who may be unvaccinated.” But I've also seen the actual quote from the WHO official, taken out of whatever context it may have originally been in, and it reads way more intense: “People cannot feel safe just because they had the two doses. They still need to protect themselves…Vaccine alone won't stop community transmission.” According to the NYT, yesterday the CDC “pointed to [its] existing guidance and gave no indication it would change.” So, here we are again with seemingly conflicting mask guidance, and I don't love it! To give you some context on the local spread of the delta variant, the VDH Variants of Concern dashboard reports 48 total cases in Virginia, with zero in Richmond, 14 in Henrico, and three in Chesterfield.Kenya Hunter at the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that Richmond Public Schools “anticipates a 14 percentage point boost in its graduation rate, with Latino students and economically disadvantaged students seeing the most significant gains.” This year, according to preliminary figures, 85.7% of students will graduate on time, compared to 71.6% last year. That's a lot of dang percentage points to increase, and I wonder what it all means given the year students just had. Will those numbers hold for next year? Was something about virtual learning better for high school students? Or maybe, as RPS's Chief Academic Officer Tracy Epp, says “This is the culmination of three years—we're seeing that we're finally gaining traction, based on the past three years of our efforts.”Quick City Council update: Last night Council passed all of the Jackson Ward street dedication ordinances. DPW will now get to hanging up some new signage!I'm fascinated by ghost kitchens, and Richmond BizSense's Mike Platania reports that Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick will bring one to Broad Street near Arthur Ashe Boulevard. If I'm being honest with myself, I'm mostly fascinated by the generic, keyword-heavy names that some delivery-only restaurants using ghost kitchens come up with. Mine would be called “Wings are Good.”Twitter user Doug Allen made this super useful map of all (?) the Richmond-area bike shops. I know bike shops are like tacos—everyone has a favorite spot—but, if you don't already have a favorite of your own, check out the map and try one out near you. I definitely prefer taking my bike(s) to the shop and having them actually fix a thing rather than watching a YouTube and getting frustrated that my brain can't understand simple machines for some reason.Brent Baldwin at Style Weekly talked to Chris Haynie, cofounder of Happy Trees Agricultural Supply, about how to grow marijuana in your house. Honestly, sounds waaaaay too complicated for me. I do love this quote, though, which makes me feel like I could at least keep a plant alive as an ornamental, “Cannabis is not some crazy plant that aliens gave us from some other world, it grows like a pepper, man. It's a fast-flowering annual.”The Washington Post has a nice article from a couple weeks back about how Virginia is crushing it when it comes to expanding passenger rail. It'll still take the better part of a decade to realize some of the planned improvements, but I'm pretty stoked to take the train everywhere when I'm retired.This morning's longreadWhy ‘tiny forests' are popping up in big citiesI live in a very shady, tree-filled neighborhood—which we know is because where I live was never redlined and has seen decades of investment in its trees and other infrastructure. Many neighborhoods near me—in fact, the one just across the street—haven't had the benefit of all that investment and of all those trees and sits sweltering and shadeless in 100 °F heat. I wonder if strategic tiny forests could be part of the solution?The small-footprint projects are based on the work of Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki, who, beginning in the 1970s, pioneered a method of planting young indigenous species close together to quickly regenerate forests on degraded land. Miyawaki, who extensively studied and catalogued the vegetation of Japan, surveyed forests near potential Tiny Forest sites for a mixture of their main species. “The planting should center on the primary trees of the location, and following the laws of the natural forest,” he wrote in a 2006 essay upon accepting the Blue Planet award. Competing for light, the saplings grow quickly, explained Miyawaki's collaborator Kazue Fujiwara. According to Fujiwara, the method can work anywhere, even in plots as small as one meter wide, though she said a minimum of three meters is easier to plant a mix of species.If you'd like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol' Patreon.Picture of the DayTake-out bike is back!

Good morning, RVA! It's 71 °F, and today looks like another hot and humid scorcher. You can expect temperatures in the 90s and Feels Likes closer to 100 °F today, tomorrow, and, honestly, straight on through until Friday. As always: Stay hydrated.Water coolerAs of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports the seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths as: 169, 7, and 6.6, respectively. VDH reports a seven-day average of 16.1 new cases in and around Richmond (Richmond: 1.7; Henrico: 10.3, and Chesterfield: 4.1). Since this pandemic began, 1,356 people have died in the Richmond region. 46.5%, 58.1%, and 54.7% of the population in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.We reached some big vaccination milestones over the weekend: Over five million Virginians have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, 50.4% of the entire commonwealth is now fully vaccinated, and more than nine million total doses have been administered since late last December. Those are big numbers! Great work, everyone. The daily rate of new folks getting vaccinated looks like it has started to level out, which you can see in this graph. Leveling out is better than continual decrease, but, at this rate, it'd take more than a year to vaccinate the entire population of Virginia. That's not a reasonable goal, though, as some folks will never choose to get vaccinated.Thursday is the big marijuana legalization day, and the Richmond Times-Dispatch's Mel Leonor had a good piece over the week working through how the new law is still just one step towards equity. There's lots of work left for the General Assembly to do on clarifying legal gray areas that will, undoubtedly, lead to inequitable enforcement—open container definitions, application of the laws to renters, and, of course, undoing previous marijuana convictions. I imagine the newly created state agency will start working on some recommendations in the coming months and that, fingers crossed, the GA will take up a few clarifying weed bills this winter.City Council meets tonight, and you can flip through the agenda—as it stands—here. Of note, the agenda includes a handful of small rezonings, but both the rezonings of Greater Scott's Addition and of Broad Street between the Science Museum and the VCU & VUU Pulse stations have been continued until July 26th. Also a dozen or so honorary block dedications in Jackson Ward have ended up on the Regular Agenda. These dedications are part of the JXN Project and would honor residents of Jackson Ward like Lucy Goode Brooks, Neverett Eggleston, Lillie Ann Estes, and Charles Sidney Gilpin. The ordinances are definitely worth tapping into to get a brief biography of each person and their contribution to the neighborhood and beyond. I'm not sure why they're all on Regular Agenda instead of the Consent Agenda. Maybe to give folks a chance to speak in support of each ordinance? Chris Suarez at the RTD has some more details on the project.John Reid Blackwell, also at the RTD, has an extensive look at the future of whatever we're calling the area around Hardywood—which developers want to call “Brewer's Row.” I'm stoked to see a mostly industrial wasteland turn into a place for people, and I'd love to see more trees, more shade, and more pedestrian and bike infrastructure as the area grows!Speaking of places for people, Mark Robinson at the RTD has an article focusing mostly on the cost of the market-rate homes that are part of the larger Armstrong Renaissance development, a development which I love and find beautiful from both an urbanism and aesthetic standpoint. Just 28 single-family homes in the 256-unit neighborhood are market-rate, which makes them way unaffordable to, well, most folks. But this is what you get when you build mixed-income communities, and I'm not surprised when the (limited) market-rate components reflect the current market rate. As Robinson reports, the Armstrong Renaissance is a, “mixed-income community, which also features deeply affordable and workforce rentals,” and we should build more of this sort of thing throughout the region.I loved reading these RPS graduates' strong and determined reflections on this past school year via Alan Rodriguez on VPM. I am inspired and encouraged! Listen to Open High School graduate Jasmine Twiman when she says, “I'm proud of us. It was touch-and-go for a while, but I'm proud of us.”This morning's longreadWhere Did the Coronavirus Come From? What We Already Know Is Troubling.Well this was fascinating and also scary.Years of research on the dangers of coronaviruses, and the broader history of lab accidents and errors around the world, provided scientists with plenty of reasons to proceed with caution as they investigated this class of pathogens. But troubling safety practices persisted. Worse, researchers' success at uncovering new threats did not always translate into preparedness. Even if the coronavirus jumped from animal to human without the involvement of research activities, the groundwork for a potential disaster had been laid for years, and learning its lessons is essential to preventing others.If you'd like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol' Patreon.Picture of the DayMe and this guy are fighting.

I always refer to the brilliant Dinesh D'Souza, as India's Gift To America. One of his tweets went viral this past week.... “Democrats prefer #juneteenthday to the real occasion on which slavery was abolished—the date the 13th Amendment was passed permanently ending American slavery. This is an awkward day for Democrats because the vast majority of them—even in the North—opposed the 13th Amendment!” - Twitter, June 19, 2021, The Liberty Daily, by J.D. Rucker There are three days that would be far more historically accurate, and NOT just a false representation of the ending of slavery: The amendment was passed by Congress on January 31, 1865. It was ratified by the required 27 of the then 36 states on December 6, 1865 and proclaimed on December 18, 1965. Any of these three days are FAR MORE ACCURATE in the history of abolishing slavery and starting the diminishment of racism in America than “Juneteenth” which is the anniversary date of June 19, 1865. It was on that day that the announcement of General Order No. 3 by Union Army general Gordon Granger was made, proclaiming and enforcing freedom of enslaved people in Texas, which was the last state of the Confederacy with institutional slavery. The fake administration made a real show of the JUNETEENTH DAY occasion, if for no other reason than to overshadow our upcoming national celebration of our emancipation from England on July 4, 1776. Democrats have successfully, confused the last few generations of 'people of color' about the history of slavery, with many believing that the Democrats were the heroes of emancipation, when in fact they were the enemies. It would be a great idea for you to watch the film - LINCOLN (starring Daniel Day Lewis) - just to see what lengths the GREAT EMANCIPATOR went through to end slavery legally. The Emancipation Proclamation did NOT do it. My great-grandmother (Lillian Harris Payne) was known for her annual Emancipation Day pageants in Richmond VA, held on the December or January dates, in the previously segregated colored section of Richmond known as Jackson Ward, complete with entertainment, a parade, speeches by former slaves, and food...and it was a big deal. The residents of the late 19th and early 20th century, loved Lincoln and Republicans, as much as Donald Trump is loved today. Of course, there were the losers of the war, the Democrats, carrying out their plan to murder this beloved President...and the rest is history. This is why the true history of the passing and ratification of the 13th Amendment, are hidden in this fake celebratory gesture, which the Left has used to distract Americans from the AZ and GA AUDITS, the BORDER Crisis, the deadly JABS, rising gas and food prices, and the increasing violence in communities of color, and attacks on innocent citizens, BY people of color. Distractions have worked well in the past for deep state cabal, but people, even a significant number of 'black' folks are realizing that the Left has always been the REAL enemies of freedom in America. Thank you for reminding us, Dinesh. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/lillianperry/message

Good morning, RVA! It's 72 °F, and, after this past weekend's blazing hot temperatures, we've got mostly more of the same today. Expect highs in the 90s—but with Feels Likes near 100 °F. Keep your water bottle nearby and prepare yourself for more of this over the next several days.Water coolerAs of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports the seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths as: 193, 32, and 9, respectively. VDH reports a seven-day average of 23.3 new cases in and around Richmond (Richmond: 7.6; Henrico: 6.6, and Chesterfield: 9.1). Since this pandemic began, 1,329 people have died in the Richmond region. 44.2%, 55.2%, and 51.5% of the population in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. However, the slow work to vaccinate the remaining four million or so Virginians continues! Check out the graph of new folks vaccinated each day, and you can see that after whatever happened with the addition of federal doses (#datareportingissues), the graph has resumed a similarly-sloped slow decent. Still though, 67.8% of adults in the Commonwealth have received at least one does of the COVID-19 vaccine, and we're well on track to hit Biden's 70% by the 4th goal. You can see additional slow-but-steady progress in the graph of local vaccines administered by week. This next phase of the vaccine campaign is totally different! We should find ways to celebrate the progress we're making at this new, more methodical pace. Graphs like this don't help, he says to himself.Mark Robinson at the Richmond Times Dispatch reports that RRHA will give the public a chance to weigh in on the agency's annual and capital plans, which you can read in full over on RRHA's website. These documents are way over my head, but Robinson does a good job of explaining some of the policy shifts RRHA will consider. I'd like to understand the capital plan more, but my brain needs some time to marinate with these PDFs before it can make sense of them.City Council and their related committees have some fun and interesting papers in front of them today that I want to share with you. First, the Organizational Development Committee, which includes all nine members of Council, will meet and consider RES. 2021-R034, the official resolution to declare the 8th District casino proposal as the preferred operator and location. I think this will easily pass in the coming weeks, giving voters a chance to thumbs it up or down in November. Next up, Council will decide whether not to rezone the Southern States Silo from Riverfront District to Central Business District (ORD. 2021–115). Aside from dramatically changing Richmond's skyline, a thoughtful development at this location could do a lot to connect the two sides of the river. Finally, Planning Commission will also meet and hear a presentation on the small area plan for the City Center. They haven't uploaded the actual presentation yet, but I'm excited to see what the Planning folks recommend for the Coliseum wasteland now that Navy Hill is dead and gone. I'll try and remember to snag the PDF so we can all look at it together. Oh, also, Planning Commission will consider ORD. 2021–130, a Special Use Permit that would allow Stoplight Gelato in Jackson Ward to expand to include a brewery run by the Richmond Seltzer Co people. I think that a gelato and a seltzer sounds like a delightfully summery way to finish out a work day or start a weekend.D'Andre Henderson at WRIC reports that a couple dozen Henricoans took to the streets to protest the County's decision to scrap the plans to create a Civilian Review Board. Or, more accurately, they're protesting the lack of support on the Board of Supervisors to even explore creating a Civilian Review Board. I don't know how—if at all—the County would respond to continued pressure on creating a CRB, but I'm here for it!Alert and reminder! Virginia's Democratic primary takes place tomorrow! If you have not voted already, make sure you take some time today to educate yourself and get your ballot settled before heading off to the precinct tomorrow.Local bearded musician Matthew E. White has a new album, K Bay, that, following standard album release protocols, is trickling out new singles. I've had “Genuine Hesitation” on repeat for most of the last week, and you should check it out on Apple Music or Spotify.This morning's longreadOne Month Of Lockdown - Nothing ImprovesRobin Wong is a photographer living in Malaysia, and I've followed his blog for a bunch of years now. Read this most recent post to remind yourself that while the pandemic seems to be receding here in America, that's certainly not the case across the entire world.The only short term solution the government had was to impose lockdowns of various degree, one after another, in hopes to control the movement of the people and bring the number of cases down. We have just implemented full lockdown since 1 June, one week ago. With the number of daily cases not showing any signs of slowing down, and the rate of vaccination being so unbelievably slow, I don't know what else the government will do next. If the numbers don't go down at all, or not fast enough for the next few weeks, or a month, the lockdown is expected to be prolonged. This will be disastrous to everyone here. Many have lost their jobs, and quite frankly there are no happy stories going around lately to talk about. Say we can achieve about 50% of of the people being successfully vaccinated by the end of the year, which is quite an incredible feat by itself considering the efficiency of the current practice, and the numbers start to come down. Will there be anything else to go back to after that? Will the country still be even standing?If you'd like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol' Patreon.Picture of the DayMagnolias are so strange and beautiful.

As much of the US faced a reckoning following the death of George Floyd, towns across the country began to look at racial justice in their own backyards. Led by two sisters, the JXN Project is a new initiative working to preserve one of the first Black urban districts in America. Ivette Feliciano visited the Jackson Ward community in Richmond, Virginia as part of our series, 'Chasing the Dream.' PBS NewsHour is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

Good morning, RVA! It’s 48 °F, and this morning looks rainy. Keep an eye on the sky until about 2:00 PM when things should start to clear up.Water coolerAli Rockett and Reed Williams in the Richmond Times-Dispatch report on the eight people killed in Richmond last week—including two teenagers and three young adults. I’m thankful for Rockett and Williams’s coverage, because, over the years, it’s gotten harder and harder to understand who in our City is getting killed. I’m often confused by the press releases I get from the Richmond Police department when someone has been killed. Some deaths are labeled as homicides, some are labeled as death investigations, and I haven’t put together a good system to track those death investigations to see if they end up classified as homicides. I’ll often get a release announcing arrests of suspects for homicides that I hadn’t previously heard about. So, with all of that in mind, I’m going stop covering Richmond’s murders in the top section of this email. I don’t believe that what I’m doing now paints an accurate picture of murders (or violence) in the city. You can always find the RPD’s list of homicide victims here. For what it’s worth, what I think would be really useful would be regular data analysis on all gun violence in Richmond.As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 1,305 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealthand 17 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 156 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 46, Henrico: 81, and Richmond: 29). Since this pandemic began, 1,259 people have died in the Richmond region. The seven-day average of new reported cases across the state sits at 1,512. We’ve had a seven-day average of new cases over 1,500 for the last seven days. Is the seven-day average of seven-day averages a thing (1,536)?Despite the disruptions in the supply of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, Virginia—and our region—continues to vaccinate more and more folks each week. Here’s the graph of weekly doses administered in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield, and you can see we’ve blown past the governor’s second goal of around 37,000 doses per week—almost doubling it. And here’s the graph of our region’s steady march toward the mostly-made-up goal of having 75% of the population vaccinated. We’re still early on in the vaccine campaign, but what will be really interesting/telling is to watch the hospitalization and death numbers if we areheaded into another peak of cases. If the vaccines can keep vulnerable folks out of the hospital while case counts increase, then I think we could quietly pump our fists in the air a bit. Over two million Virginians (24.6%) are full vaccinated and almost 40% have received at least one dose. We’re getting there!Tonight, the RPS School Board meets at 6:00 PM and you may want to tune in. Check out these Capital Plan Recommendations that Superintendent Kamras will present tonight, specifically pages six and seven. Remember last week when the School Board voted to take over school building procurement and construction from the City? Well, after a bit of research, Kamras’s administration found that Chesterfield County Public Schools, Henrico County Public Schools, and Norfolk Public Schools do not handle their own procurement of new buildings. Chesterfield and Norfolk don’t do construction either. The admin estimates RPS will need to hire 15 new folks at a cost of $3 million. Gasp! Additionally, as a result of the Board’s resolution, the City has stopped working on the RFP for a new building to replace George Wythe—but RPS doesn’t have staff yet to pick up that work. So the project sits in limbo. Not great. With the budget out of the Mayor’s hands, I think Council would need to submit a budget amendment to fund these new spots—or RPS would have to go through some process unknown to me to cut funding from elsewhere in their own budget. I hate this whole situation, and don’t see a great way out of it given all of the egos and personalities involved. Tune in tonight, I guess.Speaking of budget amendments, City Council will have their fifth budget work session today, and they’ll focus on an analysis of the CIP. Perhaps more exciting, their budget amendments, which they’ll discuss on Wednesday, have dropped! This document lays out each proposed amendment (both increases and decreases) by councilmember. While it’ll give you an idea for what’s out there, it doesn’t do a great job at telling the broader story of which amendments have larger support among Council. Basically, don’t take a given member’s lack of amendment as a lack of support for a program or department—they’ll often collaborate on these things. A couple takeaways: Funding for the Civilian Review Board looks like it will happen, but it’s unclear how much (it won’t be the more than $1 million requested, that’s for sure); some folks want police and fire to get a raise, and it’s unclear to me whether that’s inline or out of line with the existing compensation stuff that the mayor’s budget made a priority; increasing the Affordable Housing Trust Fund contribution has a lot of support; and the public defenders office might could see an increase. Over on the cuts side, you’ve got suggested cuts to police, tax relief for seniors, fleet funding, and the non-departmental budget (aka when the City funds non-profits and other organizations). Also of note, Councilmember Jones proposed cutting every line item in the budget that received an increase by 34% of that increase. I’m not a fan of across the board cuts like this because I don’t think they’re equitable. We’ll learn more about how all of these things fit together and what has councilwide support on Wednesday. Exciting!I’ve got two more Council/legislative updates (but they’re quick!). First, the Ms. Bee’s parklet did need to go to the Planning Commission for approval. It’s on their Consent Agenda today, so, fingers crossed, that shouldn’t be a big deal. Second, Planning Commission will also consider these changes to the City’s parklet programwhich, I assume, will make it easier and cheaper for businesses to install parklets.You’re going to want to budget some time this week to work your way through all of the RTD’s The JXN Project: Contextualizing the origins of Jackson Ward. The JXN Project celebrates the 150th anniversary of Jackson Ward (this past weekend!), and the folks behind that work—Enjoli Moon and Sesha Joi Pritchett-Moon—partnered with the RTD to put together a handful of really nice stories about the painful and resilient history of the neighborhood.Richmond BizSense’s Michael Schwartz reports that Dominion will not build a second office tower downtown. I forget how the second Dominion tower was wrapped up into the eventual success of Navy Hill, but I’m glad it’s not something we were counting on in the immediate future.This morning’s patron longreadHow Lil Nas X Flipped Conservatives’ Culture-War PlaybookI love Lil Nas X.That doesn’t mean that Lil Nas X is a sorry pop star — he’s quite an outstanding one by the genre’s own standards, displaying the same easy charm, sharp aesthetic eye and knowledge of the cultural moment that fueled icons from Jimi Hendrix to Madonna to Beyoncé. The rap world has not been historically friendly to LGBTQ people, to say the very least, making it even more impressive that he managed to somehow leap in a single bound the barriers of acceptance both there and in the world of country music. Pop needs figures like him as catalysts, if for nothing else than to keep its world from becoming stale, self-reflexive, decadent.If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.Picture of the DayDoes a more charming Little Free Library exist?

Good morning, RVA! It’s 47 °F, and today you can expect cloudy skies with highs in the 60s. We might see some rain move in late this evening through tomorrow morning. Heck, if we can miss most of the rain scattered about here and there, the next couple of days look great.Water coolerAs of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 1,063 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealthand 10 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 103 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 43, Henrico: 41, and Richmond: 19). Since this pandemic began, 1,187 people have died in the Richmond region. Of note, the Governor will hold a media briefing today at 2:00 PM to “Provide updates on the Commonwealth’s response to COVID-19 and vaccination program.” You can stream it live over on VPM’s YouTube. New guidance? Fewer restrictions? More info about when we’ll see the Johnson & Johnson bars on the vaccine received graph tick upwards? Find out this afternoon!Over on the doughnut side of the house, if you present your vaccine card at a Krispy Kreme they’ll give you a free doughnut every day until the end of the year. I know some folks have an issue with this, but, like, I’m not going to think too hard about it. Doughnuts are great. Additionally, from their FAQs: “if you have made the personal decision to not receive the COVID vaccine, please visit us on Mondays, 3/29/21 – 5/24/21, to receive a free Original Glazed® doughnut and a medium brewed coffee to get your week off to a good start.”I’ve been noodling my way through the Mayor’s proposed budget and Capital Improvement Program (PDF), and I wanted to highlight two things from the latter.First, the Mayor has proposed creating a “Complete Streets” project (p. 53) and has funded it between $7–8 million a year for the next five years—totaling $39.4 million. Complete streets are, to quote Smart Growth America, “designed and operated to prioritize safety, comfort, and access to destinations for all people who use the street, especially people who have experienced systemic underinvestment or whose needs have not been met through a traditional transportation approach, including older adults, people living with disabilities, people who cannot afford or do not have access to a car, and Black, Native, and Hispanic or Latino/a/x communities.” With that definition in mind, one thing that worries me about this year’s CIP is that the new Complete Streets project combines the previous “Citywide Traffic Calming, Pedestrian Safety Crossing Improvements, Sidewalk Projects, Streets, Sidewalks, and Alley Improvements, Traffic Control Installation, and Transportation Projects” into a single project without really laying out how that money will be spent. Additionally, the intro to the CIP describes the Complete Streets project as “funding in street completion throughout the city; funding sidewalks, curb & gutters, pedestrian crossing, and paving.” Paving? How much of this fund will go towards paving and how much toward sidewalks, bike lanes, pedestrian safety projects, and traffic calming? I’d hate for money that was once earmarked for projects that prioritized safe transportation access for vulnerable Richmonders to get spent on routine paving projects.Second, the proposed Enslaved African Heritage Campus project (p. 30) is estimated to cost $38 million, of that, $15 million (about 40%!) will go toward a parking facility. This project is not fully funded in this CIP, with only $28 million of the $38 million allocated over the next five years. However, the plan is to put $15 million towards the project in FY24, which I assume fully funds whatever 665-space parking structure they intend to build. I don’t know enough about the details, but almost half of a project spent on parking in a location adjacent to the Pulse and the train station? I’d like to learn more!A quick City Council update: RES. 2021-R017, which kicks off the rezoning of the western part of Broad Street, passed on last night’s consent agenda. Also, I wanted to point out this thread from @RVADirtcovering Council’s discussion on ORD. 2020–257. This ordinance allows the sale of an RRHA-owned property to the Better Housing Coalition for redevelopment into affordable, multi-family housing (aka apartments). I didn’t listen to the entire conversation, which you can do here, but it sounds like a glitch in the deed or title or some other piece of paper left an opening for classic NIMBY complaints to oppose denser, affordable housing in Jackson Ward. This paper ended up passing with Councilmembers Jordan and Larson voting against. Scrub forward to around 1:40:00 to hear Councilmember Jordan’s comments. I don’t love her vote on this, but it’s useful to hear her talk through some of the complexities of this particular situation.A couple weeks back I mentioned RVA Rapid Transit’s Transit Talk series when they hosted GRTC’s CEO Julie Timm. They’ve got a recording of that talk up, and you should go listen to it! Learn about zero fares and if that’s a long-term possibility in Richmond.Tonight, at 6:00 PM, you can hop on a virtual meeting about the City’s potential/proposed resort casino (or call in here: 804.316.9457). I’m not sure what they’ll cover, but the title of the meeting is “proposal videos.” Your guess is as good as mine!I asked for folks to send me rally-type things in support of our Asian neighbors, so thank you to a reader for pointing out this Stop the Hate Rally (Facebook) tonight from 5:00–6:00 PM at Short Pump Park (3329 Pump Road) hosted by the Asian American Society of Central Virginia.This morning’s longreadWhy McConnell Gets Away With FilibusteringThis is a great filibuster recap—both the practicals and politics of it. If we want to change anything, including our country’s absurd gun violence laws, we’ve got to get rid of the filibuster. Thankfully, over the last few days, there’s been the smallest movement in that direction.McConnell was saying that certain legislation Obama wanted to pass could have gotten bipartisan support, which Americans would have then seen as affirming its general goodness. But McConnell didn’t want that legislation to pass, or Americans to draw that conclusion. Fingerprints is the most revealing word. It makes clear that what mattered to him was that Obama would take the blame. For Republicans, the filibuster was a win-win-win: It sharply reduced the range of issues that Democrats could advance; it ensured that even bills that got through were subject to withering attacks for months, dragging down public support; and it produced an atmosphere of gridlock and dysfunction for which Democrats would pay the price.If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.Picture of the DayCertainly no one’s putting these in their ears…

Good morning, RVA! It’s 38 °F and bleh. Today you can expect highs in the low 40s and a chance of cold rain until the sun goes down. Probably best to stay inside if you can and hold your outside plans until tomorrow (which looks pretty nice at the moment).Water coolerAs of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 1,130 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealthand 41 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 96 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 46, Henrico: 33, and Richmond: 17). Since this pandemic began, 1,174 people have died in the Richmond region. As the seven-day average of new reported cases creeps lower and lower—1,325 this morning—it is important to remain vigilant! UVA’s model, which, admittedly hasn’t been updated in a week, notes that “News has been encouraging lately. Case rates are declining and the vaccine seems to be having an early impact. However, new variants and pandemic fatigue create additional risks. If new variants become widespread as residents loosen prevention measures, Virginia may see another peak, with cases peaking at 40,532 per week during the week ending July 4, 2021.” For context, our seven-day average of new cases the last week of January—the darkest of times—peaked at 6,149 or 43,043 cases per week. So please, wear a mask, keep your distance, work from home, and get vaccinated if you can.Speaking of getting vaccinated if you can, as of yesterday over one million Virginians are now fully vaccinated! That’s about an eighth of the entire population, and 21.1% of the state has received at least one dose. The Governor and First Lady also joined the list of the fully vaccinated, and got their one-and-done dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.Whoa, OK, late last night, like almost today, the RPS School Board voted for a traditional calendar for this coming school year. NBC 12’s Brent Solomon has the details. I thought for sure the Board would punt the decision a couple weeks down the road—which they did decide to do early in the meeting (which is when I stopped watching). Apparently, two-and-a-half hours after reading 56 pages of public comments, they changed their minds and ended up voting for the traditional calendar to allow more time, in Solomon’s words, “to collect data and get the public’s input” on year-round school. This random post on /r/rva says Superintendent Kamras pushed the board to make a decision either way last night so families and staff could know the plan for next year.It’s not until next month, but the City’s Urban Design Committee will consider a new parklet out front of Ms. Bee’s Juice Bar on Brookland Park Boulevard. It’s charming, and it’s made out of hexagons! Tap through to page 29 to see what the final, pretty rad, design would look like. We still don’t have any parklets that take advantage of the City’s parklet ordinance—which probably tells you something about the efficacy of the ordinance—but I’m glad Venture Richmond has started to push on this. Once we have even just a few successful parklets, I think we’ll start to see them popping up in a neighborhood near you.Today the Land Use, Housing and Transportation committee will consider RES. 2021-R017, which will declare a public necessity to rezone to TOD-1 the area “north and south of West Broad Street from Interstate Route I-195 west to the City’s corporate boundary with Henrico County.” I don’t imagine that “north and south of W. Broad Street” penetrates very far off of actual W. Broad Street itself, but, still, increasing the density of the Pulse Corridor makes a ton of sense. That hellscape of parking lots and low-slung strip malls needs some in-filling like whoa. Anyway, as y’all know by now, passing this resolution is the first step in actually doing a rezoning, so I’ll for sure be keeping an eye on it throughout the rest of the process. You should probably prepare yourself for some gnashing of teeth and rending of garments over “shade” and “crime.”Patrick Larson at VPM reports that Swansboro Park on the Southside now has 50 new trees due to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Greening Southside Richmond project. Trees are amazing and do all sorts of things to improve a neighborhood: look sweet, reduce the urban heat island effect, filter runoff, and, of course, provide shade. The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago, the second best time is right now! I love this saying and think about it constantly.Music to my ears! Mike Platania at Richmond BizSense writes that “a proposed 254-unit apartment building would replace a parking lot in Jackson Ward.” This is that terrible parking lot on the north-east corner of 2nd and Marshall that just so happens to be adjacent to really great transit and flush with good restaurants. It’s already kind of in process, but 2nd Street is about to blow up!This morning’s longreadFirst comprehensive study of indoor pot farm emissions uncovers a giant climate hot spotUnsurprisingly, everything we do has an impact on the environment.Regardless of location, the top two factors contributing to carbon emissions from indoor cannabis growing are climate control (cannabis plants need stable temperature and humidity but regular turnover of fresh air) and high-intensity grow lights. “While it is well known that lights are energy intensive, maintaining a comfortable environment for the plants is just as intensive if not more,” says Quinn. Another surprising source of emissions: “Bottled carbon dioxide is added to indoor grow spaces for increased plant growth and accounts for 11–25% of cannabis emissions, depending on location,” says study team member Hailey Summers, a graduate student at Colorado State University. The emissions don’t come from the CO2 itself (which is a byproduct of other industrial processes and would otherwise be released into the atmosphere) but from compressing it into liquid form and bottling it.If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.Picture of the DayBirds, man.

Kelli's in Jackson Ward to visit the area where Bill "Bojangles" Robinson grew up, check out The Jefferson Hotel where he was discovered, and visit his monument in Jackson Ward celebrating his life.

WELCOME OUR NEW CO-HOST, JACKSON WARD!!!!!!!!!! Today we are just shootin' the shit, talkin' bout nothin'! Jackson is the guitarist for experimental band, Haggle. He also can skate like a champ and build stuff! What a guy! Check out Noiselord's newest release, HUMAN OKRA, available on all platforms! follow us on insta! @_noise_lord_ @_jelton_ @_haggle_band_ @_pandemic_records_ Youtube.com/AreYouJelton 2020 Jelton Inc.

This week Beth and Wendy discuss The Briley Brothers case. Three African American brothers who went on a seven-month killing spree in their hometown of Richmond, Virginia in 1979. Thanks for listening! This is a weekly podcast and new episodes drop every Thursday, so until next time... look alive guys, it's crazy out there! Where to find us: Our Facebook page is Fruitloopspod and our discussion group is Fruitloopspod Discussion on Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/groups/fruitloopspod/ We are also on Twitter and Instagram @fruitloopspod Please send any questions or comments to fruitloopspod@gmail.com or leave us a voicemail at 602-935-6294.  We just might read your email or play your voicemail on the show! Want to Support the show? You can support the show by rating and reviewing Fruitloops on iTunes, or anywhere else that you get your podcasts from.  We would love it if you gave us 5 stars! You can make a donation on the Cash App https://cash.me/$fruitloopspod Or become a monthly Patron through our Podbean Patron page https://patron.podbean.com/fruitloopspod Articles/Websites Jiji. (11/04/2019). Two years after nine bodies found at suspect's home in Zama, still no trial. JapanTimes. Retrieved 07/11/2020 from https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/11/04/national/crime-legal/no-zama-mass-murder-trial-yet/ Wikipedia contributors. (07/06/2020). Briley Brothers. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 07/09/2020 from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Briley_Brothers&oldid=966389305 Williams, Reed; McKelway, Bill. (05/30/2009). Rampage: The Briley brothers terrorized Richmond area. Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved 07/09/2020 from https://www.richmond.com/news/rampage-the-briley-brothers-terrorized-richmond-area/article_b86344f8-a0f4-521a-bf35-cadafdad143f.html Montaldo, Charles. (07/03/2019). The Briley Brothers Killing Spree. ThoughtCo. Retrieved 07/09/2020 from https://www.thoughtco.com/briley-brothers-killing-spree-4060045 Williams, Reed; McKelway, Bill. (05/13/2009). Officials seek release for Briley brothers accomplice. Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved 07/12/2020 from https://www.richmond.com/news/officials-seek-release-for-briley-brothers-accomplice/article_8cb65564-c2cd-5ecc-9e97-e90a4cdd0045.html Hawkins, Erik. (12/15/2019). Trio Of Brothers Raped And Murdered Their Way Through Richmond Before An Unbelievable Prison Break. Oxygen. Retrieved 07/12/2020 from https://www.oxygen.com/crime-news/linwood-james-anthony-briley-brothers-murder-spree-duncan-meekins Books Rosewood, Jack; Walker, Dwayne.  The Briley Brothers:  The True Story of The Slaying Brothers. True Crime by Evil Killers Vol. 8.  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FEEQP5K Podcasts Hosts Unknown.  Keep Creepin’ The True Crime Guys (7/7/2019). Episode #74 The Briley Brothers [Audio podcast]. Retrieved 07/13/2020 from https://truecrimelasvegas.podbean.com/ Mike and Gibby (hosts).  True Crime All the Time (5/13/2018) Episode 78- The Briley Brothers [Audio podcast].  Retrieved 07/13/2020 from https://www.truecrimeallthetime.com/index.php/2018/05/26/ep78-the-briley-brothers/ Ludlow, Esther (host).  Once Upon A Crime (11/6/2017).  Episode 065:  Murder in the Family:  The Briley Brothers [AudioPodcast].  Retrieved on 07/13/2020 from https://www.podbean.com/podcast-detail/uqjq4-41f8a/Once-Upon-A-Crime-%7C-True-Crime-Podcast Costa, Michael and Levy- Costa, Natalie (hosts).  Detective Society (03/26/2017) Ep 10: The Briley Brothers [AudioPodcast]. Retrieved on 07/13/2020 from https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/detective-society Video S3 E 5 Evil Kin: Streets of Bloodhttps://www.investigationdiscovery.com/tv-shows/evil-kin/full-episodes/streets-of-blood S1 E8: Killer Siblingshttps://www.oxygen.com/killer-siblings/season-1/brileys Born to Kill? The Briley Brothershttps://www.imdb.com/title/tt03302462/ Escape From Death Rowhttps://www.amazon.com/Escape-Death-Row-Daniel-Capellaro/dp/B07BHYP5X5 History Zakarya, Aaqil. (n.d.). Richmond- A modern day analysis of a city with a history of racial segregation. statsmaths.github.io. Retrieved 7/13/2020 from https://statsmaths.github.io/stat209-s18/assets/project-b/aerrapothu.html Kollatz Jr, Harry. (05/11/2018). Photographs and Memories of Black Richmond. Richmond Magazine. Retrieved 07/12/2020 from https://richmondmagazine.com/arts-entertainment/galleries/photographs-memories/ Wikipedia contributors. (01/29/2020). Jackson Ward. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 07/12/2020 from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jackson_Ward&oldid=938107076 Shout Outs I may Destroy you https://www.hbo.com/i-may-destroy-you and on Amazon Prime Unfinished:  Deep Southhttps://www.stitcher.com/podcast/stitcher/unfinished-deep-south Hollywood Crime Scene Podcast with Rachel Fisher and Desi Jedeikinhttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hollywood-crime-scene/id1262899883 Ad Crime in Colorhttps://www.stitcher.com/podcast/crime-in-color Music "Abyss" by Alasen: ●https://soundcloud.com/alasen●https://twitter.com/icemantrap ●https://instagram.com/icemanbass/●https://soundcloud.com/therealfrozenguy●Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License "Melrose" by Yung Kartz https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Yung_KartzLicensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License "A Saint" by Saibysed https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoyDwrTWfhlv_yBm84WXXBgLicensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License "Furious Freak" by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3791-furious-freakLicense: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Connect with us on: Twitter @FruitLoopsPod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/fruitloopspod Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Fruitloopspod and https://www.facebook.com/groups/fruitloopspod  

Good morning, RVA! It’s 74 °F, and today we’ve got more of the same. Expect highs in the mid 90s, sunshine, and humidity—all the things that make Richmond summers great. Stay cool, stay hydrated, and stay masked up.Water coolerSome personal news: At the end of this month, I will resign my position as Executive Director of RVA Rapid Transit (that’s my day job). I’ve had the absolute best time over the last four years working for an organization whose vision—a region packed with frequent and far-reaching public transportation—aligns so closely with my own. However, trite as it sounds, the last three months of pandemic and protests have helped bring into focus what’s important to me and what I do best.First, it’s clear to me that the advocacy for better public transportation in our region must be led by the people most impacted by our region’s past—and ongoing—racist planning decisions. That’s obviously not my lived experience, and it’s appropriate and necessary for me to step aside and make space for someone else.Second, it’s also clear to me that Good Morning, RVA is the best use of my time, talents, voice, and platform. Over the last three coronamonths (or is it four at this point??) I’ve done some of the best writing of my life and have felt incredibly fulfilled keeping Richmonders informed about what’s going on in their city during a time of crisis. But it’s not just the recent crisis-writing. I’ve absolutely loved the last couple years of helping folks work through the (failed) property tax increase, NoBro, a bunch of zoning-and-rezonings, and, of course, the non-stop work for better and safer streets. It’s deeply affirming to regularly hear from readers that what I write about each day has helped them become better citizens of the city.So, after four years, I want to dedicate more than just my (very) early mornings to GMRVA. Moving forward, I’ll now have the capacity to put more time and energy into Good Morning, RVA, and, eventually, I hope to grow it into a sustainable way to support me and my family. How will that impact you, the reader? Starting with the very next sentence you can expect me to regularly ask for your financial support. If you value my work, sign up for the GMRVA patreon and kick five or ten bucks my way each month. Your support, now very literally, helps make Good Morning, RVA possible. Other than that, I hope to invest more time in longer-form projects like the HB 1541 and the two-stage budget review explainers. I plan on crushing 2020 election coverage (now that we have a mostly-final list of candidates) and am noodling on ways to help folks get more meaningfully involved in our City’s legislative process. This project has changed a lot over the last five years (ack! look at this, the very first Good Morning, RVA email, sent way back on March 3rd, 2014), and I’m sure it will continue to evolve, but now with the attention I know it deserves.I’m incredibly excited to do this thing that I love in a more meaningful, more intentional way, and I hope you’re excited about that, too.Alright, on with the news!P.S. And, because I know I’ll get emails about it, I’m not looking for any sort of advertising or sponsorship. I’ve learned my lesson about ad-supported news and news-adjacent projects, and I’m not interested. Good Morning, RVA will be reader supported for the next foreseeable forever. You should, like, go become a supporter. Just go ahead and do it.As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 639↗️ new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 4↘️ new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 75↗️ new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 43, Henrico: 18, and Richmond: 14). Since this pandemic began, 240 people have died in the Richmond region. The New York Times has some upsetting dataviz around the disparate impact COVID-19 has on people of color. From the article: “Latino and African-American residents of the United States have been three times as likely to become infected as their white neighbors, according to the new data…and Black and Latino people have been nearly twice as likely to die from the virus as white people, the data shows.” The new data are only available after the NYT sued the CDC for it.Whoa: The Virginia Mercury’s Sarah Vogelsong says, “In a sharp pivot away from natural gas, Dominion Energy announced Sunday that it is canceling the controversial Atlantic Coast Pipeline and selling ‘substantially all’ of its natural gas transmission and storage assets to a Berkshire Hathaway affiliate.” That’s an enormous win for environmental advocates and regular folk who didn’t want an massive natural gas pipeline running through their town. Robert Zullo, also at the Mercury, steps through some of the project’s history and how much he’s learned reporting on it over the last four years.City Council’s Organizational Development committee meets today at 5:00 PM and will talk through some interesting topics. New RPD Chief Gerald Smith will formally introduce himself to Council, and the Interim City Attorney will give a monument update—fascinated by the latter since the Mayor just went and did it despite the Interim City Attorney’s advice. They’ll also discuss how Council and the Mayor’s administration can move forward on the Civilian Review Board, Marcus Alert, the Mayor’s Reimagining Public Safety Task Force, and the community engagement strategy around all of those things. Should be a good one, and you can tune in here(just look for the “In Progress” link once the meeting begins). The Planning Commission will also meet today, and I’ve got my eye on the “Omnibus Zoning Ordinance Amendment Update and Residential Zoning District Amendments” presentation. The side deck’s not yet on legistar, but you can catch that meeting at 1:30 PM if you’d like.It seems bananas when you say it out loud, but an actual part of the Richmond 300 draft is decking over the part of I-95 between Gilpin Court and Jackson Ward and building stuff right on top of the dang highway—the same dang highway, you’ll remember, that cut through Jackson Ward in the 50s and destroyed parts of a vibrant, thriving Black neighborhood. Jonathan Spiers at Richmond BizSense has some details on what that would look like, how it would reconnect the neighborhoods, and what kind of redevelopment it could spur in and around the area.Richmond Public Libraries reopen today, which I am ambivalent about. On the one hand, the library serves an absolutely critical role in folks' lives, but on the washed-for-20-seconds other hand, anything reopening stresses me out. You can read the new procedures and health-related guidelines over on their website. Also, they are now accepting book returns either inside or in the drop boxes, which is great news for me. We’ve got a stack of books that we checked out on, like, Pandemic Day 0, and they’ve filled me with an increasing amount of guilt as the weeks have worn on. This is part of the City’s official move into Phase Three, and you can read about how that changes City services here.Free Blockbuster Richmond is Little Free Library but for videos. You’ve probably seen the blue and yellow boxes on Instagram, and they’re exactly what you think they are: Free lending libraries focused on TV and movies (and candy!). I’m not sure what folks do with a VHS of Stargate, but, still, a cool idea. Rodrigo Arriaza at Richmond Magazine has some more details including a couple quotes from the founder who, ominously, wished to remain anonymous!This morning’s longreadYou Want a Confederate Monument? My Body Is a Confederate MonumentThis is a powerful, hard-to-read piece by Caroline Randall Williams. Content warning: rape and sexual assault.According to the rule of hypodescent (the social and legal practice of assigning a genetically mixed-race person to the race with less social power) I am the daughter of two black people, the granddaughter of four black people, the great-granddaughter of eight black people. Go back one more generation and it gets less straightforward, and more sinister. As far as family history has always told, and as modern DNA testing has allowed me to confirm, I am the descendant of black women who were domestic servants and white men who raped their help. It is an extraordinary truth of my life that I am biologically more than half white, and yet I have no white people in my genealogy in living memory. No. Voluntary. Whiteness. I am more than half white, and none of it was consensual. White Southern men — my ancestors — took what they wanted from women they did not love, over whom they had extraordinary power, and then failed to claim their children.If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 55 °F, and highs today are back up near 70 °F. You should expect some clouds and a small chance of rain throughout the day. These warm-weather vibes should continue for the rest of the week.Water coolerThe Virginia Department of Health announced that the Commonwealth now has five positive cases of the coronavirus—including one in Spotsyvlania. VDH recommends, first and foremost, that you wash your hands with soap and water and avoid coughing directly into other people’s faces. If you’re sick, stay home, and “avoid non-essential travel.” This is an extremely rapidly changing situation—going viral is named after actual viruses for a reason. Keep your information up-to-date and solidly sourced (like, from the CDC or VDH).Quick short-term rental update: City Council continued ORD. 2019–343 to their March 23rd meeting. I tuned in to the meeting late, so I didn’t catch their reasons for continuing the paper, but this does mean that all Airbnbs in Richmond are still illegal. Council’s Culture of Continuation strikes again! City staff have worked on this legislation for years and there have been many opportunities for folks to get involved—both regularfolks and councilfolks. Do we really need another 14 days to ask people how they feel about this particular ordinance? One other, unrelated-but-interesting Council update: At 10:00 AM, the Land Use, Housing and Transportation committee will meet today to interview new candidates for the Richmond Redevelopment & Housing Authority board of commissioners. They’ll post up in the 2nd Floor Conference Room which, I think, means no live audio—but maybe you could pop in??VPM’s Whittney Evans has the updated details on the NAACP’s attempts to force Hanover County to change the names and mascots of two County schools. Y’all! Lee-Davis High School’s mascot is literally “The Confederates”! That seems so bananas here in 2020. I truly believe that there is absolutely no timeline in which Hanover can keep a high school named after two different White supremacists. It’s just a matter of time and a matter of how much money the County wants to spend dragging their feet.Jack Jacobs at Richmond BizSense says the former executive pastry chef at the Jefferson has opened a new bakery in Jackson Ward. I had to Google “petit fours.”The world is full of things lately—some very scary! To help with that, following the suggestion of a Good Morning, RVA patron, I want to link to two wildlife cams: The Richmond Osprey Cam and the Richmond Falcon Cam. Truth be told, I’m pretty scared of birds when we’re in the same space, but when we’re separated by many miles and a glass screen, I kind of find them soothing. With any luck, you will, too!For your listening pleasure, I present Episode 74 of the Sam and Ross Like Things podcast! Tune in and hear me talk excitedly about The Witcher, which has rapidly taken its place near the top of my List of Favorite Things.This morning’s longreadThe Diet Industrial Complex Got Me, and It Will Never Let Me GoDang, this is a dark piece.I, who can count the number of calories on a table laden with 10 dishes in less time that it takes most people to tie a pair of shoes, did not see the body positivity movement coming, not at all. Suddenly, about a decade ago, when I started to notice that fat women were a) calling themselves fat, with pride, and b) walking down the streets of our nation’s great cities nonchalantly wearing tight or revealing clothing with a general air of, “yeah I will wear this and I will wear whatever I want, and I am hot, too, I will be hot forever, long after you have all died,” I thought to myself, Oh my God WHAT? The solution is not … the diet?If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.

Shane Roberts-Thomas is a Tasmanian devil. At least that's what she told a worldwide television audience when her Richmond restaurant Southern Kitchen was featured in "Gordon Ramsay's 24 Hours to Hell and Back." The show, which travels the country helping restaurants improve their business, was filmed in October 2019 and debuted on television in February 2020. Roberts-Thomas sat down with Eat It, Virginia! co-hosts Scott Wise and Robey Martin to break down Gordon Ramsay's surprise visit to Richmond and discussed the life decisions she made that led her to open a restaurant. The Gordon Ramsay experience started with a phone call. "[The producers called] and they didn't say was Gordon Ramsay. They said it was [a show called 'Famous Kitchens,'" Roberts-Thomas recalled. "[They said] they were just calling because they had heard about me. And they do a lot of analytics and they wanted to feature me on a new show and that 'the expert' is looking at you. I said, 'Who is the expert?' They said, 'We can't tell you.'"This expert we can tell you.'" She signed the papers and allowed the producers to set-up cameras and microphones in her new Jackson Ward restaurant to collect the content they needed to make the show. Weeks passed, until one day a disguised guest arrived in the dining room. "You see [Gordon] go, 'Shane,'" she said. "The record scratched, the bombs dropped, the wind started blowing, you were like -- it's a hurricane!" A what a storm it was -- and has been -- for Roberts-Thomas and her family. Get the full story on Eat It, Virginia! with Scott and Robey.

014 Justin Ayotte We sat down with Justin Ayotte, beverage director of Jackson Ward’s Saison restaurant and next-door neighbor Saison Market. These two are regulars on lists of the best bars in Richmond, thanks to a well-executed drink program coupled with an easygoing environment. Born in Virginia Beach and raised in Chesterfield, Justin entered the Richmond drink scene via Capital Ale House, where he met Saison owner Jay Bayer and fell in love with beer, cocktails, and bartending. He chatted with us about how he got into the industry; how those epic drink menus come together; and what he’s drinking after work these days. Show Notes: Mentioned in this episode: Saison on Instagram Saison Market on Instagram The Jasper Mover & Shaker Co. Follow Us: Richmond Famous Richmond Famous on Instagram Subscribe on Apple Podcasts

In this episode I have the pleasure of speaking with Kelli Lemon! She is such a joy and vibrant light in RVA! After indulging in her interview make sure to stay tuned for your word of the week! Check out more details about Kelli down below and follow her everywhere on social media @LikeTheFruit. Become a member of the BGW Family here. Be one of the 20 women at the upcoming Women, Wellness, and Wine Retreat by registering here. Kelli Lemon is a "Social Entrepreneur/Consultant" that is passionate about changing how people "LIVE" Richmond, Virginia. Formerly the Business Manager of Mama J's restaurant, Kelli is now working for herself (Like The Fruit, LLC) to socially connect people through food, sports, arts and education. She is also an on air personality for Radio One Richmond's Kiss FM and iPower and hosts a weekly podcast and web series called "Coffee with Strangers". Kelli hosts various social events including The Richmond Jazz Festival, After Hours at The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and Family Day at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens. She's also assisted in creating unique urban events in RVA including RVA Pop Up Parties, Hip Hop BINGO, Ready 2 Give Charity Events, Dinner and a DJ, HeART & Soul Brew Fest, Virginia (Richmond) Black Restaurant Experience and The Art of Noise. Fall 2018, Kelli blended all of her talents and opened her social cafe, Urban Hang Suite at 3rd and Broad in Jackson Ward in downtown Richmond. Kelli got her Bachelor of Science degree from UVA and Master's in Education from VCU. Want to support this podcast? Click the link below to make a small monthly donation to help sustain future episodes! Cheers to Excellence! https://anchor.fm/blackgirlswine/support

On the saddest episode of The Only Podcast yet, Austin (@ACSmith06) and John (@John_Kirby) talk... (0:00-19:30) - Rummaging through the ashes: MSU's season ends before it feels like it even began. How did this happen? (19:30-30:00) - Looking ahead - Rank 'Em: Likeliest to return - Ward, Jackson or Bridges? - What is Miles Bridges Legacy? (30:00-36:00) - What effect does the handling of Jackson/Ward have on future major recruits? (36:00-47:00) - 2018-19: Kind of a big year now! - Good players coming in, but this will take some work. (47:00 - End) - Newcomers update - Loads of potential already being realized at the high school level Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kelli's downtown to grab coffee with Herman Baskerville otherwise known as Big Herm. Herm's the owner of Big Herm's Kitchen & Catering on 2 Street in the heart of Jackson Ward and if you saw her article in Boomer magazine, you know what a staple Big Herm's is to Richmond's southern soul food scene.

Kelli's in Jackson Ward to grab juice with Ashley Williams. Ashley is the owner of BareSoul Yoga and social justice advocate and her yoga studio in Saadia's JuiceBox is making yoga and mindfulness accessible to a whole new population.

Kelli's at Pop's Market to grab coffee with Prabir Mehta. Prabir's family moved from India to Richmond in 1988. He's seen Richmond change over that time, especially Jackson Ward, which is where he currently rests his head. Prabir is involved in a lot around the city, including Board Chair at Gallery 5 and working with the folks at the Science Museum of Virginia, and more. And he's also a big coffee drinker.

Writing Work. With Wine and Intention. Welcome to the last in a series of FOUR podcasts celebrating the Virginia Festival of the Book! From March 16th to 19th you will hear from the country's best and brightest when it comes to food writing. Today's episode? Writer and sommelier Jason Tesauro, author of The Modern Gentleman and a contributor to this year's Best American Food Writing series for his profile of chef Bo Bech. Jason will be appearing at an event Sunday, March 26th at JMRL as part of a panel discussion. Event details are listed below. I first became aware of Jason's writing because of his book. We know so many of the same people in the food world and I'm sure we've met briefly during my many forays to Barboursville Vineyards where he's been a sommelier for 15 years. So it was a thrill to finally coordinate our busy schedules for a talk. Not just any journalistic back and forth, but a real honest-to-goodness deep conversation about food writing which evolved into his philosophy of setting your intention as you move throughout your day. And your life. Something I can definitely get behind in this age of instant gratification. Slowing down. Making that tiny bit of extra effort. Living awake and aware. "My job as a writer...I want you to see past my words into the intention of that grower of that chef of that restaurateur." Jason's passion comes out in the piece selected for this year's Best Of series about Chef Bo Bech, a Michelin-starred chef in Denmark, who self-describes as "Complicated Simple". With every beautiful raw ingredient he selects, he sets his intention to transforms it for the plate, while preserving its simple essence. For example, changing the shape of an avocado so when you go to taste it your mouth goes on a journey of discovery and surprise. Chef Bech is no precious "Tweezer Punk" (Tesauro's term), but an innovative chef exploring boundaries. Pushing the diner's expectations and understanding of an ingredient. Continually setting his intention with every plate to create a unique dining experience for his patrons. One so special they'll never forget it. Which behooves Jason to take a similar approach when it comes to reporting. "The complicated part is how do I put my ego aside and how can I explore the humanity? It's about a beet, but it's not really the beet, it's the the heartbeat of the grower who survived the winter and made the ground sing." The deeper themes are the complicated part when it comes to food writing. Tesauro's piece is a travelogue of Virginia with Jason taking Chef Bech to all his favorite haunts, "foraging" simple ingredients for a one-off pop up in New York called The Bride of the Fox. Fifteen hundred people signed up, but only six invitations went out. A mere ninety minutes before the dinner was due to start. How did Jason get this sweet gig? What was his game plan? Listen to find out. "What I love about Bo Bech's food, he will take two ingredients that we're all familiar with and put them on a plate in a mashup we've never experienced...I think Bo never plays it safe. And I'm drawn to artists who live in that space...I like to be around people who are not pushing the envelope for innovation's sake, but they're challenging themselves to evolve and grow." Not resting on your laurels. Pushing yourself to do more. Jason is an embodiment of that himself, a true Renaissance man who not only writes, works as a sommelier, but who has created an entire lifestyle choice with his book and website The Modern Gentleman which espouses the belief no matter your age or background, there's no reason to move through life sloppy and half-assed, as my Momma used to say. The origin story behind the book fascinated me, then convinced me to buy a copy for my nephew. Because a huge part of that story involves setting your intention, saying "Yes" to opportunities, and overcoming fear. Just showing up. "To me intention is the important word here. Because the intention behind growing, behind sourcing, behind plating, I think that is immediately apparent (when it comes to restaurants). The 3-star (restaurant) wanted to show me their ego. They wanted the show. The 1-star nourished me and showed me her heart and her intention. And I came away with an understanding of each dish. A memory. Wheras the 3-star was a blitz of theater, of smoke, of polished meticulousness. But it felt souless." Future plans? Jason recently submitted a wine piece to Esquire. It's one he fought hard for because instead of talking about the beverage in the technical terms most sommeliers use, he went emotional. No flavor or sensory descriptors here. Jason focused on questions like how do you feel while tasting this wine? What does it make you want to do? In what time and place would you drink it? If the wine were a person, who would it be? That style of writing conveys so much more to the reader. It's more accessible. There are more opportunities for connection. While writing the piece, Jason set that intention and hoped for the best. He knew it might be rejected, but he showed up anyway. Guess what? The editors loved it and his article will appear in the Spring. I can't wait to read it and hope more food and wine writers follow his example. I know I'm inspired to do so. "I hope it leads to a shift in the way that we talk about food and wine. Because ultimately it's not just a bunch of salt and acid mixed up together. It's soul. It's place. It's intention." This talked propelled me. I left feeling energized, ready to set my own intentions for the podcast. Wandering through Jackson Ward made me nostalgic for my hometown which made me remember. Which made me rush home and write a blog post that garnered more response from readers than anything I've written in months. Maybe there's something to this intention thing? Listen and discover it for yourself. Then head out Sunday for his panel talk. See you there! Best American Food Writing 2016 Sun. March 26, 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM Central JMRL Library, 201 E Market Street, Charlottesville, Virginia Join food writers Todd Kliman, Jason Tesauro, Joe Yonan, and moderator Holly Hughes as they discuss the Best Food Writing 2016 series. SHOW NOTES – Links to resources talked about during the podcast: Rally for Ally - Help out one of our own, a chef who recently suffered a debilitating accident. Help Polina Recover - Help out one of our own, a baker, who recently suffered a debilitating accident. Help Scotty Recover - My best friend has Stage 3B Colorectal cancer. Bills are piling up. He can't work. Can you help? Virginia Festival of the Book - Head out to the food writing events among tons of others. Yes, I'm biased. To Your Health, WPVC 94.7 - Thanks to host M.C. Blair for having me as a guest! Here is the audio. Luca Paschina of Barboursville Vineyards - The man. The legend. In researching Jason, I came across this quote and knew I'd start the talk with it. It's from Bryan Curtis's piece in The Ringer called, "The Rise (and Fall?) of Food Writing." In a fully digitized world, food offers the promise of writing about something tangible. “I feel like people are longing for connection,” said the writer Jason Tesauro. “We’ve gotten to a place where soul and authenticity and genuineness — there’s a dearth of it about. A lot of food writing just deals with surface — it’s restaurant reviews and hype and ‘Look at what I’ve found that you haven’t heard about yet.’ But peel that back and what you’re really getting is an excuse to write about what’s real. Subscribe to This Podcast. Stay Edacious! - Come on, after this episode? You know you want to ;) Subscribe to Edacious News - Never miss a food event in our area! Learn about regional and national food stories so you can stay edacious! This episode is sponsored by Teej.fm and listeners like you who donated their support at Patreon, who wants every creator in the world to achieve a sustainable income. Thank you.

Barbara Given owns Stoplight Gelato Cafe in Jackson Ward. She talks about how the gelato shop became a reality after losing her son to cancer and how the community helped bring it to life. Barb also sheds some light on her early days growing up in a railroad family, her career in education, and where her tenacity comes from. She even shares her thoughts on the end of life. At 81, Barb is still going strong.

Kelli's at Pop's Market downtown to grab coffee with Kelly Blanchard. Kelley's involved in a lot around Richmond, especially small business. She was a co-founder of New Normal Apparel in Jackson Ward, she recently started the Richmond Pit Bull Project to celebrate and support pit bulls, and dogs in general. Kelli and Kelley have known of each other for a while but never had the chance to meet over coffee.

Three famous Richmond investors -- Jerry "Turtle" Parker; star financial advisor Dalal Salomon; and Davenport veteran Michael Beall -- talk markets, the economy and the year ahead at the historic Hippodrome Theater in Jackson Ward. We're on Twitter @FullDRadio

Country Superstars Jackson Ward, Legendary actress/singer Lainie Kazan and Actor/Director/Producer/Writer Richard Hatch join us on this episode of The Jimmy Star Show broadcast live from the W4CY studios on Wednesday January 14th, 2015.This show is broadcast live on W4CY Radio (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (http://www.talk4radio.com/) on the Talk 4 Media Network (http://www.talk4media.com/).

Country Superstars Jackson Ward, Legendary actress/singer Lainie Kazan and Actor/Director/Producer/Writer Richard Hatch join us on this episode of The Jimmy Star Show broadcast live from the W4CY studios on Wednesday January 14th, 2015. Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-jimmy-star-show-with-ron-russell9600/donations Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Jason Lucy, owner, and Arthur Grant, bar manager, from Lucy's Restaurant in Jackson Ward speak of the 2nd Street Festival, the restaurant, and vodka.

The first episode of 2014 is with Brian Lopez of Glide Skateboards.  We visit with Brian in his shop in Jackson Ward.  There we discuss his shop, the philosophy of his work, the evolution of his business, and the influence of surfing on his designs.  He has good stories about how he got into building boards, how he sources a lot of his material, and how he has gotten his boards in front of a lot of people.  Don't just listen to us talk about it, please check out his facebook page and his site.  Also, check out this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grjqdcn5HT0

On February 23, 2012, Samuel K. Roberts delivered the banner lecture "When the Sun Stood Still: Reflections on the Rev. John Jasper" Among the larger than life personages in Richmond during the latter years of the nineteenth century is to be counted the pastor of Jackson Ward's Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church, the Rev. John Jasper. He was born a slave in the second decade of the century, and his mark on Richmond's popular consciousness lasts even to the present. In large measure, this is because of a sermon he first preached in 1878, "The Sun Do Move and the Earth Am Square." Hailed by some and vilified by others, Jasper's sermon seemed to defy modern notions of astronomy. Yet, he was asked to preach it more than 250 times, including before the General Assembly, before his death in 1901. Reflections on this enigmatic character will explore the context in which his audiences heard him, as well as that of our own. Samuel K. Roberts is the Anne Borden and E. Hervey Evans Professor of Theology and Ethics at Union Presbyterian Seminary. This lecture was cosponsored with Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church. The content and opinions expressed in these presentations are solely those of the speaker and not necessarily of the Virginia Museum of History & Culture.

Ben Anderson, Park Guide for the National Park Service has done intensive research on Richmond’s most famous historic black theater, the Hippodrome.  Anderson has a conversation with host Jeff Majer, about the theater in Jackson Ward.  The theater is celebrating … Continue reading →

On February 23, 2012, Samuel K. Roberts delivered a lecture entitled "When the Sun Stood Still: Reflections on the Reverend John Jasper in His Bicentennial Year." Among the larger than life personages in Richmond during the latter years of the nineteenth century is to be counted the pastor of Jackson Ward’s Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church, the Rev. John Jasper. He was born a slave in the second decade of the century, and his mark on Richmond's popular consciousness lasts even to the present. In large measure, this is because of a sermon he first preached in 1878, "The Sun Do Move and the Earth Am Square." Hailed by some and vilified by others, Jasper's sermon seemed to defy modern notions of astronomy. Yet, he was asked to preach it more than 250 times, including before the General Assembly, before his death in 1901. Reflections on this enigmatic character will explore the context in which his audiences heard him, as well as that of our own. Samuel K. Roberts is the Anne Borden and E. Hervey Evans Professor of Theology and Ethics at Union Presbyterian Seminary. This lecture is cosponsored with Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church.(Introduction by Paul Levengood)

Elvatrice Belsches narrates a 12-stop walking tour of historic Jackson Ward in Richmond, Virginia.