Governor Abigail Spanberger speaking today at the Big Dipper Innovation Summit on the Virginia Supreme Court decision to void the state’s redistricting vote.
via RVA Magazine
Virginia political leaders are sharply divided following the Supreme Court of Virginia’s decision to strike down a voter-approved redistricting referendum, with Democrats condemning the ruling and Republicans defending it as a necessary enforcement of constitutional law.
The court ruled 4–3 that lawmakers failed to follow the constitutional process required to place the amendment on the ballot, invalidating the results of a special election in which more than three million Virginians cast ballots.
Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell called the decision “wrong on the law and unprecedented in its consequences.”
“For the first time in the 250-year history of our Commonwealth, our Supreme Court has set aside the results of a statewide election,” Surovell said.
Surovell also pointed to the court’s timing, arguing the justices allowed the vote to proceed before intervening after the fact. “Over three million Virginians participated in this referendum,” he said. “Their votes have been set aside not because of fraud… but because four justices have adopted a definition of ‘election’ that conflicts with state statute [and] federal precedent.”
via RVA Magazine
Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/music/virginia-redistricting-vote-voided-political-leaders-sound-off.html
Under the Manchester Bridge, what had been an idea for years turned into something tangible, at least for a day.
Hundreds of people moved through the space as muralists painted, DJs played, and passersby stopped mid-bike ride or walk to figure out what was going on. By the end of the afternoon, the one-day test of a proposed arts park felt less like a trial and more like a preview.
“I don’t know how it could have gone better,” said artist Ian C. Hess, an event organizer with Little Giant Society and owner of Supply Art Store. “It was crazy. People showed up from pretty much the moment it started to the moment it ended. All types of Richmond were out there.”
For Hess, the scale of the turnout didn’t fully register until midway through the event, when Richmond Mayor Danny Avula stepped up to paint.
“I was talking to him about the spray paint, a German brand called Molotow, telling him, ‘I swear this isn’t going to explode, you’re good,’” Hess said, laughing. “We went over to one of the walls and he agreed to throw up a tag. Then he turned to me and asked, ‘Can I get a skinny cap?’ I was like, ‘Yes, sir.’”
“I was just focused on talking to him, not really thinking about anything else,” he said. “Then I turned around, and it was just a wall of phones. I was like, ‘Oh shit.’”
“That’s when it hit me how many people were actually out there,” he said. “It kind of stuck in my brain what it is that we’re actually doing.”
via RVA Magazine
Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/art/after-strong-turnout-richmond-arts-park-enters-holding-pattern.html
It was 72 and breezy. Unseasonably pleasant, almost chilly.
VCU students were splayed out on picnic blankets in Monroe Park enjoying soft serve and the sunshine. Citronella and the smell of hot dogs wafted through the air from some folks having a cookout.
“High energy, high discipline” was the chant from activists from the Richmond chapter of the Party for Socialism and Liberation as they prepared for their rally at the old coffee house, their red t-shirts proudly proclaiming “Socialism is the future.”
It was May Day, and the latest in a series of general strikes that have taken place this year. As organizer for PSL Adam Malinowski-Liu put it, “the general strike is a strategy that the working class has used all over the world to agitate for better conditions and to protest unacceptable genocidal acts of governments.” PSL’s call to action included “no school, no work, no shopping” to demand a “new system funding the people’s needs, not the criminals in the White House.”
via RVA Magazine
Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/politics/richmond-had-a-general-strike-and-a-first-friday-on-the-same-night.html
Britain is trying something. They’ve approved a plan where, if you were born in 2009 or later, you’d never be allowed to legally buy cigarettes. The age just keeps moving up every year, and at some point there’s a whole group of adults who were never let in.
It still needs a sign-off from King Charles III, but it’s basically on its way. They’re calling it a “smoke-free generation.”
“This generation will be protected from a lifetime of addiction and harm,” said Wes Streeting, the British health secretary. “Prevention is better than cure.”
I keep circling back to what that would feel like in Richmond. Not the policy so much as the workaround, the cigarette dealer. The person who always seems to know where to find things. Not a big deal, just part of how stuff moves in the background.
Then again, maybe that says more about how my generation is used to things working.
via RVA Magazine
Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/community/britain-wants-a-smoke-free-generation-now-picture-the-cigarette-dealer.html
Editor’s Note: Max Winter is a University of Richmond alumnus reflecting on his time at UR in the late ’90s and the campus culture he experienced. You can read more of his work on his Substack HERE.
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Recently, while eating carnitas in East LA, I check my phone and get blasted with an absurd screenshot.
A text out of nowhere from my old college roommate, Dave: “Dude, been a minute! I was reading about the esteemed Kash Patel and wouldn’t you know, he went to the University of the Institution!”
(That’s Dave’s nickname for the University of Richmond — but more on that later.)
“He was a year younger than us. One of the leaders of ‘The Richmond Rowdies,’ a ‘spirit squad.’”
via RVA Magazine
Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/community/my-life-as-a-spider-the-two-years-i-tried-to-delete.html
The worst kept secret in Richmond is finally official.
After weeks of speculation, Iron Blossom has confirmed what a lot of people were already betting on: Jack White and LCD Soundsystem are heading to Richmond this fall.
The festival will return to Midtown Green in Richmond on September 19 and 20 for its fourth year. The two-day festival will again feature two stages with no overlapping sets.
LCD Soundsystem, led by James Murphy, will perform Saturday with their signature dance-punk set.
Jack White, co-founder of The White Stripes, will close out the weekend with a headlining performance drawing from his solo work and past projects.
Additional artists announced include Geese, Dijon, Angine de Poitrine, Portugal. The Man, Phantogram, Kevin Morby, Die Spitz, along with Richmond locals Night Idea and Shera Shi among others.
via RVA Magazine
Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/music/iron-blossom-steps-up-with-jack-white-lcd-soundsystem.html