🐢 Good morning, RVA: 172 • 16 • 6.7; legalized it!; and “How the Monuments Came Down”

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 cooler

As 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 longread

Enjoli 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 Day

Zinnias!