Good morning, RVA: COVID-19 level is HIGH, defunding public schools, and rural development

Time to break out those masks and get them strapped to your face again.

Good morning, RVA! It's 41 °F, and cooler temperatures have returned! Today you can expect clear skies and highs in the 50s. It’s not what I’d call “classic January” weather, but it’s certainly less ominously warm. You can expect the same sort of deal tomorrow and even cooler temperatures—maybe even cold!—on Sunday.

Water cooler

As of last night, Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield all have a high CDC COVID-19 Community Level. The 7-day average case rate per 100,000 people in each locality is 72, 226, and 182, respectively, and the 7-day average of new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 people is 21.8. Despite the sizable difference in case rates across the region, it’s the hospital admissions number that’s put us back into the high community level. If you want to dig into the numbers a bit more, look at the hospitalization graphs on the aforelinked CDC page and you’ll see some worryingly hockey-stick shapes. It is definitely time to break out the masks again! Remember: When in a high level, CDC recommends wearing a high-quality mask or respirator, and, if you are at high risk for getting very sick, you should consider avoiding non-essential indoor activities in public where you could be exposed.

Anna Bryson at the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports on Governor Youngkin’s newest plan to defund public schools using something called “education savings accounts.” The idea is that the state would direct its per-pupil funding not to public schools, but, instead, into these savings accounts that parents could ostensibly use to pay for private school tuition. Delegate VanValkenburg, a public school teacher himself, points out just one concern with this proposed program: “There is no accountability with the money...St. Christopher’s School and Collegiate School don’t have more spots. Ideological schools and for-profit schools will pop up, offer inferior product, and discriminate based on their beliefs. All with public monies.” If the state’s Republicans were truly concerned about the quality of education Virginia’s students receive, they’d fully fund public schools instead of attempting—and failing—to do exactly the opposite. I’ll definitely keep an eye on this, but, like the Governor’s whiff on charter school last year, I don’t imagine the State Senate will have any appetite at all for defunding public schools. You can follow HB 1508, introduced by Del. Davis, over on the State’s legislative website.

Earlier this week I wrote about the ongoing efforts to raise enough money to purchase Mayo Island and turn it into new, public green space right in the middle of the James River. We’re not quite there yet, and, at the moment, the Capital Region Land Conservancy is still $2.6 million short of their $11.8 million goal. However! Richmond BizSense’s Mike Platania has a small and exciting update: The Capital Region Land Conservancy is “in conversations with other philanthropic sources about funding the remaining $2.6 million” and “is scheduled to close on the island in 2023.” Those must be pretty solid conversations if they’re planning on closing the deal this year! I’m excited to see this happen and really looking forward to the planning process for what to do with the island after tearing up all those horrible parking lots.\

Jakob Cordes at WRIC reports on a planned 1,000-home development out in eastern Henrico called “Arcadia.” As you’d expect, there’s lots of opposition to this sort of sprawly, suburban development on what is currently pretty and sweeping farmland. But 1,000 homes is a lot of homes, and I don’t know how anti-housing you can be given Richmond’s current housing crisis. It’s complicated, and I appreciate the conversation currently unfolding on /r/rva which highlights a lot of the pros and cons of this level of development this far out from the city center.

This morning's longread
Doors of McMurdo

Check out this photo essay of the doors of a research station? town? community? in Antarctica. I’ve definitely filed this entire blog away to read more of later.

One of the most underrated and fascinating parts of McMurdo is its patchwork evolution over the decades. This is not a master-planned community. Rather, it is a series of organic responses to evolving operational needs. The buildings reflect this patchwork approach. Each building has its own unique style, based on when it was built, the standards at the time, the parties involved in its construction and operation, and what role it plays in town. Nothing more clearly illustrates this than the doors to the buildings. I thought I’d share a collection of my favorite doors, to give a sense of what it’s like on a day-to-day basis doing the most basic task around town: entering and exiting buildings.

If you’d like to suggest a longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.

Picture of the Day

I think you could probably eat this.