Good morning, RVA: COVID-19 tests, teachers, and a north-south BRT

"You can just write things." is really wonderful advice.

Good morning, RVA! It's 31 °F, and that snow event sure was a bust, wasn't it? This morning, despite the mostly-OK conditions outside, you'll still encounter a lot of delays and closures so check websites and social media accounts if you've got somewhere to be. Temperatures will stay right around freezing the entire day, so make a hot beverage of your choice, put on your favorite wool socks, and take the opportunity to sit quietly and prepare yourself for the last bit of week before the weekend hits.

Water cooler

With COVID-19 tests in short supply, yesterday, the Governor announced new funding for a handful of state-run testing sites across the Commonwealth. The "Community Testing Centers," or CTCs, are built on the successful Community Vaccination Center model, one of which has offered vaccinations locally at the Arthur Ashe Athletic Center for the last forever. Richmond will kick off this new state pilot with a CTC at the Richmond Raceway this coming Saturday from 9:00 AM–6:00 PM—stay tuned for more information about how to sign up for an appointment. Additionally, the Richmond and Henrico Health Districts host COVID-19 testing events on the regular, including one today at Diversity Thrift from 1:00–3:00 PM. Find their full list of testing events here, and check back frequently as they add more events (and at-home test pick-up locations!) for the coming weeks. Finally, the Richmond Public Library just got a new stock of at-home tests for folks. Please call ahead before you rush on over, though, as those things never stick around for long.

Something to definitely keep an eye on: Kenya Hunter at the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that "the Richmond teachers union said Thursday that it’s 'deeply concerned about our ability to conduct in-person classes' after a return to school in which 160 teachers and multiple bus drivers were expected to be absent because of COVID-19." We're seeing similar conversations play out nationally, too. In Chicago, where labor law is an entirely different universe, the school district has had to cancel the last three days of school due to teachers union concerns about in-person COVID-19 safety measures. That could never happen here, of course, since the General Assembly passed an eye-rolly law requiring schools to meet in person, but it does make me wonder about where things are headed for in-person learning if Omicron continues to burn.

The Greater Washington Partnership, a sort of super-regional business-driven think tank, released a new report this week exploring the possibility of a north-south BRT in Richmond. I appreciate the timing of this report, because Richmond really needs a strong shove forward in planning the next expansion of bus rapid transit in our region. Other cities, like Indianapolis, opened their first BRT line and immediately (or even simultaneously!) launched into planning their next rapid transit expansion. In Richmond, we kind of one-and-done'd the thing and have been stuck spinning our wheels for a bit. Of course, if I were transit monarch for a day, I would spend our precious regional transit money on a handful of other things before building an actual north-south BRT, but, that said, we desperately need to get the planning process underway so we're ready should a magical pot of money fall from state or federal skies into our regional laps. From the report: "In 2022, elected officials, business organizations, and community leaders all must lean into GRTC’s North-South BRT alignment study process to select the preferred corridor, so the region can get to work proactively planning for inclusive growth along that corridor." Agree! We haven't even chosen the routes for a new BRT, and that's step zero. Chris Suarez at the RTD has the rundown if you don't want to dig into a 60-page PDF on a Friday morning (gasp!).

Patrick Wilson, also at the RTD, has a really interesting piece about the growing Democratic opposition to Governor-elect Youngkin's terrible pick for Secretary of Natural Resources. Wilson reports four of the more independent Democrats in the Senate (including Joe Morrissey) have expressed some concerns, which, great. Andrew Wheeler is a coal lobbyist and perfectly fits the Trumpian mold for a Secretary: Someone dead set on destroying the portion of government of which he's put in charge. This is not a misstep for Youngkin or a mistake he made due to lack of political experience! The Governor-elect's own spokesperson puts it plainly, whether intentionally or not, "asked for any reaction, Youngkin spokeswoman Macaulay Porter referred to the governor-elect’s Wednesday statement saying Wheeler shares Youngkin’s vision for energy and natural resources." Related, the Governor-elect just named Barry Slater, former assistant secretary in the Trump administration as Secretary of Labor. I swear, ex-Trumpers are the Roy Kent of Virginia's new executive branch—they're here, they're there, they're every-freaking-where.

Helen Rosner, who writes lovely things for the New Yorker and inspired me to get real into Italian subs over the pandemic, has, on her 40th birthday, a great list of important things she's learned over the last few decades. A couple of my favorites which you can find implemented in this very newsletter: "You can just write things. An article. A poem. A book. You don’t have to wait for someone else to say you should. You can just do it. This is still unbelievable to me." and "When you don’t know how to start, describe the weather."

This morning's longread
Modern America’s Most Successful Secessionist Movement

Eastern Oregon wants to be Idaho? What?

In the half decade or so since Darrow’s diatribe, a simple and outlandish idea, percolating in rural Oregon since the 1960s—what if we were just Idaho?—has grown into a grassroots secession movement. Last month, Harney County, in the high desert of eastern Oregon, became the state’s eighth to pass a nonbinding ballot measure supporting Darrow’s proposal. Move Oregon’s Border signs now dot the region’s empty highways, and Mike McCarter, a retired agricultural nurseryman and gun-club owner who runs a group pushing for the boundary reshuffle, travels the state in a bright-red trucker hat bearing the slogan. “We don’t care to move, because we’re tied to our land here,” he told me recently. “So why not just allow us to be governed by another state?” He mentioned a supporter so certain that her property will become part of Idaho that she already flies its state flag on her lawn. “We’re going to be Idaho,” she told him.

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