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April 2 Newsletter: The allergy capital

Weather: Humidity will rise gradually through the weekend. High of 61 today.

On this date in 1960, police raid a gambling facility on West Main Street, arresting 32 people. One policeman told the Times-Dispatch he saw $30,000 lying on a dice table, and that the table was rigged.

Today's newsletter sponsor: Virginia Commonwealth University is a powerhouse of innovation and creative problem solving. We attack challenges as opportunities. VCU is truly unlike any university you’ve ever seen.

Richmond once again one of the nation's hotspots for allergies

Richmonders love being nationally ranked, but maybe not this time. We're the No. 8 city nationally for allergies.

  • Some good news, though. The snow this winter may help make this season more tolerable than normal.

Climate change has created, on average, about 20 extra growing days each year since 1970.

There's also "botanical sexism": Cities plant male trees that produce pollen instead of female trees that bear fruit, to avoid messy cleanup.

Read more on the allergy season here.

Richmond School Board members working on policy addressing AI

A group of board members has been meeting since January to craft a policy on the use of artificial intelligence in schools.

“The presence of AI offers both possibilities and challenges in the educational spaces,” said one board member.

Read about the process, and see an early sample policy, here.

State pushing for quicker alerts when water problems occur

Virginia lawmakers will meet today, and will discuss a bill that requires the Virginia Department of Health to be notified within 6 hours of a major issue like that one that happened in Richmond.

  • Governor Glenn Youngkin wants the threshold reduced to 2 hours.

When Richmond’s water plant lost power on Jan. 6, VDH didn’t learn details of the situation until about nine hours later, according to a draft after-action report. Read more here.

Spring swings continue as we move between frost and warmth

Sean Sublette has your forecast:

  • On Thursday, another warm period gets started, with temperatures averaging 10-20 degrees above normal.
  • Most of next week will be near or cooler than normal, but the serious cold is expected to hold farther north. This would send Richmond into the 30s on Monday and Tuesday nights next week, raising the possibility of some frost.

Plus, how does Arctic ice shape our weather? Read more here.

Today's sponsor:

Revolutionizing living donation: A world first in robotic surgery

The latest innovation in robotic technology at Virginia Commonwealth University Health Hume-Lee Transplant Center is transforming the recovery process for living liver donors. It is the first transplant center in the world to use a technology that ensures living donors can go back to their lives faster and without complication.
 
In the quest to encourage living donation, surgeons performed the world’s first living donor liver retrieval, known as a hepatectomy, using state-of-the-art robotic technology. This groundbreaking achievement marks a significant leap in minimally invasive transplant surgery, setting a new standard for precision, safety and care for living donors. 

Read more.

In other news

The editor's desk

Let's go to the movies! The Richmonder invites you to join us for a screening of "Join or Die," a film about the importance of community and civic involvement.

The movie will be shown at the Byrd Theatre at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, April 28.

Following the film, director Rebecca Davis will participate in a Q&A with the audience.

Tickets are free for Richmonder donors. If you're not in that group yet, now's the perfect time.

Michael Phillips, founding editor
mphillips@richmonder.org

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