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Good news bourbon lovers: Virginia’s annual Pappy Van Winkle lottery is back — this year with two types of Van Winkles — and folks can enter to win a chance to buy once the lottery opens up on Wednesday.

🥃 Why it matters: Kentucky’s celebrated Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery releases its stock only once a year, and there isn't much to go around. So bourbon drinkers across the country snap up the bottles as quickly as possible, often to resell at a huge markup. 

Since Virginia’s booze sales are regulated by the state, it sells Pappy for the manufacturer’s sales price — often hundreds or thousands dollars less than you can find it on the open market. 

The booze: This year’s Pappy's up for grabs are:

Van Winkle Special Reserve Bourbon 12 Year, $89.99

How it works: Anyone 21 and over with a valid Virginia driver’s license (you have to prove it when you show up to purchase) can enter the lotteries on Virginia ABC’s website from Wednesday, March 23 until Sunday, March 27 at 11:59pm.  

Winners will be notified by April 11. Losers, too.

By the numbers: The distillery determined how many bottles Virginia ABC gets to auction.

For the Van Winkle Special Reserve Bourbon 12 Year, Virginia ABC has 966 bottles available for residents and an additional 241 for restaurants to enter to win.

For the Old Rip Van Winkle 10 Year, it has 289 bottles for residents and 72 for restaurants.

Last year had the largest number of entries since the lottery began in 2016, at 302,884. Because, 2021.

FYI in case you were thinking about trying to game the system: duplicate entries are deleted prior to the drawing.

🗞 This article is by Axios Richmond's Karri Peifer! Subscribe to the Axios Richmond newsletter (launching soon).

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Virginia’s annual Pappy Van Winkle bourbon lottery is back

Virginia ABC's  Pappy Van Winkle  lottery is back — this year with two types of Van Winkles

Photo shows two bottles of Pappy Van Winkle bourbon: Old Rip Van Winkle 10 Year on left, Van Winkle Special Reserve Bourbon 12 Year on right 

Old Rip Van Winkle 10 Year and Van Winkle Special Reserve Bourbon 12 Year are this year's bottle selection. Credit: Virginia ABC 

Washington, D.C.

Good news bourbon lovers: Virginia’s annual Pappy Van Winkle lottery is back — this year with two types of Van Winkles — and folks can enter to win a chance to buy once the lottery opens up on Wednesday.🥃 Why it matters: Kentucky’s celebrated <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery" data-vars-click-url="https://www.oldripvanwinkle.com/" data-vars-content-id="3e5fcd9a-bb2e-4807-9c0b-f4dd9520c311" data-vars-headline="Virginia’s annual Pappy Van Winkle bourbon lottery is back" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.oldripvanwinkle.com/" target="_blank">Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery</a> releases its stock only once a year, and there isn&#x27;t much to go around. So bourbon drinkers across the country snap up the bottles as quickly as possible, often to resell at a huge markup.

Food and Drink

Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s attempts to remake classroom instruction in one of the nation’s top public schools systems are facing a revolt.

Why it matters: In a rare show of unity, a group representing all of Virginia’s 133 school district superintendents denounced the Republican’s attacks on school curriculum and his ‘tipline’ to complain about educators.

In a letter to the state last week, the superintendents called for the elimination of the controversial tipline and slammed Youngkin for rolling back diversity and equity measures in schools.

The superintendents said that Youngkin’s targeting of equity measures can “set public education in Virginia back many years.” 

Catch up quick: The letter came three weeks after the Youngkin administration published a report claiming evidence of “discriminatory and divisive concepts” in state public schools.

The report was in line with the governor’s complaints about critical race theory. His first executive order in office sought to stamp out “inherently divisive concepts” taught in schools. 

What they’re saying: “It’s clearly a consensus among educators that the governor’s strategy of trying to turn parents against each other is counterproductive,” said University of Mary Washington political science professor Stephen Farnsworth.

Youngkin’s moves have resulted in urban liberal school districts and rural conservative districts unifying in opposition through the letter, written by the Virginia Association of School Superintendents.

Virginia Education Association president James Fedderman said the tipline and “gutting of the state’s equity measures” were “pure political theater.” 

The other side: The head of the Virginia Department of Education, Jillian Balow, said “the letter fails to reflect the good faith efforts” made by the Youngkin administration “to keep open productive channels of communication” with local school leaders. 

The superintendents had said they were not consulted before Youngkin’s actions.

Flashback: One month into office, Youngkin unveiled a tipline for people to email the state their complaints about “divisive” topics being taught in schools. 

Democrats and some parents quickly condemned the move. Soon after, Youngkin’s office denied public records requests filed by Axios and other outlets requesting copies of all emails sent to the tipline, claiming the emails were “working papers and correspondence” of the governor’s office. 

The governor’s office did not respond to questions over whether it planned to end the tipline.  

Zoom in: In Fairfax County, board chair Jeff McKay told Axios that Youngkin’s actions were unlikely to change classroom instruction.

“Never once have I seen or has a parent complained to me about something they think is ‘inherently divisive,’” said McKay, a Democrat with two children in public schools. “I don’t even know what it is that’s trying to be fixed here.”

Paige Hopkins contributed to this report. 

Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct the name of Mary Washington University.

Local educators resist Youngkin's criticisms of classroom instruction

In a rare show of unity, a group representing all of Virginia’s 133 school district superintendents denounced Gov. Glenn Youngkin's rhetoric.

Glenn Youngkin, center, is seated at desk signing executive orders, surrounded by cabinet. 

Photo: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s attempts to remake classroom instruction in one of the nation’s top public schools systems are facing a revolt.Why it matters: In a rare show of unity, a group representing all of Virginia’s 133 school district superintendents denounced the Republican’s attacks on school curriculum and his ‘tipline’ to complain about educators.

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An invasive species of spider the size of a child's hand is expected to “colonize” the entire East Coast this spring by parachuting down from the sky, researchers at the University of Georgia announced last week.

Why it matters: Large Joro spiders — millions of them — are expected to begin “ballooning” up and down the East Coast as early as May. Researchers have determined that the spiders can tolerate cold weather, but are harmless to humans as their fangs are too small to break human skin.

The Joro spider is native to Japan but began infiltrating the U.S. in 2013, concentrating in the southeast and specifically Georgia, according to NPR. They fanned out across the state using their webs as tiny, terrifying parachutes to travel with the wind.

Threat level: Andy Davis, author of the study and a researcher at Georgia's Odum School of Ecology, tells Axios that it isn't certain how far north the spiders will travel, but they may make it as far north as D.C. or even Delaware.

“It looks like the Joro could probably survive throughout most of the Eastern Seaboard here, which is pretty sobering,” says Davis.

A creepy, large yellow and black spider with a bulbous body being held by a human hand. It's nearly the same size as the hand.

A Joro spider in Georgia. Image courtesy of the University of Georgia.

Other terrifying things to know about the Joro spider:

They are bright yellow, black, blue, and red and can grow up to 3 inches. 

They likely traveled across the globe on shipping containers, similar to the Bubonic plague. 

Their life cycle begins in early spring, but they get big in June and are often seen in July and August. 

They're named for Jorōgumo, a creature of Japanese folklore that can shapeshift into a woman or spider before killing its prey.

Our thought bubble: Researchers say there's nothing we can do. They're coming and they're harmless. I say let's pool our resources now and build a dome around Georgia and keep them there. 

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🗞  This is the first article by Axios Richmond's Karri Peifer! Subscribe to the Axios Richmond newsletter (launching soon).

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Giant spiders expected to drop from sky across the East Coast this spring

The Joro spider is native to Japan but began infiltrating the U.S. in 2013, concentrating in the southeast and specifically Georgia.

A creepy, large yellow and black spider with a bulbous, bright yellow body is crawling along a tree branch.

A Joro spider in Georgia. Photo: Courtesy of the University of Georgia

An invasive species of spider the size of a child&#x27;s hand is expected to “colonize” the entire East Coast this spring by parachuting down from the sky, researchers at the <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="University of Georgia announced last week" data-vars-click-url="https://news.uga.edu/joro-spiders-likely-to-spread-beyond-georgia/" data-vars-content-id="8d0892a1-bebf-4539-93d0-a02dbe374835" data-vars-headline="Giant spiders expected to drop from sky across the East Coast this spring" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://news.uga.edu/joro-spiders-likely-to-spread-beyond-georgia/" target="_blank">University of Georgia announced last week</a>.Why it matters: Large Joro spiders — millions of them — are expected to begin “ballooning” up and down the East Coast as early as May. Researchers have determined that the spiders can tolerate cold weather, but are harmless to humans as their fangs are too small to break human skin.

Karri Peifer

Featured stories

Virginia’s annual Pappy Van Winkle bourbon lottery is back

Local educators resist Youngkin's criticisms of classroom instruction

Giant spiders expected to drop from sky across the East Coast this spring