TGIF!

🌧️ Today's weather: Slight chance of showers and thunderstorms then showers and thunderstorms likely, with a high of 83 and a low of 70.

🎧 Sounds like: "International Love" by Pitbull.

🎂 Happy birthday to our members Elizabeth Perry and Roger Leek! And happy early birthday to John Lindner and Catherine E Curran!

🚨 Situational awareness: VCU Police will have a driver's license and registration checkpoint at the 700 block of West Main tomorrow from 10pm to Sunday at 12:30am.

Today's newsletter is 1,085 words, a 4-minute read.

A new Richmond-made documentary centers Black Americans in its telling of the nation's founding story as the U.S. marks its 250th anniversary.

Why it matters: One of the film's main figures is a Richmonder whose own history is currently being restored in Jackson Ward.

The big picture: "Declarations: Black Americans and the Revolutionary War," a VPM film released this summer on PBS and YouTube, follows four Black Americans who fought for freedom while the U.S. was declaring its own:

• Abraham Peyton Skipwith, a Richmonder who bought his freedom and became one of the city's first Black landowners.
• James Lafayette, a spy who contributed to Britain's surrender at Yorktown.
• Elizabeth Freeman, who sued for her freedom in Massachusetts.
• Harry Washington, who escaped Mount Vernon and fought for the British.

Zoom in: Skipwith's cottage, which he built in the 1790s, was moved to Goochland in the 1950s when state leaders built a highway through Jackson Ward.

• It's become central to the work of the JXN Project, a nonprofit telling the history of the former "Harlem of the South."
• Co-founded by Virginia chief diversity officer Sesha Joi Moon and her sister Enjoli Moon, the project has rebuilt the cottage as a historic Richmond site that will make its permanent debut this fall.

What they're saying: "I hope that it can be restorative, but also a reconciliation of sorts through his story," Sesha says in the documentary.

• "Because it was complicated. As is America. As is Virginia. And definitely, as is Richmond."

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Two former Richmond officials just launched the first statewide advocacy group focused on Virginia’s school sales tax referendums.

Why it matters: At least 22 localities — including Richmond, Chesterfield and Powhatan — are asking voters in November to approve a 1% sales tax to fund school construction.

State of play: Virginians for Modern Schools (VMS) was founded by former City Council president Kristen Nye and Lincoln Saunders, the city’s former chief administrative officer under Mayor Stoney.

• Both left City Hall in 2024 and reunited after a new Virginia law in July allowed localities to hold school sales tax referendums.
• "Some areas have had deferred maintenance for literally decades," Nye tells Axios.

The big picture: Virginia schools have billions of dollars in construction and maintenance needs, per a 2021 state study.

• Last week, Chesterfield schools said it'd need about $850 million for maintenance over the next decade — but has only $130 million budgeted.
• RPS estimated it could face roughly $430 million in facilities needs over that period. Its annual capital improvement budget this year is about $9.3 million.

The other side: Early opposition in Richmond centers on the city's already-high taxes, with some residents arguing officials should use existing revenues or property taxes instead.

How it works: VMS isn't running “vote yes” campaigns, but it's offering voter education, messaging, research, and coordinated outreach.

• Nye tells Axios the group has talked with Richmond and Chesterfield officials, but hasn’t decided where to concentrate its resources.
• Both Chesterfield and Richmond confirmed the discussions, but said no decisions have been made about working with VMS.

What we’re watching: VMS is already working with localities eyeing a 2027 referendum, and Nye predicts the field could more than double this year’s slate.

Who is on its board and how it's financed

At least two Richmond public housing maintenance workers were accused of trading repairs for sexual favors from residents, according to internal RRHA records. (Times-Dispatch)

• One was fired while another was transferred after separate policy violations.
• The allegations prompted RRHA policy changes, though the authority declined to say whether it investigated or referred them to law enforcement.

👀 A Goochland psychiatric facility lost its licenses after state inspectors found at least 27 violations a month after a dozen children escaped from the site. (WRIC)

⚾️ Diamond District developer Jason Guillot wants a federal judge to dismiss Flying Squirrels owner Lou DiBella's amended defamation lawsuit, arguing DiBella's allegations support Guillot's account. (BizSense)

• DiBella declined to comment.

🍦 Nightingale Ice Cream Sandwiches' "The Classic" is the best ice cream sandwich around, according to Food & Wine. (Food & Wine)

Dulles recently added a bunch of new, international nonstop flights, making some far-flung vacation spots easier to reach.

Why it matters: Dulles is just a two hour drive — or three-ish hour Amtrak + Metro Silver Line trip — away.

• And while Richmonders still await a broad selection of international flights out of RIC, it's the closest option we've got.

The big picture: Dulles launched around a half-dozen nonstop international routes this year, including:

• 🇮🇸 Reykjavik, Iceland: Daily seasonal service via United.
• 🇨🇦 Halifax and Quebec City: Seasonal Saturday flights through United.
• 🇹🇼 Taipei, Taiwan: EVA Air runs it year-round and four-times-weekly.
• 🇰🇷 Seoul, South Korea: Also four times a week, year-round with Air Premia.

What's next: More international warm-weather escapes are coming to Dulles this year, including one to Cartagena, Colombia.

Keep reading for more flights coming

The Kroger on Midlothian near Winterfield is getting a bigger and bolder section for Ukrop's products.

Why it matters: It's like Ukrop's Super Markets never left us.

State of play: The new-and-improved section for Ukrop's HomeStyle Foods products is part of the Midlo Kroger's renovation, Ukrop's spokesperson Susan Rowe tells Axios.

• It's also part of a broader move to expand its in-store signage at regional Kroger stores, starting in April with the new Mechanicville Mega-Kroger.

What to expect: A whole section dedicated to Ukrop's cakes, pies, rolls, prepared dinners and yes, of course, rainbow cookies — rising in place of the Midlo Kroger's in-store Starbucks.

• The section is expected to open around Labor Day.

The bottom line: If we can't have Ukrop's, we'll take the bigger sections.

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💓 Karri just loves that "Parks & Rec" star Nick Offerman loves Nightingale and its "wee ice cream sandies."

🧑🏼‍🦲 Sabrina is trying to put a bald cap on ahead of the Pitbull concert tonight.

Thanks to Alexa Mencia Orozco for editing today's edition