Monday!

⛅ Today's weather: Patchy fog, then partly sunny, with a high of 76 and a low of 48.

🎧 Sounds like: "Redemption Song" by Bob Marley and the Wailers.

🎂 Happy birthday to our member Haley Bailey!

Today's newsletter is 1,096 words — a 4-minute read.

VMFA restored ownership of a stoneware jug in its collection to the descendants of the enslaved artist who created in nearly 200 years ago, the museum announced last week.

Why it matters: It's the first time in VMFA's history that it has recognized the descendants of an enslaved person as the rightful owners of a work.

• It's also one of only a handful of times that any American museum has done so.

State of play: The piece in question is a double-handled stoneware jug created by potter David Drake in 1840 at the South Carolina pottery operation of Lewis J. Miles, who enslaved him.

• The jug passed through multiple collectors before VMFA acquired it in September 2017.
• Earlier this year, Drake's descendants — who have been working for years to restore rightful ownership of his works — contacted VMFA about ownership of the jug.
• VMFA agreed, repurchasing the jug from Drake's descendants in "recognition of Drake's remarkable artistic achievements and honor his dignity and memory," VMFA director Alex Nyerges said in a statement.

Zoom in: Drake's work stands out among similar stoneworks in part because of the artist's "immense skills as a ceramicist," per VMFA.

• This specific jug is also notable because it's his first known vessel signed and inscribed with a poem — and one of just 40 he created.
• Drake inscribed his verse — "Ladys & gentlemens Shoes = / sell all you can: & nothing you'll loose." — six years after South Carolina outlawed teaching enslaved people to read or write.

Scholars have described Drake's inscriptions as an extraordinary assertion of authorship by a man whose freedom, labor and legal identity were controlled by others, per Smithsonian magazine.

What they're saying: "This agreement... honors David Drake as our ancestor, whose voice, skill and creativity have endured for more than 175 years," Drake's fourth-great-grandson, Yaba Baker, said in a statement.

If you go: Drake's "Double-handled Jug" is on display in VMFA's American Art Galleries.

Full story

Mayor Avula pulled the plug on Richmond's embattled solar deal Friday night after learning of a potential relationship inside a city department he said could jeopardize the project's legitimacy.

Why it matters: The revelation came after a last-ditch effort to revive part of the 25-year deal had already failed. Now there's another City Hall review on top of the inspector general's probe.

Driving the news: Avula told City Council on Friday in an 8:04pm email obtained by Axios about the possible relationship that would "absolutely color the public perception" of the deal and directed the CAO to look into it.

• The RTD reports a part-time city sustainability staffer worked for Secure Solar Futures during negotiations. Its CEO says the staffer wasn't involved.

The intrigue: Less than two hours earlier, City Clerk Candice Reid told Council there weren't enough votes to put reconsideration on today's agenda.

• So the revival effort was dead before Avula withdrew his request.

Behind the scenes: The administration and Council supporters spent days working to win over holdouts, four people with direct knowledge told Axios.

• Councilors Ellen Robertson and Nicole Jones were two "no" votes seen as potentially flippable.

Catch up quick: Council rejected the 39-building deal 5-4 last week over financial concerns, missing an Oct. 1 federal tax credit deadline that knocked 22 buildings out.

• The remaining 17 below face a vendor deadline tomorrow.

Full story

😐 Dominion customers' bills will soon rise another $2.26 a month to finance $1 billion in unpaid fuel costs — on top of the roughly $8 monthly increase that took effect in July. (WTVR)

🪧 Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden removed striking employees from its employer-paid health plan as the strike enters its second month. (The Richmonder)

• The union accused the garden of arguing in bad faith, while Lewis Ginter says benefits will resume when striking workers return.
• Meanwhile, a judge ruled last week that workers could continue to demonstrate outside the Garden, but capped protesters at 20 people and barred them from blocking traffic or using garden property. (The Richmonder)

Several Trinity Episcopal students are under police investigation for alleged sexual misconduct, including sharing photos of other students without consent. (WRIC)

👀 A Chesterfield police employee has been arrested on four charges for allegedly misusing the county's Flock license plate reader system, after coworkers raised concerns that prompted an internal audit. (WRIC)

🤖 Google's first planned Chesterfield data center has been cited by state regulators for multiple environmental violations, including sediment pollution affecting streams and wetlands. (VPM)

Papi's Creamery — a scratch-made ice cream business out of Yorktown — is opening a Richmond pickup spot.

Why it matters: Papi's has developed a cult following in Hampton Roads — and Richmonders can get in on the fun this week.

State of play: Papi's is from Diego Diaz Infante, an Instagram ice cream reviewer-turned-maker who opened his Yorktown shop in 2024.

• The schtick: flavors rotate weekly and are often inspired by Diaz Infante's Mexican heritage.
• The small-batch ice cream sold by the pint through limited weekly drops.

How it works: The first Richmond drop goes live on HotPlate Thursday, at 7pm, with pickups Friday and Saturday.. Pints cost $12.50.

• After that, Papi's will release a new rotating menu every Thursday at 7pm, with Friday and Saturday pickups.
• The Richmond shop is at 2105 Lake Ave., just off West Broad near Willow Lawn.

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There's a TikTok account dedicated to the personalized license plates spotted around Richmond.

Why it matters: Some of you are truly deranged, and we're jealous we didn't think of them first.

Here are our favorite entries across the ongoing, nine-part series so far:

🚙 IM A CARRR

🍆 WENR-LVR

🤪 GET NKED

💅🏼 YBCNTY

💀 BJGOOCH

🥊 EWW A BUG on a yellow punch buggy.

🦁 ZOOBUWU on a Subaru.

😬 Karri kind of hates vanity plates, but it's mostly because it takes her too long to understand them.

😔 Sabrina wishes she had a Mini Cooper with a "Muy Mini" license plate.

Thanks to Mike Szvetitz for editing today's edition.