Half of the eight Richmond river stations the James River Association monitors were showing elevated levels of E. coli as of Friday.

Why it matters: If you're planning to take a dip in the James during this rare dry and sunny week, you may want to wait — and then double-check river conditions before you go.

State of play: The James River Association collects river samples weekly in Richmond in summer and updates their map every Friday, the nonprofit's riverkeeper Tom Dunlap tells Axios.

• Their latest batch of data shows high to extremely high levels of E. coli in the James from around Belle Isle through Rocketts Landing.

The big picture: The recent rain and Richmond's 19th-century sewer system are to blame.

• The city's sewer system combines stormwater with sewage, and filters it through Richmond's wastewater treatment plant.
• But when it rains heavily — as it seems to have every other day this month — the treatment plant can become overwhelmed and the excess gets dumped into the James.

Zoom in: According to a review of the city's combined sewer overflow monitors, 11 of its 25 "outfall" stations had at least one overflow last week, some as recently as yesterday.

• Those overflows can push water quality levels beyond what the Virginia Department of Health considers safe for swimming — which is why they "advise the public to avoid swimming in natural waterways for three days following rain events," a VDH spokesperson tells Axios.

By the numbers: 235 (CFU/100mL) or below is the magic number for E. coli readings, Dunlap says.

At the latest reading, the rest of the monitored spots showed:

• Belle Isle and the Rope Swing at Tredegar: 270
• 14th Street: 328
• Chapel Island: 501
• Rocketts Landing: 2,420

What we're watching: The rain over the weekend means those numbers will likely change.

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Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests of people without criminal charges or convictions jumped in Virginia and D.C. in June, newly obtained data shows.

Why it matters: The numbers illustrate a major shift that came soon after the Trump administration tripled ICE's arrest quota.

Driving the news: In Virginia and D.C., people without criminal charges or convictions made up an average of 60% of daily ICE arrests in early June, up from about 50% in early May, before the quota increase.

• In January, arrested people without criminal charges or convictions constituted an average of 29% of daily ICE arrests in the state.
• Nationwide, an average of 47% of daily ICE arrests in early June were of people without criminal records, up from about 21% in early May.

Context: Those stats are according to agency data obtained by the UC Berkeley School of Law's Deportation Data Project via Freedom of Information Act requests, and based on seven-day trailing averages.

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📺 Most of Virginia's public media stations will likely scale back local programming because of the $1.1 billion in funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting that Congress voted to cut last week. (VPM)

• Virginia's dozen or so NPR and PBS member stations got around $13.8 million in CPB funding last year.
• VPM, which will lose $1.3 million, said its under-construction downtown HQ will proceed.

🏖️ Hadad's Lake sold to an N.C.-based franchise development business for just over $1 million. (WRIC)

🩳 Sen. Tim Kaine, who lives in Richmond, stopped by the newly opened Daisy's restaurant on Friday and posed for pics — in his bathing suit. (Instagram)

The "Marlboro sign" outside of Philip Morris' Richmond Manufacturing Center is one of the top landmarks that let locals know they're home, according to our unofficial reader poll.

Why it matters: It's a fitting symbol for the city once known as "Tobacco Town USA."

Yes, but: The sign just off I-95 in South Richmond isn't the most common "I'm home" view, according to our readers. The city skyline is.

• That's likely because the totem to tobacco is roughly 7 miles south of the city center and only works as a welcome if you're coming north on 95.

Other homecoming landmarks for readers: Main Street Station, the river, Tom Leonard's in Short Pump, the Sheetz on Lucks Lane, the Kings Dominion sign, Church Hill, Grove Avenue, Forest Hill and Richard's Rendezvous.

• But we (along with the two dozen readers who picked it) are kind of partial to our circa 1973 cigarette tower as our welcome mat.

That's because many cities have a skyline, but Richmond is the only one in the nation with a massive monument to Marlboro.

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The city of Richmond installed its first public, harm-reduction vending machines last week, and plans to add more this year.

Why it matters: The machines offer free, anonymous access to life-saving medical supplies 24/7, including Narcan, or naloxone, a drug that can quickly reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.

State play: While Virginia had the second-largest drop in overdose deaths in the country last year, over 1,500 Virginians still died from overdoses.

• In addition to Narcan, the machines are stocked with fentanyl test strips, first aid kits and personal hygiene items.

If you go: Vending machines were installed last week at Marshall Plaza (downtown) and Southside Plaza (South Richmond).

• A third will be added outside of the East End Library later this month.
• And additional machines will be added later this year at locations based "on data and community input," per a news release.

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