Charlottesville Community Engagement

Exactly twenty percent of the days in this November are a Saturday, and this is the one in the middle. This marks the third consecutive week in which the audio version of Charlottesville Community Engagement goes out on the first full day of the American weekend. Could it be that a routine is in place? I’m Sean Tubbs, and you’ll just have to wait. 

On the program today: 

* Charlottesville continues to move forward with several long-delayed transportation projects (learn more)

* Charlottesville waives a procedural step to expedite funds transfer for Pollocks Branch bridge (learn more)

* Albemarle Supervisors approve a permit for mixed-use building and want school division to accept pathway to Agnor Elementary (learn more) 

* The School Division explains why they did not accept the pathway but are willing to entertain an alternative connection 

* Albemarle Supervisors agree to allow Defense Intelligence Agency to use county-owned land for field training (learn more)

* Preliminary work is beginning on new regional hazard mitigation plan (learn more)

* The Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission is preparing for a regional housing summit and an update of housing needs assessment (learn more)

First shout-out:  Cvillepedia! 

Cvillepedia is an online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, and this second shout-out today is to provide a little bit about what I know. I helped create the website back in the late 2000’s as a way of keeping track of all of the stories being written for the nonprofit news organization I worked for at the time. 

Now Cvillepedia is hosted by the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library under the stewardship of the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society. There are over 6,500 articles and we need volunteers to help keep it up to date and to capture more of this community’s history, present, and future.  

If you want to learn how to do research, learn how to explore historical documents, and want some experience writing, consider becoming a volunteer. To give you a sense of one potential project, Frances Brand painted dozens and dozens of portraits of people in the Charlottesville area. Who were they? What can we learn about where we are now by documenting the stories of everyone from Ruth Klüger Angress to Jay Worrall?

Questions? Drop me a line! 

Second shout-out:  Celebrating the community’s other information organizations!

In today’s second shout-out in the form of a house ad, I want to make sure everyone knows that every edition of the regular newsletter (not the podcast ones) ends with a section called Reading Material. Charlottesville Community Engagement is just one offering in a landscape that includes the Charlottesville Daily Progress, C-Ville Weekly, Charlottesville Tomorrow, and Cville Right Now,  I curate links from these sources because I believe a truly informed community needs multiple perspectives.

There’s also the Cavalier Daily, Vinegar Hill Magazine, the Fluvanna Review, the Crozet Gazette, NBC29, CBS19, and other sources. But if you look every day, you’ll find links to articles in national publications, all linked to give you more perspectives on some of the issues of our times.

End notes for #762A

This is the 14th day in a row that something has gone out in the newsletter feed. Admittedly, there’s no real new content in this. I have other stories I thought about putting in the podcast, but I ran out of energy and I’m ready to take some of today off. 

Not much, though. 

On to the Week Ahead!

We are now at the second Saturday of the 11th month of the 2024th year of this naming system. It appears that it may become somewhat routine to target the podcast version of Charlottesville Community Engagement to go out on this day named after a planet. Like interplanetary probes, sometimes they’ll make it. Sometimes they won’t. I’m Sean Tubbs, still trying to get a hang out of gravity. 

In this edition:

* A recap of this week’s elections and a look ahead to next year (learn more)

* Charlottesville experienced lower revenue collections in first quarter of FY2025 

* Charlottesville to make plans to improve pedestrian safety on Elliott Avenue (learn more)

* Albemarle wins state award for Human Services Alternative Response Team (learn more)

* Piedmont Virginia Community College and the UVA Equity Center have published latest snapshot of family economics in region (learn more )

* If Albemarle and Charlottesville plan together, can that help the community adapt to climate change? (learn more)

This is the audio version of the newsletter and it sounds like like public radio. Take a listen!

First-shout: ACHS taking orders for book profiling local artist Frances Brand

Frances Brand lived from 1901 to 1990 and in her later life she undertook a series of portraits of individuals from Charlottesville and Albemarle County that would become her Gallery of Firsts.

Brand was a U.S. Army major, a civil rights activist, a world traveler, a devoted churchgoer, and an accomplished artist, among other things. Some remember her as a colorful eccentric who loved to dress in purple, while others knew her as a committed and lifelong social activist.

Behind each of Brand’s portraits of these 20th-century pioneers is a special story. To collect some of them, the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society has created a book that features 51 portraits from the full collection of currently known Firsts portraits and share some of the compelling stories about those depicted.

ACHS is taking pre-sale orders now for shipping in November. To place your order, visit the ACHS store. 

Second shout-out:  Cvillepedia! 

Cvillepedia is an online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, and this second shout-out today is to provide a little bit about what I know. I helped create the website back in the late 2000’s as a way of keeping track of all of the stories being written for the nonprofit news organization I worked for at the time. 

Now Cvillepedia is hosted by the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library under the stewardship of the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society. There are over 6,500 articles and we need volunteers to help keep it up to date and to capture more of this community’s history, present, and future.  

If you want to learn how to do research, learn how to explore historical documents, and want some experience writing, consider becoming a volunteer. To give you a sense of one potential project, Frances Brand painted dozens and dozens of portraits of people in the Charlottesville area. Who were they? What can we learn about where we are now by documenting the stories of everyone from Ruth Klüger Angress to Jay Worrall?

Questions? Drop me a line! 

(image) 

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Some time has passed since the last audio edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement and now it is finally time. This one goes out on the first Saturday of November 2024 and if you don’t like this one, there are four others you can try out when the time comes. I’m Sean Tubbs, and there is no new content in here unless you count my entry in a local contest! 

This edition also doubles as a run-down of the top stories from this week. Or at least the ones that have already been posted to Information Charlottesville. That’s the archive version of this newsletter that serves as an important component in the mechanism that is Town Crier Productions.

On today’s show:

* Albemarle Planning Commission briefed on land use chapter of new Comprehensive Plan (learn more)

* Written opinion issued in legal ruling that halted Arlington’s missing middle zoning (learn more)

* Plans filed for 12 units near intersection of U.S. 250 / McIntire Road / John Warner Parkway (learn more)

* Federally-mandated transportation body endorses changes to road classifications (learn more)

* Charlottesville City Manager Sanders briefs Council on other community interventions such as purchase of portable restrooms (learn more)

* Charlottesville seeking firms to cull deer and other procurement updates (learn more)

* Charlottesville also is looking for performers for the Grand Illumination on December 6 and you can listen to my entry in the podcast (learn more) 

Sign up for more! Next up is the Week Ahead which will preview next week’s government meetings. The regular newsletter will be back Monday. The next podcast? Still trying to figure out the cycle.

First-shout: ACHS taking orders for book profiling local artist Frances Brand

Frances Brand lived from 1901 to 1990 and in her later life she undertook a series of portraits of individuals from Charlottesville and Albemarle County that would become her Gallery of Firsts.

Brand was a U.S. Army major, a civil rights activist, a world traveler, a devoted churchgoer, and an accomplished artist, among other things. Some remember her as a colorful eccentric who loved to dress in purple, while others knew her as a committed and lifelong social activist.

Behind each of Brand’s portraits of these 20th-century pioneers is a special story. To collect some of them, the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society has created a book that features 51 portraits from the full collection of currently known Firsts portraits and share some of the compelling stories about those depicted.

ACHS is taking pre-sale orders now for shipping in November. To place your order, visit the ACHS store. 

Second shout-out:  Celebrating the community’s other information organizations!

In today’s second shout-out in the form of a house ad, I want to make sure everyone knows that every edition of the regular newsletter (not the podcast ones) ends with a section called Reading Material. Charlottesville Community Engagement is just one offering in a landscape that includes the Charlottesville Daily Progress, C-Ville Weekly, Charlottesville Tomorrow, and Cville Right Now,  I curate links from these sources because I believe a truly informed community needs multiple perspectives.

There’s also the Cavalier Daily, Vinegar Hill Magazine, the Fluvanna Review, the Crozet Gazette, NBC29, CBS19, and other sources. But if you look every day, you’ll find links to articles in national publications, all linked to give you more perspectives on some of the issues of our times.

Dashboard for Town Crier Productions as one week becomes the next

Different human beings have different ways of receiving and processing information. Charlottesville Community Engagement is able to provide narratives of civic happenings using text as well as audio. This particular edition for October 23, 2024 is a podcast version with several recent stories. Why do two versions? In the words Bill Siemering wrote to breathe life into National Public Radio, my aim every single day is to “encourage a sense of active constructive participation, rather than apathetic helplessness.” 

In this audio edition:

* Charlottesville City Manager Sam Sanders announces several upcoming “community interventions” (learn more)

* Charlottesville now pays the private Charlottesville Parking Center $1.8 million a year to rent the Water Street Parking Garage (learn more)

* Albemarle Supervisors discuss growth management policy at AC44 work session (learn more)

* Albemarle Supervisors also lay out their legislative priorities for 2025 General Assembly (learn more)

* Beloved UVA men’s basketball Coach Tony Bennett explains his sudden retirement (learn more)

This is an audio version but the next one will be a text version. There are no video versions planned as the camera keeps breaking.

First-shout: WTJU’s Offbeat Roadhouse features Jeff Massanari Trio this week 

Every Friday night at 8 p.m, Offbeat Roadhouse on WTJU invites a different musical group into your home for an hour long concert live from WTJU’s performance space.  Each week there will be Blues, Folk, Jazz, and Roots acts from around the globe. 

This Friday, the Jeff Massanari Trio will pull into the Offbeat Roadhouse for a concert which will also be broadcast on WTJU. The Jazz guitar master will be joined by Tom Harbeck on bass, and drummer David Drubin.

This is a free event, open to all. You can also listen to Offbeat Roadhouse on the radio (91.1 FM) or on-line, and even video stream it at WTJU’s Facebook page or YouTube channel.  But concerts always sound better with you as part of the studio audience.  WTJU is located at 2244 Ivy Rd in Charlottesville, right next door to Vivace. 

Want to see the live event and plan to see more? Check out more on WTJU’s Events Calendar!

Second shout-out:  Celebrating the community’s other information organizations!

In today’s second shout-out in the form of a house ad, I want to make sure everyone knows that every edition of the regular newsletter (not the podcast ones) ends with a section called Reading Material. Charlottesville Community Engagement is just one offering in a landscape that includes the Charlottesville Daily Progress, C-Ville Weekly, Charlottesville Tomorrow, and Cville Right Now,  I curate links from these sources because I believe a truly informed community needs multiple perspectives.

There’s also the Cavalier Daily, Vinegar Hill Magazine, the Fluvanna Review, the Crozet Gazette, NBC29, CBS19, and other sources. But if you look every day, you’ll find links to articles in national publications, all linked to give you more perspectives on some of the issues of our times.

You are listening to Charlottesville Community Engagement for October 23, 2024, a super-sized edition. That’s one story from Albemarle. Let’s hear another, take a break, and then hear a final story from the athletic world. 

Third shout-out:  Podcasts are cool 

Perhaps the podcast versions are a bit of an indulgence, but there are at least 200 people who listen each time. Maybe that number is small, and maybe it is not commercially defensible. Yet, audio production is intricately woven into how I do my research. My first ever professional work was an internship at WVTF Public Radio nearly 30 years ago, and this is an extension of that work. 

But this podcast is not the only way to hear the stories! There’s also a Soundcloud page and each of those is appended to the bottom of stories on Information Charlottesville. As long as I keep publishing Charlottesville Community Engagement, there will be an audio component. Any ideas? Want to get involved? Drop me a line! 

There are written versions of Charlottesville Community Engagement and then are the ones where there are voices that can be heard. This is the latter kind, a collection of recent stories that have gone out in print form. The prophecy foretells of a time when the two strains will weave together once again, but for now it’s October 17, 2024 and here’s what you will hear if you hit play above:

In this sonic edition:

* Albemarle PC begins review of new AC44 language on growth management (learn more)

* Ground broken for Long Bridge project to expand passenger rail capacity in Virginia (learn more)

* Charlottesville Area Transit will make service adjustments on November 9 including increasing service on two routes that serve central Charlottesville (learn more)

* City Council discusses pedestrian safety in wake of pedestrian death on Elliott Avenue (learn more)

* Changes may be coming to how VDOT classifies area roads (learn more)

* Albemarle Supervisors briefed on Ivy Road pipeline projects (learn more)

Charlottesville Community Engagement is a reader-supported newsletter and podcast. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

First shout-out: Celebrating the community’s other information organizations!

In today’s first  shout-out in the form of a house ad, I want to make sure everyone knows that every edition of the regular newsletter (not the podcast ones) ends with a section called Reading Material. Charlottesville Community Engagement is just one offering in a landscape that includes the Charlottesville Daily Progress, C-Ville Weekly, Charlottesville Tomorrow, and Cville Right Now,  I curate links from these sources because I believe a truly informed community needs multiple perspectives.

There’s also the Cavalier Daily, Vinegar Hill Magazine, the Fluvanna Review, the Crozet Gazette, NBC29, CBS19, and other sources. But if you look every day, you’ll find links to articles in national publications, all linked to give you more perspectives on some of the issues of our times.

Second shout-out:  Like bowties, podcasts are cool!

Perhaps the podcast versions are a bit of an indulgence, but there are at least 200 people who listen each time. Maybe that number is small, and maybe it is not commercially defensible. Yet, audio production is intricately woven into how I do my research. My first ever professional work was an internship at WVTF Public Radio nearly 30 years ago, and this is an extension of that work. 

But this podcast is not the only way to hear the stories! There’s also a Soundcloud page and each of those is appended to the bottom of stories on Information Charlottesville. As long as I keep publishing Charlottesville Community Engagement, there will be an audio component.

Thank you to Wraki for the incidental music in the podcast. Go take a listen to the songs in the clear on Bandcamp.  

Reading material will be back in the next regular newsletter which I hope to produce on Friday. And if you don’t know by now, Ting will match your initial payment through Substack. That’s part of a generous sponsorship that’s been in place now since April 2021. If you sign up for service and you are within Ting’s service area, enter the promo code COMMUNITY you’re going to get:

* Free installation

* A second month for free

* A $75 gift card to the Downtown Mall

What’s brown and sounds like a bell? Certainly not rhubarb, which can be deep burgundy, light pink, crimson red, or light green. Rhubarb and doesn’t really have a sound unless it’s had a few drinks. In any case, perhaps it’s not appropriate to utilize non-sequiturs to frame podcast versions of this newsletter, but a lot of things aren’t appropriate and this one is hopefully fairly innocuous. This is an audio version of Charlottesville Community Engagement. I’m Sean Tubbs, and the pay-off is in the sonic edition easily playable by hitting the arrow in this post. 

In this edition:

* Afton Scientific to invest $200 million in expansion of Avon Court  (learn more) 

* The Charlottesville Planning Commission gives broad direction on what should be in the next capital improvement program (learn more)

* Charlottesville Planning Commission reviews the new zoning code at seven months in (learn more)

* There may soon be changes to the way that the Virginia Department of Transportation classifies some area roads including ones in Fifeville and the Woolen Mills (a podcast preview!)

* UVA continues to plan to build up to 2,000 new beds to so a requirement for second-year students to live on Grounds can proceed (a podcast preview)  

The only shout-out: Celebrating the community’s other information organizations!

In today’s first  shout-out in the form of a house ad, I want to make sure everyone knows that every edition of the regular newsletter (not the podcast ones) ends with a section called Reading Material. Charlottesville Community Engagement is just one offering in a landscape that includes the Charlottesville Daily Progress, C-Ville Weekly, Charlottesville Tomorrow, and Cville Right Now,  I curate links from these sources because I believe a truly informed community needs multiple perspectives.

There’s also the Cavalier Daily, Vinegar Hill Magazine, the Fluvanna Review, the Crozet Gazette, NBC29, CBS19, and other sources. But if you look every day, you’ll find links to articles in national publications, all linked to give you more perspectives on some of the issues of our times.

Charlottesville Community Engagement is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

For the last seven years, the Commonwealth of Virginia has recognized the fourth Saturday of September as Public Lands Day. That’s as good as any to consider taking a trip to one of Virginia’s 43 State Parks. That’s six more than in 2017 when the General Assembly passed legislation marking September 28 as a day to celebrate places that are owned by everyone. At one point, the future Biscuit Run Park in Albemarle was to have been a state park but that did not happen. Learn some of the story on cvillepedia. I’m Sean Tubbs, and it’s as good a time as any to have a podcast version of Charlottesville Community Engagement. 

In this installment:

* Albemarle County is keeping track of their strategic plan with SPEAR (learn more)

* Charlottesville seeks an Advanced Traffic Management System and other procurement updates (learn more)

* Charlottesville also seeks review of solid waste services in advance of FY26 budget (learn more)

* Charlottesville Parks and Recreation wins environmental award for invasives removal (learn more)

* CRHA takes action on several real estate resolutions including purchase of three properties (learn more)

* A quick look at four recent land use applications in Charlottesville  

* Living Earth School

* Carter Machinery

* Arden Place II

* Beaver Hill Mobile Home Community

* Albemarle EDA endorses CvilleBioHub’s grant application for workforce study (learn more)

* Albemarle’s new economic development director has a few updates including one on Rivanna Futures (learn more)

This is the audio version that collects some of the stories from the past week. They’re on the same feed. Sign up to get all of it!

Today’s first shout-out:  Town Crier Productions

I am in the process of rethinking the shout-outs, and this being a podcast version and a Saturday, I’m taking a bit of time to talk about Town Crier Productions. That’s the name of the entity I created in 2020 that now operates Charlottesville Community Engagement as well as Information Charlottesville. The goal is to let people know about what’s happening at meetings of local government with an intent to get more people acquainted with the nuts and bolts. Even four years in, all of this work remains an experiment as I try to figure out how to grow. 

If you have questions about any of it, please drop me a line. And if you’d like to get your information in front of about 3,000 people each edition, perhaps we can work something out. 

Second shout-out: Celebrating the community’s other information organizations!

In today’s second shout-out in the form of a house ad, I want to make sure everyone knows that every edition of the regular newsletter (not the podcast ones) ends with a section called Reading Material. Charlottesville Community Engagement is just one offering in a landscape that includes the Charlottesville Daily Progress, C-Ville Weekly, Charlottesville Tomorrow, and Cville Right Now,  I curate links from these sources because I believe a truly informed community needs multiple perspectives.

There’s also the Cavalier Daily, Vinegar Hill Magazine, the Fluvanna Review, the Crozet Gazette, NBC29, CBS19, and other sources. But if you look every day, you’ll find links to articles in national publications, all linked to give you more perspectives on some of the issues of our times.

Before I can write the new set of stories, I must first process all of the ones written in the past week or so. That means producing the audio for the WTJU radio version of Charlottesville Community Engagement which airs every Saturday at 6 a.m. as well as posting as many as possible to the Information Charlottesville website. These are habits that have emerged from the last four years of being an independent journalist seeking to build audience as I can. I’m Sean Tubbs and I am the host of Charlottesville Community Engagement and these are the audio versions of six pieces of information that have previously gone out in the written newsletter.

And no, Jerry, you don’t have to pay attention to this one. There’s no material except for whatever commentary and other sonic mayhem may appear in the audio version.

But if you want to check out the stories: 

* Charlottesville budget staff brief Council on development of FY26 budget (learn more)

* Albemarle County’s Places29-North group gets updates on the High School Center II and new elementary school (learn more)

* Albemarle staff continues work on Comprehensive Plan update (learn more)

* UVA fundraising continues to set new records and the School of Data Science gets a $10 million gift for scholarships (learn more)

* A new director hired in Charlottesville to oversee planning and zoning while a legal challenge to the new zoning code remains pending (learn more)

* UVA Office of Sustainability briefs Board of Visitors’ panel (learn more)

It looks like Fridays may be the days in which the podcast comes out. Sign up to see if that’s what happens in seven days.

First shout-out: Celebrating the community’s other information organizations!

In today’s first shout-out in the form of a house ad, I want to make sure everyone knows that every edition of the regular newsletter (not the podcast ones) ends with a section called Reading Material. Charlottesville Community Engagement is just one offering in a landscape that includes the Charlottesville Daily Progress, C-Ville Weekly, Charlottesville Tomorrow, and Cville Right Now,  I curate links from these sources because I believe a truly informed community needs multiple perspectives.

There’s also the Cavalier Daily, Vinegar Hill Magazine, the Fluvanna Review, the Crozet Gazette, NBC29, CBS19, and other sources. But if you look every day, you’ll find links to articles in national publications, all linked to give you more perspectives on some of the issues of our times.

Today’s second shout-out:  Town Crier Productions

In today’s second shout-out, once again I’m taking the owner’s prerogative to state a little about the business that operates Charlottesville Community Engagement as well as Information Charlottesville. I am cutting and pasting this because I’m really ready to be done with the work week. But, also maybe you’re new and you’re seeing this for the first time. 

Town Crier Productions was created in 2020 after I felt a calling to return to local journalism. I’ve been able to cobble together a living for over 1,500 days in this manner, and I’m still learning how to create this entity.

I am in the process of re-evaluating some of the previous ways things have worked and I’m starting with these shout-outs. The system you see is one that is wholly improvised and one that can be improved over time. In the weeks to come I will be asking readers and businesses questions about shout-outs, sponsorships, advertising, underwriting, and other ways to put information out in front of an audience that receives about 3,000 views per newsletter. 

Town Crier Productions is not a non-profit and so far lacks a dedicated operations team. But, there is at least one dedicated reporter determined to build an organization that will support the community’s information needs for time to come. Questions? Send them my way, and stay tuned as we all find out how some of these stories turn out! 

There are many advantages to producing audio versions of the stories that go out in the Charlottesville Community Engagement newsletter. The most important is that about a tenth of the audience chooses to receive the information that way. Another reason is the ability to hear the voices of decision-makers and those hired to implement the work of government. I’m Sean Tubbs, and my job is to write as much of it down as possible. 

In this sonic edition:

* The Albemarle Planning Commission recommends denial of request to convert house to commercial property (learn more)

* The Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority Board of Directors gets an update on planning issues and learns Crozet may need more water. Joint planning with Fluvanna, Louisa, and Greene may also be happening in the future (learn more) 

* SPCA seeking new contract to provide services for Albemarle and Charlottesville (learn more)

* Charlottesville City Manager Sam Sanders provides an update on Charlottesville’s efforts to assist the unhoused (learn more)

* Charlottesville will need to look for another city attorney, again (learn more)

At one point, every newsletter was a podcast, and every podcast was a newsletter. Then that got complicated. Now it’s also complicated, but in a different way.

Today’s shout-out:  Town Crier Productions

In today’s first shout-out, I’m taking the owner’s prerogative to state a little about the business that operates Charlottesville Community Engagement as well as Information Charlottesville. Town Crier Productions was created in 2020 after I felt a calling to return to local journalism. I’ve been able to cobble together a living for over 1,500 days in this manner, and I’m still learning how to create this entity.

In the months to come, I will be re-evaluating some of the previous ways things have worked and I’m starting with these shout-outs. The system you see is one that is wholly improvised and one that can be improved over time. In the weeks to come I will be asking readers and businesses questions about shout-outs, sponsorships, advertising, underwriting, and other ways to put information out in front of an audience that receives about 3,000 views per newsletter. 

Town Crier Productions is not a non-profit and so far lacks a dedicated operations team. But, there is at least one dedicated reporter determined to build an organization that will support the community’s information needs for time to come. Questions? Send them my way, and stay tuned as we all find out how some of these stories turn out! 

Second shout-out: Celebrating the community’s other information organizations!

In today’s second shout-out in the form of a house ad, I want to make sure everyone knows that every edition of the regular newsletter (not the podcast ones) ends with a section called Reading Material. Charlottesville Community Engagement is just one offering in a landscape that includes the Charlottesville Daily Progress, C-Ville Weekly, Charlottesville Tomorrow, and Cville Right Now,  I curate links from these sources because I believe a truly informed community needs multiple perspectives.

There’s also the Cavalier Daily, Vinegar Hill Magazine, the Fluvanna Review, the Crozet Gazette, NBC29, CBS19, and other sources. But if you look every day, you’ll find links to articles in national publications, all linked to give you more perspectives on some of the issues of our times.

And if you’re interested in learning more about what Town Crier Productions puts out, there’s a free post on the Patreon account that lists what you can learn. 

Today is day three of the Local Independent Online News publisher’s sustainability summit in Chicago. I’ve taken a few days off to learn more about the business end of providing information to the public and meeting so many other people who are passionate about their work.

However, I can’t clear all of the deadlines I have and one of them is the weekly radio show on WTJU that airs at 6 a.m. This week I decided to re-use the podcast version of the June 11, 2024 edition of this newsletter taken from the last time I traveled to Illinois. And I figured three days without a new post is way too long, so I thought I’d share it with the Substack audience as well.

The Week Ahead for the next will be out sometime tomorrow, and then I’ll be back to regular programming likely on Tuesday.