RVA’s Got Issues

 A community land trust offers a promising way to keep housing affordable. But to really make it work in Richmond, we might have to rethink EVERYTHING we know about buying a home. Featuring: Dr. Mae Worthey-Thomas, CEO of Maggie Walker Community Land Trust --- ⁠⁠⁠⁠Please fill out our listener survey here.⁠⁠⁠ Your feedback makes a difference. Tell us what you're enjoying about the show, what y...

Dominion Energy provides Richmond with electricity – but also jobs and philanthropy. What happens if Dominion merges with a bigger company? Rich sits down with VPN News Reporter Patrick Larsen to find out. Featuring:  Patrick Larsen, VPM News Environment and Energy Reporter --- ⁠⁠⁠⁠Please fill out our listener survey here.⁠⁠⁠ Your feedback makes a difference. Tell us what you're enjoying abou...

Rich sits down with former City Council member, now VA Senator, Mike Jones. How did the NFL draft impact his political career? How can economic development benefit the Southside? And how does he weigh the risks and rewards? Featuring: Mike Jones, Virginia State Senator   --- ⁠⁠⁠⁠Please fill out our listener survey here.⁠⁠⁠ Your feedback makes a difference. Tell us what you're enjoying ab...

Rich sits down LIVE with Myke Metzger and Perri Young, the hosts of the Vera House podcast, as part of the FWD:RVA series from Style Weekly. Who are these guys, and why is everyone in Richmond listening? Featuring: Myke Metzger and Perri Young, Hosts of the Vera House Podcast   --- ⁠⁠⁠⁠Please fill out our listener survey here.⁠⁠⁠ Your feedback makes a difference. Tell us what you're enjo...

 Rich sits down with Richmond Police Chief Rick Edwards. What keeps him passionate about policing? And - with new powerful tools like Flock - can we trust his police force (or department) to keep us safe? Featuring: Rick Edwards, Chief of the Richmond Police Department --- ⁠⁠⁠⁠Please fill out our listener survey here.⁠⁠⁠ Your feedback makes a difference. Tell us what you're enjoying about the...

 Richmond voters face a referendum this fall, on whether to add a one cent sales tax to raise money to build and repair city schools. The stakes are high, and the need is even higher. How will Richmond vote? Featuring: Keyris Manzanares, Richmond city reporter for VPM News  --- ⁠⁠⁠⁠Please fill out our listener survey here.⁠⁠⁠ Your feedback makes a difference. Tell us what you're enjoying...

After years of waiting, Richmond’s Civilian Review Board finally launched. Can the Board actually live out the promise of building greater trust in Richmond’s police - and hold them accountable? Featuring: Angela Fontaine, Chair of Richmond’s Civilian Review Board  --- ⁠⁠⁠Please fill out our listener survey here.⁠⁠ Your feedback makes a difference. Tell us what you're enjoying about the show,...

Richmond is trying to meet the needs for our biggest issues. But there’s always a spot that we’re missing: a gap. How do we fill the gaps in maternal health? Or help Richmonders on Southside? And who’s doing the work? Featuring: Sean Crippen, Board Chair for Virginia Community Voice Stephanie Spencer, Founder & CEO of Urban Baby Beginnings --- ⁠⁠Please fill out our listener survey here.⁠ Your feed...

As the data center industry keeps growing, we don’t know a lot about how they use water - or how much they are using. Will Richmond, and the rest of Virginia, go thirsty? Featuring: Eric Bonds, Professor of Sociology at the University of Mary Washington --- ⁠⁠Please fill out our listener survey here.⁠ Your feedback makes a difference. Tell us what you're enjoying about the show, what you want to h...

Who is the latest draft of Richmond’s Code Refresh FOR? And really, what does the resulting vision of the city’s future tell us about the kinds of neighborhoods we want – and the kinds of families who will live in those neighborhoods? Featuring: Andrew Breton, Richmond's First District City Councilmember Casey Overton, Zoning Advisory Council  --- ⁠⁠⁠Please fill out our listener survey here.⁠...

The latest draft of Code Refresh doesn’t do as much for affordable housing as some people want. Did we expect too much from Code Refresh? And what happens now? Featuring: Keyris Manzanares, Richmond city reporter for VPM News --- ⁠⁠Please fill out our listener survey here. Your feedback makes a difference. Tell us what you're enjoying about the show, what you want to hear more of, or what's not wo...

Fans love Carmax Park, the new home of the Flying Squirrels. But with disputes behind the scenes and questions about costs, is the investment we’ve made worth it? Featuring: Scott Bass, News Editor of Richmond Magazine Michael Phillips, Founding Editor of The Richmonder

Danny Avula’s campaign for Richmond Mayor is in the rear view mirror, and he’s digging deep into governance. Can he keep the trust of Richmonders while turning campaign promises into reality? Featuring: Danny Avula, Mayor of Richmond

After YEARS of negotiations, state lawmakers passed a bill to create a retail market for marijuana. Then the Governor got out her veto pen. Can legalization advocates find another way? Guests: Dean Mirshahi, VPM News reporter Chelsea Higgs Wise, Executive Director of Marijuana Justice Barbara Biddle, co-founder of the Cannabis Small Business Association Valerie Slater, Executive Director of RISE f...

We used to do higher education in Virginia prisons, but not so much anymore. What happened? And what’s being done now... to bring it back? Featuring: Terri Erwin (Director) and Kenneth Hunter (Organizer) with the Virginia Consensus for Higher Education in Prison Scott Richeson (Deputy Director of the Division of Programs, Education and Reentry) and Zacc Allen (Chief Information Officer) for the Vi...

In Virginia, a felony conviction can lead to a lifetime ban on voting. This November, a constitutional amendment might change this. Rich talks to VPM News reporter Whittney Evans about how big those changes might be. Will the amendment help returning citizens... actually return as citizens. To learn more about returning citizens read VPM's Curious Commonwealth: https://www.vpm.org/news/2026-05-28/...

From Francine the cat to drunken raccoons, we love our animals in RVA. But how are they doing, especially the most vulnerable: the ones who need new homes? On this episode, we talk animal adoptions. Plus: bears. Fat ones. Featuring:  Christie Chipps Peters, Director of Richmond Animal Care and Control Larry Eason, Executive Director of Richmond Animal League Robin Keegan, Reading Interventionist a...

Virginia Commonwealth University is Richmond’s urban university. But it's sometimes hard to know where Richmond ends and VCU begins. How does VCU grow and thrive while the city does the same? Can Richmond and VCU... grow together? Featuring: Max Wasserman, RVA's Got Issues Producer Andrew Kerley, outgoing Executive Editor of the Commonwealth Times

It's all anyone seems to think about - how can we develop our economy? But do we actually need to build more to get more? On this episode, the answer is yes and no. One Richmond business has a big plan to capture international attention. But down the street, a second-hand store shows you don't need something "new" to attract customers. Oh, and we get a tour of LEGO Manufacturing VA. Featuring Jenn...

We talk a lot on our show about, well, issues. But we don't always get a sense of what it's like for the people on the frontlines of those issues. How do you keep working to fix the issue, when others don't know, don't care - or want you to stop? From healthcare to education: it's dispatches from the frontlines. Guests: Stephanie Arnold, founder of Seven Hills Family MedicineMary Graham, Chief Exe...

It’s budget season in Richmond. We know government budgets are important, but they’re about much more than numbers. Rich sits down with an expert to ask: what’s the human cost of budgeting? Featuring: Elliott Fullmer, Professor of Political Science at Randolph-Macon College

[Originally released 6/11/25] For the first time in 50 years, the city’s zoning code – the rules that say what can be built where – is being revised. It’s definitely time: the need for housing is desperate! But with a stunning reversal of white flight – an influx of young professionals into the city – how do we preserve the Richmond we love for everyone? Rich talks to City Council’s Ellen Robertso...

Flock cameras take pictures of your license plate, and they’re everywhere in RVA. Are these cameras a powerful tool for getting the bad guys? Or a dangerous step towards mass surveillance? Featuring:  Kunle Falayi, data journalist with the Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism at WHRO

The two biggest words in VA Politics right now? DATA and CENTERS. From a state budget battle to heated local opposition, how did they land at the very center of Virginia politics? This episode is part of GENERAL ASSEMBLY REQUIRED, a new series from RVA's Got Issues focusing on state government's impact on RVA. Featuring: Patrick Larsen and Lyndon German, VPM News Reporters

The national battle for district lines has come to Virginia, and Democrats want to redraw our Congressional map. Critics want them to play fair. But what does "fair" mean these days? This episode is part of GENERAL ASSEMBLY REQUIRED, a new series from RVA's Got Issues focusing on state government's impact on RVA. Featuring: Brian Cannon, No Gerrymandering Virginia