VPM Daily Newscast

Civically engaged Virginians focus on education, health, housing; Passenger steam locomotives are returning to Virginia's rails; Richmond’s city councilors unanimously voted to ease regulations on accessory dwelling units in the city; and other stories.

Galen Baughman was elated when then-Gov. Ralph Northam reinstated his rights in 2021. Baughman had spent nine years in jail and prison after pleading guilty to nonviolent sexual misconduct involving offenses that occurred in 1997 and 2003, when he was 14 and 19.  But when Baughman went to vote in the June 2023 primaries, he was told he’d been removed from the voter rolls — despite voting in severa...

Can urban design and planning take a toll on the mental well-being of city-dwellers? One University of Virginia researcher thinks so. Jenny Roe is the co-author of Restorative Cities: urban design for mental health and wellbeing. It looks at how cities should put mental health and wellness at the forefront of design. Also: Starting today, every household in the U.S. can request home delivery on fo...

VCU Health’s costly exit from an ill-fated downtown development project has prompted calls for organizational and procedural change from Gov. Glenn Youngkin; An apartment building planned on a prominent intersection in Manchester appears to be a go after a recent land purchase; Virginia’s beer industry had reason to raise a pint to last week’s signing of the state budget; and other local business...

Curious Commonwealth recently received this question from an area resident: “Why, after all monuments to the Confederacy and Confederate leaders have been removed from Monument Ave., and other locations around Richmond, a statue of Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson remains on Capitol Square? This after the monument to former governor and segregationist Harry Byrd has been removed from same public square....

09/21/23 - The family of Irvo Otieno reaches $8.5 million settlement in his wrongful death suit; The Virginia Department of Elections announced it signed agreements with five states and Washington DC to share voter data; and other stories.

Virginia opened a new trade office in Taiwan on Tuesday; Richmond Public Schools school board approved changes to specialty school admissions; Hardywood Park Craft Brewery recently announced they’ll be phasing out bottled beers to aluminum cans to be more sustainable; and other stories.

The companies hoping to bring a casino to Richmond have already contributed more than $8 million for the campaign, according to paperwork filed with the department of elections; The Chesapeake Oyster Alliance, a project of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, announced its 100th member this weekRepublican Delegate Rob Bell, who served Albemarle County for two decades, is now deputy attorney general for...

Many Virginia schools stayed closed longer during the pandemic than those in most other states. And those closures contributed to a significant loss in learning. Now, in the second full year of in-person instruction, they’re still working to fill the gaps. Megan Pauly reports on an effort in Richmond to get kids caught up. 

More steps have been taken toward the planned development of the 200-acre GreenCity site in Henrico, A Charlottesville developer has revealed its plans for the 2-acre site it purchased earlier this year in Manchester, and KavaClub, a fledgling Fan bar that wants to serve the trendy Polynesian drink kava, has hit yet another legal roadblock.

About 1,200 acres in Hanover County are being considered for a future data center park; Public records show Governor Glenn Youngkin may have borrowed Altria’s corporate jet to attend a fundraiser in New York; Governor Youngkin signed Virginia’s budget Thursday on the steps of the state capitol building; and other local news stories.

VCU's Board of Visitors is set to meet to decide if buildings will be demolished to make way for new construction; Gov. Glenn Youngkin, the Republican House and Democrat-controlled senate all proposed $100 million for a billion-dollar project in Richmond; Attorney General Jason Miyares and his team have received an $80 million dollar settlement from Monsanto for environmental contamination; and ot...

Virginia's long-overdue budget agreement includes changes to some Medicaid programs; concerns raised about Richmond's shelter plans for people experiencing homelessness in winter; schools in Richmond now fully accredited; and other stories

Governor Glenn Youngkin’s political action committee borrowed Altria’s corporate jet on a recent trip; The father of a Virginia student who was sexually assaulted in her high school bathroom has been pardoned after being arrested two years ago for disrupting a school board meeting; A new transfer bus station in Downtown Richmond officially opened Monday.

09/11/23 - Apple cider makers have begun their annual harvest across Virginia.

Teams vying to lead the mixed-use City Center redevelopment are aiming high with their visions for a required convention center hotel; a local video production company is in the midst of rehabbing their 150-year-old property in Shockoe Slip; and Louis Salomonsky, a titan of the Richmond real estate development scene, died last week after a battle with cancer.

Virginia’s sales tax holiday will be reinstated if Governor Glenn Youngkin signs the bipartisan budget deal approved by lawmakers Wednesday; State education officials announced a new effort to address pandemic-related learning loss Thursday; Central State Hospital, where Irvo Otieno was killed in March, has recorded more medical emergencies this year than last. 

Virginia lawmakers overwhelmingly passed a budget agreement Wednesday that would send an additional $645 million to state public schools and give teachers a two-percent raise — on top of the five-percent increase approved last year. After state regulators suspended Dominion-imposed requirements for connecting certain solar facilities to the grid, some developers are optimistic — but unsure of how...

Lawmakers are returning to Richmond today to pass a long-awaited update to the state budget; Tenants and housing activists rallied this week outside the Red Oak Apartments in Richmond's Ginter Park neighborhood; The operators behind Richmond’s new proposed casino have offered the city new incentives – in the form of childcare subsidies- in their final push for a $562 million dollar resort in Richm...

Hampton resident Linda Janet Holmes studies alternative birthing methods and the Black women behind them.

Shake Shack is making it a double in the Richmond market; the CEO of Commonwealth Autism discusses a deal to purchase Good Foods Grocery in Bon Air; A Mechanicsville coffee shop is branching out in Hanover; and other local business stories.

After 18 months of input from county residents and committee members, Hanover’s Board of Supervisors adopted a framework that paves the way for solar power to brighten up the county, Central Virginia Transportation Authority names first-ever executive director; and other stories

Virginia is cracking down on the sale of intoxicating hemp products like delta-8; Some state retirees and beneficiaries may have had their information leaked during a cyber-attack earlier this year; A VCU Health program is one of six recipients splitting a $5 million-dollar grant to help sustain the work of hospital-based community violence intervention programs in the commonwealth; and other loca...

Since the General Assembly established the CVTA three years ago, Chet Parsons has served as the acting executive director. 

The city of Richmond may soon force the sale of multiple properties because of unpaid taxes; Richmond-area members of the world’s largest union of performers and broadcasters rallied in support of fair contracts over the weekend; The commonwealth’s last U.S. Army installation named after a Confederate figure has a new designation.