VPM Daily Newscast

The Public Utilities and Services Commission, once organized, will advise City Council and the mayor on “matters involving the operation, maintenance, and expansion of the City’s public utilities, including natural gas, clean drinking water, wastewater, solid waste, and stormwater.”

Republicans in the House of Delegates have elected Todd Gilbert as house minority leader after Tuesday’s election results gave Democrats control; Virginia Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger says she is running for governor in 2025 - instead of seeking reelection next year; Richmond City Councilor Mike Jones announced last week that he’s resigning at the end of December to represent Southside as a Vi...

The latest Virginia election updates; Two planned emergency housing shelters in Richmond could take a step forward at tonight's City Council meeting; Richmond installs four speed enforcement cameras at two schools on a trial basis; and other stories

Henrico-based Brandefy topped this year’s RVA 25 list of the region’s fastest-growing companies; A former senior manager with Richmond’s public works department will serve more than two years in prison for his role in a yearslong scheme that defrauded the city of over $600,000 in department contracts; Two years after leaving the kitchen at Quirk Hotel and striking out on his own in Midlothian, Dav...

After years of back and forth, a federal agency announced Wednesday that the FBI’s new headquarters will be built in Maryland, not Virginia; State Senator Jennifer Boysko announced thursday that she will run for U.S. Congress to represent Virginia’s 10th District; Mental health in the U-S has worsened since the pandemic, hitting children especially hard.

Governor Glenn Youngkin discussed the remainder of his term at the Virginia capitol after Democrats regain statehouse control; The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on Wednesday in a case that will determine whether the Department of Veterans Affairs owes a Virginia military veteran more education benefits; and other stories

If certified, Tuesday night's unofficial results means GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin will have to work with them for the remainder of his term. Hear the latest election news from VPM News alongside the pre-recorded episode by Kim Strother, which includes the apparent failure of Richmond's second casino referendum, early vote counts, a wildfire state of emergency and more.

Peak voting times are usually in the early morning and the final few hours before polls close at 7 p.m. Today, VPM News is re-airing some of the team’s recent work, including pieces on local referendums, voting rights and access, and the last entry in our 2023 voter guide.

The maternal mortality rate in Virginia more than doubled between 2018 and 2020.

Richmond’s efforts to increase housing availability in the city is getting a funding boost from a national nonprofit; More than five years after launching the Pulse, GRTC has a project in the works to introduce new, larger buses to the rapid-transit line; The Franklin Inn has changed hands for the second time in less than 10 years; and other local business stories.

Saturday is the last day of in-person early voting ahead of Tuesday’s general election; Governor Glenn Youngkin issued a new executive order this week following several student overdoses in Northern Virginia; The Chickahominy tribe is receiving a 25-thousand-dollar grant from the Comcast Corporation to improve internet connectivity. 

Criminal justice advocates and Democrats are doubling down on calls for a federal investigation into the removal of 3400 voters from Virginia’s rolls; Dominion preps grid for renewables, surging electric demand; Suburban women in Virginia likely to decide control of General Assembly; and other stories.

A group aiming to help elect Republicans is offering to collect voters’ ballots and drop them off at polling stations; A federal judge earlier this week denied a motion to suspend new state hemp regulations; Political experts say neither party has a clear lead heading into the General Assembly elections; and other local news stories.

Late last week, ballots were counted in a runoff union election between the Teamsters and The Laborers' International Union of North America to represent some Richmond workers. In June neither won a majority of the votes. On Friday, Virginia election officials said they added back nearly 3,400 voters who were mistakenly removed from the rolls – thousands more than initially projected. Isley Brewin...

This summer, the advocacy group R-V-A Rapid Transit released a report outlining the state of public transit in Richmond and several recommendations for improving the service. The report noted that only 26 percent of bus stops in the city have a bench or shelter. The Greater Richmond Transit Company, GRTC, says it plans to at least double that number over the next few years. As part of the VPM News...

The sale of yet another piece of a South Richmond industrial complex has clocked in as the largest real estate deal in the city so far this year; A downtown tattoo shop is heading to the Brookland Park Boulevard corridor after closing one of the highest priced deals in the Northside neighborhood in recent years; The Fan is set to get a pair of new taquerias right across the street from each other;...

The death toll in Gaza is over 7,000 people since Israel began retaliating for a Hamas attack on October 7th; A federal appeals court has denied a request from six Southwest Virginia property owners to halt the Mountain Valley Pipeline's construction; Richmond Public Schools will host its second annual “fall for all festival” at River City Middle School this weekend; and other local news stories.

The issue, which was first reported by VPM News in late September, appeared to surface after ELECT announced in December that it had removed 10,558 people from voter rolls who’d had their rights restored but gone on to face new felony convictions. The department said its software hadn’t previously been tracking new convictions for that group.

Virginia’s the only southern state to not pass new abortion restrictions since Roe vs Wade was overturned last year. VPM News’ Jahd Khalil reports on how it presents Republicans with difficulties in the upcoming elections.  Also: Virginia joins Meta suit claiming social platform harms children's mental health; local Central Virginia news and the latest entry in Curious Commonwealth. It's about Vir...

Richmond’s twice-a-year Restaurant week has begun and runs through Sunday; Environmental advocacy group Oceana has issued a report on ship speeds in the Chesapeake Bay; A local developer is asking state regulators to allow Dominion Energy to run a new 5-mile overhead transmission line to a planned Henrico County data center.

Many of Richmond’s historically Black neighborhoods have seen large increases in home values — and tax assessments — in recent years. As part of the VPM News Healthy City series, Connor Scribner looks at how that’s affecting long-time residents.

Scrutiny over the failed downtown development that cost VCU Health $73 million to back out of is prompting a closer look by the Virginia General Assembly’s investigative arm; In the days after Art Kellermann relented and agreed to sign off on the costly downtown development deal he’d adamantly opposed, the then-VCU Health CEO’s colleagues who’d urged him to OK the project shared, over email, a col...

Hanover residents recently attended a public hearing to discuss county road improvements in the Chickahominy District; The 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline’s budget and timeline have inflated again; n the 1970s, drivers got the Ok to make right turns at red lights to save fuel, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Former Virginia House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn to forgo run for governor next year and run for Congress; A consultant who helped organize the January 6, 2021 rally that preceded the attack on the US Capitol has also done extensive work for Gov. Glenn Youngkin; Fall Line Trail breaks ground; and other stories

Virginia NAACP sues the Youngkin administration over withholding records; What promises have been made about potential casino jobs?; The Bennu (BEH-new) asteroid is about a third of a mile wide and NASA says it’s on a – possible -- trajectory to earth within the next 200 years; and other stories.