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 for Youth

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 Virginia Department of Corrections

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/quadaire-patterson-voting-rights-felony-convictions-rvas-got-issues

Featuring:

Whittney Evans, Features Editor for VPM News

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 at Frances W. McClenney Elementary School

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

Jennifer Wakefield, President and CEO for the Greater Richmond Partnership

Amy Turner, Executive Director of SCRAP RVA

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 Medicine
Mary Graham, Chief Executive Officer of READ RVA

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 Robertson and Home of VA’s Tom Fitzpatrick about how to counter displacement while providing for Richmond’s future. Plus we hear from Cyane Crump of Historic Richmond. Amid all the code changes, how do we preserve the city’s historic fabric?