The VPM Daily Newscast contains all your Central Virginia news in just 5 to 10 minutes. Episodes are recorded the night before.
Listeners can subscribe through NPR One, Apple Podcasts, Megaphone, Spotify and wherever you get your podcasts.
Here’s a recap of the top stories on the morning of Nov. 14, 2024
RVA's Got Issues presents: "Who's Got Your Vote" with Mayor-elect Danny Avula
Reported by VPM News
Richmond Mayor-elect Danny Avula sat down with RVA’s Got Issues host Rich Meagher after Election Day about his City Hall priorities and upcoming plans. Here’s a snippet.
Rich Meagher: Now, you've already said you've announced a national search [for a new chief administrative officer]. Doesn't that take time? Can you do this? Can you get this team in place to hit the ground running in January? Can you hire a person? Can you find the right leadership to work with you in the administration?
Danny Avula: The process of identifying and hiring new people does take time, but I think that some of that we can get started on right away.
This administration, Mayor Stoney's administration has been incredibly collaborative and already — you know, I spent nine hours on Thursday, nine hours on Friday in City Hall meeting with different departments, getting a sense of what the current priorities and challenges are. So they're really helping us lay the groundwork for a really successful transition.
It's probably not realistic that we have all of the folks fully evaluated and hired January 1st, but that's clearly the first order of business when we do get in there.
Youngkin, Scott downplay potential Trump effects on Virginia policy
Reported by VPM News’ Jahd Khalil
Next year will be the first time since 2002 that Virginians have had both a Republican president and governor, when Gov. Jim Gilmore and President George W. Bush briefly overlapped. But there are many institutional reasons why a Republican in both Richmond and Washington don’t necessarily mean a massive change in state-level policy.
“What happens on the federal level doesn't seem to have a lot more effect than it used to,” said Jay Speer, executive director of the Virginia Poverty Law Center. “Maybe in a non-policy, attitude way. But the state policy makers are completely independent, of course, and deal with somewhat different issues.”
Both Youngkin and Virginia House Speaker Don Scott, a Democrat, also downplayed how much President-elect Donald Trump would affect state policy.
“I don't think the state Legislature does a lot of work with President Trump, because we're not working with Joe Biden now,” said Scott after the election. “I think Virginians understand that they expect us to do everything that we can, to expect to protect their freedom, and then to work where we can with the governor and with the federal government where we can.”
In other news:
- Virginia environmental regulators make info on data center operations more publicly accessible (Virginia Mercury)
In case you missed it:
- More Virginia localities consider voting system changes (Virginia Mercury)
*This outlet utilizes a paywall.
