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 Feb. 14, 2025:
No safety protocol at Richmond water plant, initial report says
Reported by VPM News’ Dean Mirshahi, Patrick Larsen and Dave Cantor
Richmond released initial findings from the investigation into its early January water crisis around 4:45 p.m. Thursday.
The Kansas City-based engineering firm HNTB examined the water system between Jan. 27 and 29, and expects full findings to be released by March. It’ll cost the city $234,000.
The report offered seven preliminary and three longer-term recommendations, but concluded, based on a tour of the facility and interviews with 14 staff members, that there were no set safety protocols or written training manuals at the water plant on during the outage.
While the report found DPU does have an emergency manual, it “lacks facility and process-specific actions.”
The city’s set a 9 a.m. Friday press conference to discuss the findings.
Richmond seeks ‘essential’ federal grant for Mayo Bridge
Reported by VPM News’ Dean Mirshahi
The City of Richmond is asking for federal funding to help pay for its $195 million plan to build a new Mayo Bridge with fewer lanes, and more space for cyclists and pedestrians.
The new Mayo Bridge would be built east of the existing structures, have one travel lane for cars in each direction instead of two, buffered bicycle lanes, a sidewalk and a shared-use path, according to the grant application. It would also be the only access point for a future park on Mayo Island, help improve road safety and address critical infrastructure needs, the city said.
Without this “essential” federal funding, the city said the 112-year-old bridge that connects Manchester and Shockoe Slip will be “unusable to the public” in 10 years, and people would only be able to access the planned 16-acre Mayo Island Park by kayak.
“We knew that our neighborhoods cared very much that the bridge become safer, more accessible for pedestrians,” said Janet Woodka, chairperson of The Manchester Alliance, which to inform residents about the effort and increase community engagement. “We thought, well, now obviously people are going to want to walk and bike, and take their kids [across], and this bridge needs to be safe and walkable. It's not really a car-centric alley anymore.”
News you might have missed from around the commonwealth
- Trump cuts affect signature Youngkin lab school program in Virginia (The Washington Post)*
- K-12 cap removal stumbles, but remains alive in budget (Virginia Mercury)
- Virginia colleges and universities may be forced to livestream meetings (Virginia Mercury)
- CoStar tops off 26-story riverfront office tower (Richmond BizSense)*
*This outlet utilizes a paywall.
