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VPM Daily Newscast: Shockoe Institute breaks ground

VPM | By VPM News

Published April 7, 2025 at 10:58 AM EDT

VPM Daily Newscast

The VPM Daily Newscast contains all your Central Virginia news in just 5 to 10 minutes. Episodes are recorded the night before.

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Here’s a recap of the top stories on the morning of April 7, 2025:

Transcript: Dr. Norman Oliver, COVID-era VDH commissioner
Reported by VPM News’ Adrienne Hoar McGibbon

Dr. Norman Oliver led the Virginia Department of Health from 2018–22 during Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam's term. His time as head of the agency overlapped with the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Virginia's former state health commissioner is now warning that the U.S. Health and Human Services Department’s recent decision to cut up to $425 million in federal funding for COVID-related grants makes Virginians more susceptible to future pandemics — and “horrific consequences.”

As Oliver said in an interview with Adrienne Hoar McGibbon, “We are still threatened by communicable diseases. We will, in fact, experience future pandemics. And the lesson we should learn from COVID-19 is that we need to be better prepared.”

Shockoe Institute breaks ground for new center in Richmond
Reported by Chris Suarez for VPM News

The Shockoe Institute, a new organization created to elevate the story of Richmond’s role in the American slave trade, will open its new center in Main Street Station early next year.

At a groundbreaking ceremony last week, local government and institute officials celebrated the upcoming opening by signing a construction beam and inviting guests to demo an augmented reality exhibit that could be part of the center.

While city leaders have supported the idea of a national slavery museum in the Shockoe area for more than three decades, the institute’s 12,000-square-foot center will not be a museum with historical artifacts and artwork. Instead, it will be “a place of learning, reflection and action,” said Marlon Buckner, CEO and president of the Shockoe Institute.

“Our visitors are going to have the experience to understand the evolution of our history and slavery's role in it, and in particular, Richmond's role in the domestic slave trade,” he said. “But we're also going to give visitors the opportunity in our lab to extend their learning journey, and to participate in a whole array of programs and services and creative activities that are designed to enrich their experience while they are here.”

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