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 8, 2025:
USDA uproots local fresh foods pipeline for Virginia schools, food banks
Reported by Chris Suarez for VPM News
An effort to connect Virginia public schools with local farms to improve food security in low-income communities won’t be getting any federal support beyond this summer’s harvest.
With President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk picking apart deeply rooted agencies and initiatives that sprouted during the previous White House administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has eliminated two nascent programs designed to help small farms supply local schools and food banks with fresh fruit, produce and meat.
Since its creation in 2022, the federal Local Food Purchase Assistance Program has awarded $13.6 million to Virginia.
The USDA’s move eliminates more than $1 billion in federal spending nationwide. More than half of it — $660 million — was slated for school cafeterias. The rest helped stock church pantries, charitable food banks and school-related programs where students and families could get large bags of produce after school or during summer break.
“The fact that this program was cut is somewhat surprising because it directly supports what Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the new secretary of Health and Human Services, has been saying about the importance of improving the diets of all Americans by promoting an increase in fresh foods and decreasing processed food,” said Kathy Yoder, the director of educational outreach programming for Vine & Fig — one of the program’s participants. “Plus, it puts dollars directly into building a local economy.”
Virginia tribal sovereignty bill heads back to Youngkin without changes
Reported by VPM News’ Jahd Khalil
Legislation that would codify the relationship between Virginia and federally-recognized tribes is once again before Gov. Glenn Youngkin, but without a significant change he recommended.
HB 2134 and SB 949 would create a new Code of Virginia with definitions relevant to tribal-state relations and standardize other terminology. Among the most consequential pieces of the legislation is a sovereignty statement. In part, it reads: “The Commonwealth endeavors to maintain positive government-to-government relationships with the federally recognized tribes within the present-day external boundaries of the Commonwealth.”
Youngkin’s amendment would have removed the term “government-to-government” — a term that already exists in US and Virginia code in the context of tribal relations. Tom Badamo, treasurer of the Nansemond Indian Nation, said he didn’t find the term controversial.
“I don't believe that there's a feeling that the federally recognized tribes are legitimate governments,” Badamo said. “Otherwise, I wouldn't see there'd be a reason to remove that language. The tribes have had a government-to-government relationship with the governor — and before that, with the crown of England.”
Badamo, a member of the legislative commission that drafted the bill, said that the sovereignty statement is important to future work: “A unanimous understanding of what that meant was phase one. Without that, we wouldn't really accomplish much moving forward.”
News you might have missed from around the commonwealth
- Leaked memo: Va. corrections officials slow hiring amid 'critical' staff shortages (Richmond Times-Dispatch)*
- ‘Brilliant at the basics’: How one elementary school is beating the trends and boosting literacy rates (The Richmonder)
*This outlet utilizes a paywall.
