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 May 6, 2025:
Trump’s AmeriCorps cuts end Virginia community service grants
Reported by VPM News’ Dean Mirshahi
President Donald Trump’s administration ended grants for at least 16 community service programs in Virginia as part of sweeping AmeriCorps funding cuts, abruptly shutting down projects and forcing layoffs.
The move pulled back funding used to plan and operate community service programs throughout Virginia, mostly in education and health care. Grant money went to nonprofits, organizations, schools and the City of Richmond.
Program directors and organization heads told VPM News the sudden cuts left them hurt, confused and scrambling to find answers. They shared stories of job losses, but said their biggest concern was the loss of critical services for the community — especially those aimed at children.
Along with providing these grants, AmeriCorps places people known as “members” to do service work on projects and in programs across the country. More than 160 members in Virginia were cut due to the grants ending, according to a count from the Richmond nonprofit Fit4Kids.
Breaking: VPM loses funding from federal ‘Ready to Learn’ grant
Reported by Chris Suarez for VPM News
This is a developing story that will be updated as new information is provided.
Seeking to block funding for public media, the US Department of Education has eliminated a federal grant that supports PBS Kids programming nationwide and has funded literacy initiatives sponsored by VPM Media Corporation at Richmond and Petersburg preschools.
VPM President and CEO Jayme Swain announced the Ready to Learn grant’s termination on Monday. The department has held a competition for Ready to Learn funding every five years since 1995, with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and PBS winning grants in every cycle. In total, CPB and PBS have received over $200 million in Ready to Learn grants over the last two five-year cycles, according to Education Department data.
According to press releases, VPM has been part of the 2020–25 cohort — and was awarded at least $160,000 across 2022 and 2023 to develop "Learning Neighborhoods" and early learning resources.
A spokesperson for VPM Media Corp. told VPM News that VPM had received $75,000 for the federal fiscal year running from Oct. 1, 2024–Sept. 30, 2025, but it was not yet clear how much of that money was still left to spend as of Friday, May 2 — the effective termination date of the grant.
In an email urging VPM supporters to contact their congressional representatives, Swain said several recent government actions, including the cancellation of the Ready to Learn grant, “jeopardize the federal funding – only about $1.60 per person each year – that sustains the entire public media system.”
News you might have missed from around the commonwealth:
- Rep. Bobby Scott endorses Aaron Rouse in Lt. Gov. primary (Richmond Times-Dispatch)*
- GRTC will allow ads at bus stops to help subsidize free fares (The Richmonder)
- Charlottesville rezones elementary schools for first time in 50 years (The Daily Progress)*
- Midas’s Church Hill rehab driving plan to update Shockoe Bottom historic district (Richmond BizSense)*
*This outlet utilizes a paywall.