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VPM Daily Newscast: AmeriCorps and Richmond, Dominion Energy Riverrock

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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.

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 May 16, 2025:

Richmond's Avula has ‘no appetite’ to pursue $56M from failed VCU Health deal
Reported by VPM News’ Dean Mirshahi

VCU Health previously backed out of a deal for a $325 million project at 500 N. 10th St., between Clay and Leigh streets where the City-owned Public Safety Building once stood, calling it “simply impossible to build the original project.”

Neither VCU nor its health system pays city real estate taxes as a public university, so in lieu of those payments it had agreed to pay Richmond about $2.5 million annually through 2045, even if the deal collapsed — which it did. State lawmakers later directed the institution to cease making those payments.

Shortly before leaving office, former Mayor Levar Stoney and former City Council President Kristen Nye sent a letter to VCU Health that Richmond was “prepared to pursue all available options, including litigation” to collect the payments.

Avula spokesperson Mira Signer told VPM News that Avula’s administration was moving in a different direction to keep future co-investment opportunities with VCU open: “That’s where we believe our energy is best spent — not in litigation, which usually drags on for years and is very costly.”

Hanover School Board approves redrawn districts for 2026–27 school year
Reported by VPM News’ Lyndon German

The school board started the redistricting process last year to address future enrollment needs. It contracted with MGT, which drew multiple sets of potential boundaries based on population data and survey responses from Hanover residents.

The firm found that several school facilities are close to or marginally above their recommended capacity, like Cool Spring Elementary (852 students; 760 capacity) and Washington-Henry Elementary (361 students; 378 capacity). Chickahominy Middle School and Atlee High School are also overcrowded. Hanover has addressed the increase in enrollment at Cool Spring with the installation of temporary learning cottages.

“You've had a lot of feedback from your community, a lot of opportunities to share this information and it doesn't mean everybody has to like it, but they have to understand the need for it going forward,” said Lance Richards, an MGT educational performance manager, to board members this week.

Richards added the plan would help create “feeder patterns” where in most cases, all students at each elementary school would be zoned for the same middle and high schools.

News you might have missed from around the commonwealth:

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VPM News is the staff byline for articles and podcasts written and produced by multiple reporters and editors.