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 June 5, 2025:
Youngkin administration has missed deadline to set AI rules for state police
Reported by VPM News’ Dean Mirshahi
Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration and state Attorney General Jason Miyares are seven months behind a deadline set by the governor to outline standards for Virginia State Police’s use of artificial intelligence.
Youngkin signed an executive order in January 2024 implementing AI guidelines for state agencies, including standards “for the ethical use of AI” and a mandatory approval process to use the technology.
The order directed Miyares and Terry Cole, Virginia’s public safety and homeland security secretary, to develop rules for AI use “applicable to all executive branch law enforcement agencies and personnel” within nine months. That deadline passed on Oct. 18, 2024, and specific rules for law enforcement are still not in place.
Virginia has a patchwork of AI rules in place, but it still doesn’t have comprehensive legislation regulating the technology.
During the 2025 General Assembly session, Youngkin vetoed a bill to establish rules for using “high-risk” AI systems aimed at providing protection from discrimination. And a bill that would have required developers to meet certain standards for generative AI systems available in Virginia failed to make it out of committee.
Richmond-area real estate data shows sellers still at an advantage
Reported by VPM News’ Jack Glagola
New data from the Richmond Association of Realtors covering January 2020 to April 2025 shows that new home listings in the City of Richmond are at their highest since 2021, and active listings are the highest in five years.
The housing market is in crisis both in Richmond and nationwide, caused by a supply shortage of over 4.5 million homes. Laura Lafayette, the association’s CEO, told VPM News that in the last four years, the median price of a home in the Richmond metro area has increased 50% — and the income needed to afford a median-priced home has doubled.
Lafayette said the Richmond metro area has been a seller’s market for at least a decade, and even more so following the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 — when the region took in large numbers of people moving from Northern Virginia in search of a lower cost of living.
Lafayette said the pressure on Richmond’s housing market is unlikely to reach an equilibrium where buyers and sellers are on an even playing field anytime soon.
“I’m not rooting for buyers over sellers,” Lafayette said. “I’m just saying that we haven’t had a balanced market in years, and I don’t know anyone who’s projecting that the inventory trend line is going to change substantially.”
News you might have missed from around the commonwealth:
- Senator pressures state to put history scores in school accountability system (Richmond Times-Dispatch)*
- ‘A smack in the face:’ Vouchers holders fear federal housing cuts (Virginia Mercury)
- ‘We didn’t just deploy. We delivered’: USS Harry S. Truman strike group returns home to Norfolk (The Virginian-Pilot)*
- 'It's been crazy': Map of Richmond's shop cats a smash hit as initial printing goes fast (The Richmonder)
*This outlet utilizes a paywall.