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Orange County's water, 2025's Lt. Gov. race, mobile homes

Mason jar filled with water and ice
Ethan Sykes
/
via Unsplash

Take a look at this week's top VPM News stories.


The Sprout School opens two new Richmond child care centers

Marian plays with her daughter Naomi
Shaban Athuman
/
VPM News
Maria Small, right, plays with her daughter, Naomi “Nomi” Small, 3, as they get ready for daycare on Monday, July 15, 2024 in Richmond, Virginia. Nomi is enrolled at the Sprout school. As part of their daily routine, the two spend the time before daycare learning concepts.

For about a year after her daughter was born, Maria Small struggled to get back into the working world, in part because of her day care situation. Small, who lives in Fulton and works in downtown Richmond, was driving to and from Midlothian each day to make sure someone could watch her daughter for a few hours.

A few times, she and her husband questioned whether the hectic schedule — which involved Small waking up at 4:30 a.m. and spending money each month on tolls — was worth continuing. But eventually, she got a call about an opening for her daughter at Fulton Montessori, just down the street from her home.

This summer, Fulton Montessori became a branch of the Sprout School, a network of child care programs operated by the Richmond YWCA. The network operates on a mixed-income model that sees half of families, including Small’s, receive full or partial scholarship — an approach grounded in research that documents the benefits of socioeconomically diverse classes for students, staff and parents.


BizSense Beat: LL Flooring bankruptcy sale, new apartments in Manchester

An LL Flooring store seen in Chesterfield. There is a sign at the front that says "NOW 20-25% off EVERYTHING!"
Jahd Khalil
/
VPM News
An LL Flooring store seen on Mon. Sept. 9, in Bon Air, Virginia.

BizSense Beat is a weekly collaboration between VPM News and Richmond BizSense that recaps the region’s top business stories.

This week, Benjamin Dolle and Richmond BizSense’s Jonathan Spiers discuss a bankruptcy court allowing LL Flooring to be sold to a private equity firm affiliated with the company’s former founder, a proposal to replace two dilapidated buildings on Hull Street with 112 new apartment units, and a local restaurant group opening a new location across the street from the Diamond District.

Listen in and read more here.

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