Virginia Public Radio

It’s a question that has long vexed America: How do we teach our history of slavery? Last weekend, James Madison’s Montpelier started working on an answer. Jordy Yager has more.

Sanctuary cities became one of the hottest issues in the campaign last year. Now it’s become one of the most divisive issues in the General Assembly. Michael Pope is at the Capitol with the latest.

Big poultry on the DelMarVa Peninsula began by accident when  homemaker Cecile Steele was shipped 500 chicks to raise instead of the 50 she ordered. She kept them, made a profit and ordered a thousand the next year. And so, an industry was born and has been growing ever since. But the hundreds of thousands […]

Virginia’s capital city is raising its meals tax. The money is earmarked to help fix the city’s crumbling schools. Richmond City Council voted late Monday night 7 to 2. Mallory Noe-Payne was at the contentious meeting and has this report.  

Virginia’s Governor is calling for a full expansion of Medicaid, the state run health insurance program for the poor. But many Republicans in the statehouse don’t like the idea of able bodied adults, no matter how poor, getting government-funded healthcare. So they’re eyeing something else: a more narrow expansion of the program. Mallory Noe-Payne has […]

Should local governments be able to restrict which drivers can make turns? Lawmakers in Richmond are debating it, and Michael Pope is at the Capitol with the latest.

There’s a push to get students excited about computer science and tech. A new public high school in Richmond is tapping into that trend. But the school, called CodeRVA, isn’t just relying on innovative curriculum. It’s also an entirely different model of teaching, where school is a workplace. Mallory Noe-Payne reports.

Police and sheriff’s departments in southwest Virginia are feeling the strain of transporting patients to mental hospitals, and Virginia’s technology-rich Loudoun County has gone on the attack after seeing its population called “ignorant hillbillies” in an FBI text message. Those have been among the most read stories over the past week at the Virginia Public […]

The halls of power in Richmond are loaded with new members after the wave election in November. But, as Michael Pope reports, that doesn’t mean their proposals are seeing much success. Being a freshman House member in the minority isn’t easy. You just got here and you’re not sure how it all works. And you’ve […]

Drawing crowds to a small town to see Shakespeare can be challenging, but the Blackfriar’s Theater in Staunton finds way to intrigue the public. This season, for example, it has cast a woman in the role of Richard the Second. Sandy Hausman has the story.