Stay ConnectedRVA’s Got Issues examines the big issues defining life in and around Richmond, Virginia. What’s being done to keep housing affordable? How do we combat gun violence? What’s with all the vape shops?
Every Wednesday, host Rich Meagher takes a deep dive into complex issues that impact Richmond, providing clear analysis through conversations with public officials, reporters, activists and community members.
Copyright: © 2024 VPM Media Corporation
Virginia Commonwealth University is Richmond’s urban university. But it's sometimes hard to know where Richmond ends and VCU begins. How does VCU grow and thrive while the city does the same? Can Richmond and VCU... grow together?
Featuring:
Max Wasserman, RVA's Got Issues Producer
Andrew Kerley, outgoing Executive Editor of the Commonwealth Times
It's all anyone seems to think about - how can we develop our economy? But do we actually need to build more to get more? On this episode, the answer is yes and no. One Richmond business has a big plan to capture international attention. But down the street, a second-hand store shows you don't need something "new" to attract customers. Oh, and we get a tour of LEGO Manufacturing VA.
Featuring
Jennifer Wakefield, President and CEO for the Greater Richmond Partnership
Amy Turner, Executive Director of SCRAP RVA
We talk a lot on our show about, well, issues. But we don't always get a sense of what it's like for the people on the frontlines of those issues. How do you keep working to fix the issue, when others don't know, don't care - or want you to stop?
From healthcare to education: it's dispatches from the frontlines.
Guests:
Stephanie Arnold, founder of Seven Hills Family Medicine
Mary Graham, Chief Executive Officer of READ RVA
It’s budget season in Richmond. We know government budgets are important, but they’re about much more than numbers. Rich sits down with an expert to ask: what’s the human cost of budgeting?
Featuring:
Elliott Fullmer, Professor of Political Science at Randolph-Macon College
[Originally released 6/11/25]
For the first time in 50 years, the city’s zoning code – the rules that say what can be built where – is being revised. It’s definitely time: the need for housing is desperate! But with a stunning reversal of white flight – an influx of young professionals into the city – how do we preserve the Richmond we love for everyone? Rich talks to City Council’s Ellen Robertson and Home of VA’s Tom Fitzpatrick about how to counter displacement while providing for Richmond’s future. Plus we hear from Cyane Crump of Historic Richmond. Amid all the code changes, how do we preserve the city’s historic fabric?
Flock cameras take pictures of your license plate, and they’re everywhere in RVA. Are these cameras a powerful tool for getting the bad guys? Or a dangerous step towards mass surveillance?
Featuring:
Kunle Falayi, data journalist with the Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism at WHRO
The two biggest words in VA Politics right now? DATA and CENTERS. From a state budget battle to heated local opposition, how did they land at the very center of Virginia politics?
This episode is part of GENERAL ASSEMBLY REQUIRED, a new series from RVA's Got Issues focusing on state government's impact on RVA.
Featuring:
Patrick Larsen and Lyndon German, VPM News Reporters
The national battle for district lines has come to Virginia, and Democrats want to redraw our Congressional map. Critics want them to play fair. But what does "fair" mean these days?
This episode is part of GENERAL ASSEMBLY REQUIRED, a new series from RVA's Got Issues focusing on state government's impact on RVA.
Featuring:
Brian Cannon, No Gerrymandering Virginia
This year may bring a big shift in Virginia labor laws, changing the game for workers here in RVA – and throughout the Commonwealth. Will these changes help or hurt us - and do we really have to choose between business and labor?
This episode is part of General Assembly Required, a new series from RVA's Got Issues focusing on state government's impact on RVA.
Featuring:
Michael O'Connor, journalist at VA Dogwood
Chris Saxman, President of Virginia FREE
Do you want to be more civic-minded, but don’t know how? We’ve got three stories about civic engagement, from the general assembly to the People’s Assembly to drawing a line on a map and making it real.
Features:
Nick, Isabelle, and Ashley from Randolph Macon College
The Richmond's People's Assembly
Brantley Tyndall, Director of Bike Walk RVA.
Our TOPPODCAST Picks 
