Mark Newton

4 weeks ago | richmondmagazine.com | Mark Newton

In order to introduce a bill directing the Department of Motor Vehicles to issue a specialty license plate reading “Celebrate Diversity,” Diversity Richmond had to gather at least 450 paid applications before the start of the 2025 session of the General Assembly on Jan. 8. Unfortunately, the nonprofit did not receive enough applications, according to Administrative Coordinator Michelle Campbell. She says the submission period will be extended to the start of the 2026 session.

1 month ago | richmondmagazine.com | Mark Newton

Violent crime was down across the board in 2024, according to the Richmond Police Department’s annual crime statistics, which Chief Rick Edwards shared in a January press conference. Overall, 967 violent crimes were committed last year, down from 1,023 in 2023 and from a height of 1,309 in 2016. Those crimes include homicide, rape, robberies and aggravated assault, all of which fell from the previous year. Nonfatal shootings (200) were up from 2023 but down from 257 in 2022.

1 month ago | richmondmagazine.com | Mark Newton

Move over, Moo Deng — thereʼs a new pygmy hippo in town. Poppy was born at the Metro Richmond Zoo on Dec. 9 and was named on Jan. 6 after 116,000 in-person and online ballots were cast, beating out Hammie Mae with 52.8% of the vote. People from 165 countries participated, though in-person votes were counted twice. “The voter turnout for this was incredible,” says Taylor Andelin, the zoo’s communications manager.

1 month ago | richmondmagazine.com | Mark Newton

This article has been updated since it first appeared in print. The promise of help was short-lived for thousands in metro Richmond impacted by January’s water crisis. Applications to the Water Recovery Fund, an expansion of the city’s Family Crisis Fund and facilitated by the United Way of Greater Richmond & Petersburg, opened Jan. 31 and were paused Feb. 3. City officials who made the move announced that the available monies had been “fully committed” over the weekend.

1 month ago | richmondmagazine.com | Mark Newton

The city of the future is here, and it’s located inside a classroom at Virginia Commonwealth University. OpenCyberCity, a realistic 1:12 scale model of a bustling downtown, allows College of Engineering students to test tiny drones, autonomous vehicles, manufacturing robots, smart devices and more under the tutelage of the city’s director, electrical and computer engineering professor Sherif Abdelwahed. The model city was built in 2022, and about 40 students have used it since then.