OPINION




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Richmond Had a General Strike and a First Friday on the Same Night

It was 72 and breezy. Unseasonably pleasant, almost chilly. VCU students were splayed out on picnic blankets in Monroe Park enjoying soft serve and the sunshine. Citronella and the smell of hot dogs wafted through the air from some folks having a cookout. “High...

Everything I Built for My Family Is Being Taken Away

Editor’s Note: RVA Magazine has been covering Virginia’s evolving hemp and cannabis regulations, including proposed changes to THC limits and retail licensing. The following is a guest opinion from a Virginia hemp business owner directly affected by SB 542. By Barbara...

The Era of Straight-Up Greed (Or, Can I Live?)

I stopped for gas the other day, it’s $4.19 a gallon. You swipe your card, you move on. That’s just the baseline price of existing now in Richmond. Inside, I grabbed a couple things without thinking. A two-pack of Reese’s and an iced tea. The kind of purchase made a...

Ring, Richmond, and the Feeling of Being Watched

Walk through just about any neighborhood in Richmond and you’ll see them. The small blue-lit doorbells tucked into brick row houses in Church Hill. The newer setups in Manchester townhomes and Scott’s Addition apartments. For a lot of us, buying a Ring camera was...

Opinion | My Family Deserves to Exist

by Alexis Jackson I am a Black queer woman, a wife, a mother, a licensed therapist, and a doula in Virginia. And before anything else, let me be clear: my family is not outside of the norm. Love, intention, and care are not radical ideas. They are the foundation of...

Opinion | Virginia’s Liquor Laws Were Always Weird. Change Is Coming

Editor’s Note: This column is informed by recent reporting from Brad Kutner at Radio IQ and WVTF on proposed changes to Virginia’s food-to-alcohol sales ratio, as well as conversations with people connected to the restaurant and hospitality industry. Virginia’s liquor...

Opinion | Wake Up, America: Why We Can’t Keep Normalizing This

Editor's Note: A nationwide protest known as the Free America Walkout is scheduled for Tuesday, January 20, including a demonstration in downtown Richmond at Kanawha Plaza. More information is available at freeameri.ca. We’re barely three weeks into 2026,...

Op-Ed | Why I Support Richmond Code Refresh and Upzoning

Editor’s note: This is an op-ed. The views belong to the author and not necessarily RVA Magazine. We publish opinion pieces to spark conversation, share perspectives, and give space to voices in our community. by Jacob Sherrod Richmond’s zoning code, the policies...

Richmond Had a General Strike and a First Friday on the Same Night

It was 72 and breezy. Unseasonably pleasant, almost chilly. VCU students were splayed out on picnic blankets in Monroe Park enjoying soft serve and the sunshine. Citronella and the smell of hot dogs wafted through the air from some folks having a cookout. “High energy, high discipline” was the chant from activists from the Richmond chapter of...

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May Day 2026 by Quentin Rice_RVA Magazine 2026

Everything I Built for My Family Is Being Taken Away

Editor’s Note: RVA Magazine has been covering Virginia’s evolving hemp and cannabis regulations, including proposed changes to THC limits and retail licensing. The following is a guest opinion from a Virginia hemp business owner directly affected by SB 542. By Barbara Biddle Eight years ago, I made a leap of faith. I had no investors, no...

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Barbara Biddle_RVA Magazine 2026

The Era of Straight-Up Greed (Or, Can I Live?)

I stopped for gas the other day, it’s $4.19 a gallon. You swipe your card, you move on. That’s just the baseline price of existing now in Richmond. Inside, I grabbed a couple things without thinking. A two-pack of Reese’s and an iced tea. The kind of purchase made a thousand times from muscle memory. $3.45 for the candy. Four bucks for the...

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The Era of Straight-Up Greed (Or, Can I Live?) by R. Anthony Harris_RVA Magazine 2026

Ring, Richmond, and the Feeling of Being Watched

Walk through just about any neighborhood in Richmond and you’ll see them. The small blue-lit doorbells tucked into brick row houses in Church Hill. The newer setups in Manchester townhomes and Scott’s Addition apartments. For a lot of us, buying a Ring camera was practical. Packages were disappearing, car break-ins felt closer to home. It...

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Ring Camera Richmond_photo by Turquo Cabbit-by R Anthony Harris_RVA Magazine 2026

Opinion | My Family Deserves to Exist

by Alexis Jackson I am a Black queer woman, a wife, a mother, a licensed therapist, and a doula in Virginia. And before anything else, let me be clear: my family is not outside of the norm. Love, intention, and care are not radical ideas. They are the foundation of families. That is what my family is built on. It is what I wake up to every...

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My-Family-Deserves-to-Exist by Alexis Jackson _RVA-MAgazine-2026

Op-Ed | Why I Support Richmond Code Refresh and Upzoning

Editor’s note: This is an op-ed. The views belong to the author and not necessarily RVA Magazine. We publish opinion pieces to spark conversation, share perspectives, and give space to voices in our community. by Jacob Sherrod Richmond’s zoning code, the policies which govern what buildings can be built and where, is being rewritten as per a...

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Richmond-Code-Refresh_photo-by-Skyler-Gerald_RVA-Magazine-2025

Opinion | The Grocery Bill That Stares Back at You

In Richmond, you walk into Kroger or Food Lion for the usual and walk out $80 lighter with barely a bag and a half. No steaks. No extras. Just the basics you’ve been buying since you first learned how to cook on a crooked burner in a Fan apartment. And now you’re staring at the receipt like it might explain itself. It doesn’t. Prices aren’t...

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Richmond grocery prices_photo by Joel Muniz_RVA Magazine 2025