Renee Nicole Good, a graduate of Old Dominion University, was fatally shot by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer during a federal enforcement operation in Minneapolis on Wednesday.

The sleeping giant walks the earth again. After a five-year hiatus, United Blood returned to Richmond, Virginia with a heavy barrage of cutthroat sonics.

We have a fond farewell in the books this week. Community in our eyes, feet in the door, we look forward. Ever onward. Got a show coming up? New single? Simply want someone to talk music? Hit me up at [email protected].

Heart Of Winter, the black metal and doom-heavy festival that helped define an era of the city’s DIY extreme metal scene, is officially returning January 8–10 at The Canal Club and it’s shaping up to be the biggest incarnation yet.

Eric Spencer said it plainly, almost casually. “And you are meeting, for probably the first time in your life, somebody who was in the War on Drugs,” he said. “Lived it. Survived it. There was hell to pay. I am the War on Drugs.” Not as a slogan. As a statement of fact.

After immigration policy changes under the Trump administration, they were given a choice. Leave voluntarily, or risk a worse outcome. So they self deported. Almost overnight, their business closed and they were gone. What was the point?

As of December 31, MTV has shut down many of its remaining 24 hour music only channels across the U.K. and several other countries. And then, almost immediately, someone on Reddit did what the internet occasionally still does best, they built an alternative.

Two separate protests unfolded in downtown Richmond Saturday afternoon, as local activist groups responded to reports of U.S. military action in Caracas and the detention of Venezuela president Nicolás Maduro and his wife.

A group of Buddhist monks making a 2,300-mile trek across the United States for peace and compassion is expected to pass through Richmond this February as part of their “Walk for Peace” pilgrimage from Fort Worth, Texas, to Washington, D.C.

Richmond’s Nettspend and Vans turned Laurel Skatepark into a canned food drive that was part skate scene, part community pull-up, built around a simple ask: bring something that helps someone else eat.

I spoke with Chris Newman, a Virginia farmer I interviewed a few years ago whose perspective has only grown more relevant since. He didn’t hesitate. “Business has been booming for a lot of terrible reasons,” Newman said.

There’s something different about a hometown show when the artists actually mean hometown. Clipse at The Dome was not a victory lap or a nostalgia play. It felt more like a reckoning. Two brothers returning with their full story intact with no edits.

This week is all about New Year’s Eve. We got a ton of insane local talent at nearly every venue in town, anywhere you look you got something.

William “Bill” Martin, longtime director of The Valentine, has passed away. His death marks a profound loss for Richmond’s cultural and civic community.

Richmond has its own way of ringing in the New Year. A little backward glance, a little chaos, and just enough polish to feel intentional. You can lean into loud live shows, dress up for something splashy, or keep it simple with a solid drink and good company.

Mad Skillz is a journey. Nine hip-hop albums. Two poetry albums. Three Grammy nominations. An elder statesman that’s not only delivered for Virginia since the 1990s, but consistently championed those who came after him. Because of that, Mad Skillz is also the destination.

As we close out the year, here’s a look at some of the most impactful stories we published in 2025. Over the past year, we covered Richmond as a living system under pressure, focusing on the people, culture, and policies that shape daily life and determine who gets held up or left behind.

For Virginia and Richmond, the announcement underscores a widening disconnect between federal policy signals and the state’s unresolved cannabis framework.

Last few shows before Christmas rolls out. Got one more charity gig on the bill for this week, some great locals, and a couple folks from on the road. Got a show coming up? New single? Simply want someone to talk music? Hit me up at [email protected].

Amid a national immigration crackdown, the fallout from the recent shooting of two National Guardsmen by an Afghan national in D.C., has thrust the precarious status of Afghan nationals in the U.S. into the spotlight. Virginia has resettled more Afghan refugees per capita than any other state.

On December 31, most vape products currently sold in Virginia will become illegal to sell. For shop owners like Tony Aziz, who owns Native Smoke in Richmond, the impact is existential. “If this goes into effect the way it’s written,” Aziz said, “I don’t know how we stay open.”

The first thing to know is that Mike Shea tried to make a normal introduction. In his mind, it was a filmmaker reaching out to a musician he admired. In Jonathan Facka’s mind, it was a man in full clown makeup sending him a video at random. Life rarely agrees on the details.

Alex Na was not planning to start a mini dessert movement. A pan of birthday leftovers, one TikTok post, and an unexpected crowd were all it took for Na’s weekends to turn into a weekly ritual of giving out free tiramisu around the River City.

LA based street artist Lauren YS says their new mural on the side of Unkindness Art and Nevermore in Northside is an independent, self-funded project meant to communicate a human message rather than a political slogan.

This week, we’re featuring a new story from Richmond writer Eric Kalata. Here, in his third piece with us, he turns inward, tracing a Boy Scout dive trip to the Bahamas that brushes up against sharks, quicksand, and the kind of brief, electric friendship that never really leaves you.

To add, it purports the black market which in turn keeps the people-to-prison pipeline healthy. They’d have it both ways.

As I step into the role of Lieutenant Governor, my focus remains on delivering real solutions for working families and ensuring every community has a voice in Richmond. Ready to get to work building a stronger, fairer Virginia.

Lotta Punks for Presents on the lineup this week, and it pairs well with a fantastic show from Richmond’s own McKinley Dixon. Both feel like solid ways to close out these oh so dark nights. Got a show coming up? New single? Simply want someone to talk music? Hit me up at [email protected].

Co-owners Alan Long and Christina Campitell have been shaping this place for years, drawing on their very different backgrounds in retail and design to build a shop Richmond didn’t quite know it needed.

Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), Ranking Member of the Committee on Homeland Security asked a simple question: which domestic organizations does the FBI consider the top threats to the country right now?

A whole Richmond lineage sitting near the top of a legacy publication’s year-end list. For those of us watching this city closely, it just confirms what we already knew. Richmond continues to produce some of the most inventive voices in rap.

“Virginia voters will be able to respond to what’s happening in America. It’s important that they understand their role and capacity to impact the direction the country is going and that’s true power, true democracy.” – Lt. Governor-elect, Ghazala Hasmi

I hadn’t seen him in years. Then I caught his pop-up photo show in an alleyway gallery in Oregon Hill a few months back. The images were real life. Honest. But it wasn’t just shock value. There was trust in those photos. Access. We had to talk about the work.

Tacky Lights season has officially kicked off, and the region is glowing again. Here is a neighborhood-by-neighborhood guide to some of the brightest spots around town this year.

“We are basically creating a state mandated monopoly for the medical operators. Ten million dollars is pennies to them. That is a complete market capture.” – Chelsea Higgs Wise of Marijuana Justice

December is here, and we have only 9 legislative days scheduled before ACA enhanced premium tax credits expire at the end of the month. Here are some highlights from the week.

How do we get #RVA to do this? @cbs6-richmond.bsky.social @rvamag.bsky.social @richmond.com

Virginia ABC, and seemingly every liquor company in Virginia, didn’t waste time embracing the chaos. This week the agency rolled out a series of promotional graphics featuring a raccoon posing with bottles of bourbon, vodka, tequila and more under the banner “Raccoon’s Recommendations.”

So when CONEX appeared there a few weeks ago, rising out of a sunken concrete pit built from cargo containers and covered in murals, it felt like the neighborhood had quietly grown a new cultural hub that no one saw coming.

This memory came back to me in the middle of the night, and it felt connected to the way fear shapes people and systems right now. It’s just a moment from childhood that suddenly made a lot more sense as an adult.

I love Christmas time shows, everyone’s cold so they all pack in together, maybe you’re at Punks for Presents, maybe you’re seeing your friends play their last show of the year. We got a lot of great stuff this week as we close out the year.

... It reminded me of one of those broadcast TV guest-star-a-minute “Very Special Christmas Episodes” from the 80’s. My time at the theatre was pure smiles. I guarantee you, if you go, yours will be too.

I wanted to catch up with Jones not only to discuss the likelihood of his bill passing in the General Assembly’s 2026 session, but to also explore his personal motivations for drafting legislation that’s sure to draw national headlines… and the ire of the Trump administration.

New reporting confirms it: the Ukraine “deal” is more about making money for Trump’s cronies than it is about a lasting peace in Europe. Is there ANYTHING that this administration won’t exploit for their own personal gain?

Thousands of you weighed in for our 2025 Readers’ Poll, chiming in on everything from the city’s smokiest BBQ to the boutiques you swear by and the spots you insist your visiting friends have to see “to get the real Richmond.” So thanks to everyone who voted. Here’s how it shaked out.

Reader support and local advertisers have kept our reporting rooted in the public good. So if you are able, help us reach our year-end goal. Even $2 makes a difference. A monthly gift makes an even bigger one. Every contribution protects a free and independent press in Virginia.

Drinksgiving isn’t on any calendar, but it behaves like a holiday anyway predictable, chaotic, and oddly comforting, the way familiar mistakes often are. This year, instead of guessing which dive bars would be overflowing, we just asked the city.

Last Thursday night’s Salon de Résistance: The Shape of Music to Come at Black Iris took on a question that has gone from hypothetical to philosophical to entierly unavoidable: what happens to music when technology stops being just a tool, and starts becoming it’s own creator?

Hammerly knows this story well. He spent a decade performing it at Ford’s Theatre in D.C. and once promised himself he’d never revisit the material. Of course, human beings are famous for breaking promises, especially to themselves. “I’m living Christmas Carol,” he said. “I wake up singing carols.”

And so we begin the holiday season, wrapped up in scarves and full of Thanksgiving leftovers. Some fantastic shows this weekend to take the in laws to, show ‘em what we got going on on a Saturday. Got a show coming up? New single? Simply want someone to talk music? Hit me up at [email protected].