VCU InSight Moves To New Website

By Tim Bajkiewicz, Ph.D.
Faculty Instructor and Executive Producer, VCU InSight

RICHMOND, Va. — In October 2010 the VCU InSight website is moving from this WordPress site to a new home at Virginia Commonwealth University, http://insight.vcu.edu.

The move better uses available university technology resources and enables easier student access. The WordPress site includes 175 story posts since its January 2008 launch. It replaced a traditional website that was online since at least 2006.

VCU InSight is a 30-minute TV news show produced by undergraduate students in the VCU School of Mass Communications that airs monthly on WCVW-TV Richmond PBS. The show began in 2003.

Richmond Church Helps Local Needy With ‘Free Market’

By Kyle Horan
VCU InSight

Every Saturday for the past two years, people in need from the community have found relief with Northminster Baptist Church’s Free Market. It provides a free meal, clothes and household items for people that apply.

“We believe that people in poverty need support, physical support and if we can walk beside them, through the journey, then they can walk themselves out of poverty,” Founder Cassie Matthews said.

April’s Heat Brings Pollen for Richmond

By Kyle Horan
VCU InSight

April has seen near record high levels for pollen in Richmond. The pollen levels from oak and pine trees peaked at 3700 in early April, the highest it has been since 1998. This pollen is responsible for the yellow haze that can be seen on cars and on road or sidewalk.

“It’s really around April that we see everything bloom quite a bit, again oak and pine is really what you’re going to have the worst problems with and a lot of allergy sufferers really battle the oak and the pine,” WRIC-TV’s Meteorologist, Jason Myers, Said.

The high heat contributed with a lack of rain to help create the conditions for the excess pollen. However, Myers said that having a lot of pollen around this time of year is not uncommon.

State Budget Cuts Affect MCV and Medicaid Recipients

By Chandelis Duster, Phil Karstetter, and David Preut
VCU InSight

Richmond, VA –Tough times are about to get a little tougher for state-funded services, as almost $4 billion in state spending has been cut out of the budget for the next two fiscal years.

Of that $4 billion, $800 million will be cut from healthcare funding resulting in less state spending on medicaid and academic hospitals like MCV.

Richmond Tends ‘Urban Forest’

By Kyle Horan and Juliette Delp
VCU InSight

RICHMOND, VA – Richmond is undergoing some serious changes in it’s landscape. American and Winged Elm trees are posing a danger by being too close to the city’s power lines and need to be replaced.

Luke McCall, an arborist with Richmond’s Urban Forestry Division, says the program is not only about removing the hazardous trees but encourages community members to be aware of their environment.

“This program is about education and about elevating people awareness about getting the right tree in the right place and getting proper tree underneath power lines so that they don’t present a safety or maintenance problems, which some of these trees do,” McCall said.

Radio Stations Say Perfomance Royalty Could Cost Jobs

By Stormy Holt and Chandelis Duster
VCU InSight

The issue of fair play for air play has been causing some controversy on Capitol Hill between the recording industry and radio broadcasters.

The Performance Rights Act is a new bill in Congress that if passed would make radio stations pay performers, not just song writers, when their music is played over the air. The amount the radio stations will pay will be based off of their annual revenue.

Radio stations have been paying royalties to songwriters for years. The National Association of Broadcasters opposes the bill.  Reggie Baker, Program Director and on-air host for Praise 104.7,  says if the bill goes into effect it will lead to job loss.

VCU Hosts VirginiaFIRST Robotics Competitions

By Juliette Delp
VCU InSight

RICHMOND, Va – Battling Robot’s were the main event at VCU’s Verizon Wireless Center on March 19th and 20th.

VirginiaFIRST combined the best of sporting and technology when they held their annual Robotics Competition with participants from more than 60 Virginia High Schools.

Pattie Cook, the Executive Director of VirginiaFIRST, spoke with VCU Insight during an in-studio interview.

Commonwealth ‘Pothole Blitz” A Success

By David Preut
VCU InSight

March was pothole “blitz” month in Virginia after Gov. Bob McDonnell ordered the Virginia Department of Transportation to focus on repairing the thousands of potholes pocketing the Commonwealth’s roads.

A record-setting winter left Virginia’s roadways in particularly bad shape this spring. After the first few weeks, V-DOT reported having repaired more than 43,000 potholes statewide, with over 4,000 fixed in Richmond alone.

Richmond Searches for Missing VCU Student

By Juliette Delp and Curt Dozier
VCU InSight

RICHMOND, Va – Word that a British exchange student went missing spread fast around VCU and the Richmond community. Now, weeks later, there are still no answers.

Jonny Dorey, a 22-year old geography student, was last seen March 2nd.

With only a thousand VCU students being international, few can identify with the culture shock. But, Andrew Shipley, senior Health and Physical Education major, can relate to Dorey.

Shipley left his hometown in England to come to VCU in 2007.

“It was pretty hard since I…first time I had actually really been away from my family, like all my family was in England and there’s me, I’m by myself, taking everything in,” said Shipley.

VCU Student Wins ‘Who’s Who’ Award

By Asia Stormy Holt
VCU InSight

RICHMOND, Va.–Tiffany Jones , a Fashion Design senior,  is one of the winners for the “Who’s Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities.”

To be nominated, students had to be in good academic standing, were involved on campus and in the community.