WHRO - Ryan Murphy

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Ryan Murphy

Reporter

ryan.murphy@whro.org

Ryan Murphy is a news reporter for WHRO Public Media.

Over the course of an eight-year newspaper career, Ryan covered Hampton Roads for both The Virginian-Pilot and the Daily Press, where his primary focus was local government accountability and watchdog reporting.

A Chesapeake native and graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University, Ryan has also examined the region's housing issues, from redevelopment to public housing to evictions, and how the City of Norfolk’s racial history contributes to its current geography.

Recent Stories

Spanish boring machine crews celebrate as they complete boring on the first of two new HRBT tunnels. (Photo by Ryan Murphy)

Renderings show the proposed redevelopment concept for MacArthur Center, featuring high-rise residential and hotel buildings anchoring the project. (Courtesy of the City of Norfolk)

Norfolk Mayor Kenny Alexander (far left), Chesapeake Mayor Rick West, Newport News Mayor Phillip Jones, Portsmouth Mayor Shannon Glover, Virginia Beach Mayor Bobby Dyer and Suffolk Councilman Leroy Bennett pose for a photo after a panel discussion on housing. (Photo by Ryan Murphy)

Dozens of Virginia Beach fire and EMS staff pushed City Council to allow them to collectively bargain a contract at a public hearing on April 9. (Photo by Ryan Murphy)

AmeriCorps volunteers work on one of the homes under construction by the Habitat for Humanity Peninsula and Greater Williamsburg. (Photo courtesy of Habitat for Humanity Peninsula and Greater Williamsburg)

Candice Walker has been selling her Natural Rock’N hair care products online and at craft shows for years. Here, she sees them on a store shelf for the first time at Bloom Market. (Photo by Ryan Murphy)

The residential population of downtown Norfolk has tripled in the last decade as the pandemic reduced the commuter workforce. (Photo by C. Watts via Flickr)

The expansion of the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel broke ground in 2020. Now, officials say it won’t wrap up until 2027. (Courtesy of VDOT)

Scope Arena and Chrysler Hall (lower right) are set to get a combined $150 million set of renovations under Norfolk’s proposed budget. (Photo by Kyle J. Little via Shutterstock)

A cruise ship docked at Norfolk’s Half Moone Cruise Center in 2022. (Photo by Kyle J. Little via Shutterstock)

Work on Laskin Road — originally set to be finished last spring — will now extend until sometime in 2025. (Photo by Mechelle Hankerson)

Despite cutting the city’s tax rate in the new budget, growth in real estate values means Virginia Beach will still bring in more in taxes next fiscal year. (Photo by Ryan Murphy)

Renderings of the planned renovation of Brown Hall, which will become known as Gates Hall. (Courtesy of Glavé and Holmes Architecture)

The second floor of the Sunsations location on 25th Street was formerly an indoor miniature golf course. (Photo by Ryan Murphy)

Home sales have slowed from their pandemic peak, but prices are still trending up. (WHRO File Photo)

Apartments being built in September 2023 in Norfolk’s East Ocean View — one of the few areas of the city seeing substantial development. (Photo by Ryan Murphy.)

Economist Vinod Agarwal talks about the state of the regional economy during the release of ODU’s Annual Economic Forecast for 2024. (Photo by Ryan Murphy)

Pharrell Williams performs at the Something in the Water festival in April, 2023. Organizers got nearly $1 million in city incentives.(Photo by Ryan Murphy)

Eric Baradat/AFP via Getty Images

State law allows Virginia cities to set the maximum allowable fee for a tow. (Image courtesy of Shutterstock)

Williamsburg voted Thursday to move ahead with a study of an independent school district - but says a split isn't a sure thing, despite preview vote by James City County. (Image courtesy of Williamsburg-James City County Public Schools)

Officals break ground on Unity Place, which kicks off the second phase of the Tidewater Gardens redevelopment. (Photo by Ryan Murphy)

After months of uncertainty, organizers seemed to have settled on a date and location for the fall music festival. (Photo by Katherine Hafner)

Downtown Newport News as viewed from the 28th Street Bridge over Interstate 664. (Photo by Ryan Murphy)

Jackson Kirkham, 6, looks at a map of the new Hardy Elementary School while checking out his first-grade classroom. The new school can accommodate nearly 30% more students. (Photo by Ryan Murphy)

A Virginia Aquarium staff member prepares to feed a Green Sea Turtle. (Photo by Ryan Murphy)

Renee Cobb, one of the organizers behind the Rural Chesapeake Preservation Committee petition drive, stands outside the Chesapeake courthouse Wednesday. (Photo by Ryan Murphy)

Kellam High student Rose Doucette helps write "Trans Lives Matter" in chalk in the parking lot outside of a Virginia Beach School Board meeting. (Photo by Ryan Murphy)

City Council has approved a deal to buy MacArthur Center for $11 million. (Photo courtesy of Byron Armstrong)

Coach Ron King tosses tennis balls over the net to the waiting students of the Black Girls Tennis Club. (Photo by Ryan Murphy)

General Assembly primaries are scheduled for June 20th. Early voting has already begun. (Photo courtesy of the Virginia Mercury)

The Route 168 Bypass Bridge in Chesapeake. One of the two southbound lanes will be closed "until further notice." (Photo by Ryan Murphy)

(Courtesy of Virginia Beach City Public Schools) Virginia Beach School Board member Jessica Owens introduced a transgender non-discrimination resolution Tuesday.

(Photo by Ryan Murphy) A first-grade teacher shot on the job has sued Newport News Public Schools. But the district says Virginia law won’t let her.

Lolita Portis, right, was one of the 17 Black students who integrated Norfolk’s white public schools in the 1950s. She and the other Norfolk 17 are immortalized on a new monument to the end of Massive Resistance in Norfolk. (Photo by Ryan Murphy)

(Photo courtesy of Village Dog Resource) A cheeky Facebook post is helping a Yorktown dog rescue raise $4,000 for a third surgery to help Tanner (center) to live a more modest life and boost his chances for adoption.

(Photo courtesy of the City of Virginia Beach) Something in the Water attracted nearly 35,000 festival goers in 2019.

(Photo by Ryan Murphy) Buildings in Newport News’ Ridley Circle public housing neighborhood are demolished in April 2022.

(Photo by Ryan Murphy) Norfolk City Manager Chip Filer (right) introduces incoming Norfolk Police Chief Mark Talbot.

(Photo by Ryan Murphy) Norfolk City Manager Chip Filer (right) introduces incoming Norfolk Police Chief Mark Talbot.

(Courtesy of the Norfolk Tides) The Norfolk Tides will temporarily become the Norfolk Lumpia in celebration of Hampton Roads’ huge Filipino-American community.

Photo by Ryan Murphy. Negro Leagues Hall of Famer and Norfolk native Sam Allen shows off a jacket commemorating the teams of the Negro Leagues.

Photos courtesy Rouse and Adams campaign. Democrat Aaron Rouse (left) is running against Republican Kevin Adams in Virginia’s 7th State Senate district.

(Courtesy of City of Portsmouth) Tonya Chapman (left) was fired Tuesday as city manager. Former top city official Mimi Terry was hired as her interim replacement.

Photo by Ryan Murphy. An overnight team leader killed six other Walmart employees and injured several more at a store in Chesapeake in November.

Courtesy of the Virginia Department of Transportation. The Portsmouth side of the Downtown Tunnel.

Photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Jesse Schwab via U.S. Navy. Virginia’s reliance on federal spending means gridlock in Congress could hurt the state’s economy.

Photo by Ryan Murphy. Donovon Lynch’s father Wayne Lynch (left) at a press conference in 2021 calling for a federal investigation of his son’s killing.

Photo courtesy of Louise Witherspoon. The Confederate Soldiers and Sailors memorial in Mathews County, Va.

Photo by Ryan Murphy. Christopher Newport University professor Johnny Finn stands amid the exhibition of his work on the lingering effects of residential segregation at the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art in Virginia Beach.

Photo by Ryan Murphy. A bronze statue of educational leader Richard A. Tucker was erected in front of Norfolk’s Richard A. Tucker Memorial Library in Campostella.

(Courtesy of City of Portsmouth) The firing of Portsmouth’s city manager this spring set off a firestorm. Two incumbents lost their seats as part of the fallout.

Photo courtesy of U.S. Navy/Northrop Grumman. Triton unmanned aircraft system is currently used as part of the Navy’s Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Force.

Tough-on-crime rhetoric in Norfolk has ramped up since a March shooting outside a downtown bar left three dead, including 25-year-old Virginian-Pilot reporter Sierra Jenkins. (Photo by Ryan Murphy)

The Norfolk Police Department has shifted administrative staff to patrol duty to deal with serious understaffing. (Photo by Ryan Murphy)

Students move into Hampton University’s Harkness Hall on Aug. 26th, 2022. (Photo by Ryan Murphy)

A train on its way to Norfolk Southern’s Lamberts Point coal terminal. (Photo by Ryan Murphy)

The banned books display at Prince Books, as seen on Aug. 25, 2022. The bookstore had joined filings pushing back against the restriction of book sales to minors. (Photo by Ryan Murphy)

This display has been up at Prince Books since this spring, when rumblings first started in Virginia Beach about banning books from schools. (Photo by Ryan Murphy)

Norfolk’s Police Department has struggle to attract and retain police officers in recent years. (Courtesy of Norfolk Police)

Bloomberg Harvard fellow Nicah Santos presents her findings on youth violence to Portsmouth’s City Council. (Courtesy of the City of Portsmouth)

Missy Elliot from the music video for her debut single, 1997’s "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)". (Screenshot courtesy of Atlantic Records)

The Atlantic Scout is much lower to the water than previous tour vessels, getting visitors a closer look at Virginia Beach’s dolphins. (Courtesy of the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center)

Renderings of the proposed hotel and casino next to Harbor Park in Norfolk released April 2021. (Courtesy of Headwaters Resort and Casino)

Visitors walk the Virginia Beach Oceanfront on July 18th. (Photo by Paul Bibeau)

License plate cameras scan the plates of every vehicle that passes and compare them to state and federal databases of plates connected to crimes or missing persons reports. (Courtesy of Flock Safety)

Lodies Gloston, president of the United Order of Tents, unveils the group’s new historical marker in Norfolk on June 29. (Photo by Ryan Murphy)

This rendering shows the planned commemoration of the end of Massive Resistance at its location in Norfolk’s Flatiron Park. (Courtesy of the City of Norfolk)

Gina Slayton (left) delivers baby formula to a mother in Virginia Beach who’d been struggling to find it. (Photo by Ryan Murphy)

Riverside’s psychiatric emergency department will be the first in the region when it opens late in 2023. (Rendering courtesy of Riverside Health System)

Portsmouth Del. Don Scott was elected minority leader for the Democratic caucus in the Virginia House of Delegates. (Courtesy of Don Scott)

Suffolk City Hall as seen May, 2022. (Photo by Katherine Hafner)

Home values have increased an average of 16% across the City of Hampton. Some neighborhoods have seen increases north of 25%. (Courtesy of the Hampton Real Estate Assessor)

Carla Lewis holds up the address placard from her family’s apartment in Ridley Circle. (Ryan Murphy)

Neighborhoods in Norfolk that were redlined by the federal government in the 1930’s now average hotter summer temperatures than other areas.

In April 2021, a Black man from Elizabeth City was shot to death by Pasquotank County Sheriff’s deputies. The shooting triggered protests.

Old Dominion University students Jenny Ditona (left), Kenzi Johnson (center) and Tabarak Ismail organize the first set of groceries for the refugee family set to stay at ODU. (Photo courtesy of Jennifer Fish)

Protesters in the summer of 2020 pushed for police reforms in cities across the nation, including Norfolk. (Photo by Bec Feldhaus Adams)

A recent report flagged language access issues at agencies like the Department of Motor Vehicles, though it noted improvements at that particular agency had been made in recent years. (Courtesy Virginia DMV)

Ukrainian Americans and supporters rally on Feb. 25 in Norfolk against the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Ryan Murphy)

Protesters rally in Norfolk in support of Ukraine after Russia invaded the country earlier this week. (Photo by Ryan Murphy)

Ralf and Sommer, a pair of Malaysian tomistomas, scarfed down rats named after the exes of Hampton Roads' jilted lovers. (Ryan Murphy)

Roughly 33 million Americans have quit their jobs in the last year. (Photo by Ryan Murphy)

The new authority will lay about 110 miles of high-speed internet cables across southside Hampton Roads. (Courtesy of the Southside Network Authority)

The seawall will stretch from the Campostella Bridge all the way to Lambert’s Point. (Photo: Antony-22 / CC BY-SA / wikimedia)

The filing from 13 Chesapeake parents asks the Supreme Court of Virginia to suspend Youngkin’s executive order.

Habitat for Humanity unveiled this 3D printed house in Suffolk on Dec. 21. It's only the second 3D-printed house in the state.

The planned Norfolk bus route overhaul. (Courtesy of the City of Norfolk)