FREDLINES

Claire Marshall Watkins, ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Fredericksburg Free Press

Caroline County Public Schools adds inaugural Hall of Distinction

By Taft Coghill Jr. 11/10/2026

In its first year, the Caroline County Public Schools’ Hall of Fame committee inducted 16 individuals for their athletic accomplishments.

This year, CCPS added a 3E component to the honor. Alums could now be selected based on their success in future enrollment, enlistment or employment opportunities.

At Monday night’s school board meeting, CCPS Communications and Community Engagement Specialist Lisa Stevens announced the seven inductees for this year’s class — four into the inaugural Hall of Distinction and three into the Athletic Hall of Fame.

Who is Betty Hume? UMW alum joins the “Jeopardy!” club

By Adele Uphaus 11/10/2026

Two months after filming “Jeopardy!” in Culver City, California, Betty Hume keeps in touch via group chat with her fellow contestants.

“All of the contestants are together in the green room watching the games, so you see everybody else’s game while waiting for your turn. Everybody is supportive and cheering for each other,” said Hume, who appeared in three episodes of the long-running television quiz show over the last week. “It’s not cutthroat competition. I was there for two days, so I’m in two different chat groups, and we’re still keeping in touch via text. So, that’s nice.”

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The Free Lance-Star

Five things to know about Spotsylvania’s Kalahari water park (paywalled)

By Scott Shenk 11/10/2026

The Kalahari Resorts & Conventions is set to open Thursday in Spotsylvania County. The African-themed resort will have more than 1.38 million square feet of commercial space, a 267,429-square-foot indoor water park, a 10-acre outdoor water park, a 900-room hotel and a 156,278-square-foot convention center. Here are five things to know about the new Spotsylvania County water park.

1. Who is behind Kalahari Resorts & Convention water park? Todd and Shari Nelson were a high school couple who married and later opened a pizza restaurant, followed by a bar, according to Kalahari’s bio on the family. They founded Kalahari in 2000 after being inspired by a family trip to Africa in the 1990s. The family opened the first resort in Wisconsin in 2000. Kalahari’s Spotsylvania water park is their fifth resort. Kalahari operates two resorts in Wisconsin, one in Ohio and another in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains. The couple and their five children own and operate the Kalahari parks.

Spotsylvania County road, intersections project complete (paywalled)

By Scott Shenk 11/10/2026

A two-year work zone is officially gone at two Spotsylvania County intersections that were part of one project.

The Virginia Department of Transportation announced on Monday that work is complete on the $12.3 million project to widen a section of Harrison Road between Gordon Road and Old Plank Road, an area that has long been a traffic problem.

Emma Brown slated to lead Hugh Mercer Elementary School (paywalled)

By Pilar Davis 11/10/2026

Emma Brown has been tapped as the next principal of Hugh Mercer Elementary School.

Brown, a longtime educator, has served with the Fredericksburg City Public Schools since 2012, when she was a teacher at Walker-Grant Middle School. She then worked at Walker-Grant and Hugh Mercer as an instructional technology coach.

In 2017, Brown was named Fredericksburg division’s Teacher of the Year. Since 2022, Brown has served as assistant principal at Walker-Grant Middle School.

What to know: Downtown Greens wants to find the Fredericksburg region’s best tree (paywalled)

By The Free Lance-Star 11/10/2026

Got a favorite tree? Downtown Greens wants to see it. The Fredericksburg nonprofit is inviting residents to show off their favorite trees in a new competition called The Best in the Bark: Fredericksburg Edition. According to a news release, the goal is to celebrate the trees that give local neighborhoods their character.

Backyard favorites and neighborhood landmarks are welcome. Trees in Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania, Stafford, Caroline and King George counties are eligible. Whether it’s a towering oak, a colorful fall favorite or a tree with a special story, residents can nominate it for the title.

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Potomac Local News

Stafford proposes ambulance rate hike to 135% of Medicare levels after rates sat frozen since 2013

By PLN News 11/10/2026

Stafford County Fire and Rescue wants to raise ambulance rates for the first time in 13 years, recommending specific increases that would put the charges at 135% of current federal Medicare rates while leaving soft billing for county residents unchanged.

Fire Chief Joseph Cardello, Assistant Chief Joe Granger and Chief Fire Protection Engineer Andrew Milliken outlined the proposal Oct. 27 during a Board of Supervisors work session. No vote was taken. Staff plan to seek advertisement of a public hearing Nov. 17, with a hearing targeted for Dec. 15 and a possible effective date around Jan. 1 if approved.

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ADVANCE READS

Steve Watkins, Phil Huber, Lisa Messano

Obscene and Not Heard

Steve Watkins, ADVANCE EDITOR

It all started when the school librarian in Northumberland—let’s call him Dale—invited me over to do an afternoon talk and book signing at the middle school, where the Common Read that year was one of the books in the popular Ghosts of War series I’d written for Scholastic Press. The school had purchased hundreds of copies and given them out to all the students.

And since I was going to be there anyway, Dale asked if I might come a little early to speak at a high school assembly next door and do a reading from my newest Young Adult novel from Candlewick Press, Great Falls, about a returning Iraq War veteran and his family.

On the appointed day, I drove over to Northumberland and checked in with Dale. “I thought I’d read a passage where the Marine veteran reluctantly agrees to give a pep talk to his younger brother’s high school football team,” I said. “There’s some profanity. Any problem with that?”

READ ON

Who Decides When America Goes to War?

Phil Huber, ADVANCE COLUMNIST

This week, the House of Representatives faces a question that goes well beyond Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth: Who decides when America goes to war?

The question comes from an unlikely source. Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky has introduced eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth. Under House rules, his resolution requires action within two legislative days. House members may vote on impeachment or move to set the resolution aside. Either way, they will have to take a position.

Here in Fredericksburg, this is not an abstract argument about Washington politics. Our region includes Marines at Quantico, Navy personnel and civilian specialists at Dahlgren, military retirees, defense contractors, and families whose sons and daughters serve around the world. When political leaders commit American forces to war, these are among the people who bear the consequences. They deserve to know that the decisions were made lawfully and that Congress has done its job.

READ ON

November 12 is Deadline for Public Comments Opposing NextEra/Dominion Merger

Lisa Messano, League of Women Voters, GUEST COLUMN

I recently participated in a call hosted by Virginia Organizing about the proposed merger of Dominion Energy and NextEra Energy and later read several articles on the topic in the Virginia Mercury. I am sharing my concerns ahead of the November 12 deadline for Virginia residents to submit public comments, advocate for themselves, and demand adequate protection for Dominion’s Virginia customers.

The decision on whether these giant energy companies should be permitted to merge rests with three people at the Virginia State Corporation Commission, and they have only six months to decide. In this golden age of power demand, as data centers are planned and built at a rapid pace, it begs the question of who would benefit from a merger of this size. If approved, this merger would create the largest regulated utility in the country and the fourth-largest merger in the United States.

READ ON

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STATE OF THE STATE

VaNews/VIRGINIA PUBLIC ACCESS PROJECT

Data center sales tax break totaled $4 billion over 5 years

By DAVE RESS, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Subscription Required)

Virginia’s sales tax exemption for data centers has totaled more than $4.05 billion over the five years ended June 30, 2025, a new report from the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission found. The report found each $1 million of sales taxes that data centers did not pay generated 29 jobs and gave a $6 million boost to the state economy. JLARC said its adjusted figure for the exemption’s value in fiscal year 2025 was $1.42 billion — that’s down from the $1.9 billion tax benefit that the state Department of Taxation reported in January in its report on the value of the exemption and the investment it generates.

State report dings Virginia’s elder care systems

By BRAD KUTNER, WVTF-FM

Services and options for Virginia’s older adults are insufficient for its growing population of seniors, according to a state watchdog report released Monday. There aren’t enough beds in most facilities because of staffing issues, regional services aren’t meeting the need, and pretty much every form of care is underfunded. Monday’s meeting of the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission offered a bleak view of care options for Virginia’s elderly.

Virginia elected a female governor. The state Constitution still says ‘he.’

By NATHANIEL CLINE, Virginia Mercury

Virginia has its first woman governor, but its constitution still describes the office as a man’s job. Abigail Spanberger’s election last year renewed attention to outdated laws governing voting rights, campaign finance safeguards and the K-12 funding formula. But after her election and 11 eventful months in state politics, there has been no notable effort to address them, especially compared with other states. Joan Porte, president of the League of Women Voters of Virginia, said the state Constitution should be revised accordingly.

New Va. subsidies help lure people back to health insurance

By MICHAEL MARTZ, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Subscription Required)

Blanca Bonilla was trying to help an older couple find health insurance they could afford after the husband was laid off from his job in the northern Shenandoah Valley. They weren’t old enough for Medicare coverage and earned too much for other public health subsidies, and Congress had allowed enhanced federal health insurance premium subsidies to expire at the beginning of this year. Bonilla, who has worked as a health insurance navigator at Enroll Virginia! in Winchester for six years, looked at the options, which this year include financial aid that Virginia is providing to offset the loss of the federal subsidies to make insurance premiums more affordable.

A Virginia judge has overseen salvage of the Titanic shipwreck for decades. Now her rule is being challenged.

By MARC DAVIS, New York Times (Metered Paywall - 1 to 2 articles a month)

From her seat in the old Art Deco federal courthouse in Norfolk, Va., Judge Rebecca Beach Smith presides over perhaps the most intriguing case in maritime law: the salvaging of the Titanic. Since 1987, the company R.M.S. Titanic Inc. has raised about 5,500 artifacts from the ship with the court-sanctioned understanding that it can never sell the objects. But it can put them on display. So the company has permanent exhibitions in Las Vegas and Orlando plus traveling shows that have been seen by 35 million people. In March, though, the company argued it was broke — so broke, it said in court papers, that it needed to auction hundreds of the artifacts so it can take good care of the rest and pay off its debts.

***

Articles from newspapers throughout the Commonwealth and Washington D.C. Firewalls will block you from reading some, but you’ll at least have some idea about what’s going on from the headlines and summaries. CLICK HERE.

This article is published under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND. It can be distributed for noncommercial purposes and must include the following: “Published with permission by FXBG Advance.”

I recently participated in a call hosted by Virginia Organizing about the proposed merger of Dominion Energy and NextEra Energy and later read several articles on the topic in the Virginia Mercury. I am sharing my concerns ahead of the November 12 deadline for Virginia residents to submit public comments, advocate for themselves, and demand adequate protection for Dominion’s Virginia customers.

The decision on whether these giant energy companies should be permitted to merge rests with three people at the Virginia State Corporation Commission, and they have only six months to decide. In this golden age of power demand, as data centers are planned and built at a rapid pace, it begs the question of who would benefit from a merger of this size. If approved, this merger would create the largest regulated utility in the country and the fourth-largest merger in the United States.

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NextEra has a history of rate hikes and shutoffs, disconnecting more homes than almost any power company in America. At a time when most people are struggling to make ends meet, and the cost to heat homes is spiking, we cannot allow a merger like this to add more burden to working Virginian families. In our home, energy costs have doubled since this time last year.

NextEra makes much of its profit from large builds, like data centers. Many Virginia communities are organizing to oppose data center builds because of documented impacts on local energy costs, water usage, noise pollution, and other environmental impacts. We need to slow down on permitting data center builds until we know the true, long-lasting impacts and have established guardrails to protect communities.

After a statewide tour to hear directly from Virginia residents, Virginia Lt. Gov. Ghazala Hashmi pledged her opposition to the $67 billion merger, and 17 lawmakers have signed on as Ratepayer Champions and opposed the merger. Virginia residents can visit https://stopnextera.com/ to ask their delegate to sign the commitment to oppose the merger, and visit Virginia SCC - Dominion-NextEra Merger to submit public comment.

Regulators have until Jan. 11, 2027, to approve or reject the merger, but the time for Virginia residents to act is now.

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This week, the House of Representatives faces a question that goes well beyond Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth: Who decides when America goes to war?

The question comes from an unlikely source. Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky has introduced eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth. Under House rules, his resolution requires action within two legislative days. House members may vote on impeachment or move to set the resolution aside. Either way, they will have to take a position.

Here in Fredericksburg, this is not an abstract argument about Washington politics. Our region includes Marines at Quantico, Navy personnel and civilian specialists at Dahlgren, military retirees, defense contractors, and families whose sons and daughters serve around the world. When political leaders commit American forces to war, these are among the people who bear the consequences. They deserve to know that the decisions were made lawfully and that Congress has done its job.

The Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war and the president authority as commander in chief. The War Powers Resolution of 1973 attempts to establish how those responsibilities work together. It generally requires the president to end unauthorized hostilities within 60 days, with up to 30 additional days for withdrawal. Presidents of both parties have disputed aspects of that law, but the underlying constitutional question remains: How much authority can a president exercise without Congress?

Massie’s impeachment resolution brings that question directly before the House.

Three of his eight charges concern the war with Iran. He alleges that Hegseth helped initiate hostilities without congressional authorization, continued fighting after Congress directed the withdrawal of American forces, and disregarded the War Powers Resolution’s time limits. Other charges involve military operations in Yemen and Venezuela, civilian casualties, lethal strikes against suspected drug traffickers, and alleged retaliation against a senator who questioned unlawful military orders.

These are serious allegations, not established findings. The administration disputes Massie’s interpretation of the law. It argues, among other things, that the April ceasefire interrupted the statutory timetable and that Congress’s June concurrent resolution did not have the force of law. Hegseth dismisses the impeachment effort as political theater.

Those disagreements deserve examination. That is precisely why we have Congress.

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I spent much of my working life in military and federal service. One lesson stayed with me: Institutions depend on people understanding their responsibilities and respecting the limits of their authority. Political leaders make policy decisions within the law. Military commanders carry out lawful orders. Career professionals provide expertise, continuity, and honest advice. Each has responsibilities that cannot simply be passed to someone else.

When military personnel receive orders, they are expected to carry them out unless those orders are unlawful. We should expect no less respect for the law from the civilian leaders who issue them.

The human consequences are substantial. More than eight months of conflict with Iran have placed demands on military personnel, their families, equipment, and readiness. Those costs are felt in communities like ours, even when the fighting takes place thousands of miles away.

But there is another cost that receives less attention: what happens when Congress gradually gives away its constitutional authority.

Over several decades, presidents of both parties have expanded their use of military force without formal declarations of war. Congress has often objected, debated, or passed resolutions without effectively asserting its own authority. The result is an increasingly familiar pattern: Presidents act, Congress reacts, and the American people are left watching decisions they were supposed to influence through their elected representatives.

Impeachment is one possible response, but it is not the only one. Congress can hold hearings, demand information, restrict funding, enact legislation, and investigate executive actions. Those powers exist regardless of which party controls the presidency.

Hegseth may survive this week’s vote. Even if the House impeaches him, removal would require a two-thirds vote in the Senate. But the outcome should not be the only measure of whether Congress has fulfilled its responsibility.

I would ask every House member to do three things.

First, address the substance of Massie’s allegations rather than simply dismissing them as partisan politics. Second, explain to constituents which charges they accept or reject and why. Third, tell the American people what Congress intends to do about its constitutional authority over war, regardless of the impeachment outcome.

And I would ask Fredericksburg-area residents to do something as well. Contact your representative before the vote. The Capitol switchboard is (202) 224-3121. Ask whether Congress should have a meaningful role in deciding when American forces go to war, and what your representative intends to do to protect that role.

You do not have to support Massie or oppose Hegseth to ask that question. You do not even have to oppose the war. You only have to believe that our constitutional system requires elected officials to exercise the responsibilities entrusted to them.

Massie leaves Congress in January. The question he raised will remain.

When Congress lets its war power slip away, our voice slips away with it.

***

Phil Huber is a retired Army Reserve colonel and former federal civil servant who writes about civic education, public accountability and national security. He lives in Fredericksburg.

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[Editor’s note: An earlier version of this essay was published in The Advance a couple of years ago. Tomorrow is Veterans Day. We’re posting it again in recognition of those who served.]

It all started when the school librarian in Northumberland—let’s call him Dale—invited me over to do an afternoon talk and book signing at the middle school, where the Common Read that year was one of the books in the popular Ghosts of War series I’d written for Scholastic Press. The school had purchased hundreds of copies and given them out to all the students.

And since I was going to be there anyway, Dale asked if I might come a little early to speak at a high school assembly next door and do a reading from my newest Young Adult novel from Candlewick Press, Great Falls, about a returning Iraq War veteran and his family.

On the appointed day, I drove over to Northumberland and checked in with Dale. “I thought I’d read a passage where the Marine veteran reluctantly agrees to give a pep talk to his younger brother’s high school football team,” I said. “There’s some profanity. Any problem with that?”

“Nah,” said Dale, a veteran himself. “Probably make the students more interested.”

Four hundred high schoolers filed into the auditorium for the assembly. I started by telling them that Great Falls was inspired by a Marine family in Fredericksburg who had shared their story for a series of newspaper articles I’d written about their struggles with the father’s PTSD after his multiple combat deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. On an overhead screen, I showed them a picture of the father, Captain Jason Haag, and his myriad tattoos. On one arm, he had the initials of the men with whom he’d served who’d been killed in combat. On the other arm were the initials of the ones who had taken their own lives.

After that I started the reading. Here’s part of the passage. The younger brother, Shane, is the narrator. His older brother, the veteran, is Jeremy:

Jeremy pushes himself away from the locker and steps to the middle of the room.

“Coach asked me to talk to you gentlemen today,” he says. “About winning.”

You’d never know he was so lost just minutes before that he had to call me for help getting here.

“Well,” he says. “There isn’t any secret to it except one thing.” He pauses and winks at me, as if I’m the only one in the room who’s in on the big secret. Half the guys turn to look at me. Half just look bored.

“Forget what anybody says,” Jeremy continues, “because it isn’t heart, or willpower, or team chemistry, or any of that bullshit they tell you. It’s superior firepower.”

Guys look at one another with quizzical expressions. A couple look at me again. I don’t give them anything back.

“We had the M1-A1 Abrams tank in the invasion,” Jeremy says. “They had these ancient Russian pieces of shit. Had to come to a full stop before they could even fire.”

Coach taps his watch. Jeremy nods, but doesn’t change the pace of his delivery. “We see their muzzle flashes about as soon as we cross over what they call the Line of Departure into the desert. Everybody’s nervous, but then when the little turd bombs bounce off the Abramses, which are about the most heavily armored tanks in the history of modern warfare, we start laughing. And we keep on laughing when our guys unload a bunch of Sabot rounds on the Iraqis before they can throw their tanks into gear and haul ass.”

He pauses, looking casually around the room, pulling rank on everybody just through his eyes. Guys sit up straighter, though most probably don’t know what the hell he’s talking about.

“Sabot rounds carry depleted uranium rods,” he says. “They’re armor-piercing shells. So they punch right through those piece-of-shit Russian tanks. Through and through shots. Suck out everything and everybody as they exit—from the kinetic force or whatever. Rip their tank operators apart. Literally. At the molecular level.”

Jeremy sticks his hands back in his jeans pockets and shakes his head, remembering. “That was some sick shit,” he says. Then he nods at Coach again, and leaves.

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I was a few pages into the reading when the Northumberland principal, visibly upset, suddenly showed up next to me on the stage. He covered the microphone and whispered, “You can’t read that here.”

It took awhile before the students’ laughter died down, but I eventually finished—editing out any remaining profanity from the dialogue as I went along to protect the Northern Neck high schoolers’ delicate sensibilities.

When the assembly was over, the principal called Dale and me down to his office. He was literally wringing his hands. Word had already gotten out about the reading, he said. It was all over the school. Probably all over the county. There were sure to be calls from parents. A member of the school board was in the building during the assembly and may have heard.

“You should have sent home permission slips,” he said to Dale. “And warned everyone about the profanity. There should have been an opt-out.”

Dale stammered an apology. I said something supportive, figuring the principal was surely over-reacting, then scooted off to an English class whose teacher had asked if I would drop by and speak to her students.

Dale was waiting for me in the hall at the end of the period. “Sorry,” he said. “But they want you to leave.”

This caught me by surprise. “What about the afternoon thing with the middle school kids?” I asked. “They all have books I’m supposed to sign.”

“Canceled,” he said. “They’re afraid there might be more profanity.”

“They’re afraid I might drop the F-bomb at an assembly for middle grade students?”

Dale nodded.

I could tell he felt terrible. And now I was worried that he might be in trouble. I’d been told about an assistant principal there the year before who was terminated after he led a community forum at the Northumberland community library on white privilege.

Dale led me to the front door and followed me outside. He kept apologizing. I kept telling him he didn’t have anything to apologize for. He’d just been doing what a good librarian does: Whatever it takes to get kids interested in reading.

And I said what should have been obvious: “The only obscenity here is a country that sends men and women into combat and doesn’t take proper care of them and their families when they come home.”

The middle school kids never did get their books signed. I canceled an evening talk I’d agreed to give at the public library and drove back to Fredericksburg. I’d had enough of Northumberland County for a while. A reporter for Virginia Public Radio, who lived in Heathsville, called me while I was driving. We were supposed to have met for her to record an interview, and she still wanted to do it if I didn’t mind. She’d already heard about what happened at the high school. The focus of her piece, she said, might have changed a little. After we finished, I had another call, this time from the local newspaper. They, too, had heard.

I got a slew of WTF? texts and calls and emails from friends a few days later after the Virginia Public Radio story ran. The Northumberland newspaper ran the censorship story on their front page, so I’m guessing it must have been a slow news week. My librarian friend Dale left for another school at the end of the year. He told me later that he’d ordered multiple copies of Great Falls when he was at Northumberland, and after the controversy they were checked out all the time.

***

Steve Watkins is editor of The Advance.

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FREDLINES

Claire Marshall Watkins, ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Fredericksburg Free Press

A Caroline County tail … er, tale … of dogs and what they do for man

By Jonathan Hunley 11/9/2026

A man with a Boston accent is quietly saving lives on a 200-acre former dairy farm in Woodford in Caroline County.

Well, quietly, except for maybe a dog barking every now and again.

Sixty-five-year-old Kevin Lanouette has amassed awards for training dogs since he started breeding German shepherds in 1986. But when a 20-something passerby at a dog show asked him which trophy was his favorite, he had a different kind of answer in mind.

Toy Box Scramble rolls in for fifth year of supporting Toys for Tots

By Grace Wagner 11/9/2026

Fredericksburg Roller Derby will bring skaters from across Virginia to the Fredericksburg Field House on Nov. 14 for its fifth annual Toy Box Scramble, a charity mixer benefiting the Quantico Toys for Tots.

The event will feature themed team games, a costume competition, audience participation and raffle prizes. Organizers hope to collect more than 200 toys, surpassing the over 100 toys the event donated in previous years.

“My personal goal for us this year is to donate over 200 toys,” said Joanna Arrighi, whose derby name is Mothra to Flame and who helps coordinate sponsorships for the league.

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The Free Lance-Star

Mary Washington earns NCAA Division III tournament berth (paywalled)

By Alex Murphy 11/10/2026

For the 16th time in school history, the University of Mary Washington women’s soccer program will be playing in the NCAA Division III tournament.

The Eagles (12-2-4) were named to the 64-team bracket on Monday and are set to take on Colby College this weekend at the home of The College of New Jersey in Ewing Township, New Jersey, at 1:30 p.m. Saturday. If they beat Colby, Mary Washington will take on the winner of TCNJ and University of Mount Saint Vincent on Sunday in the Round of 32.

Man accused of killing 2 while driving drunk in Stafford seeks bond (paywalled)

By Keith Epps 11/9/2026

A judge on Monday scheduled a bond hearing Tuesday for a man accused of killing a mother and her young daughter while driving drunk in Stafford last week, but it wasn’t clear Monday evening whether the hearing was going to happen.

Stafford Commonwealth’s Attorney Eric Olsen said Monday afternoon that he was in the process of filing paperwork seeking to postpone a bond hearing for 25-year-old Malik J. Thomas, who is charged with two counts of aggravated involuntary manslaughter and driving while intoxicated. Olsen said he is seeking at least a brief delay because the victims’ family will be holding funeral services Tuesday and will not be able to attend the hearing.

Woman avoids jail in fatal DUI crash in Spotsylvania (paywalled)

By Keith Epps 11/9/2026

A Montross woman on Monday avoided jail time for causing a DUI-related crash in Spotsylvania more than three years ago that resulted in the death of her friend.

Kiana Charise Johnson, 30, received a suspended five-year sentence in Spotsylvania Circuit Court. She pleaded guilty to DUI-maiming in August and had been allowed to remain free on bond pending sentencing. She could have received up to 10 years in prison.

The show will go on for concert series Stage Alive (paywalled)

By Pilar Davis 11/9/2026

Since 1970, the Stage Alive Community Concert Association (SACCA) has put on 6 concerts per year in central Virginia. At the time of its final spring concert in April, the concert series’ future was in serious jeopardy.

Despite its long history, the COVID pandemic created challenges for the concert series in attracting audiences, leading to declining revenue. Organizers started a fundraising campaign in February to raise $100,000 to keep the group running for the next five years.

Thanks to support from a legion of donors, the SACCA board of directors announced that patrons exceeded the $100,000 goal ahead of the Dec. 31 deadline, allowing the program to continue for the foreseeable future.

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ADVANCE READS

Lauren Bock, Steve Watkins

The Satisfaction Equation

Lauren Bock, ADVANCE CONTRIBUTOR

Soon after the Lifestyle Medicine class I wrote about last week, my new friends Dave and Kaye started joining me and others on the Canal and Heritage Paths in Fredericksburg for a weekly “Walk with a Doc” on Tuesday evenings. Walking was nothing new for Dave, who has long enjoyed his daily walks home from Hyperion after his morning coffee. Rather, Walk with a Doc served as an opportunity for us to catch up on his blood pressure, stories about their grandchildren, and upcoming travels.

During one of those walks, I mentioned that I was stepping down from my jobs at a preventive cardiology clinic to take time for myself and my family, and to spend more time in my garden.

Kaye looked at me with a wary eye and a dose of maternal compassion.

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This Week’s Data Center Developments

Steve Watkins, ADVANCE EDITOR

On Tuesday, November 17 at 5:45 p.m., The Spotsylvania Board of Supervisors will hold a Public Hearing and Vote on the Crossroads Tech Campus (data center). We need citizens to attend this meeting to show our Board of Supervisors that there is strong opposition to this data center campus and continued data center development in the County.

Crossroads will consist of 2 million square feet of buildings on 555 acres. It will impact wetlands, have over 200 diesel generators, and require 1 million gallons of reuse water daily. In addition, this campus sits within close proximity to homes, an elementary school, and several churches. If approved, Crossroads will be the ninth data center campus in Spotsylvania.

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This article is published under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND. It can be distributed for noncommercial purposes and must include the following: “Published with permission by FXBG Advance.”

SPOTSYLVANIA DATA CENTER DEVELOPMENTS

UPCOMING PUBLIC HEARING:

Crossroads Tech Campus Public Hearing, Board of Supervisors Meeting

Tuesday, November 17 | 4 p.m. Meeting begins | 5:45 p.m. Public Hearing begins

Holbert Building, 9104 Courthouse Road, Spotsylvania, VA

The Board of Supervisors will hold a Public Hearing and Vote on the Crossroads Tech Campus (data center). We need citizens to attend this meeting to show our Board of Supervisors that there is strong opposition to this data center campus and continued data center development in the County.

Crossroads will consist of 2 million square feet of buildings on 555 acres. It will impact wetlands, have over 200 diesel generators, and require 1 million gallons of reuse water daily. In addition, this campus sits within close proximity to homes, an elementary school, and several churches. If approved, Crossroads will be the ninth data center campus in Spotsylvania.

If you feel comfortable, please consider speaking during the Public Comment period on one of the issues that concerns you. Each resident is given 3 minutes to speak. You may speak 30 seconds or all three minutes. If you are not comfortable speaking, your presence still matters! Feel free to wear green to show solidarity with Safeguard Spotsy’s efforts to advocate for responsible and limited data center development in Spotsylvania County.

More information about Crossroads Tech Campus can be found at: www.safeguardspotsy.org and https://www.spotsylvania.va.us/3206/SUP26-0003-Crossroads-Technology-Campus

Also Coming Up:

Safeguard Spotsy Community Meeting

Thursday, December 3 | 6p.m.

Snow Library Branch,8740 Courthouse Road,Spotsylvania, VA

Safeguard Spotsy will be hosting a Community Meeting to discuss data center development in Spotsylvania County. We will review the approved projects, and what is still going through the rezoning process and the concerns surrounding them, and the upcoming legislative session in regards to data centers and the NextEra Merger.

About Safeguard Spotsy

Safeguard Spotsy is a grassroots coalition of neighbors and a 501(c)(4) organization advocating for responsible development across Spotsylvania County to ensure the health and well-being of residents and county resources. We work to preserve and protect the history, character, and quality of life of Spotsylvania County and its residents. The organization works at local and state levels to keep residents informed and engaged, and advocates for stronger development standards across Spotsylvania County and Virginia.

Safeguard Spotsy: www.safeguardspotsy.org

Facebook: Safeguard Spotsy

Instagram: @safeguardspotsy

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Who pays when Virginia’s data centers go quiet or get sold to another firm?

By Jim Branscome, CARDINAL NEWS

Communities in Southwest and Southside Virginia are being told that data centers will pay property taxes for decades. Given the incredible growth of AI use, that is a reasonable assumption. Caution is in order, however, because the technology business has a long history of sudden change and obsolescence. The companies’ own financial statements may give the buildings decades, but they write off the most expensive part, the servers and chips inside, in five or six years.

The public is finally getting more information about the data centers proposed in Cardinal’s region. That, along with Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s Executive Order 22, offers some protection on the front end. What is missing is the back end. What happens when these centers go quiet or change hands?

Read more HERE.

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STAFFORD DATA CENTER DEVELOPMENTS

How to Screen the documentary The New Data Center Alley!

Thank you to everyone who came out Wednesday evening for the screening of The New Data Center Alley: Development in Fredericksburg, Stafford, and Spotsylvania! We are especially grateful to filmmakers Chloe Adler, J.D. Swerzenski, and Owen Wheeler for their outstanding work exploring the rapid expansion of data center development across our region.

As Fredericksburg, Stafford, and Spotsylvania navigate significant growth in data center development, decisions being made today will have lasting implications for our region’s landscape, infrastructure, environment, and communities. This documentary offers an important opportunity to consider the broader regional impacts of these developments, what is at stake, whose voices are being heard, and what kind of future we envision for our region.

Couldn’t make the screening, or want to watch it again and share it with friends and neighbors? The documentary is available on Protect Stafford’s website!

Visit https://www.protectstafford.com/data-center-alley to watch and share!

November 18 | Kings Highway Corridor Data Centers Planning Commission Public Hearing

On Wednesday, November 18th at 6 p.m., the Stafford County Planning Commission will hold a single public hearing on the four data center proposals that make up the Kings Highway Corridor assemblage: Forest Lane, Sisson North, Sisson South, and Simms Farm.

The applicant has described the projects as “all or none,” and all four projects will be presented together. Residents will receive one public comment period to address the combined proposal (up to 3 mins per person). The Planning Commission will take a vote to make a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors, who will ultimately decide at a future public hearing whether to approve or deny the applications.

The hearings offer residents an important opportunity to raise concerns, seek answers to outstanding questions, and contribute to the public record on decisions with lasting consequences for Stafford County. The meeting will take place at Stafford County’s Government Center: 1300 Courthouse Road, Stafford, VA.

Please mark your calendar, share this date with your neighbors, and plan to speak.

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Soon after the Lifestyle Medicine class I wrote about last week, my new friends Dave and Kaye started joining me and others on the Canal and Heritage Paths in Fredericksburg for a weekly “Walk with a Doc” on Tuesday evenings. Walking was nothing new for Dave, who has long enjoyed his daily walks home from Hyperion after his morning coffee. Rather, Walk with a Doc served as an opportunity for us to catch up on his blood pressure, stories about their grandchildren, and upcoming travels.

During one of those walks, I mentioned that I was stepping down from my jobs at a preventive cardiology clinic to take time for myself and my family, and to spend more time in my garden.

Kaye looked at me with a wary eye and a dose of maternal compassion.

“The garden is not all it’s cracked up to be,” she said. “Take it from me, just buy your produce at the farmers market and enjoy this time with your family.”

My garden had been a work in progress since 2023. For more than two years, I spent countless hours designing and dreaming of a bountiful sanctuary while oversized loads of unfinished compost cooked in a heap of steamy goodness in the space designated for my future garden. Unbeknownst to me, that pile harbored weeds that became a daunting, 1,600 square-foot, waist-high nightmare once it was spread.

After consulting with a friend who had a little more gardening experience, I decided to scrap all hope of a garden in 2025. Instead, I spent the next year solarizing the weeds that had rooted themselves into my self-made compost disaster. It was the first of many blows to my gardening ambitions.

But the garden finally began to take shape this past summer. I spent hours optimistically watering seedlings to combat the early summer drought and taking nighttime walks through the garden to monitor for pests.

The result? A bounty of marigolds with a mere handful of edible treats—and my neighbor cheekily asking, “What are you growing…other than marigolds?”

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Still, a few of my efforts paid off after a while. Sort of.

Fruitless blackberry and raspberry vines hung on trellises. Heirloom tomatoes were scattered on the ground, half-eaten. The strawberries displayed daily evidence of squirrel nibbles. It felt like I had an occasional win amid a series of losses.

But those wins were lovely. The sun-gold cherry tomatoes tasted like juicy candy. The jade cucumbers were crisp and splendid. The cantaloupes ripened in the sun such that I could smell them as I walked through the gate. Unfortunately, the squirrels were soon attracted to the ripening fruits, too. The $64 Tomato had become my reality.

By the end of August, I had grown weary of the sun, legs covered in mosquito bites and a chronic lather of sunscreen across my face and chest. Defeated by the squirrels, I began spending less time in the garden, avoiding the reminder of my unmet expectations.

While walking with Kaye and Dave on another balmy Tuesday evening, I mentioned that a prolific oregano groundcover had taken over my flower beds. Kaye agreed to liberate me from my excess and transplant some of the oregano to her own garden.

She and Dave came to the house the next day with shovels and boxes, ready to fill their truck with my “generosity.” As I pointed to the offending groundcover, Kaye grinned, looked at me with that maternal gaze again, and asked, “Are you sure this is oregano?”

It turned out to be the same noxious weed that she regularly pulled from her own garden: common ground ivy.

“Maybe you should stick with medicine,” she said. I had to admit that perhaps she was right.

But I still wasn’t ready to give up altogether, because the problem wasn’t my gardening per se; it was my failure to consider the Satisfaction Equation.

Put simply, we’re most likely to find satisfaction when our outcomes exceed our expectations, so it’s important, especially when starting out, to be like Goldilocks. Not too much, not too little, but just right. And we have to have reasonable ways, and reasonable standards, for measuring our outcomes.

As a first year gardener, I could have set the bar a lot lower. Let myself see a single tomato as a success. Celebrate my victories, learn from my mistakes.

Looking back, spending what felt like an eternity in the garden was therapeutic. The garden wasn’t a failure. Rather, it became a source of perspective. A place to reflect. To cry. To curse. To rethink my “why.”

Why did I leave a career that I loved? Why is my self-value tied to my sense of productivity? Why do I allow others to define my worth?

Sometimes we need a break, even from the things we love. The plants we have nourished from seedlings. The relationships that are strained. The constant-grind career.

Stepping back gives us time to reset. To pause and ponder. To rest and recover. To reboot.

When the time is right, we can re-engage with a renewed sense of self. A better understanding of what we want. What we need. What we value. What brings satisfaction and purpose.

Time away allows us to zoom-out. To see the bigger picture. To appreciate the zig-zags instead of the straight line. And to happily pay $5 for a pint of blueberries at the farmers market.

***

Lauren Bock is a certified Physician Assistant. From 2021 until 2025, she led a Preventative Cardiology program with Virginia Cardiology Consultants and Oracle Heart and Vascular. She was the first provider in the Fredericksburg area to be board-certified in Lifestyle Medicine. You can contact her at her Lifestyle Medicine practice Be Well.

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Claire Marshall Watkins, ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Fredericksburg Free Press

Link Wray marker to be unveiled and dedicated Nov. 21

By Adele Uphaus 11/7/2026

On Sept. 28, 2024, Chris Williams, assistant director of the University of Mary Washington’s James Farmer Multicultural Center, made a promise to Beth Wray Webb, the eldest daughter of musician Link Wray.

“We’re going to get this marker for your dad,” Williams told Webb.

Exactly two years later, after months of research, seeking and receiving approval from the Virginia Department of Historic Resources — and a last-minute road-bump that almost delayed the process further — Williams was able to tell Webb that it was really going to happen.

Oliver worth the wait for Caroline congregation

By Taft Coghill Jr. 11/7/2026

The Rev. Samuel Oliver Jr. spoke to many friends and mentors in ministry when he was a candidate to become the next pastor of First Baptist Church in the Woodford area of Caroline County.

The 134-year-old First Baptist Church had been without a senior pastor since the Rev. Carl Bentley retired in 2021 and was named pastor emeritus.

Guest speakers mostly filled the pulpit, except for about a year and a half when the Rev. Morris Oliver served as interim pastor.

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The Free Lance-Star

UMW men’s basketball sweeps Hilton Scranton Invitational (paywalled)

By Alex Murphy 11/8/2026

The University of Mary Washington men’s basketball program took care of business over the weekend at the Hilton Scranton Invitational, hosted by the University of Scranton, sweeping a pair of games to begin the 2026-27 season.

The reigning Division III national champions opened the new campaign Friday evening against Marywood, taking down the Pacers, 90-68, behind 30 points from preseason first team All-American Kye Robinson.

Robinson ended up averaging 28.5 points per game across both games in Pennsylvania, putting together the best individual performance of the weekend for No. 1 UMW.

Is Thornburg ready for looming Kalahari water park traffic? (paywalled)

By Scott Shenk 11/8/2026

Traffic impacts were a concern for residents who spoke up during public hearings when the Kalahari Resort & Conventions water park was going through the approval process four years ago.

County officials weren’t concerned then, and they aren’t now as the opening of the resort nears.

The African-themed water park, one of five owned by Kalahari, will include more than 1.38 million square feet of commercial space, a 267,429-square-foot indoor water park, a 10-acre outdoor water park, a 900-room hotel and a 156,278-square-foot convention center.

Pigs pigging out on donated pumpkins at Earth’s Echo Farm (paywalled)

By Pilar Davis 11/8/2026

The tricks and treats of Halloween may have come and gone, but leftover Halloween pumpkins and jack-o’-lanterns can still be a yummy treat for pigs at Earth’s Echo Farm in Fredericksburg.

The farm has teamed up with Downtown Greens, a local conservation nonprofit, to collect the pumpkins residents are done using. They will then be fed to the cute, coily-tailed snorters at Earth’s Echo Farm for the third year in a row.

Earth’s Echo Farm co-owner Robert Greenlaw said the pumpkins are natural dewormers, and although their cattle enjoy them too, their pigs get first dibs.

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ADVANCE READS

Drew Gallagher, Claire Marshall Watkins, Steve Rabson

Every Deer Path and Swamp Trail (and Clothesline and Cop Car)

Drew Gallagher, ADVANCE COLUMNIST

(This is Part II of a two-part column. Part I, “Raiding in Reading,” ran in The Advance last Sunday, and you can read it HERE.)

In the Mel Gibson movie The Patriot, there is a scene in which Gibson’s character asks that his son, played by Heath Ledger, be assigned to Mel’s command because the son knows “every deer path and swamp trail” in the area. That is how we would have thought of ourselves when we went out raiding in our Pennside neighborhood at Halloween—savvy patriots able to outwit the brilliant General Cornwallis—had the film come out in 1982 instead of 2000.

We knew which backyards to cut through, which houses had motions sensors, and where the muskrat holes were when we had to jump across the creek that meandered behind our backyards and glowed in the October moonlight.

READ ON

Love and Attention

Claire Marshall Watkins, ASSOCIATE EDITOR

I remember being 12, sitting on the swing set in my friend Alison’s backyard, and when she asked how I felt about Fredericksburg telling her that I couldn’t wait to get out as soon as I could. I did it, too. I left at 18 to attend a small, historically women’s college (even though it was six months into the Covid-19 pandemic) and I stayed for three years, except for a semester abroad in London.

At 21, nearly a decade after that middle-school conversation with Alison, I found myself back in Fredericksburg after a health scare. I transferred to the university where my dad had once taught, and where my mother and grandmother both graduated. Even after my best effort to get away, I found myself as a third-generation University of Mary Washington alumna.

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The War of My Childhood

Steve Rabson, GUEST COLUMNIST

I was in first grade when the Korean War started. It was June 1950 and my family was on summer vacation, staying at a rented cottage on Lake Ontario in upstate New York. My father and uncle were around 30 years old and both had served in World War II. When we heard the news about the war on the radio, they wondered if they would be drafted. My grandmother was particularly worried because her first son, my uncle John, died in April 1945 when his plane crashed in Mindanao province of the southern Philippines. All the wreckage had burned, leaving only the crew’s dog tags, so it was never known whether the crash was caused by enemy fire or engine trouble.

After World War II, my father finished graduate school at the University of Michigan. He was teaching mathematics at Purdue during the Korean War. In order to circumvent the Constitutional requirement that only Congress could declare America.at war, President Truman called U.S. intervention in Korea a “police action.” After we returned home from that summer vacation, my parents listened to the morning news by Cecil Brown every day on the radio. He reported from Korea on short-wave broadcasts, so the sound echoed with background noise, and his voice sounded growly, like he had laryngitis.

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This article is published under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND. It can be distributed for noncommercial purposes and must include the following: “Published with permission by FXBG Advance.”

I was in first grade when the Korean War started. It was June 1950 and my family was on summer vacation, staying at a rented cottage on Lake Ontario in upstate New York. My father and uncle were around 30 years old and both had served in World War II. When we heard the news about the war on the radio, they wondered if they would be drafted. My grandmother was particularly worried because her first son, my uncle John, died in April 1945 when his plane crashed in Mindanao province of the southern Philippines. All the wreckage had burned, leaving only the crew’s dog tags, so it was never known whether the crash was caused by enemy fire or engine trouble.

After World War II, my father finished graduate school at the University of Michigan. He was teaching mathematics at Purdue during the Korean War. In order to circumvent the Constitutional requirement that only Congress could declare America.at war, President Truman called U.S. intervention in Korea a “police action.” After we returned home from that summer vacation, my parents listened to the morning news by Cecil Brown every day on the radio. He reported from Korea on short-wave broadcasts, so the sound echoed with background noise, and his voice sounded growly, like he had laryngitis.

Brown was sharply critical of South Korean President Syngman Rhee for his corrupt and dictatorial administration. The U.S., leading a U.N. coalition, had successfully pushed the North Korean army out of South Korea, which it had invaded at the start of the war. Now Rhee pressured the U.S. for U.N. forces to cross the border at the 38th parallel and expand the war into North Korea, hoping for a unified Korea under the South Korean government in which he would be president.

In October, the U.N. coalition invaded North Korea, forcing the North Korean army into further retreat, and occupied the capital Pyongyang. Under the command of General Douglas MacArthur, the U.N. forces continued advancing north to the banks of the Yalu River along the border with China, despite warnings from Chinese leaders that this would bring China into the war. In late November, the Chinese launched a major counter-offensive with the North Korean army. It pushed U.N. forces back down the peninsula into South Korea, and occupied the capital Seoul in January of 1951.

The next spring, my parents invited the math majors who were graduating from Purdue to our house for a dinner party. There was much talk about the war. Everyone offered their sympathies and best wishes to one of my father’s students from South Korea who would enter the army as soon as he returned there.

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The war was still dragging on during summer vacation in 1952 when our family took a camping trip to the Smoky Mountains. In July, at a state park in Kentucky, we listened to the baseball all-star game in Philadelphia on a portable radio. My parents cheered when Jackie Robinson, the first Black player in the major leagues, hit a home run. Later that month, at a campground in Tennessee, we heard the Republican national convention broadcast from Chicago. My parents were upset when MacArthur gave the keynote address. There was talk of nominating him for president. As the commander of United Nations forces in Korea, he had spoken publicly against the U.S. policy of a limited war and advocated expanding operations into China to blockade the coast with the option of using nuclear weapons. After months of criticizing Truman’s war policy in the press, he sent a letter to the Republican leader in the House calling for total victory. Truman finally fired him for insubordination. This made him a hero among Republicans who invited him to give what became his famous farewell speech before a joint session of Congress in April of 1951, and to deliver the keynote address at the 1952 convention.

At every movie I went to see that year, MacArthur appeared in the ten-minute “News of the World” newsreels that came after the cartoons and before the main features. The newsreels also showed cannons firing from emplacements and from ships, prisoners of war being led along roads by American MPs, and crowds of civilian refugees receiving food and medical care from other American soldiers.

In the months that followed, the three armies wreaked death and devastation up and down the peninsula leading to what was called a stalemate. The war finally ended in July, 1953, where it had started, with a truce declared along the 38th parallel that divided North and South Korea. Syngman Rhee, still advocating for South Korean control of the peninsula, refused to sign the truce agreement. Among combatants, the war had taken the lives of approximately 294,000 North Koreans, 180,000 South Koreans, 157,000 Chinese, and 37,000 Americans. Total civilian deaths were estimated at 3.5 million.

The next year, one of my teachers, Mr. Wilmer, was a veteran who had recently returned from Korea. We boys were fascinated by this, and my friend Donnie asked him, using a phrase he’d probably heard in the movies, if Mr. Wilmer “saw any action.”

Mr. Wilmer got a disgusted look on his face and answered very quietly.

“You wouldn’t call it that if you’d been there.”

***

Steve Rabson is a jazz pianist, retired professor from Brown University, and current adjunct Instructor at the University of Mary Washington.

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I remember being 12, sitting on the swing set in my friend Alison’s backyard, and when she asked how I felt about Fredericksburg telling her that I couldn’t wait to get out as soon as I could. I did it, too. I left at 18 to attend a small, historically women’s college (even though it was six months into the Covid-19 pandemic) and I stayed for three years, except for a semester abroad in London.

At 21, nearly a decade after that middle-school conversation with Alison, I found myself back in Fredericksburg after a health scare. I transferred to the university where my dad had once taught, and where my mother and grandmother both graduated. Even after my best effort to get away, I found myself as a third-generation University of Mary Washington alumna.

Though I still condemn the school for its administrative faults, particularly the arrest of 12 peaceful protestors in April 2025, I am eternally grateful for my experience there. I forged so many meaningful, fulfilling friendships, began my journalism career, hosted a radio show, was active in various clubs, and immersed myself in my English department classes and activities.

One of my favorite memories from my time at Mary Wash was the English Department symposium at the end of my senior year. I gave several talks, one of them a group presentation by my “Women in Modernism” class. Our professor, Dr. Mara Scanlon, brought in accessories for us to all dress thematically for the course—mostly late-19^th and early-20^th century English and American—and we took turns giving readings from the novels we’d studied. I wore a vintage bonnet and read from Willa Cather’s My Ántonia, with which I had fallen in love.

That final term, I rented most of my books on campus. When I returned them after the symposium, I couldn’t part with My Ántonia, so ended up buying my rental. It’s an American novel which starts with the protagonist, Jim, moving from Virginia to Nebraska––like Cather herself––but I couldn’t help noticing that my copy included British spellings and had been printed in London. The physical book felt like a reflection of me in a way, combining elements from both sides of the Atlantic, and was one of three I brought with me when I moved back to London last year for graduate school.

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I fell in love with Fredericksburg, too, at some point in my adulthood. Maybe it was spending time with my sisters over the December holidays last year. Or reconnecting with my childhood best friend. Or reading by the river at Old Mill Park in the summertime. Maybe it was the pictures of the trees in our backyard turning colors, or images of them covered in snow that my mom texted me while I was away.

Greta Gerwig’s coming-of-age film Lady Bird came out when I was 15. Lady Bird is a senior at a Catholic high school––made somewhat unique by her family’s atheism and economic status––who wants to move to the East Coast to write. She’s angsty, lost, yet determined, and very relatable for a lot of teenage girls:

Striving for popularity.

Not getting along with her mother.

In love with Timothée Chalamet.

There’s a scene in which she meets with a teacher to discuss her college essay”

Sister Sarah Joan: “You clearly love Sacramento.”

Lady Bird: “I do?”

Sister Sarah Joan: “You write about Sacramento so affectionately and with such attention.”

Lady Bird: “Well, I was just describing it.”

Sister Sarah Joan: “Well, it comes across as love.”

Lady Bird: “Sure, I guess I pay attention.”

Sister Sarah Joan: “Don’t you think maybe they are the same thing, love and attention?”

I think about that line of dialogue sometimes: “Don’t you think maybe they are the same thing, love and attention?” It’s not that I made an active effort to hate my home town when I was younger. I didn’t. I just felt like Lady Bird––different, confused, and eager to experience more.

I’ve always paid attention to Fredericksburg. The heaps of bright orange leaves on College Avenue mid-autumn. What spot to jump from at the little waterfall behind College Heights Pool. The most popular orders at Carl’s, where I worked my first non-babysitting job in high school. The geese that cross the road a few yards before the left turn into Target off Route 3.

Love and attention. I’m not quite sure when the two bled into each other. I recently had a conversation with another friend here in London. She told me that she was surprised I left Fredericksburg considering how close I am with my family, and how fondly I speak of my hometown. I told her about my eagerness to experience more, like Lady Bird, and how I had also fallen in love with London.

London is built up of little details, too. The mist that settles above the pond in front of my local library. Swans resting silently on the water. When it becomes cold enough to turn the heat lamps on in pub gardens. The foxes that roam around in the night, offering comfort and awe in the dark. Which shops carry gluten-free meal deals.

Of course, you can be in love with two places at the same time. People do it all the time. But you’ll always know which came first.

***

Claire Marshall Watkins is an alumna of the University of Mary Washington and has just completed a master’s in journalism at Goldsmiths, University of London. You can read more of her writing on her Substack, Virginia Magnolia.

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(This is Part II of a two-part column. Part I, “Raiding in Reading,” ran in The Advance last Sunday, and you can read it HERE.)

In the Mel Gibson movie The Patriot, there is a scene in which Gibson’s character asks that his son, played by Heath Ledger, be assigned to Mel’s command because the son knows “every deer path and swamp trail” in the area. That is how we would have thought of ourselves when we went out raiding in our Pennside neighborhood at Halloween—savvy patriots able to outwit the brilliant General Cornwallis—had the film come out in 1982 instead of 2000.

We knew which backyards to cut through, which houses had motions sensors, and where the muskrat holes were when we had to jump across the creek that meandered behind our backyards and glowed in the October moonlight.

We were confident we could outrun every adult and hide in bushes and spaces that the police would never find. And we all solemnly agreed that if you felt that your capture was imminent, and you did not have a box of Pop Rocks and a Pepsi to blow up your stomach, then you ditched the evidence—soap bars, toilet paper, and corn chucked down sewer openings or into hedgerows.

In this youthful arrogance, some of us inevitably became sloppy.

But when we were just like our country—young, scrappy, and hungry—we were good. Craig Carpenter and I could wrap a car in less than 30 seconds, so long as it didn’t have a roof rack and wasn’t parked too close to the curb. Craig would stand on the driver’s side, I’d be on the passenger’s side, and we’d roll and toss the toilet paper back and forth as we carefully walked down the sides of the car until it was fully wrapped in Charmin.

Soaping a car’s window took even less time and was far less risky. A lot of the kids I raided with went to Catholic school, so they liked to draw crosses on the car windows, spreading God’s word in soap streaks. And if you parked your car beyond the crescent of light thrown by the streetlamps, you might wake up the next morning to find every inch of every window covered in a thin layer of Irish Spring that would require the help of a garden hose to get it off before you could drive to work.

As we grew older and some of our friends got their licenses, our neighborhood became a popular meeting place for raiding parties, and on some nights our ranks grew to as many as 15 people which we knew was brazen and reckless. Homeowners weren’t as likely to nab one in a party of four, but just like the Wild Kingdom nature show on TV, any time you’re running in a herd, there’s always going to be a zebra that takes a bad step or runs into a backyard surrounded by fencing and finds itself alone, with nowhere to escape, as the lion comes in for the kill.

Also, our out-of-Pennside friends didn’t know the “deer paths and swamp trails” like we did. I remember sprinting through a darkened backyard one night. leading the escape with my friend Caleb running a few steps behind me, when I saw a clothesline stretched across the yard. I yelled “Clothesline!”, ducked under it, and continued to run. Unfortunately, Caleb didn’t hear me, and the clothesline caught him at neck level, throwing him backward off his feet and knocking all the air out of him. I saw Caleb at a wedding a few years ago, and he said he still had painful memories of that night and the trouble he had speaking for weeks afterward.

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Another Halloween, we converged on the house of an older couple who exulted in commandeering any of the Wiffleballs we hit into their backyard. Our friend Tom lived next door and decided he wasn’t going to hit their house with us because it would be too obvious and they would know it was him, so he sat in his living room and watched TV while the rest of us snuck out and threw handfuls of corn at the couple’s bay window. The old man did his own sneaking out, and the next thing we knew he was on our tail.

Most of us scrambled to distant corners of the neighborhood—except for Greg Laibe. Greg wasn’t familiar with the neighborhood and only knew that Tom’s house was next door so he ran there. The neighbor, though elderly, wasn’t blind, and followed Greg into Tom’s living room where a shouting match ensued with Tom telling his neighbor to get the hell out of his house and the neighbor pointing at a poorly hidden Greg behind a chair and yelling that he was going to call the cops.

Threats were made back and forth, but things eventually calmed down and the neighbor left. Tom was annoyed that Greg had been so stupid and banned him from his house.

The dumbest moment in the Halloween Tales of Pennside belonged to my friend Robbie Miller. Robbie was a few years behind me and formed his own raiding party with my brother Tommy and a couple of other guys. I was not there on that fateful night, but I heard plenty about it later.

Robbie and my brother were two of the most athletic kids in our neighborhood, and on this night, Robbie wanted to show off his vertical jumping ability by leaping onto the hood of a parked car—an unmarked cop car, as he only discovered after the fact—and then running across it. One person who was not impressed was the police officer sitting behind the wheel.

For reasons I still don’t understand, none of the four boys took off when confronted by the pissed-off cop. Not only that, but they willingly gave up their real names and addresses. Fortunately, Robbie’s ill-advised scamper didn’t cause any damage so no charges were filed. Robbie’s parents did exercise their right to ground their youngest child when the officer showed up at their door later that evening, and the raiding careers of Robbie and my brother both ended then and there.

I, forever the earnest student, learned a valuable lesson in that moment.

A few years later, I was in my brother’s dorm room at the University of Maryland drinking beers with my girlfriend and some of my brother’s friends. Though my girlfriend and I were of age, the overzealous RA who stormed in and busted the party didn’t seem to care because drinking in the dorm as forbidden no matter who was doing it. The RA took his job seriously, and methodically went around the room with a clipboard, demanding everyone’s name and address.

When he got to me I answered without hesitation: “Robbie Miller, 212 Mayer Street, Pennside, Pennsylvania, 19606.”

“Learn from the mistakes of others,” that great philosopher Groucho Marx once said. “You can never live long enough to make them all yourself.”

***

FXBG Advance columnist Drew Gallagher’s book Funny for Nothing was released on July 28 by Long River Press. It’s available for sale in the Fredericksburg area at Novel Bookstore (212 William Street), Liberty Town Arts (916 Liberty Street), The Card Cellar (915 Caroline Street), Wren & Sparrow (807 Caroline Street), and Laudenbach Brewing in Stafford (45 Centreport Parkway, Unit 101). You can also buy it on Amazon.

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FREDLINES

Claire Marshall Watkins, ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Fredericksburg Free Press

Early-morning I-95 crash kills mother and child

By FPP Staff 11/6/2026

A Stafford man has been charged in connection with a crash that killed a mother and her child and closed northbound Interstate 95 in Stafford County early Friday.

The wreck occurred at 1:53 a.m. near mile marker, authorities said.

Virginia State Police are investigating and said preliminary information indicated a Dodge Charger, traveling at a high rate of speed, struck the rear end of a Nissan Rogue.

Park marks 50th anniversary with new film about Washington’s birthplace

By Clint Schemmer 11/6/2026

There’s been nothing like it in half a century.

That’s how long it’s been since the George Washington Birthplace National Monument saw such a festive occasion as it did last Wednesday, when the Northern Neck historic site celebrated its visitor center’s 50th anniversary by premiering a brand-new film.

Titled “Lost, Reshaped, and Rediscovered,” the 15-minute movie orients people coming to Pope’s Creek in Westmoreland County to learn about the place where the first U.S. president was born.

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The Free Lance-Star

Two killed in early morning crash on I-95 in Stafford (paywalled)

By Keith Epps 11/6/2026

A Stafford County man was arrested Friday, accused of causing a grisly crash on Interstate 95 that resulted in two deaths, including that of a young child.

Malik Jeremiah Thomas, 25, was charged with driving while intoxicated and two counts of aggravated involuntary manslaughter, and other charges may be pending. He is being held in the Rappahannock Regional Jail. Court records list his blood-alcohol content as between .15 and .20, well above the legal limit of .08.

Annual fall update on transportation set for next week (paywalled)

By Scott Shenk 11/6/2026

Virginia’s transportation leaders are making their annual fall visits to localities to discuss statewide and local transportation topics.

The Commonwealth Transportation Board is coming to the Fredericksburg area on Thursday, Nov. 12. The hearing will be held at the Fredericksburg Virginia Department of Transportation District auditorium at 86 Deacon Road in Stafford County.

All of the CTB’s nine meetings start at 2 p.m.

Stafford Fire and Safety says warm a child, lift a spirit, change a life (paywalled)

By Pilar Davis 11/6/2026

Mountain View Fire & Safety Association is partnering with Stafford County Fire and Rescue, Stafford County Schools, and Operation Warm for the 17th year to make sure children in Stafford County don’t have to face frigid temps without a warm coat.

For nearly two decades, the groups have collaborated to raise funds to provide more than 15,000 new winter coats for children in the Stafford area, keeping kids from preschool through senior year in high school warm during the coldest months. Organizers say there are coat sizes ranging from little ones in Head Start to high school students needing up to size 4XL.

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Potomac Local News

Longtime FCPS educator Emma Brown slated to lead Hugh Mercer Elementary School

By PLN News 11/6/2026

Fredericksburg City Public Schools announced that longtime educator Emma Brown is slated to become the next principal of Hugh Mercer Elementary School, beginning Monday, November 30, 2026. Brown has served the division since 2012, starting as a teacher at Walker-Grant Middle School and later working as an instructional technology coach at Walker-Grant and Hugh Mercer.

She has also been an administrative intern at Hugh Mercer and Lafayette elementary schools and has served as assistant principal at Walker-Grant Middle School since 2022, including a stint as interim assistant principal at Hugh Mercer during the 2024-2025 school year. The Fredericksburg City School Board is expected to formalize the appointment at its regularly scheduled meeting on Monday, December 7, 2026.

Fredericksburg resident and UMW alumna wins on Jeopardy!

By Mike Salmon 11/6/2026

Final Jeopardy! decided it last night. Betty Hume pulled ahead, defeated the other two contestants, and put Fredericksburg on the national stage Thursday night, November 5.

Betty Barnhardt Hume, University of Mary Washington Class of 1971, is a retired library reference assistant from Fredericksburg. She entered Final Jeopardy! in the Religion category trailing four-day champion Erica Doornek. The clue referenced John Calvin and the Holy Sudary. Hume answered correctly—“What is the Shroud of Turin?”—wagered $5,000, and finished with $21,000 to claim the win and end Doornek’s streak.

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ADVANCE READS

Ranjit Singh, Steve Watkins

The Hedgehog’s War: Seven Concepts for Environmental Action by Other Means

Ranjit Singh, ADVANCE ENVIRONMENTAL COLUMNIST

I love aphorisms. The poet Archilochus gifted us one of the best ever:

“The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.”

Both foxes and hedgehogs are well represented among No Lines in Nature readers. But I’ll venture to say that, like the hedgehog, we all know one very big thing. And that thing is:

Our planet and its many interwoven ecosystems are in dire straits.

READ ON

Farm to Neighbor, Pot Talk, the Thurman Brisben Shelter, and a Nationally-Recognized Student Volunteer: Press Release Releases

Steve Watkins, ADVANCE EDITOR

The City of Fredericksburg’s Department of Economic Development and Tourism invites the community to the opening reception of The Raw, the Cooked, the Sacred, and the Profane: The Art of Plants within the Patawomeck Community on Friday, November 6, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Fredericksburg Visitor Center, located at 601 Caroline Street. The reception takes place during downtown Fredericksburg’s monthly First Friday celebration.

Organized by Dr. Brad Hatch and David Jett, with assistance from University of Mary Washington students Alessandra Lisio and Aaron Harrell, who helped catalog and install the exhibit, the exhibition features historic and contemporary works that reflect the Patawomeck community’s deep ties to the natural environment and evolving sense of identity.

READ ON

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STATE OF THE STATE

VaNews/VIRGINIA PUBLIC ACCESS PROJECT

Wittman, Perriello concede congressional races

By ANNA BRYSON, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Subscription Required)

On Thursday, The Associated Press officially called the results for Virginia’s 1st and 5th congressional districts, declaring Shannon Taylor and Rep. John McGuire, R-5th, the winners. Taylor, who serves as Henrico commonwealth’s attorney, unseated Rep. Rob Wittman, R-1st, who has represented the district in Congress for 19 years. ... Wittman conceded the race Thursday and congratulated Taylor on her victory. ... Perriello also conceded Thursday, calling McGuire to congratulate him on his victory.

Democrats Increased Lead Across All Ballot Types

The Virginia Public Access Project

Democrats won the highest share of the vote across all voting methods since Virginia began separating totals for early in-person and mail votes in 2021. This year, votes cast on Election Day, early in person, and by mail all shifted left compared to the five previous election cycles.

Most Localities Reject Tax for School Construction

The Virginia Public Access Project

On Tuesday, 47 localities across Virginia voted on whether to impose a 1% sales tax to fund school construction projects, using their newly granted authority. Only 15 passed the measure. The majority of urban and rural areas voted against the tax, while most small cities and suburban localities supported it.

Mix of opposition, support on display at Dominion-NextEra merger hearing

By BRANDON JARVIS, Virginia Scope

The State Corporation Commission held its final in-person public comment hearing on Dominion Energy’s proposed $67 billion merger with NextEra Energy in Richmond on Thursday, drawing a mix of supporters and opponents as regulators prepare to begin weighing the deal and the protections that should accompany it. The evidentiary hearing is scheduled to begin Nov. 17, when the commission will hear arguments from Dominion, NextEra, SCC staff and other parties involved in the case. ... Jessica Schneider, who serves on the Chesterfield Board of Supervisors, was among those who spoke against the merger, raising concerns about NextEra’s history of disconnecting customers who fall behind on their utility bills.

Virginia lawmakers assess misuse of automated license plate readers

By JOE DODSON, Courthouse News Service

Members of the Virginia General Assembly met Thursday to review a report on misuse of automated license plate readers by law enforcement agencies and the need for stronger guardrails.​The report, commissioned by the Virginia State Crime Commission, surveyed 191 local law enforcement agencies that reported using the controversial surveillance technology as of August. Of those, 10% self-reported unauthorized use of the technology, which uses a network of cameras to track vehicle movement.​The commission, comprised of legislators, commonwealth’s attorneys and appointed citizens, discussed the need for more guardrails.

Could Airbnb save Virginia’s farms?

By HALEY SANDLOW, Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)

Farming isn’t as clean as Elise Lauterbach’s Nellysford Airbnb suggests. The picturesque cottage on her 10-acre hobby farm is filled with fresh produce and eggs, homegrown herbal tea blends and ceramics handcrafted from the terracotta vein running right through the property. “I plant a lot of really intensely scented herbs around the hen house,” Lauterbach told The Daily Progress. “That was never an expectation with the American small farm.” But in 2026, it may as well be. Amid the decadeslong decline of small farms in the United States, those that remain often need additional sources of income. Lauterbach is one of many farmers who have begun to rely on short-term rentals and creative workshops to sustain the actual farming that would have, in another time, produced a sufficient income.

***

Articles from newspapers throughout the Commonwealth and Washington D.C. Firewalls will block you from reading some, but you’ll at least have some idea about what’s going on from the headlines and summaries. CLICK HERE.

This article is published under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND. It can be distributed for noncommercial purposes and must include the following: “Published with permission by FXBG Advance.”

Virginia Community Food Connections is now Farm to Neighbor

The name has changed but the mission, programs, and commitment to provide fresh, whole, and local produce to the community remains the same.

The new web site, Facebook page and other updates will be released soon. Representatives will still be at the markets under the “Market Tokens” tent and delivering fresh local produce to area pantries.

Local Farmers Market Schedules

Farmers markets are not just a great way to support local growers—they’re also a vital resource for fresh, healthy food access. Below is a list of opening dates, locations, and ways to use SNAP and other benefits at your favorite markets!

• Dale City Farmers Market
  Sundays, April 5–November 29 | 8 am–1 pm
  Commuter Lot at Dale Blvd, 10490 Gemini Way, Dale City, VA 22193

• Fredericksburg Farmers Market
  Saturdays, April 11–December 5 | New Hours 8 AM–1 PM
  Hurkamp Park, Prince Edward & George Streets, Fredericksburg, VA 22401

• Bowling Green Farmers Market. Fredericksburg Mid-Week Market, King George Farmers Market, and Rt. 639 Farmers Market
  Closed for the season.

• Spotsylvania Farmers Market
  Saturdays, April 4–December 19 | New Hours 9:00 AM–1 PM
  VDOT Commuter Lot, 12150 Gordon Rd, Fredericksburg, VA 22407

• Spotsylvania Farmers Market Mid-Week
  Wednesdays, April –November 25 | 2 PM–6 PM
  Now located at: Spotsylvania Courthouse Village, 9015 Old Battlefield Blvd., Spotsylvania, VA 22553

• Spotsylvania Farmers Market - NEW Sunday Market
  Sundays, April 12–November 22 | 9 AM–2 PM
  Spotsylvania High School, 6975 Courthouse Road, Spotsylvania, VA 22551

Shop at any of these markets to use SNAP EBT and get Virginia Fresh Match to double your benefits on fresh produce!

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Fredericksburg Visitor Center to Host Opening Reception for Patawomeck Art Exhibition

The City of Fredericksburg’s Department of Economic Development and Tourism invites the community to the opening reception of The Raw, the Cooked, the Sacred, and the Profane: The Art of Plants within the Patawomeck Community on Friday, November 6, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Fredericksburg Visitor Center, located at 601 Caroline Street. The reception takes place during downtown Fredericksburg’s monthly First Friday celebration.

Organized by Dr. Brad Hatch and David Jett, with assistance from University of Mary Washington students Alessandra Lisio and Aaron Harrell, who helped catalog and install the exhibit, the exhibition features historic and contemporary works that reflect the Patawomeck community’s deep ties to the natural environment and evolving sense of identity.

Through a collection of handcrafted objects and artwork, visitors will discover how plants and other natural materials have influenced the Patawomeck community’s artistic traditions and cultural expression. The exhibition highlights the creativity, craftsmanship and cultural heritage of the Patawomeck people while celebrating the continued importance of these traditions today.

“The art in this show reflects both the Patawomeck community’s long-term connections to a specific place and the deep-seated knowledge of that place through an examination of plants. Far from being a static relationship, these works reveal how the community has adapted to environmental and social change through time. The materials, subjects, and uses seen in this collection speak to important aspects of community cohesion but also deeply personal meanings at the individual and group levels. Those meanings have evolved and changed over time but have always reflected a strong sense of connection and place to our people,” said D. Brad Hatch, PhD, exhibition organizer.

The opening reception offers an opportunity for the community to experience the exhibition and learn more about the Patawomeck Tribe of Virginia and its connection to the region.

The exhibition will remain on display through Sunday, November 29, 2026, in the Exhibit Room at the Fredericksburg Visitor Center. Admission is free, and the public is welcome to visit during regular Visitor Center hours, daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Cannabis Community Conversations: How to Prepare for Virginia’s Retail Market

This event will bring together state regulators, cannabis industry professionals, advocates, business leaders, and residents to discuss Virginia’s developing adult-use cannabis market and its potential impact on local communities.

Jamie Patten, Acting Head and Chief Administrative Officer of the Virginia Cannabis Control Authority, will be participating in the panel.

Additional participants include:
• Thomas Malone, Esq.—General Counsel, Pure Shenandoah
• Chelsea Higgs Wise, MSW—Co-Founder, Marijuana Justice Virginia
• LaTonya Warren—Founder, Armintia LLC
• Sarah Kiah Morton—Co-Founder, LOCKGREEN (Moderator)
• Lonnie Hayes—Virginia State Director, Minorities for Medical Marijuana

Stafford Supervisor Kecia Evans has also confirmed plans to attend.

Event: Thursday, November 12, 2026, 6:00–8:00 PM
Courthouse Community Center, 29 Stafford Avenue, Stafford, VA 22554
Free and open to the public.

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Trifecta of Service: UMW Student Named Newman Civic Fellow

Helping classmates navigate the voting process, building homes with Habitat for Humanity and organizing volunteer projects are all part of University of Mary Washington senior Sarah Tyree-Herrmann’s college experience. Now, her dedication to making a difference has earned her national recognition as a 2026-27 Newman Civic Fellow.

A political science and women’s and gender studies double major from Virginia Beach, she joins a cohort of student leaders from 39 states, Washington, D.C., and Mexico recognized by Campus Compact for their leadership and commitment to positive change.

As soon as she arrived at UMW, Tyree-Herrmann put that commitment into practice, joining the Impact Program and exploring opportunities to volunteer and connect with the community. Since then, she’s taken leadership roles in all three of the University’s major community engagement initiatives: Community Outreach and Resources (COAR), UMW Votes and Alternative Service Breaks (ASB).

“We joke that she’s the first ‘trifecta’ student at the Center for Community Engagement,” said Center Director Sarah Dewees, who remembers meeting her at a UMW Open House. “Sarah really stands out as a compassionate, energetic and intelligent leader who brings her big heart to everything she does.”

Read more about UMW’s newest Newman Civic Fellow.

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I love aphorisms. The poet Archilochus gifted us one of the best ever:

“The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.”

Both foxes and hedgehogs are well represented among No Lines in Nature readers. But I’ll venture to say that, like the hedgehog, we all know one very big thing. And that thing is:

Our planet and its many interwoven ecosystems are in dire straits.

Frankly, I can’t readily tell you what a “Safe Operating Space” is. But a planet operating outside of one just can’t be good, especially if you happen to riding it through the infinite void of space. At this stage, anyone who thinks otherwise is willfully ignorant, in the pay of some wicked group that profits by wrecking the Earth, or both.

And don’t bother me with foxy debates. We know offering more information to climate change disbelievers, or telling people that data centers harm planetary health, doesn’t work like it should. As scholar Elizabeth deSombre writes, “There is little evidence… that letting people know about environmental problems and their contributions to them changes behavior in meaningful ways.”¹

So, no more wasting time. Our sole interest should be on turning things around as soon as possible. Because we must.

What every hedgehog needs now is a strategy.

THINKING STRATEGICALLY

Big environmental groups like Greenpeace and the Sierra Club have in-house strategy teams in the form of executives, consultants, boards of directors, etc. But much green activism occurs at the local level. There, goodhearted amateurs must contend with deep-pocketed corporations or entrenched bureaucracies. Such citizen groups often lack experience thinking strategically. Absent a formal plan, these landowners, teachers, farmers, nurses, engineers, retirees, etc., often fly by the seat of their pants. That’s not ideal for winning high-stakes environmental battles.

Drawing from a course I used to teach, this essay offers seven basic concepts to help green activists craft a strategy.

Until 2023, I held the title of “Fleet Professor” with the US Naval War College. I’ve never even stepped aboard a warship. I held that grandiose title only because for six years I taught a required graduate seminar called “Strategy and War” (previously known as “Policy and War”).

My students were mostly junior military officers. For nine months, we met once per week in the Washington, DC Navy Yard to discuss, in great detail, the bleak human history of warfare. Our task was simple: to learn strategy and operations; to understand what works, what doesn’t, and when.

Our case studies ranged widely. They included ancient Greece, the American Revolution, the Russo-Japanese War, both World Wars, Korea, Vietnam, the sprawling Global War on Terror, Iraq, and even evolving threats like cyber and drone warfare. We read Thucydides, Plutarch, and Mao. And patterns emerged from the study of so many victories and disasters.

Today’s environmental movement is not facing a kinetic war between armed troops (not yet, anyway), although damage to the Earth is certainly costing lives. That said, much of what these military officers learned in seminar applies to the struggle to save the planet from further irreparable harm. All wars require clear thinking and a sensible plan. I hope green activists will review these basic concepts, discuss them, and use them as seems fit, keeping in mind that these aren’t holy texts. Strategy is as much art as science. Feel free to interpret and revise each idea as needed.

Also, in discussing environmental activism, “war” is used here figuratively — as in the “War on Poverty.” I do not advocate violence against anyone. Regarding “violence” against property — if that’s really a thing — see Andreas Malm’s definitive How to Blow Up a Pipeline: Learning to Fight in a World on Fire (which, contrary to its title, never tells you how to blow up a pipeline). You can make up your own mind on that issue.

Finally, this essay is written for activists. It isn’t an academic treatise, and the text is not burdened with citations or page numbers. Readers desiring more information, like a look at the original language and differing interpretations, are directed to the short bibliography found at the end.

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SEVEN CONCEPTS

Most of these concepts are cribbed from three works.

One is by the Prussian theorist Carl von Clausewitz (1780-1831). Clausewitz’s magnum opus, On War, is the most influential study of military strategy of all time. If you’ve heard the phrase “the fog of war,” then you’ve already been exposed to his ideas. Business majors may also recognize Sun Tzu and the best-selling work attributed to him called The Art of War. This comparatively brief work is actually a collection of essays penned in China around the fifth century B.C.E. Finally, Michael I. Handel’s Masters of War: Classical Strategic Thought compares and synthesizes the works of these two core strategists as well as several others. All three books are central to the War College’s curriculum.

But why go to war in the first place?

I. “War is the continuation of policy by other means.”

Because, Clausewitz answers, you want something political. And war, like diplomacy, is one more instrument for getting what you want.

Translated from German, the quote above is Clausewitz’s best-known statement. It’s often rephrased as “War is the continuation of politics by other means.” This is your why concept. Clausewitz insists that war — from the very start — must always be for some political aim. Without a clear policy goal, you’re just wasting energy and resources, nihilistically committing violence for its own sake (and how would you even know when you’ve won?).

A clear political objective is vital because this objective, in turn, determines one’s war plans and the amount of effort to be expended.

So, know what you want first. Then shape strategy and operations around achieving that aim. The former two must always suit the latter.

For generals, the political objective may be the seizure of territory or end of a hostile regime. For eco activists, it might be compelling a government to declare a climate and ecological emergency (as Extinction Rebellion demands). The range of possible policy goals, big and small, is nearly infinite. But don’t come out swinging at government agencies, energy companies, elected officials, or housing developers and expect success if you’re still not sure what you’re trying to achieve. Focus on linkages or you’ll likely make a mess of things.

To me, that is Clausewitz’s principal lesson for anyone planning a fight.

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II. Know the nature of the conflict.

Clausewitz writes:

“The first, the supreme, the most far-reaching act of judgement that the statesman and commander have to make is to establish… the kind of war on which they are embarking; neither mistaking it for, nor trying to turn it into, something that is alien to its nature.”

At base, is the environmental “war” you’re contemplating a legal one? A contest for popular support? A financial one, with activists seeking to cancel funding for a development project? Is your struggle a limited one (where, for example, you’re only trying to stop a specific action from happening) or an unlimited one (where you may be trying to stop all such actions, or even put somebody out of business)? Do you expect it to be long or short?

Environmental conflicts are complex, of course. But clarifying the type of struggle one faces is necessary before acting. It’s key to understanding the next steps. A legal conflict probably means your next step is to find counsel, perhaps for an impending lawsuit. A contest that will be decided in the court of public opinion may require organizing protests and town hall meetings. If the principal struggle involves dealmaking, is there a well-placed senator or bureaucrat who needs lobbying?

Leaders who don’t know the type of battle they’re in are more likely to adopt strategies that waste effort and scarce resources, or even prove counterproductive. Mobilizing the masses may put pressure on elected officials, for example — if that’s what’s called for. But there are many scenarios in which mobilizing angry crowds counteracts or even negates quiet, behind-the-scenes pressure or dealmaking, if that’s truly what your conflict is about. Knowing the nature of the conflict guides you towards better plans.

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III. Always do a “net assessment.”

This is a modern term for an ancient practice. As Sun Tzu (aphoristically) writes: “Know your enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be in peril.”

“To discover how much of our resources must be mobilized for war, we must first examine our political aim and that of our enemy. We must gauge the strength and situation of the opposite state. We must gauge the character and abilities of its government and people and do the same in regard to our own. Finally, we must evaluate the political sympathies of other states and the effect the war may have on them.”

Before taking action, think:

Have you undertaken a structured analysis of the elements and resources available to you in the pursuit of your objective? Have you listed your side’s financial resources, people, and expertise, and assessed your morale and willpower? Have you estimated your opponent’s motives and resources, too, and compared them to yours? Have you charted who their likely allies may be, and who in turn is likely to support you? Which groups will never help your respective causes?

Uncertainty is a given. Yet wise leaders do not engage without first candidly weighing their own strengths and weaknesses against their opponent’s. Write up your assessment on a whiteboard. It will help you decide what strategy and type of “war” best suits your goal and resources. And be ready to reassess all this, too, as the conflict continues.

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IV. Know the “centers of gravity”—yours and your opponent’s.

Clausewitz borrows this idea from Newtonian physics. He believes each side in a conflict has a center of gravity, defined as a “hub of all power and movement, on which everything depends.”

Consider here the keystone of an archway. When the keystone crumbles or is removed, the entire structure collapses. That one stone is the archway’s center of gravity. The whole arch depends on it.

For Clausewitz, an actor’s center of gravity could be a specific military fortification, a vital army division, or their national capital.

Sun Tzu, in turn, doesn’t use that exact wording, but suggests that the key vulnerability for any belligerent is likely to be their war plan: “the supreme importance in war is to attack the enemy’s strategy.” Sufficiently disrupt their strategy and they may become powerless. Similarly, he emphasizes the importance of preventing the enemy from finding allies. Deny them of allies, and Sun Tzu says you may never actually have to fight at all. You’ll have won without a shot.

As an activist, you and your opponent both have such vulnerabilities. Your center of gravity may be a specific person (a charismatic or highly capable leader), the support of a well-connected ally or important social group like local landowners, or something else, like an indispensable financial benefactor. Typically in environmental conflicts a corporation’s center of gravity is profitability. Without that, they may well quit trying to build that new data center or log an old growth forest. Why bother if it won’t make them money?

The important thing is to identify the strategic Achilles’ heel. Then, as Clausewitz demands with his “principle of concentration,” concentrate all your efforts and hit your opponent’s center of gravity hard. Keep it up, too.

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V. The culminating point of victory.

Maintaining offensive momentum is important (known as the “principle of continuity”), but a good strategy also requires flexibility and fine calculations. If things go well for your side, you also need to start worrying about the “culminating point of victory.”

Here, again, everything boils down to the original policy aim: “superior strength is not the end but only the means. The end is… to bring the enemy to his knees” so that you get what you want. But when does one stop attacking?

The culminating point of victory is Clausewitz’s term for the moment of peak advantage. It’s the moment when continuing to attack no longer serves the political objective. Doing so produces diminishing returns: in military terms, troops become exhausted, supply lines run too long, and flanks become exposed, therefore increasing the possibility of strong counterattack. Go past this point, and you risk everything.

What might the culminating point of victory look like in an environmental struggle? Consider the XL Keystone Pipeline that dominated the news not long ago, from the view of the developer.

The plan was to link Canada’s Alberta tar sand oil fields to refineries in the US. The builder, TC Energy, proposed the pipeline in 2008 and won all the early battles: it got political support, the necessary cross-border permits, and was even able to complete the pipeline’s initial segments. Feeling confident, TC Energy pushed its pipeline into ecologically sensitive and Indigenous lands. This sparked a profound backlash that stalled the project for years. Lobbyists mobilized, and alternative pipeline routes were considered, but it was simply too late. By 2021, the US permits were pulled and the $9 billion project was canceled.

TC Energy’s objective was clear: to make money for investors. Despite a string of early wins, that no longer seemed possible. As the National Resources Defense Council explains: “For companies considering whether to invest in a long-lived tar sands project (which could last for 50 years), access to cheap pipeline capacity plays a major role in the decision to move forward or not.” As the fight drew out, major investors like Koch Industries lost interest because the profit objective was no longer being served. That is, the pipeline’s financial “supply lines” became exhausted, and TC Energy lost its “allies.” The project also became politically toxic. Even the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu opposed the idea. At some point TC Energy just went too far.

That should have been the end of the story. Unfortunately, it wasn’t. As Sun Tzu writes, “To win victory is easy; to preserve its fruits, difficult.”

Which brings us to…

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VI. War termination: knowing when to end a war.

A concept closely related to the culminating point of victory is “war termination.” The trick here is finding a way to consolidate battlefield gains and turn them into durable political results. Because that is what you’re after, right?

Michael Handel states the problem in a nutshell:

“Even the most impressive military victories and resounding defeats are often only transitory. Yet this is seldom recognized by the now hubristic victor, who cannot imagine why he should deign to offer the defeated side fair and acceptable peace terms.”

It helps to recognize that ending a war is rarely a unilateral affair. Seldom is an enemy totally vanquished, and even the defeated side may have legitimate interests. If these aren’t taken into account the resulting peace is a forced peace, and will likely become unacceptable to them. That spells trouble. Handel again: “Finality in war depends on recognition of mutual interests, which is a political, not a military, process.” (My emphasis.)

The victor must therefore offer their adversary terms that are acceptable in the long run. What “fair and acceptable” peace terms look like to a pipeline executive, I have no idea (and shudder to contemplate). But if the victor doesn’t offer them, Clausewitz warns, all you really have is a temporary ceasefire. The losing side will accept the results only until it can regroup and resume fighting for its vital interests.

Clausewitz’s best advice for avoiding this situation? Break your enemy’s will to go on. (See Concept 7 below.)

Regarding the Keystone Pipeline, the enemy’s will apparently lives on, making its defeat seem temporary, indeed. TC Energy found a new ally in the Trump administration that seeks to revive the pipeline, exemplifying Clausewitz’s counsel:

“[E]ven the ultimate outcome of war is not always to be regarded as final. The defeated state often considers the outcome merely as a transitory evil, for which a remedy may still be found in political conditions at some later date.”

Elections changed the political conditions surrounding the pipeline. That war isn’t done yet.

That said, XL Keystone was never an existential issue for TC Energy. The company remains profitable even without the pipeline, recording billions in revenue each quarter. It can be patient.

There are cases, however, where activists may want to deliver something closer to an existential threat. It’s a bit of a balancing act. On the one hand, such threats risk putting one’s opponent on “death ground,” which Sun Tzu warns against: “In a desperate situation, they fear nothing; when there is no way out they stand firm.” But existential threats can also provide leverage, pushing opponents to accept a less threatening way out.

This strategy is sometimes called building a “golden bridge.” It also traces back to Sun Tzu, who advised giving a retreating enemy positive incentives to capitulate.

“To a surrounded enemy you must leave a way of escape. Show him there is a road to safety, and so create in his mind the idea that there is an alternative to death. Then strike.”

Greenpeace International used this strategy in 2006. Their aim was to end the deforestation of the Amazonian rainforest. Greenpeace launched a massive PR war against fast-food giant McDonalds because the latter’s suppliers contributed to the illegal deforestation. The strategy appeared two-fold. Greenpeace threatened McDonalds with an indefinite boycott, a potentially widespread consumer backlash akin to profitability “death.” But it also offered a way out.

Eventually, McDonald’s and other major food corporations signed onto the “Amazon Soy Moratorium.” This voluntary agreement pressures global grain suppliers to stop buying soybeans grown on deforested land. The deal was hailed as a remarkable success (Greenpeace calls it “the world’s single most successful zero-deforestation policy.”) For twenty years, it worked pretty well.

Yet financial pressures and shifts in Brazilian politics caused the moratorium’s collapse earlier this year. The incentives that had initially compelled cooperation changed.

Again, the result of war is never final. Most environmental conflicts are iterative games, played out over the long term. Savvy actors know they’ll likely face each other again some other day. And, as Sun Tzu points out, in war there are no constant conditions.

That means that even after a big win, green activists must be ready to fight again and again.

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VII. Asymmetrical war

Environmental conflicts are typically asymmetrical. This is especially so at the local level. One side is strong, probably a corporation or bureaucracy laden with expertise and resources. The other is usually a cobbled-together citizen group enjoying none of these advantages. Sound familiar?

How can the little guys win?

Neither Clausewitz nor Sun Tzu spend much time on asymmetrical warfare. But all military strategists are familiar with what’s called the Fabian strategy, named after a Roman general who successfully opposed a far stronger army.

When employing a Fabian strategy, the weaker side fends off the stronger through an intentionally protracted war of attrition. The weaker side constantly harasses its enemy, inflicting minor but humiliating damage, then retreats, sensibly avoiding the sort of conventional “decisive battle” that stronger militaries prefer to fight. Eventually, the tide can be turned. This is a recipe for defeating a much stronger opponent via patience, discipline, and willpower.

George Washington (nicknamed the “American Fabius”) lost several set-piece battles to far better trained and equipped British troops before deploying this hit-and-run approach for most of the War of Independence. Only after years of delay could his troops risk a conventional battle like Yorktown, which effectively ended the war. Chinese communists employed this long term strategy, too, eventually grabbing power in China in 1949. So did the North Vietnamese. And the Taliban. Properly applied, it works.

A major complication, though, is persuading your own people that avoiding direct conflict with the enemy and intentionally elongating the war is the right thing to do. After all, you’re not winning any battles. You just look weak and afraid.

Perhaps the best justification ever given for staying with an unpopular Fabian strategy was offered by none other than Alexander Hamilton, Washington’s aide-de-camp. In a 1777 letter to a supporter, Hamilton explained the rebels’ approach by linking it directly to their “infinite” war aim — American liberty. His defense of Washington’s avoidance of head-on battles and desire to prolong the conflict is worth quoting at length:

“I know the comments that some people will make on our Fabian conduct. It will be imputed either to cowardice or to weakness: But the more discerning, I trust, will not find it difficult to conceive that it proceeds from the truest policy, and is an argument neither of the one nor the other. The liberties of America are an infinite stake. We should not play a desperate game for it or put it upon the issue of a single cast of the die…

On our part, we are continually strengthening our political springs in Europe, and may every day look for more effectual aids than we have yet received. Our own army is continually growing stronger in men arms and discipline…

Their [British] affairs will be growing worse—our’s better;—so that delay will ruin them. It will serve to perplex and fret them, and precipitate them into measures, that we can turn to good account. Our business then is to avoid a General engagement and waste the enemy away by constantly goading their sides, in a desultory teazing way.”

Washington’s forces shun conventional battles because that would risk liberty for “a single cast of the die.” Delay allows the Americans to attract European allies and grow stronger. On the other hand, British forces, Hamilton assures his friend, are losing morale and will prove more likely to take foolish risks “that we can turn to good account.”

Regrettably, many environmental fights threaten to be short and sharp. When a billionaire developer wants to put a data center near your house, for example, you and like-minded friends are probably at a serious disadvantage. The developer brings deep pockets, technical and lobbying expertise, a PR machine, and more to a permitting process that may last only a few weeks or months — unless you can find a way to prolong it.

So buying time is likely your first priority. Delay. Avoid any type of formal showdown that favors the well-resourced. You want to exhaust your opponent. Be elusive. “Shoot” from behind trees. Gum up the works. Go guerrilla. In your particular context, that could mean delaying public meetings, showing up uninvited, requesting sensitive records through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and publishing them, and tracking and calling out even the tiniest violations of official procedure. Befriend journalists and share info your opponent doesn’t want made public. Anything to sap their willpower.

This may not look or feel like winning. Supporters will get frustrated over the lack of decisive victories. But, like Hamilton, you must beg for patience and persuade them what your group is doing is the best available strategy. Indeed, given the asymmetry of forces it may be the only available strategy that offers any chance of victory. As Mao Zedong, leader of the Chinese revolution, wrote, “There is no magic short cut.”

CONCLUSION

Many of these concepts sound like common sense. They aren’t. The current US war with Iran was launched in February without a clear political objective, and it shows. Putin invaded Ukraine in 2022 by attacking the country from all sides at once instead of focusing on a vital center of gravity. Now, he’s stuck in a demoralizing stalemate. With due respect to Sun Tzu, winning is hard.

There’s far more advice to be found in these classic texts on strategy. Both Clausewitz and Sun Tzu espouse useful ideas on leadership, the value of surprise and deception, and so on. At times, they also contradict themselves. I’ve presented here only what I hold to be the most pertinent ideas for environmental activists, adapting them (a bit) with an eye towards such applications.

I’ll end with Sun Tzu’s opening lines, on the stakes of war. I believe they apply equally well to the urgent need for environmental policy change today:

“War is a matter of vital importance to the State; the province of life and death; the road to survival and ruin. It is mandatory that it be thoroughly studied.”

Study strategy, and take from it what you need.

Then act.

These three books have long been central to the Naval War College’s curriculum:

Samuel B. Griffth, trans. Sun Tzu: The Art of War. (Oxford University Press: 1963). Paperback first published 1971.

Michael I. Handel. Masters of War: Classical Strategic Thought. (Frank Cass Publishers: 2001, 3rd edition).

Michael Howard and Peter Paret, eds. & trans. Carl von Clausewitz: On War. (Princeton University Press: 1976). Paperback first published in 1989.

***

Ranjit Singh teaches in the Department of Political Science and International Affairs at the University of Mary Washington. He’s also an active environmentalist. His “No Lines in Nature” Substack blends history, science, and philosophy to explore our relationship with the natural world world. You can find it HERE, and you can find an earlier version of this essay HERE.

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FREDLINES

Claire Marshall Watkins, ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Fredericksburg Free Press

Spotsylvania Planning Commission recommends approval of mixed-use development

By Taft Coghill Jr. 11/5/2026

Spotsylvania County resident Angie Craddock often glances at the 12.5 acres of land on Five-Mile Road, knowing it likely won’t remain undeveloped for long.

Craddock accepted that developers would eventually want to construct homes on the property. However, a proposal that includes a Sheetz convenience store and other commercial space in addition to 40 townhomes never crossed her mind.

“We understand that little green spot we had right there with all the trees was not going to last,” Craddock told the Spotsylvania Planning Commission Wednesday night. “I don’t oppose having more housing because I know we need it. But there are 15 gas stations between Harrison Crossing and Central Park … We don’t need 16 gas stations in three miles.”

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The Free Lance-Star

Campaign supporters cheer Eugene Vindman on election night (paywalled)

By Pilar Davis 11/5/2026

Congressman Eugene Vindman and his family, friends and supporters gathered at Woolen Mill in Downtown Fredericksburg on election night to watch the returns roll in.

Vindman campaigned on issues related to addressing infrastructure impacted by growing populations, veterans’ healthcare needs, and preventing data centers from being built near residential areas, along with a host of other matters that affect the residents in the region.

The watch party began at 6 p.m., and Vindman was expected to address supporters shortly after polls closed at 7 p.m.

Officers rescue wheelchair-bound woman from burning home (paywalled)

By Keith Epps 11/5/2026

Fredericksburg police have released a short but dramatic video showing officers getting a woman out of her smoke-filled home.

City firefighters and other emergency workers went to 227 Hillcrest Drive off Lafayette Boulevard on Tuesday afternoon in response to a house fire. City fire chief Mike Jones said three or four people were at the home at the time, and all of them got out safely.

Among them were a man and his wife, who is confined to a wheelchair. City police officers D.V. Lawrence and Dylan Smith are being credited with safely getting the woman out. Jones said the fire started in the lower section of the home, and the woman was upstairs, where the smoke was quickly filling the area.

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Potomac Local News

Stafford has until February to set local cannabis rules if it wants a say on licenses

By PLN News 11/5/2026

Stafford County has limited authority to regulate recreational marijuana businesses once state licensing begins in 2027, County Attorney Rysheda McClendon told the Board of Supervisors on Oct. 27.

The presentation followed a closed session on the topic. Supervisors took no votes and asked no questions during the public portion of the work session at the George L. Gordon Jr. Government Center. Chairman Deuntay Diggs and the full board were present.

Virginia authorized adult-use recreational cannabis through the 2026 budget process, with effective dates rolling into 2027. Because Virginia is a Dillon Rule state, localities generally cannot regulate marijuana uses except where state law specifically allows it.

Police Blotter: Gar-Field High coach charged with indecent liberties; missing Woodbridge teen sought

By PLN News 11/5/2026

Prince William County police said they arrested the head coach of the Gar-Field High School girls basketball team on five counts of indecent liberties by a custodian after a sexual assault investigation involving a 15-year-old player, according to Thursday’s daily incident report. Police are also asking for the public’s help locating a missing endangered 17-year-old in Woodbridge, while the Stafford County Sheriff’s Office sought a missing juvenile near Mountain View High School and reported a fugitive arrest from Kentucky.

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The Weekly Ringer

Election results for Virginia’s 7th district general election

By The Weekly Ringer 11/4/2026

Incumbents Mark Warner (D) and Eugene Vindman (D) have won seats in the US Senate and in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District races, respectively.

This year’s General Election was predicted by experts to bring a Blue Wave to the open seats in Congress following President Trump’s low approval rating.

According to an Oct. 29 poll from Gallup, voters ranked the economy, healthcare and the situation in Iran as the three most important issues.

Along with the Senate and House of Representatives seats, Virginians also voted on three constitutional amendments, which proposed codifying protections for reproductive rights, same-sex and interracial marriage and voting rights for felons.

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ADVANCE READS

Donnie Johnston, Stephen J. Farnsworth, Steve Watkins

A Second Chance for America

Donnie Johnston, ADVANCE COLUMNIST

Tuesday’s election proved that the American people will not be ruled by a tyrant and his armed brigade.

The fact that the House of Representatives and the Senate are now (come January) back in the hands of the Democrats is not the important thing. It’s that they will no longer be in the hands of Republicans whose one purpose was to do Donald Trump’s bidding.

These people abandoned their consciences and followed Trump blindly to maintain power. By doing so, they lost power. The American people have spoken—loudly and clearly.

READ ON

Charting the Uncertain Virginia Republican Future

Stephen J. Farnsworth, ADVANCE CONTRIBUTOR

As Virginia Republicans survey the wreckage of Tuesday’s election results, one key question remains: what is the party’s best path forward?

One possible response to the debacle involves nothing more than the passage of time. Perhaps the losses of two congressional seats and the blowout in the US Senate contest stem mainly from the unpopularity of President Trump and the costs of his policies. The president did offer an unusually clueless campaign narrative this fall: that the economic problems are not as serious as people think they are. That belittling of citizen financial pain, and Trump’s frequent desire to talk about his plans to rebuild part of the White House, to restore the Reflecting Pool, and to construct a proposed triumphal arch near Arlington Cemetery, were a sharp departure from Trump’s previously effective efforts to connect with voters and their fears.

READ ON

Fredericksburg Police Officially Confirm Infant’s Death at Mary’s Shelter

Steve Watkins, ADVANCE EDITOR

Fredericksburg Deputy Police Chief Crystal Hill has officially confirmed the death of a child eight days ago at a Mary’s Shelter home in the city, as first reported by The FXBG Advance on November 1 in an article headlined “Second Child Death in Three Years Reported at Fredericksburg Anti-Abortion Group’s Shelters.”

“I will confirm the following information,” Hill wrote in a short email to The Advance: “This is a death investigation. The decedent was an infant less than 1 year of age.”

Hill wouldn’t release any other information about the case, including the cause of death, citing an exemption under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act for disclosure of “Criminal investigative files defined as any document and information, including complaints, court orders, memoranda, notes, diagrams, maps, photographs, correspondence, reports, witness statements, and evidence, relating to a criminal investigation or proceeding that is not ongoing….”

READ ON

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STATE OF THE STATE

VaNews/VIRGINIA PUBLIC ACCESS PROJECT

Spanberger saw a path to four House flips. Democrats have won two.

By MARKUS SCHMIDT, Virginia Mercury

Just six months ago, Virginia Democrats hoped a new congressional map would help them capture 10 of the state’s 11 U.S. House seats. Instead, they went into Tuesday’s midterm election under the existing boundaries and flipped two Republican-held districts, with a possible third pickup still undecided Wednesday afternoon. The results fell short of what Democrats had sought through redistricting and landed at the low end of what Gov. Abigail Spanberger had suggested was possible even without new maps. In August, she told WTOP that strong turnout could help Democrats flip the 1st, 2nd, 5th and 6th districts. But when the dust settled, Democrats ousted Republican incumbents in the first two, trailed in the 5th and lost the 6th.

With election, Va. loses a chance for a key committee post

By DAVE RESS, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Subscription Required)

Tuesday’s election results mean Virginia loses a chance that one of its own — Rep. Rob Wittman, R-1st — could lead the House Armed Services Committee. Unofficial results show Wittman lost his bid for re-election to Henrico Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor, the Democratic candidate. And the new Democratic majority in the House of Representatives means it will be a Democrat who will chair the committee in the next session of Congress.

VPAP Visual Warner Has Best Performance Since 2008

The Virginia Public Access Project

​Preliminary election results show that Sen. Mark Warner (D) won more than 61% of the vote on Tuesday, the highest share earned by a U.S. Senate candidate in Virginia since Warner’s 2008 election. See how his performance compares with the range of results in Virginia U.S. Senate elections since 1988.

VPAP Visual A Decade of Swing Localities

The Virginia Public Access Project

Of Virginia’s 133 localities, only 22 have voted for at least one Democratic and one Republican candidate for statewide office in the past decade. Explore their voting patterns, and toggle to see the five localities that went for Sen. Mark Warner (D) on Tuesday after supporting Winsome Earle-Sears (R) in the 2025 gubernatorial election.

Spanberger says she won’t run for president in 2028

By KATE SELTZER, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

Gov. Abigail Spanberger told reporters Wednesday that she would not run for president in 2028. At a press event to discuss the impacts of Tuesday’s midterm elections, a reporter asked if Spanberger, a Democrat, might try to run for the White House. “No,” she answered. “But I do look forward to welcoming everyone who might consider running for president to Virginia, as we are now one of the early states (to vote in presidential primaries).”

Electric-shock gloves purchased by ICE are also deployed in some Virginia jails

By DAVE CANTOR, WVTF-FM

A device that shocks individuals with more than 300 volts of electricity when applied to their skin is being used by law enforcement agencies across Virginia. The Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter — or G.L.O.V.E. — is produced by Kentucky-based Compliant Technologies, which earlier this year contracted with the federal government to supply U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers with the device. The deal sparked concern among Congressional Democrats — despite the more widely used Taser outputting a higher electrical current. ... At least 7 regional jails and sheriff’s departments in Virginia are using Compliant weapons, according to social media posts, now-deleted information on the Compliant website and documents obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests.

***

Articles from newspapers throughout the Commonwealth and Washington D.C. Firewalls will block you from reading some, but you’ll at least have some idea about what’s going on from the headlines and summaries. CLICK HERE.

This article is published under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND. It can be distributed for noncommercial purposes and must include the following: “Published with permission by FXBG Advance.”

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Fredericksburg Deputy Police Chief Crystal Hill has officially confirmed the death of a child eight days ago at a Mary’s Shelter home in the city, as first reported by The FXBG Advance on November 1 in an article headlined “Second Child Death in Three Years Reported at Fredericksburg Anti-Abortion Group’s Shelters.”

“I will confirm the following information,” Hill wrote in a short email to The Advance: “This is a death investigation. The decedent was an infant less than 1 year of age.”

Hill wouldn’t release any other information about the case, including the cause of death, citing an exemption under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act for disclosure of “Criminal investigative files defined as any document and information, including complaints, court orders, memoranda, notes, diagrams, maps, photographs, correspondence, reports, witness statements, and evidence, relating to a criminal investigation or proceeding that is not ongoing….”

A Fredericksburg police records officer also said on Thursday that the infant’s death is no longer being investigated as a criminal matter.

Late last week, all police would confirm was that they were “actively investigating” an October 28 incident that required CPR at a Mary’s Shelter home in the city’s Elmhurst neighborhood. They released a 911 call log from the shelter’s Pelham Street address with an entry that read, “10/28/2026 03:11 CPR in Progress (active case).”

Pelham Street neighbors reported at that time that they’d been awoken at around 3 a.m. Wednesday, October 28, by sirens and the arrival half a dozen police cars, an ambulance, and other emergency vehicles at 630 Pelham Street, the former location of Charley’s Market and now one of six Mary’s Shelter locations in the city.

Neighbors said that four police cars remained on site for much of the following morning, and one neighbor reported overhearing a Mary’s Shelter resident standing in the parking lot in front of the shelter duplex talking about the overnight death of a child—sparking concerns about child safety after the death of an infant in another nearby Mary’s Shelter home three years ago in a case familiar to many neighborhood residents.

A Mary’s Shelter employee who answered the phone at the organization’s 1601 Princess Anne Street office last Thursday said she wasn’t authorized to say anything about “the situation,” and wouldn’t allow a reporter to enter the office later in the day to speak with administrators. The reporter made it clear that he was seeking comment about the deaths of two children in the organization’s shelters, including one at the Pelham Street location the day before.

As reported earlier in The Advance, Mary’s Shelter Executive Director Kathleen Wilson hasn’t responded to multiple requests for comment, either about the infant’s death on October 28—or about the 2023 “Sudden Unexpected Infant Death” of a two-month-old baby girl three blocks away at the organization’s Charles Street home.

In that earlier case, according to Fredericksburg Police records, officers responded to a 911 call for a “Death Investigation” on July 3, 2023, at 10:19 a.m., at 1817 Charles Street—a five-bedroom home also owned and operated by Mary’s Shelter as a refuge for pregnant women and new parents.

Eleven days later, on July 14, 2023, the child’s mother, 21-year-old Ijah Renee Langham-Anderson, was arrested and charged with two counts of Felony Child Abuse/Neglect, according to Fredericksburg Police. The case languished in the courts for two years—through multiple jury trials scheduled and then cancelled—until July 8, 2025 when Langham-Anderson pled guilty to two counts of Felony Neglect. She was sentenced to five years in prison with four years suspended, and two years of supervised probation after her release.

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Social Service and Police records indicate that there were warning signs in 2023 prior to the infant’s death. A 2024 Virginia Department of Social Services document—“Preliminary Report on Child Deaths Due to Abuse or Neglect in Virginia During SFY [State Fiscal Year] 2024. Table of Founded Investigations with a Child Death”—contains an entry that, though it doesn’t specify the locale or give any names, matches the circumstances of Langham-Anderson’s case:

Child sex: Female

Child Age (Years): 0.2

Abuser: mother

Abuse Type: Physical Neglect.

In May 2023, the LDSS [Local Department of Social Services] received a referral stating that the mother had her newborn (the decedent) in the hospital bed laying next to her, without the safety rails up and was yelling at her toddler. This referral was screened out. In May 2023, the LDSS received a second referral stating the mother and newborn were positive for marijuana. This referral was screened out; however, family support services were offered to the family which were declined.

Child was found unresponsive in the home. Cause of death is SUID [Sudden Unexpected Infant Death] associated with co-sleeping and soft bedding.

On June 15, 2023, a month after the infant was born, Fredericksburg Police say they responded to a 911 call at 11:58 a.m. for “Police Advice” at the 1817 Charles Street address. Police said audio and transcripts of that and other calls to 630 Pelham, 632 Pelham, and 1817 Charles were “past retention period,” making the precise nature of those calls unclear. The calls, several over the past three years, included reports of “Assault,” “Found Property,” “Public Agency Assist,” “Threats or Harassment,” and “Welfare Check.”

Two days ago, police released an updated 911 log from 1817 Charles with the following entries, all following the child’s death and the mother’s arrest:

7/30/23 21:11 Police Advice (past retention period for audio)

7/31/23 13:35 Police Advice (past retention period for audio)

9/19/23 18:59 Check Welfare (past retention period for audio)

2/5/24 13:40 Police Advice (past retention period for audio)

2/16/24 12:46 Check Welfare (past retention period for audio)

2/17/24 09:51 Disturbance (past retention period for audio)

4/25/24 22:01 Larceny (past retention period for audio)

11/4/24 07:59 Police Advice (past retention period for audio)

8/25/26 02:30 Open Line

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Mary’s Shelter, which describes itself as a “pro-life ministry,” was founded in 2006 by Kathleen Wilson and has close ties to the Catholic community. The organization’s website says it requires mothers living in their facilities to take parenting classes, undergo life skills training, attend counseling, and “adhere to program covenants.” The website doesn’t reference having live-in staff, or list any in-house manager positions or employees. With no response from Wilson, and after being turned away from the Shelter’s Princess Anne Street office, The Advance has not been able to ask organization officials about oversight or supervision at shelter locations.

Former Fredericksburg Republican Party chair Scott Vezina, listed on the Mary’s Shelter website as treasurer of the Board of Directors, criticized The Advance’s reporting in a post on The Advance’s Facebook page.

“In the story you admit that the first death was caused by a mother that was arrested and convicted and you have no proof that a second child even died besides what the neighbors might have overheard,” he wrote. “Great reporting… lol. Seems like you’re looking for a story that isn’t there.”

The Advance reached out to Vezina for further comment, but he didn’t respond, other than to delete his Facebook post and replace it with another saying he is no longer a member of the Mary’s Shelter board.

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What follows was also reported in the November 1 Advance:

Jill Payne, one of Virginia’s longest-serving advocates for vulnerable children, says safety protocols for children living in shelters are critical. Now retired, Payne spent decades working as a Case Manager and Executive Director for the Rappahannock Area Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) program, which judges appoint to advocate for abused and neglected children. Payne, speaking broadly about child welfare and not about specific cases, said she saw time and again that shelter alone is often not enough to keep children safe.

“Obviously it’s important for parents and kids to have a place to live,” Payne said. “But when you’re dealing with high-risk families, and especially with babies, there needs to be close oversight. The stakes are so high.”

It is not clear how or if Mary’s Shelter screens prospective residents to determine whether they can independently take care of their babies, whether they struggle with substance abuse or mental health issues, or whether other factors may put a child’s safety at risk.

Mary’s Shelter’s website does indicate that the organization promotes safe-sleep protocols, which are designed to prevent cases of sudden infant death that can occur when babies suffocate under inappropriate bedding or co-sleep with parents. Virginia Department of Social Services strongly advocates for safe-sleep protocols for all children, and especially when parents have substance abuse issues, which are a risk factor in many child death investigations. It’s not clear whether Mary’s Shelter staff perform inspections or otherwise determine whether residents are abiding by these protocols.

New parents and their children are allowed to stay in Mary’s Shelter homes for up to three years, according to the organization’s website. The 2,000 square-foot Charles Street house, purchased by Mary’s Shelter in 2019 for $265,000 and assessed at $458,500, has five bedrooms and two bathrooms. It’s not clear how many women and children were living there at the time of the infant’s death in 2023, or live there now. Nor is it clear how many new mothers and children are living in the duplex at 630/632 Pelham. That house, purchased for $700,000 in 2022 (and assessed at $551,000), is 3,300 square feet and has six bedrooms and two bathrooms.

Mary’s Shelter, which has been widely featured in both local and national media—including conservative TV personality Tucker Carlson’s show when he was still with Fox News—is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that says it doesn’t take money from any state or federal agencies, but relies on contributions and fundraising events for all revenue. The organization brought in $928,662 last year, and spent $803,455—$277,252 of it on salaries, according to Mary’s Shelter’s most recent 990 tax form. Net assets were listed as $2,003,471.

Payne, the longtime child advocate, said any organization providing housing or case management to struggling families should put every possible practice in place to protect children. “When a child gets hurt or dies, as hard as it is, you really need to ask tough questions about whether anything else could have been done to protect them,” she said.

These questions include, but aren’t limited to:

· What level of onsite staffing exists to closely oversee children’s safety?

· Who lays eyes on the babies and children there, and with what frequency, to make sure they are appropriately fed, supervised, and cared for?

· Who checks to make sure safe sleep protocols are being followed?

· Who intervenes, and how, if a parent appears to be struggling to safely care for their children?

It is unclear who made phone calls from Mary’s Shelter to 911; questions also linger about the extent of DSS involvement in the life of the child who died in 2023.

“It’s heart-breaking when a child dies,” Payne said. “I always hope it triggers changes that minimize the risk of it happening again.”

***

Steve Watkins is editor of The Advance.

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As Virginia Republicans survey the wreckage of Tuesday’s election results, one key question remains: what is the party’s best path forward?

One possible response to the debacle involves nothing more than the passage of time. Perhaps the losses of two congressional seats and the blowout in the US Senate contest stem mainly from the unpopularity of President Trump and the costs of his policies. The president did offer an unusually clueless campaign narrative this fall: that the economic problems are not as serious as people think they are. That belittling of citizen financial pain, and Trump’s frequent desire to talk about his plans to rebuild part of the White House, to restore the Reflecting Pool, and to construct a proposed triumphal arch near Arlington Cemetery, were a sharp departure from Trump’s previously effective efforts to connect with voters and their fears.

Trump’s unpopularity and his unresponsiveness to public concerns certainly made a bad situation worse this year, and not just for Republicans in Virginia. The president was a millstone that sank Republicans all over the country. Some Red state candidates for governor and senator, including those in Texas, Kansas and Iowa, fell short this week.

If Trump is indeed the entirety of the party’s problems, Virginia Republicans may not need to change much beyond the calendar. A new president will take office in January 2029, and after that, the theory goes, the president’s impact on the Commonwealth’s politics will be a thing of the past.

But a longer-term view of the party’s electoral performance suggests the great risks of a wait-and-hope-for-the-best strategy. The pattern of election day losses is not limited to this fall. A year ago, Virginia Republicans suffered huge defeats. They lost the race for governor by a double-digit margin and endured a net loss of 13 seats in the House of Delegates, creating the largest Democratic majority in the lower chamber since the 1980s. Veteran Fredericksburg area Republican lawmakers, including Bobby Orrock and Paul Milde, were among those defeated by first-time Democratic candidates for delegate in 2025.

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A survey of recent U.S. Senate contests is particularly bleak for the party. Virginia Republicans have lost every contest for the U.S. Senate since John Warner was re-elected to his final term in 2002. Warner, an ideological moderate, famously feuded with conservative Republicans year after year. But he was a consistent general election winner, serving five terms. Since then, a series of mostly conservative Republicans endorsed by party activists have failed where Warner repeatedly succeeded.

Perhaps Virginia Republicans need to offer more centrist statewide candidates in today’s increasingly blue Virginia. In fact, such a strategy has been shown to work. Five years ago, Virginia Republicans worried about selecting too extreme a nominee for governor. In response, they deliberately structured their nomination system to ensure that business executive Glenn Youngkin would stand for the party in the general election, rather than a pro-Trump conservative. He ran on a low-tax, moderate agenda and was elected, offering the possibility that he would govern in a way that resembled the moderate Larry Hogan, the Republican two-term governor of even more blue Maryland.

In the end, though, Youngkin governed in a far more conservative and combative direction than his campaign messaging would have suggested. These days, the former governor’s political prospects in Virginia and nationally seem less promising than they once did.

Republican conservatives did well in the 1990s, winning elections for governor in 1993 and 1997. But Virginia has changed a great deal since then. These days, the suburbs cast a much larger share of the statewide vote than they once did, and over time the suburbs have grown to contain far more Democrats than a few decades ago. Each election cycle, the Commonwealth’s population is more racially and ethnically diverse, with conservative white voters making up a steadily decreasing percentage of the statewide vote.

In response to these demographic and political patterns, maybe Virginia Republicans should be looking for and promoting their next John Warner, rather than handing statewide nominations to evangelical conservative warriors who can’t—and don’t—win statewide elections. That course may be easier for Republicans to follow, in fact, now that Trump’s influence is in decline following the party’s painful 2026 midterms.

***

Dr. Stephen Farnsworth is professor of political science emeritus at the University of Mary Washington and the author or coauthor of nine books and dozens of research articles on U.S. and Virginia politics. His website is stephenfarnsworth.net.

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Tuesday’s election proved that the American people will not be ruled by a tyrant and his armed brigade.

The fact that the House of Representatives and the Senate are now (come January) back in the hands of the Democrats is not the important thing. It’s that they will no longer be in the hands of Republicans whose one purpose was to do Donald Trump’s bidding.

These people abandoned their consciences and followed Trump blindly to maintain power. By doing so, they lost power. The American people have spoken—loudly and clearly.

What happens between now and January is anyone’s guess. Will Trump go further off the deep end and try to use nuclear weapons against Iran (to spite Democrats), thus starting World War III? Who knows. The man is crazy, and with his power about to go away, he may try anything.

Yes, he has two more years in the White House, but maybe not. Trump has committed so many impeachable offenses that hopefully we can give him a long vacation on the island of Elba.

What about his cabinet, those men and women who before his election called him what he is, only to later bow down to him for the power he afforded them? If they have brains, they will resign and try to disappear because the Democrats will go after them in full force, especially Pete Hegseth, who should be tried for crimes against humanity.

These people sucked up to Trump in the hope that he would help their political careers move forward. Now their political futures—and their legacies—are dead in the water.

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It will take this country years—even decades—to recover from Trump and this hooligan Republican congress. We have a hole in the ground where part of the White House used to be, a war we can’t get out of, countries that used to be our friends that now hate and distrust us, a D.C. golf course littered with destroyed trees despite a judge’s order, a justice department that has been weaponized for Trump’s benefit… The list goes on and on.

And the American taxpayer is footing the bill for all this mess. Billions spent on a useless war in Iran, and a national debt that has increased by $2 trillion in Trump’s two years in office.

You think those “wealthy donors” are now going to ante up for that White House ballroom or any other Trump project? They now know they are feeding a dead horse. Look at Elon Musk. He spent half a billion dollars on the mid-terms and got nothing. Knowing the president has lost his Republican backing, these people will flee like rats on a sinking ship.

What of the MAGA movement? They now know—or should know—that their day is over, that Americans will not allow Trump to turn this country into the racist, sexist utopia that they initially envisioned. His power eroding, they will soon realize that his is not the reincarnation of Jesus Christ.

With Trump’s power, so goes the MAGA movement. With nothing to hang onto, they, like all other cults, will lose their place and meaning.

Trump and MAGA have done many bad things to this country, but perhaps their worst sin is turning people away from Christianity. That’s right, the ultra-conservative Christian right has presented such a horrible example of Christianity that many people want no part of a religion that hates and condemns. They have taken all that Christ stood for and turned it upside down for their own benefit.

As I predicted in my column before the mid-terms, this election was all about Donald Trump and America’s hatred for the tyrannical two years of hell he has put us through. Yes, he’s still president, but his “heavenly” wings have been clipped to the point where even AI can’t restore them.

MAGA has learned that you can’t go back in time. A country either moves forward or it dies. America has been given a second chance. Hopefully, it is not too late.

Israel reined in Netanyahu, and now we have cut Trump’s power source. Perhaps good will yet prevail over evil.

We who cannot stand a tyrant are now celebrating. But there is much to do to extricate this country from the damage that Trump has done.

Hopefully, now that the Trump’s power is gone, we can really make America great again—for everyone.

But after two years of hell, we have a long climb up.

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FREDLINES

Claire Marshall Watkins, ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Fredericksburg Free Press

Stafford voters reject 1% sales tax for school construction

By Adele Uphaus 11/4/2026

Stafford County voters on Tuesday narrowly rejected a measure to implement an additional 1% sales tax to support school construction projects. About 50.5% of voters rejected the measure, and 49.5% approved it, according to unofficial results from the Virginia Public Access Project.

Stafford was among 47 localities statewide — and the only one in the Fredericksburg region — that asked voters whether they wanted to adopt the additional tax. Fifteen localities approved the measure, and 32 rejected it.

Advisory committee: Make special education ‘a division-wide priority’ in city schools

By Adele Uphaus 11/4/2026

Students with disabilities “are among the populations requiring the most attention,” concludes the 2026 annual report of the Fredericksburg School Board’s Special Education Advisory Committee.

Committee members presented the annual report at Monday’s regular school board meeting.

“The central conclusion is straightforward: Fredericksburg has caring educators and areas of strong practice, but outcomes and family experiences show that the system is not yet consistently delivering the level of support students with disabilities need,” the report states.

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The Free Lance-Star

Justin Carter elected to Fredericksburg School Board (paywalled)

By Keith Epps 11/4/2026

Justin M. Carter says he’s anxious to start doing his part to make the Fredericksburg school system the best that it can be.

Carter, a 2007 graduate of James Monroe High School, got more than 73 percent of the vote to take over the at-large seat that was vacated in July when longtime board member Jarvis Bailey retired. Current board member Stan Jones ran a write-in campaign that fell short.

Carter will take his seat at the beginning of 2027 and serve at least until the end of the year, when Bailey’s original term expires. Another election is scheduled for November 2027 for a new four-year term on the board.

Port Royal and Bowling Green vote on town councils (paywalled)

By Scott Shenk 11/4/2026

Residents in the town of Port Royal selected four of five council members for another term, according to unofficial results from the Virginia Department of Elections.

Angela Golden led the council election with 42 votes (22.95 %), followed by Nathanael Ulfers (37 votes), Robert Giles (35 votes), Monica Chenault (34 votes) and Alexander Long IV (31 votes). Giles is the lone newcomer to the council.

Orange, Gordonsville candidates win “can’t lose” elections (paywalled)

By Keith Epps 11/4/2026

According to the state Board of Elections website, Zachary M. Ashworth and incumbent Jeffrey L. Crane were the only candidates on the ballot for the three available seats. Crane, the current vice mayor, received 928 votes or 35.58 percent, while Ashworth netted 741 votes or 28.41 percent.

Ironically, write-in candidates got 938 votes, more than either candidate on the ballot. It was not immediately clear how those votes were split up or how the third available seat would be filled.

Registrars report higher voter traffic on Election Day (paywalled)

By Pilar Davis, Scott Shenk, Keith Epps 11/4/2026

Steady is the way many election officials describe the flow of voters on Tuesday at polling locations across Fredericksburg and the surrounding counties of Stafford, Spotsylvania, Caroline and King George.

Corey Ashford, chief election official for precinct 504 at Gayle Middle School in Stafford County, said election officials saw more voters earlier in the morning but continued to maintain a steady flow through the lunch hour.

“We’re at 487 right now,” Ashford said. It’s about normal for a midterm. We had a little bit of a line earlier, but not out the door.”

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ADVANCE READS

Lauren Bock, Donnie Johnston

Please Pass (On) the Salt

Lauren Bock, ADVANCE CONTRIBUTOR

I met Kaye and Dave a few years ago when Dave begrudgingly joined one of my group Lifestyle Medicine classes. Kaye is a retired middle school art teacher and mother of two children, one of whom lives in a far off land with the couple’s grandkids. She’s also a breast cancer survivor, honest, passionate, charismatic, a strong advocate for herself and those that she loves—especially Dave, a retired Marine.

They dutifully attended together, Kaye nodding along while Dave sat quietly through six weeks of classes, skeptically soaking up bits of knowledge with distant hopes of shortening his medication list, just like a handful of others with similar stories:

High blood pressure and high cholesterol.

Statin-weary and medication-averse.

READ ON

Make and Model? Who Can Tell These Days?

Donnie Johnston, ADVANCE COLUMNIST

When I was a child I could tell you the make, model, and year of almost any car that passed.

A friend even swears that there was a boy in his rural elementary class who could sit at his desk and tell the make and model of any truck that drove by the schoolhouse.

Teenagers of my generation had a fascination for cars and trucks, a feeling they inherited from their parents. Many, like Goober in the classic Andy Griffith Show episode, could take a car apart—especially the motor—and put it back together.

I have passed many a country home at which a motor, suspended with a chain, hung from the overhanging limb of a front yard oak tree. It had been removed by a 16 or 17-year-old boy who was preparing it for more power and speed. Almost every kid was a mechanic of sorts.

READ ON

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STATE OF THE STATE

VaNews/VIRGINIA PUBLIC ACCESS PROJECT

Complete Virginia Election Results

The Virginia Public Access Project

VPAP provides the complete list of results for Virginia elections, including congressional offices, state constitutional amendments, and local elections and referenda.

Luria unseats Kiggans in bellwether congressional rematch

By KATE SELTZER, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

Former U.S. Rep. Elaine Luria will reclaim her old seat in Congress after a strong Election Day showing. The Democrat held a roughly 5 point lead over incumbent Republican Rep. Jen Kiggans with more than 80% of the vote in, according to unofficial results late Tuesday night. ... At the Holiday Inn Virginia Beach-Norfolk, a crowd of about 200 Luria supporters gathered to watch results come in. Among them were former Gov. Ralph Northam and Democratic U.S. Rep Bobby Scott, who had come from his own victory party after a decisive win that was called shortly after polls closed.

Taylor holds slim lead over Wittman in 1st District congressional race

By BEN SWENSON, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

The race for the 1st Congressional District remained too close to call Tuesday, with unofficial figures from the state Department of Elections showing Democrat Shannon Taylor with a thin lead over incumbent Republican Rep. Rob Wittman. Both campaigns coincidentally held watch parties on Election Night at side-by-side event venues in the Henrico County community of Glen Allen — Taylor’s at The Place at Innsbrook and Wittman’s at the restaurant Atlas 42. Wittman arrived to greet supporters about 90 minutes after polls closed at 7 p.m. He acknowledged that the race was a tight one, but felt confident he would prevail. He said there were still votes that would trickle in from rural communities and mail-in ballots. “We will push hard to get every vote counted,” he said.

Griffith, Cline win reelection; McGuire declares victory over Perriello in still-close race

By ELIZABETH BEYER, Cardinal News

Republicans won reelection in Virginia’s two most conservative congressional districts, but the race is still too close to call in the 5th District, where incumbent Republican Rep. John McGuire is fighting off a challenge from former Democratic Congressman Tom Perriello. ... “Welcome to overtime,” Perriello said. The response he got was a roaring cheer from a few dozen supporters who still remained at Kardinal Hall in Charlottesville just after 11 p.m. ... Across town, McGuire told reporters that he won the election, however. After thanking God, his wife, children and staff, he said, “we won this race.”

Virginia voters etch reproductive rights, same-sex marriage and voting restoration into constitution

By HUGH LESSIG, Cardinal News

Virginia voters on Tuesday approved three amendments to the state constitution that enshrine the right to reproductive health, including abortion, remove the ban on same-sex marriage and restore voting rights to formerly incarcerated felons. With nearly all localities reporting, supporters outpaced opponents by the following margins, according to state election figures: Reproductive health: 62%-38%; same-sex marriage: 57%-43%; voting rights: 55%-45%. The General Assembly in January gave final approval for the amendments to appear on Tuesday’s ballot. The approval was largely along party lines, with the Democratic majority spearheading the push.

Warner cruises to 4th Senate term, promises ‘an untethered Mark Warner’

By MICHAEL MARTZ, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Subscription Required)

U.S. Sen. Mark Warner cruised to reelection to a fourth term on Tuesday with a double-digit victory over Republican Bert Mizusawa, who didn’t have the money or name recognition to compete against the popular former governor in an election seen as a referendum on President Donald Trump in a political environment favoring Democrats. ... “This is my last campaign, but it’s not the end of the road,” Warner told a roaring crowd, promising to show “an untethered Mark Warner” in his final term.

Dominion, NextEra accept some proposed protections in merger case, reject rate and staffing freeze

By SHANNON HECKT, Virginia Mercury

In the final days before the Dominion Energy and NextEra merger case is set to begin at the State Corporation Commission, the companies are responding to a list of recommendations and conditions that staff members at the SCC and the Attorney General’s Office laid out as critical changes needed before commissioners approve the merger. The all stock trade of the two companies is valued at $67 billion and would create the largest regulated utility in the country. In pre-filed testimony for the case, SCC staff suggested that the companies had not met their burden of ensuring “that adequate service to the public at just and reasonable rates will not be impaired or jeopardized by granting the prayer of the petition” as mandated by the Utility Transfers Act.

Less than a third of localities approve new sales tax to fund school construction

By MEGHAN MANGRUM, Cardinal News

Voters in more than 40 communities across the state went to the polls this election cycle to determine whether to increase their taxes to fund school construction and major repairs. As of 11:15 p.m., voters in 14 of those communities were projected to have approved measures to implement an additional 1% sales tax dedicated specially for school construction. In 29, voters rejected the measure ... Results were still pending in five other localities.

***

Articles from newspapers throughout the Commonwealth and Washington D.C. Firewalls will block you from reading some, but you’ll at least have some idea about what’s going on from the headlines and summaries. CLICK HERE.

This article is published under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND. It can be distributed for noncommercial purposes and must include the following: “Published with permission by FXBG Advance.”

When I was a child I could tell you the make, model, and year of almost any car that passed.

A friend even swears that there was a boy in his rural elementary class who could sit at his desk and tell the make and model of any truck that drove by the schoolhouse.

Teenagers of my generation had a fascination for cars and trucks, a feeling they inherited from their parents. Many, like Goober in the classic Andy Griffith Show episode, could take a car apart—especially the motor—and put it back together.

I have passed many a country home at which a motor, suspended with a chain, hung from the overhanging limb of a front yard oak tree. It had been removed by a 16 or 17-year-old boy who was preparing it for more power and speed. Almost every kid was a mechanic of sorts.

Of course, cars were simpler in those days. No electronics except for a battery and a solenoid. No computer chips. No EPA mandated hoses and filters. There weren’t many things that went wrong that a man couldn’t fix himself.

If you look back into an old family photo album, you are almost certain to find at least one photo of a good-looking gal sitting on the hood of a flashy car. Young people were proud of their cars, in great part because they had worked for the money to buy them. They were not an expected or demanded “gift” when the young person turned 16. I walked home in the dark from my first job for nearly eight months to save up $200 to buy my first car. I still have the receipt.

You can’t sit on the hood of a car today. You’d bend the fabric. Cars manufactured before 1972 were made of real metal. Then, too, young people are not as skinny as they were back then.

You never heard of a child or a pet getting overheated in a hot car back in those days. Only the very rich had cars with air-conditioning so, except when it was about to rain, you kept the windows rolled down. Plenty of air for anyone inside. And even a three-year-old could use the handle to crack a window. Now, if the car is not running, the electronic windows won’t move.

It was called “250 air-conditioning.” Two windows rolled down while driving 50 miles per hour. Grandmas and babies all survived.

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Check the used cars ads from the early 1950s. “A 1948 Desoto with radio and heater.” No, until the mid-1950s, neither was standard. You had to pay extra to get either of them on many models. And radio was AM only, except maybe on Cadillacs, Lincoln Continentals or other luxury cars. Car manufacturers said, “Why bother?” After all, there were few FM stations and they only played high-brow music. You couldn’t get Hank Williams or Elvis Presley on FM radio.

The radios were simple. A dial for tuning, another for volume and an antenna on the passenger side fender that resembled a fishing pole. Low-watt local stations during the day and the big city 50,000 watters at night. And plenty of static, especially when a thunderstorm was within 20 miles.

Most states required motorists to place the registration card, usually protected by a plastic covering and held in place with a spring, around the steering column. In case of emergency, anyone could look inside and see to whom the car belonged. Watch old movies. Cops and private detectives were always checking the registrations.

Most people left the key in the ignition—with the windows down (in the summer) and the doors unlocked, even in high-traffic parking lots. People didn’t go around stealing cars like they do today. They were more honest and criminal penalties were stiffer. Besides, if a World War II veteran caught you stealing his car, he might take a tire iron to your head without fear of legal repercussions. That possibility kept many would-be thieves thumbing or walking instead of stealing.

People looked out for each other’s vehicles. If your windows were down and rain was coming, you opened the car door and rolled them up, even if you didn’t know who the car belonged to. It was common courtesy.

If the car was blocking another vehicle or an entrance, you got in, started it up and moved it— again, even if you didn’t know the owner. Nobody called the police or screamed bloody murder. Instead, they thanked whoever did it. In many cases, it prevented the owner from getting a ticket. Again, common courtesy.

You gave hitchhikers a ride, unless the person looked dangerous, of course. People were more trusting. Today, no one would stop for a man in a suit and a clerical collar, afraid he was pretending to be a preacher and out to get them. We don’t trust anybody.

Almost every man—and many women—could change a tire. No calling AAA. You just got out and did it. And often, the tire could be repaired on the spot.

Most tires had tubes, so if a nail punctured the tire and tube, patching the tube could get you back on the road. Most drivers carried patch kits, a little cardboard can with a metal top that had rasp-like ridges. Inside were patches and a small tube of glue. Most men could patch a tube in five minutes. I watched my grandfather patch a tube on the spot many times.

And there was a manual air pump in every trunk, along with a real jack and lug wrench, not the gizmos in today’s cars. And a real spare tire, which you put on if the hole was not reparable or you didn’t have time to do the patch.

Old tubes? The rubber made great slingshots. And old tires were hung by ropes from a tree limb and used as swings. Nothing was wasted.

Nobody had trucks except farmers and those who used them for work. It was felt that a truck was a vehicle for the lower classes. Today trucks are status symbols for old retired people who would pay somebody to haul something rather than get their beds dirty or scratched.

Yep, cars and attitudes have both sure changed since I was a boy. Back then cars were unique, each make had its own look. Today, they all look alike. And you need thousands of dollars’ worth of electronic tools to fix any problem. Sixty years ago, a set of wrenches and a screwdriver solved a lot of problems.

I won’t compare car and gas prices, but no matter how much you gripe, they are no higher now than when I was a kid, relative to wages in those days.

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