FREDLINES
Claire Marshall Watkins, ADVANCE CONTRIBUTOR
Fredericksburg Free Press
Spotsylvania Planning Commission recommends approval of 555-acre data center campus
By Taft Coghill Jr. 09/17/2026
The end of the Spotsylvania County Planning Commission meeting Wednesday night grew contentious as residents blasted commissioners for their support of the Crossroads Technology Campus.
“You’re selling out your neighbors for projections, not actual numbers,” one resident shouted to the planning commission.
The commission voted 4-2 to recommend approval of a special-use permit for Amazon Web Services to construct a data center campus on 555 acres in the Lee Hill District. Earlier in the meeting, the board voted 4-2 that the project is in accordance with the county’s comprehensive plan.
‘This is something worth sharing:’ Spotsylvania school board members laud annual achievement results
By Adele Uphaus 09/17/2026
Chief Academic Officer Deborah Frazier and Susan Thrift, coordinator of instructional support and assessment, emphasized the division’s improved chronic absenteeism and on-time graduation rates.
Chronic absenteeism, which is defined as missing 10% or more of the school year, has decreased 12% since the 2023-24 school year, Thrift said.
In 2025-26, 17.8% of students division-wide were chronically absent. Rates of chronic absenteeism have been decreasing each year at every level — most dramatically at the middle school level, where the rate has dropped 14.5% since 2023-24.
‘Making myself available:’ Cole engaging Caroline and Spotsylvania residents with monthly town halls
By Taft Coghill Jr. 09/17/2026
As the director of first-year admissions at the University of Mary Washington, Sarah Lindberg takes every opportunity she can to spread awareness about what the institution has to offer.
Lindberg took part in a panel discussion on education hosted by Del. Nicole Cole, D-Spotsylvania, on Aug. 20 at the Caroline County Community Services Center.
Cole hosts monthly town halls for House District 66, which includes parts of Spotsylvania and Caroline counties, every third Thursday of the month through December.
Bowling Green Town Manager Adams-Jacobs departing for Charlottesville
By FPP Staff 09/17/2026
Bowling Green Town Manager India Adams-Jacobs accepted the position of Charlottesville assistant city manager and is stepping down, effective Sept. 25.
Bowling Green Vice Mayor Valerie Coyle announced Adams-Jacobs’ resignation in a news release on Thursday.
The Free Lance-Star
Spotsylvania man pleads guilty to shooting and car theft
By Keith Epps 09/17/2026
Spotsylvania man who stole two cars and shot into a county home from one of them earlier this year pleaded guilty to multiple charges this week.
Arik Kazmere Wilson, 19, was convicted Tuesday in Spotsylvania Circuit Court of charges that include two counts of larceny of a vehicle, shooting into an occupied building, credit card theft, attempted arson and possession of a bomb or explosives. As part of a plea agreement, a number of other charges were dropped.
Stafford man admits to theft from the federal government
By Keith Epps 09/17/2026
A Stafford County man who bilked the federal government out of more than $107,000 pleaded guilty this week to theft of government money.
Kevin D. Mickie, 47, entered the plea Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria. He faces up to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced Jan. 14.
According to court records, Mickie’s crimes occurred between November 2019 through January 2024. He was employed by a government contracting firm that provided technical support services to the Department of War, which uses the Defense Travel System (DTS) to manage, approve and reimburse official government travel.
Potomac Local News
Police Blotter: Man Charged After Fredericksburg Domestic Assault
By PLN News 09/17/2026
Fredericksburg police said they arrested Jose Caal Choc, 38, of Fredericksburg, after a Sept. 16 morning assault on Ivanhoe Court. Officers said a woman was taken to a hospital in serious condition. Detectives charged Caal Choc with aggravated malicious wounding, abduction, entering a dwelling at night to commit assault, destruction of property and domestic assault and battery. He was held without bond at Rappahannock Regional Jail.
ADVANCE READS
Eric J. Lyman, Phil Huber, Ranjit Singh
The F-Word, Part 1: A Version of Rome Visitors Can’t Avoid
Eric J. Lyman, GUEST CORRESPONDENT
Earlier this summer, an old college friend spending time in London came to Rome for a brief visit, her first trip to the city in years. A few days before her arrival, I asked her what version of the city interested her most: Ancient imperial Rome? Renaissance Rome? The papal city? Baroque? Fascist? Post-war Rome? The café culture? Foodie Rome? The gritty-modern city? The nearby countryside?
She wrote back to say she was interested in all of it, any of it, that whatever came up was fine. “Well, except for Fascist Rome,” she wrote. “With everything that’s going on in the world, that cuts a little close to the bone.”
“Noted,” I told her.
But then, while we toured different parts of the city, I realized that completely avoiding Fascist Rome was impossible. Fascist Rome was everywhere.
Flock, Starlink, and the New Architecture of Power
Phil Huber, ADVANCE COLUMNIST
America is building a panoptic infrastructure: an interlocking network of license-plate readers, facial-recognition systems, phones, location data, commercial data brokers, social-media records, biometric tools, cloud platforms, satellites, and AI models. Each system may collect information separately. Their power grows when the data can be combined, searched, analyzed, and acted upon together.
I call that emerging architecture Panspectra.
Panspectra is not one machine, one company, or one government database. It is the growing ability to observe human life across the full range of modern activity. Its parts may be bought by local police departments, installed by private businesses, run by federal agencies, collected by technology companies, or sold by data brokers. But once those parts connect, the distinction between separate systems matters less than their combined power.
The Herring’s Tale
Ranjit Singh, ADVANCE ENVIRONMENTAL COLUMNIST
It’s Mid-May.
The annual migration of river herring is just about done. The skinny, silvery-white fish have spawned—with any luck, that is, considering the gauntlet of birds and other anglers that lay in wait for them—and are now returning to the Atlantic Ocean.
Old-time residents often fish and swim Stafford County waterways in blue jeans. On Potomac Creek, this behavior can make them stick out in a world of pricey, moisture-wicking fabrics. Shirts are optional gear, too.
Like those of the old-timers quoted in the report above, the numbers of migratory fish have declined precipitously in just a single human lifetime. Historically, they appeared in the hundreds of millions. For eons, their springtime arrival has been a godsend for parents struggling to feed ravenous offspring. On Potomac Creek, however, over the last two or three generations pollution, dams, road crossings, and overfishing have ruined the river herring population.
STATE OF THE STATE
VaNews/VIRGINIA PUBLIC ACCESS PROJECT
Spanberger is bullish about Virginia House races even without a favorable map
By GREGORY S. SCHNEIDER, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
When Virginia’s state Supreme Court in April struck down a voter-approved redistricting referendum that would have helped Democrats pick up four seats in the House, Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) feared the state would become an afterthought in this year’s midterm elections. “There was a tense period of time where it was within the realm of reasonable worry that people might not engage as aggressively” with the campaigns, Spanberger said in an interview this week. “Will people pay attention? And even, to some degree, will people here in Virginia be deflated?” Instead, Spanberger said she now feels the court’s action has energized the Democratic base.
Constitutional Amendment Fundraising
The Virginia Public Access Project
A number of referendum committees have been created supporting and opposing the proposed constitutional amendments on the November ballot. If passed, these amendments would enshrine marriage equality, abortion rights, and the restoration of voting rights in Virginia’s constitution. See how much has been raised for and against each of these amendments through Aug. 31.
State releases draft regulations for recreational pot market launching in 2027
By JACK JACOBS, Richmond BizSense
With the legalization of recreational marijuana sales slated to take effect in less than a year in Virginia, state officials have unveiled proposed rules that would govern the industry out of the gate. The Cannabis Control Authority last week published the first draft of regulations for the recreational market, including the fees for licenses needed to do business in the market. Under the legislation that set the framework of the legal market, the CCA will be able to award up to 350 licenses for retail marijuana stores statewide. Licenses to operate retail-dedicated businesses would include a $4,000 application fee and a one-time, first-year operating fee of $20,000, known as an initial authorization. Retail stores would need to renew their licenses for $15,000 annually.
Navy announces $1.7B Hampton Roads military housing plan
By JOSH JANNEY, Virginia Business
The U.S. Navy on Wednesday said it plans to invest $1.7 billion for new and renovated housing for thousands of sailors across Hampton Roads. The five-year agreement between the Navy and Hunt Military Communities, which provides privatized housing for members of the military, calls for constructing or renovating 8,098 beds in Newport News, Norfolk and Virginia Beach, according to the Navy. More than $450 million will go toward HomePort Hampton Roads 2 in downtown Newport News, where the Navy and Hunt plan to build two 17-story residential towers ...
Spanberger declares state of emergency over drought conditions and low hay production in Virginia
By ELIZABETH BEYER, Cardinal News
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger on Wednesday declared a state of emergency and issued an executive order in an effort to remedy ongoing drought conditions across the commonwealth. The declaration aims to activate support for farmers who have been affected by the lack of rain and subsequent low hay production. Spanberger’s Executive Order 21 will allow hay to be transported quickly and efficiently to farms across the commonwealth by reducing regulations regarding its transport on Virginia’s highways.
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Mr. Epps - Department of Defense