FREDLINES
Claire Marshall Watkins, ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Fredericksburg Free Press
After two decades of interest, Fredericksburg-area Kalahari opens with a splash
By Taft Coghill Jr. 11/12/2026
Gale Suflita stood at the top of the stairs heading to the Tom Foolerys Adventure Park at Kalahari Resorts and Conventions Thursday morning taking photos while her two awestruck grandsons rode the escalators down.
For months, Suflita and her family had been anticipating the opening of Kalahari — the $900 million resort in the Thornburg area of Spotsylvania County — and opening day didn’t disappoint.
“It’s absolutely beautiful and the boys are so excited,” Suflita said. “It’s just amazing.”
At work session, Stafford school officials ask: ‘What’s going on with our enrollment?’
By Adele Uphaus 11/12/2026
The Stafford School Board will likely remove three new school construction projects from its 10-year capital improvement plan (CIP) due to projected declining enrollment.
Elementary school No. 20 is the second priority on the current CIP, which the board approved last year and covers fiscal years 2027 through 2036. The plan calls for it to open in August 2030. It also calls for the county’s ninth middle school to open in August 2032 and for the seventh high school to open in August 2033.
However, during Tuesday’s work session, staff recommended shifting all three of these projects outside of the 10-year window, since capacity at the elementary, middle, and high school level is now projected to stay under 90% through fiscal year 2037 (July 1, 2036 through June 30, 2037).
The Free Lance-Star
Texas group’s online trap results in Fredericksburg arrest (paywalled)
By Keith Epps 11/12/2026
A Fredericksburg man this week became the latest area man to get prison time as the result of an investigation started by a Houston-based Internet predator group.
Christopher J. Whiddon, 27, pleaded guilty to computer solicitation of a minor Tuesday in Fredericksburg Circuit Court. As part of a plea agreement, he was sentenced to five years with all but four months suspended.
According to the evidence presented by Commonwealth’s Attorney Elizabeth Humphries, the charge stemmed from online conversations with someone who portrayed himself as a 13-year-old boy named “Kaysen.” Kaysen was an 18-year-old California man working as a decoy for a group known as Predator Poachers.
Historic FMC water treatment plant now history with closure (paywalled)
By Scott Shenk 11/12/2026
This week Spotsylvania County ceremonially closed the book on a wastewater treatment plant with an atypical history dating back nearly a century, while also touting system upgrades that will improve the health of the Rappahannock River basin.
On Tuesday’s sunny fall afternoon, officials gathered on a grassy field on the FMC wastewater treatment plant site, surrounded by antiquated and worn equipment and buildings. They were there to officially mark the plant’s decommissioning, with a ceremonial valve closure and remarks on the facility’s history and the improvements made to the county’s wastewater system.
Chancellor field hockey reaches 2nd state final in 3 years (paywalled)
By Alex Murphy 11/12/2026
Overcome with emotion, Chancellor field hockey head coach James Larkin hugged his wife after Tuesday night’s 3-0 win over Warhill in the Virginia High School League (VHSL) Class 4 state semifinals.
Larkin kept uttering the same phrase over and over during the embrace: “One more game.”
That phrase has embodied what’s been a whirlwind season for the Chargers, a team that didn’t think it would be in this position based on how the 2026 season started but is now getting ready to play in its second state championship game in the past three years.
Join us in recognizing holiday heroes who inspire us daily (paywalled)
By Carrie Sidener 11/12/2026
We want to slow down and highlight people who help make the season bright for everyone. These everyday heroes don’t ask for credit as they give their own time or money to help others.
Tell us who deserves some recognition this holiday season. We will recognize some of them every week in a Hometown Holiday Heroes feature in The Free Lance-Star and fredericksburg.com. They’ll brighten readers’ day, and maybe their stories will inspire someone else to go out and help decorate or drop a few extra coins in the Salvation Army kettle.
Potomac Local News
By PLN News 11/12/2026
Fredericksburg police are asking for the public’s help locating 58-year-old Elbert Martin, last seen Wednesday near Emancipation Highway and Stafford Avenue. He is believed to be traveling by Greyhound toward Illinois.
Elbert is 58 years old and described as 5’6″, 150lbs with black and white hair and brown eyes.
ADVANCE READS
Bob Lewis, Bruce Saller, Phil Huber
In This Year’s Midterms, the Rest of The Country Learned What Virginia Has Known For a While
Bob Lewis, Virginia Mercury
Maybe the rest of America finally caught on to what Virginia has known for 10 years.
Voters handed Democrats a historic, sweeping victory not only in swing-state contests but in the most reliably Republican states Tuesday. And the reason is unambiguous: President Donald Trump.
Welcome aboard. We in the Old Dominion have been waiting for you.
I can hear the dissent now. Oh, you’re just a blue state filled with heathen liberals, and that’s why y’all voted against President Trump each of the three times he’s been on your ballot. Y’all wouldn’t know how to vote any other way than Democrat.
Time for an Electric Vehicle? The Price is Right
Bruce Saller, ADVANCE CONTRIBUTOR
The U.S. Energy Information Administration Gasoline is predicting gasoline prices will remain high through next year, averaging about $3.60 a gallon. There are a lot of used Electric Vehicles (EVs) coming onto the market that were leased for one or two years prior to the expiration of the federal tax credit. EVs depreciate a lot in the first couple of years, so the average cost of a used EV is only $579 more than the equivalent gasoline powered vehicle. My son just purchased a 2025 EV for half the original list price.
EVs have lower operating costs than gasoline vehicles. The Electric Vehicle Association found the fuel and maintenance costs of driving an EV 15,000 miles were $1,396 less than for a gasoline vehicle. The savings are highest when you can charge the EV at home or at a low-cost charging station, and are less if you need to use a fast-charging station.
Illinois to Virginia: Pritzker Offers a Starting Point
Phil Huber, ADVANCE COLUMNIST
“Where is your plan?” is a fair question for Democrats. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker offers a substantive starting point in “Fighting for Illinois: The Day One Agenda”—75 pages containing approximately 200 recommendations for federal action.
The proposals span health, education, budget, environment, and energy. They outline executive actions, legislation, and program funding—not simply requests for Congress to pass laws.
I selected three subjects relevant to the Fredericksburg region: veterans’ services, affordable housing, and data centers. My purpose is to assess the proposals, identify needed work, and encourage readers to explore the agenda.
STATE OF THE STATE
VaNews/VIRGINIA PUBLIC ACCESS PROJECT
What they’ll say and what they’ll whisper at NextEra-Dominion hearings
By DAVE RESS, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Subscription Required)
When the CEOs of NextEra Energy and Dominion Energy come before the State Corporation Commission next week to make their case for their $67 billion merger, they’ll start with some of the subtext of the deal. They’ll talk about the $1.87 billion in bill credits for Virginia ratepayers that shareholders will pay for, a $100 million boost for Dominion’s energy assistance program and NextEra’s plan to build a Richmond office tower and bring 600 corporate jobs to the state, even though none of those are issues that directly affect what the SCC must look at.
In Hanover County, environmental groups rally for statewide data center moratorium
By SHANNON HECKT, Virginia Mercury
A united front of environmental groups representing all corners of the commonwealth on Wednesday in Hanover urged the state government to implement a statewide pause on all new data center permit approvals and connections to the grid until stricter regulations for water use, energy infrastructure, and siting are enacted. Representatives from over a dozen organizations stood outside the Hanover Humane Society where a few hundred feet away, through a thin smattering of trees, a hyperscale data center was being built. The facility was permitted by-right, meaning there were no public hearings or votes before supervisors gave it the green light.
Virginia Republicans stand by the president as the party loses dozens of seats in Congress
By ELIZABETH BEYER, Cardinal News
Virginia’s remaining Republican congressional delegation and the chair of the Republican Party are sticking with President Donald Trump, regardless of the significant losses experienced by the GOP in the midterm elections. The Republican congressmen from the 5th, 6th and 9th districts stopped short of laying the blame at the feet of the president. Instead, they attributed the trouncing their party experienced to historic precedent: the White House often sees losses in midterm elections.
VPAP Visual Split Support: Where Voters Said Yes and No to Constitutional Amendments
The Virginia Public Access Project
Local support for the three constitutional amendments on Virginia ballots last week fell mainly along party lines, with most localities won by Sen. Mark Warner (D) supporting all three amendments, and the localities won by Bert Mizusawa (R) generally opposing them. But 21 localities had mixed results, voting for and against at least one amendment. See where these votes split with VPAP’s charts comparing the results for all three referenda and the U.S. Senate race.
State inspector general is investigating $52M failed child support IT project
By DEAN MIRSHAHI, VPM
Virginia’s watchdog agency is investigating a failed overhaul of the state’s child support enforcement system that cost taxpayers over $50 million. At the end of 2025, Virginia’s Department of Social Services shut down an IT project to modernize its outdated mainframe system used for the state’s child support enforcement. In August, Gov. Abigail Spanberger said during a speech to the General Assembly’s joint money committees that the unfinished project amounted to a $52 million loss. “Virginia paid serious money, and all we got were tools that barely worked,” Spanberger said at the time.
By PETER DUJARDIN, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Hampton’s top prosecutor on Tuesday pushed for changing state law to allow Virginia police agencies to share automatic license plate reader data with federal and out-of-state agencies without a court order when “time is of the essence.” Hampton Commonwealth’s Attorney Anton Bell’s proposal ultimately led the Virginia State Crime Commission to recommend that the data from Flock Safety and other companies could be shared without a court order so long as there’s “a threat of imminent bodily harm.”
Atlantic menhaden board takes steps to limit controversial harvest in the Chesapeake Bay
By KATHERINE HAFNER, WHRO
In response to growing concerns about the ecosystem, the board that regulates the Atlantic menhaden industry took action Wednesday to reduce the amount of fish that can be harvested in the Chesapeake Bay and along the East Coast. After a marathon two-day meeting, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission voted to link the Chesapeake Bay harvest cap to the total allowable catch, or TAC, the maximum amount of menhaden that can be caught coastwide.
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