FREDLINES
Eve Evans, EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
Potomac Local News
Police Blotter: Assault Suspect Arrested After Chase
By Uriah Kiser 09/04/2026
Spotsylvania deputies arrested Cesar Mario Torres Juarez, 30, Friday morning after a vehicle pursuit from Courthouse Road to Brock Road, ending a joint search with Fredericksburg police tied to two linked sexual assaults at Plank Road massage businesses in March and August. He faces rape, forcible sodomy, abduction and related charges in both Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania, and deputies are seeking additional charges from the chase.
Other regional arrests: a Bristow man charged in two April shots-fired incidents in Manassas, a Gainesville abduction case involving a cable technician, an assault on a Woodbridge police officer, a burglary at an AT&T substation, and several Stafford County arrests for DUI, drugs, shoplifting and public intoxication.
Stafford supervisors seek state and federal data-center limits
By Uriah Kiser 09/04/2026
Stafford County supervisors on Sept. 1 directed staff to draft letters asking Gov. Abigail Spanberger for a special legislative session on data-center rules, and a temporary pause on new large-scale approvals if comprehensive legislation can’t pass quickly, then expanded the request to include the federal administration. Supervisors said the county’s own ordinance, while among the strictest in Virginia, cannot address river withdrawals, well impacts, or rising power costs tied to data-center growth. The board took no vote that night on any specific project, though public comment centered on the Accokeek Center campus, recently recommended 4-3 by the Planning Commission despite heavy opposition, and a four-building Forest Lane proposal on the Rappahannock River slated for a Sept. 3 hearing. Supervisors said letters to Richmond and Washington should differ in focus, with the state ask covering local authority and water issues and the federal ask opposing efforts to shift siting decisions away from localities.
Police Identify Fatal Stafford Crash Driver
By Uriah Kiser 09/03/2026
A tractor-trailer driver, identified by Virginia State Police as 40-year-old Derek P. Volkmer of Glen Burnie, Maryland, died Thursday morning when his rig left I-95 northbound near Exit 140 in Stafford County and struck the Courthouse Road overpass, according to state police. Two of the three northbound lanes closed for several hours, backing up traffic for miles onto Route 1 and secondary roads and delaying dozens of Stafford County school bus routes; VDOT reported all lanes reopened by 4:06 p.m. The crash remains under investigation, with no cause or trucking company named. A GoFundMe organized for Volkmer’s fiancé and two children had raised about $12,670 of a $20,000 goal as of Friday afternoon.
The Free Lance Star
Trial of man accused of bringing juveniles to Stafford delayed (paywalled)
By Keith Epps 09/03/2026
The trial for Tyrone McDaniel, 55, of Chaptico, Maryland, accused of bringing two girls from Baltimore to a Stafford motel for prostitution purposes, has been delayed again, this time to Jan. 26 at the defense’s request. McDaniel faces charges including abduction with intent to defile, taking a minor for prostitution and drug possession; by the new trial date he’ll have been jailed nearly 16 months. According to earlier testimony, McDaniel picked up the girls, ages 13 and 17, in Baltimore and drove them to a North Stafford motel where they found sex toys, drugs and paraphernalia, though no evidence has shown the girls were made to engage in sexual activity before they escaped and flagged down an off-duty officer. Defense attorney Jim Ilijevich has also moved to bar the teens from testifying, citing inconsistent statements.
ADVANCE READS
Michael Aubrecht, Steve Rabson, Phil Huber
Checkmate on the Delaware
Michael Aubrecht, ADVANCE CONTRIBUTOR
To define the life and legacy of Colonel Johann Gottlieb Rall, you might use the term “victim of circumstance.” You might also blame his deep fixation on the Royal Game of Chess.
Either way, Rall’s is the ironic tale of a military man whose stubborn nature and bad luck resulted in an untimely death: His own. As the commander of the Hessian Troops garrisoned at Trenton, New Jersey, Rall—sometimes spelled “Rahl”—was on the unfortunate receiving end of General George Washington’s surprise attack that followed the Colonial Army’s brilliant crossing of the Delaware River on Christmas night in 1776.
I Hear What You’re Saying. Sorta.
By Steve Rabson, GUEST COLUMNIST
In May 1974, shortly after moving to Boston, I made my first of many visits to Fredericksburg where my mother was a psychology professor at Mary Washington College, now the University of Mary Washington. In those days, I associated southern accents, like what I heard in Fredericksburg, with the South’s history of slavery and Jim Crow.
Another Failed Congress: Ten Ways They’ve Fallen Down on the Job
By Phil Huber, ADVANCE COLUMNIST
A quarter of Fredericksburg-area workers draw a federal paycheck or a federal contract—Quantico and A.P. Hill, VRE riders bound for Washington agencies, contractors, veterans, retirees—so when Congress can’t do its job, we feel it before most of the country does. Article I of the Constitution made Congress the first branch of government for a reason: It writes the laws, controls the money, and declares the wars, so no single man could act like a king. Not the president. Congress. That’s the whole design.
This 119th Congress has walked away from nearly every part of that job description, and it didn’t take a leak, a whistleblower, or an investigative unit to find the evidence—it’s sitting in plain sight on Congress.gov, in GAO reports, and in the Congressional Record.
STATE OF THE STATE
VaNews/VIRGINIA PUBLIC ACCESS PROJECT
Spanberger declines to call second special session for review of proposed Dominion-NextEra merger
By BRANDON JARVIS, Virginia Scope
Gov. Abigail Spanberger said Thursday she will not call another special session of the General Assembly to give state regulators more time to review the proposed $66.8 billion merger between Dominion Energy and NextEra Energy, rejecting a request from lawmakers who warned the current 180-day review period is too short. In a letter to members of the General Assembly, Spanberger said she shares lawmakers’ desire for a “thorough and comprehensive review” of the proposed merger and said it is critical that the transaction benefits Virginians. But she said lawmakers already have the opportunity to act. “The General Assembly is currently in a special session and can choose to come together at this time,” Spanberger wrote. “As such, I will not be calling a second special session.”
Virginia House Speaker Scott weighs in on NextEra-Dominion deal in letter to SCC chair
By DAVE RESS, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Subscription Required)
One of the most powerful politicians in Virginia has weighed in with sweeping concerns about NextEra Energy’s proposed takeover of Dominion Energy — and for House Speaker Don Scott, D-Portsmouth, there’s a cautionary tale in Virginia banking. He said he wants to be sure: that the merged companies would be fully committed to Virginia’s clean energy goals; that residential ratepayers won’t be hit by higher power bills; that Virginia jobs won’t be cut; and that Richmond will be a co-headquarters of the merged companies. Although NextEra and Dominion have promised all that, promises aren’t enough, Scott said in an interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch on Thursday.
Spanberger says calls to ban Flock license reader cameras ‘overly simplistic’
By SCOTT GELMAN, WTOP
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger said calls to ban automatic license plate reading cameras, such as Flock devices, are “overly simplistic,” instead vowing to work with lawmakers on a solution to protect privacy while also maintaining the ability for law enforcement to investigate crimes. At an unrelated event in Northern Virginia on Wednesday afternoon, Spanberger said she’ll collaborate with members of the General Assembly to address concerns. Earlier this week, Republican state Sen. Glen Sturtevant said he intends to introduce legislation banning Flock cameras during the upcoming General Assembly session.
At least 20 Virginia localities have pulled away from Flock Safety devices since July
By EMMA MALINAK, Cardinal News
Flock Safety debates are sweeping across Southwest, Southside and Central Virginia as some localities end their contracts with the company or pause use of its technology. On Thursday night, the Lynchburg City Council voted to initiate a process to end the city’s contract with Flock. The sheriff’s offices in Montgomery, Amherst and Bedford counties announced that they would stop using the technology, too. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said the pause would give the office time to establish a committee to review current Flock policies and practices. Amherst and Bedford cited “discrepancies” that they want to review with Flock. Lynchburg’s vote aligns the city with other localities that have called Flock into question.
Consumer sentiment tumbles as Virginians feel pressure from inflation, new poll finds
By MARKUS SCHMIDT, Virginia Mercury
Virginia consumer sentiment fell sharply in August, wiping out modest gains from earlier in the year as renewed inflation and a lackluster labor market weighed on household finances, according to a new Roanoke College poll released Thursday. The Virginia Index of Consumer Sentiment fell to 59.6, down 7.8 points from February and 4.9 points from a year ago. The overall index and its two components — current conditions and consumer expectations — are now below their five-year average of 68.1. “Virginia households are feeling the economy’s ups and downs much more in their day-to-day finances than in their outlook for the future,” said Alice Kassens, professor of economics and dean of Roanoke College’s School of Business, Economics, and Analytics.
Virginia law requires school districts to submit a mold plan. Only 15 have.
By VICTORIA A. IFATUSIN, The Richmonder
At an October meeting in 2023, the union representing Richmond Public Schools teachers asked the Richmond School Board to adopt a resolution it wrote acknowledging a mold problem within the district. The resolution was created after numerous complaints from school staff and parents detailed the presence and impact of mold in various schools ... “Many of the directives in the resolution are already enshrined in Virginia code,” said Anne Forrester, at the time the vice president of the Richmond Education Association. The Virginia code she was referring to requires local school boards to “develop and implement a plan to test and, if necessary, a plan to remediate mold in public school buildings in accordance with guidance issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.”
Friday Read Meet the Retirees Turning Their Virginia Farms Into Wildlife Corridors
By EMMA MONTGOMERY, Smithsonian Magazine
John Rice starts his morning early, trading an empty cup of coffee for a water bottle. It’s a summer day in rural Virginia, set to reach a high of 95 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s not the heat, but the humidity that’ll get you. Up the road, just as the pavement gives way to dirt, an old farmhouse sits on the edge of the dirt road. Here live Rice’s neighbors, John and Debbie Sessler. John Sessler grabs his leather gloves and applies insect repellant. Throughout the summer, both John Rice and John Sessler are busier than ever – retirement hasn’t slowed them down. They’re farmers working together toward a larger goal: increasing biodiversity – the variety of all living things and their interactions. Unfolding on farms in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley are Smithsonian science-guided management practices that create, restore, and connect habitat while keeping farms productive ...
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