FREDLINES
Steve Watkins, ADVANCE EDITOR
Other News
Stafford data-center town hall follows postponement of hearings on four major proposals
Stafford residents will have an opportunity to press county leaders about the future of data-center development at a public town hall sponsored by Chairman Deuntay Diggs and Supervisor Kecia Evans on October 18.
The event was announced two days after the county announced the postponement of a Planning Commission public hearing on four proposed data-center sites in Chairman Diggs’ district. Together, the applications propose approximately 11 million square feet of data-center space in nearly 50 buildings in southern Stafford County along the Rappahannock River.
The meeting also follows the Board of Supervisors’ vote on October 7 to approve the Accokeek Data Center project in Supervisor Evans’ district.
EVENT: “Data Centers: Ask your Supervisors—Joint Falmouth and George Washington District Town Hall” 3-6 p.m. Sunday, October 18, 2026. White Oak Fire Station, 12 Newton Road, Fredericksburg, VA 22405
The Free Lance-Star
[All Free Lance-Star articles are paywalled.]
Spotsylvania approves state bonus funds for school staff
The Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors approved $2,619,540 in bonuses for school staff during its Tuesday meeting.
The bonuses date to December 2025 in outgoing Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s amendments to the fiscal 2026 budget, according to a staff report on the agenda. The amendments included a 2% bonus payment for school employees statewide.
Spotsylvania school system Chief Financial Officer Phillip Trayer told the supervisors on Tuesday that county teachers expected the funding to be a bonus, and that the school system used it “as a hook to bring people back” rather than having them leave for higher-paying school jobs in other localities.
Potomac Local News
PLN News, October 16, 2026
The Stafford County School Board on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, approved a middle school schedule that raises core-class hours and cuts elective time, then extended Superintendent Dr. Daniel W. Smith’s contract 4-3 and bought a roughly $285,000 time-clock system for hourly employees.
The schedule change was the contested vote. Patricia Healy (Rock Hill District) and Susan Randall (George Washington District) voted no. The board adopted a six-period day plus an advisory period, already piloted at Stafford Middle, Edward E. Drew Middle, and Shirley C. Heim Middle.
Under the change, science and social studies would rise from about 88–99 clock hours to 152 hours, matching the new level for math and reading. Math and reading would drop from their current 184–189 hours to 152 hours. Electives would fall from about 88–99 hours to 76 hours. The advisory period takes time for surveys, social-emotional learning, and planning. The change is part of the 2027-28 program of studies.
Pizza Box Bins in Fredericksburg Make Recycling Easy
By Mike Salmon, October 15, 2026
Downtown Fredericksburg has a new place for used pizza boxes. The city partnered with a couple of local pizza restaurants on a recycling system that starts with screened receptacles right outside the shops, labeled “pizza boxes only, no trash.”
The manager at Benny Vitali’s said they worked with the city to put the bins out front so customers can drop their used boxes. “We didn’t pay for them,” he said. “They’re mainly specific to our boxes.” Benny’s uses a large pizza box, bigger than normal, so the bin has a larger opening.
Up the street at Mellow Mushroom on William Street, there’s another pizza box bin. The kitchen manager said the boxes didn’t fit in the regular trash can, so they sometimes just piled on top. After that happened a few times, they approached the city, and now they have a bin too. A third pizza box bin is down at City Dock.
Stafford supervisors move to strip data centers from technology zone incentives
PLN News, October 15, 2026
Stafford County supervisors want data centers removed from the county’s technology-zone incentive program, arguing the extra tax breaks are no longer needed and could further cut into projected revenue once projects are built.
The discussion came during a joint meeting of the Board of Supervisors and the Economic Development Authority on Sept. 29. No vote was taken. Supervisors directed staff to place the item on the already-scheduled Oct. 27 work session, where the board will also discuss removing by-right status for data centers in the M-2 zoning district.
The Fredericksburg Free Press
Secrets, Out? City council adds data center NDA ban to legislative agenda
By Joey LoMonaco, October 15, 2026
To date, Will Mackintosh has not signed a nondisclosure agreement with a data center developer.
And, if the at-large Fredericksburg city councilor and his peers get their way, he might never have to.
Executive Order 22, issued by Gov. Abigail Spanberger in September, banned the use of NDAs by state bodies as they relate to data center development. At Mackintosh’s suggestion, City Council agreed Tuesday night to lobby for legislation extending the ban for data center deals to the local-government level.
Stafford school board approves new middle school schedule
By Adele Uphaus, October 16, 2026
The Stafford School Board on Tuesday approved a new middle school program of studies and schedule that includes more time for science and social studies instruction — both areas in which students are performing worse on standards of learning tests than they did two years ago.
Under the new schedule, which the board approved by a 5-to-2 vote and which will take effect next school year, the school day will have six periods, up from five this year. All students will meet with teachers in the core subjects — English, math, history and science — daily.
King George Planning Commission defers solar project previously denied by supervisors
By Taft Coghill, October 15, 2026
In July 2025, the King George County Board of Supervisors voted to deny a special exception request from Gibson Solar to construct a utility scale solar energy facility combined with a livestock operation.
The project is once again before the county, but with a reduced footprint of 640 acres east of Kings Highway (State Route 3) and south of Big Timber Road.
The King George Planning Commission conducted a public hearing on the matter Tuesday, and officials remain unsure if the operation is a good fit for the county.
After hearing from numerous residents, mostly opposed to the project, the commission voted unanimously to defer a vote on whether to recommend approval to the board of supervisors until an undetermined meeting date.
ADVANCE READS
Steve Watkins, Michael O’Keefe, Phil Huber
Confidential MWHC Admin Emails Discuss Clinics’ Failure to Properly Sanitize Gynecological Instruments for Past Two Years—Maybe Longer
By Steve Watkins, ADVANCE EDITOR
Discovery Made Over the Summer, But Hospital Corporation Says It Hasn’t Informed Patients or the Virginia Department of Health
Below are confidential Mary Washington Healthcare emails hand-dated “July 28th, 2026,” and recently provided to The Advance. All were screenshotted, like the one above. None have been edited; grammatical errors and typos have been left in for accuracy. Most were written by Dr. Jordan Kuhn, chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology at MWHC.
Posted after the emails is a list of questions submitted by The Advance to Dr. Kuhn, followed by the MWHC response—with few direct answers—sent to The Advance late Thursday by Kendra Gerlach, MWHC vice president of marketing and corporate communications.
The Virginia Department of Health, contacted earlier yesterday, was not able to confirm receipt of a whistleblower complaint about MWHC, or any subsequent investigation of the hospital corporation.
This Land Is Our Land
By Michael O’Keefe, ADVANCE CONTRIBUTOR
Who would have thought that a folk singing wordsmith from the Dust Bowl era, Woody Guthrie of “This Land is My Land” fame, would feel so relevant in this age of unstable artificial intelligence and artificial stable geniuses? But who would ever have thought that the once proud, now politicized, National Park Service would even consider approving a public land swap in Yosemite National Park to provide a billionaire with exclusive private entry to those sacred public lands.
That proposal feels especially evil to me. Everyday Americans who treasure democracy steadfastly cling to the principle that all humans are created equal. Meanwhile, Trump gleefully imposes upon everyday Americans DOGE-forged NPS staff cuts that create extremely long entry lines at national parks and dangerous shortages of NPS safety and rescue services. All the while, Trump continues to remove environmental protections on thousands of acres of public lands, promote private development of the same lands, and champion exclusive national park privileges for the rich.
An Execution on Screen: Accountability or Spectacle?
By Phil Huber, ADVANCE COLUMNIST
If the government executes someone in our name, should we be able to watch? And if we should, does that mean the government should broadcast the death live to the world?
Those are different questions. The proposed livestream of Nidal Hasan’s firing-squad execution deserves more than an instinctive yes or no. It requires weighing what the public would learn against what making a death publicly available would set in motion.
The Pentagon announced plans to livestream the December 3 execution of Hasan, convicted of killing 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009. The BBC reported the announcement; subsequent statements by President Trump have left the broadcast decision uncertain, according to CBS News, though just yesterday he said he was killing the plan. We’ll see what happens.
State of the State
VaNews/VIRGINIA PUBLIC ACCESS PROJECT
Va. congressional races draw GOP attention in homestretch
By MICHAEL MARTZ, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Subscription Required)
National Republicans — and their money — are coming to Virginia for the final sprint to congressional midterm elections that will determine political control of Congress, including three pivotal races for the U.S. House of Representatives that feature GOP incumbents who are battling for survival.
October Campaign Finance Reports
The Virginia Public Access Project
VPAP has posted campaign finance disclosures filed by local candidates running for offices on the November ballot, referendum committees seeking to pass or defeat initiatives on the November ballot, state PACs and political party committees. These reports cover activity through Sept. 30 for most committees and through Oct. 7 for PACs. We rank each type of committee by the amount raised and cash on hand. Drill down for a sortable list of donors and expenditures reported by individual committees during the filing periods.
The Virginia Public Access Project
Candidates for Virginia’s 11 congressional districts have filed their latest campaign finance reports, disclosing how much money they raised and how much they still have in the bank as of Sept. 30.
The Virginia Public Access Project
How much have Virginia candidates for U.S. Senate raised through Sept. 30? See their fundraising amounts and cash on hand from the latest campaign finance reports.
Opponents of Virginia’s marriage amendment are focusing on sex and gender
By JAHD KHALIL, VPM
Some of the opposition to Virginia’s proposed same-sex marriage constitutional amendment comes down to one word: gender. If successful, Ballot Question 2 would define marriage in the commonwealth as between two adults regardless of race, sex or gender. Federal law, U.S. Supreme Court rulings and Virginia law all currently recognize same-sex and gender-diverse marriages. But proponents of Virginia’s marriage equality amendment say the state needs to double down on those protections in case that were to change. Social conservatives are uneasy about the proposal, particularly because it distinguishes gender from sex. It’s also likely the first time gender would be mentioned in the Virginia Constitution.
Dominion long-term plan calls for 21% increase in solar, 76% increase in battery storage
By DAVE RESS, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Subscription Required)
Pressed by the soaring cost of buying electricity from others, Dominion Energy sees its path forward as needing a 21% increase in solar facilities and a 76% increase in battery storage over the additions proposed in last year’s update. The company expects its preferred path forward means bills will rise by 2.26% a year over the next 20 years, boosting a benchmark monthly bill for 1,000 kilowatt-hours from $180.31 to $283.65.
Students created a program to make walking safer — and schools are now using it
By LIAM SCOTT, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
Daniil Prokofev likes to optimize his time, so earlier this year, the 17-year-old decided to run home from school. Partly through his roughly 8-mile run, he realized he had made a mistake by “naively trusting Google Maps.” The app led him to a busy road with no sidewalks, he said. It was getting dark and turning around would have added an extra three miles to the run, he said, so Prokofev continued, despite the heavy traffic. “This was really dangerous,” Prokofev, a senior at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, told The Washington Post in an interview.
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