FREDLINES
Claire Marshall Watkins, ADVANCE CONTRIBUTOR
Fredericksburg Free Press
Fredericksburg school division establishing graduation task force
By Adele Uphaus 09/18/2026
A newly-established task force will aim to improve Fredericksburg City schools’ on-time graduation rate.
Four years ago, 273 students entered James Monroe High School; 48 of them did not graduate this spring, putting the on-time graduation rate — the percent of each cohort that earns a diploma within four years of entering high school — at 82.4%.
The Free Lance-Star
Rappahannock Electric donates airway clearance devices
By Keith Epps 09/18/2026
A regional electric company will provide 116 potential lifesaving gifts to the Spotsylvania Sheriff’s Office, officials announced this week.
Rappahannock Electric Cooperative is supplying LifeVac airway-clearance devices for deputies to use during choking emergencies, according to a company release on Thursday. The REC donation will fund the first phase of an initiative to make portable devices for deputies who arrive at a scene before emergency medical responders.
Man pleads guilty to burglary and domestic assault charges
By Keith Epps 09/18/2026
A man who broke into his ex-wife’s Spotsylvania home last year and ran off her naked lover at gunpoint was ordered Friday to serve four years in prison.
Tonie Marquie Jones, 30, of Fredericksburg, pled guilty in Spotsylvania Circuit Court to burglary, possessing a firearm as a felon, filming a non-consenting nude person and domestic assault. As part of a plea deal, prosecutor Wendy Harris dropped or reduced several other charges, including at least one that carried a possible life sentence.
ADVANCE READS
Dewey Turner, Phil Huber, Bruce Saller, Shannon Heckt
Press Release Release: Groundbreakings, Dedications, Recognitions, Commitments, and More
Compiled by Dewey Tuner, ADVANCE HELPMEET
Data Centers in Our Region: Community Conversation
The League of Women Voters of the Fredericksburg Area invites your organizations, individuals, and community networks to join a conversation about data centers in our region on Monday, Sept. 21. 6 p.m. at Curitiba Art Café.
This gathering will be a little different from our usual Community Conversations. Rather than a presentation or panel, most of the evening will be spent in small-group discussions guided by facilitators. We want neighbors to have room to ask questions, share what they are seeing in their communities, and hear perspectives from across the region.
The VA Should Not Be a Political Pawn. So Let Veterans Ask the Questions.
Phil Huber, ADVANCE COLUMNIST
I appreciate Daniel Cortez’s recent guest column in the FXBG Advance about the Fredericksburg VA Health Care Center, “Column Response: The VA Should Not Be a Political Pawn”—a rebuttal to an essay I wrote a few weeks ago for this publication, and a follow-up by Advance Editor Steve Watkins.
Cortez and I disagree on important points, sometimes sharply. But his column does something useful: It keeps attention on our new VA facility and, more importantly, keeps the issue before the veterans it was built to serve. Veterans should be talking about this center. We should tell people when it serves us well. We should speak up when it does not. And we should be able to ask hard questions without those questions automatically becoming Republican questions or Democratic questions.
Oil and Gas Disruption in Wars Means Sharp Global Turn to Alternative Energy
Bruce Saller, ADVANCE CONTRIBUTOR
The wars in Ukraine and Iran are causing major disruptions to the supplies of oil and natural gas. Economic sanctions against Russia have forced many countries to replace cheap imported Russian gas with more expensive liquefied natural gas, mainly shipped from the U.S. The Iran war has reduced the amount of oil on the world market, causing the price to increase dramatically. These conditions have benefited the U.S. oil and gas industries, but the gains may be temporary. Countries which import large amounts of gas and oil have accelerated their transition to clean energy to reduce their vulnerability to supply chain disruptions.
Spanberger Presents Slate of Data Center Regulation Proposals, Puts First Directives in Motion
Shannon Heckt, Virginia Mercury
Gov. Abigail Spanberger on Friday unveiled a package of legislative proposals to rein in the data center industry in Virginia, with goals to tighten environmental regulations, increase cost allocation for the industry, and make the proposal process more transparent by barring non-disclosure agreements between localities and data center developers.
The plan does not include a moratorium on data center development while the details of the plan are refined, a step several environmental and advocacy groups and citizens have demanded in recent weeks.
Dubbed the “Data Center Accountability Framework,” Spanberger’s plan outlines five pillars as key priorities: transparency, environmental protections, lowering energy costs, promoting clean energy, and focusing on local workers.
STATE OF THE STATE
VaNews/VIRGINIA PUBLIC ACCESS PROJECT
Virginia’s attorney general says DHS may have violated state election law after whistleblower report
Associated Press
Virginia’s attorney general said Thursday that the Department of Homeland Security may have violated several state laws after a whistleblower accused its employees of misrepresenting themselves on voter lookup tools to hunt for noncitizen voters. In a letter obtained by The Associated Press, Attorney General Jay Jones demanded that DHS confirm in writing whether it had directed anyone to access Virginia voters’ information without first obtaining permission from those voters.
Early voting begins in Virginia, as Trump mail-ballot restrictions remain blocked
By MARKUS SCHMIDT, Virginia Mercury
Early voting begins Friday across Virginia, kicking off more than six weeks of voting for the Nov. 3 midterms just days after the U.S. Supreme Court blocked new mail-ballot restrictions sought by President Donald Trump’s administration. Voters will choose a U.S. senator and representatives in all 11 of Virginia’s congressional districts, and approve or reject three proposed amendments to the state constitution. Depending on where they live, some voters will also see local races, referendums and special elections. The election comes with control of Congress at stake after months of uncertainty over Trump’s attempt to require the U.S. Postal Service to change how it handles mail-in ballots nationwide.
Trump rallies virtually for Republican nominees
By BRANDON JARVIS, Virginia Scope
President Donald Trump participated in a tele-rally Thursday night with Virginia Republican Reps. Rob Wittman, VA-01, Jen Kiggans, VA-02, and John McGuire, VA-05. “They are incredible. They’re warriors,” Trump said of the three. “I work with them all the time, and we’ve won so much and gotten so many things that nobody else could have gotten.” Kiggans, who is perhaps the biggest target for a flip from Democrats, was called an “incredible advocate for Virginia’s Second Congressional District” by Trump.
Trump administration repeals order coordinating Chesapeake Bay cleanup and restoration
By BRYAN LYNN, CBS News
The Trump administration has repealed an executive order that sought to coordinate the efforts of federal, state and local governments to protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay. President Trump issued an executive order Wednesday to repeal a previous executive order that was established under the Obama administration back on May 12, 2009. The original measure, known as Executive Order 13508, was designed to improve protection and restoration efforts for the Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the United States.
Virginia’s Education Department retains expanded management structure as high-paid ranks grow
By ANNA BRYSON, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Subscription Required)
The Virginia Department of Education has retained and slightly expanded its upper-management agency structure built under former Gov. Glenn Youngkin. At the same time, the number of high-salaried employees has continued to grow. In December 2021, the month before former Gov. Glenn Youngkin was inaugurated, the state education department had 12 employees earning at least $130,000 annually. In 2023, under Youngkin and his second superintendent, it had 32. Now, under Gov. Abigail Spanberger, the VDOE has 57 employees earning upwards of $130,000, according to payroll records obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests. That’s nearly five times as many as it had at the end of 2021.
By ELIZABETH BEYER, Cardinal News
Updates may be coming to a state program that was created to help flood victims recover in Southwest Virginia, including a measure intended to make funding more accessible to repair or rebuild bridges and retaining walls. Those changes aim to make it easier for flood victims to tap the state aid. As of Thursday, more than $42 million of the $50 million allocated for the Virginia Disaster Assistance Fund had not yet been disbursed, more than a year after applications for the program opened. Cardinal News first reported on the funding delays last month. Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s office said Thursday that her administration plans to update guidelines to the program, streamline the process for applicants to receive those funds and expedite applications for the program.
***
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.”