FREDLINES
Eve Evans, ADVANCE EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
Potomac Local News
By Uriah Kiser, 08/27/2026
The Stafford County Sheriff’s Office sent four emergency-communications employees to the NAVIGATOR 2026 dispatch conference in Las Vegas this spring using public funds, with airfare, hotel, and registration billed through the county’s five-year contract with 911 software vendor Priority Dispatch, plus $233 county per diem checks issued to each employee for meals. The contract, a March 2025 quote tied to Stafford’s existing dispatch agreement, bakes in four annual “Navigator All-Inclusive” packages every year for five years regardless of conference location, totaling roughly $48,000 for 20 person-trips over the life of the deal; both the Sheriff’s Office and Priority Dispatch say attendance isn’t required for certification or any contractual reason. The Sheriff’s Office said the arrangement went through standard procurement but didn’t provide a board staff report or written selection policy showing supervisors reviewed the travel line item, and Stafford’s Board of Supervisors doesn’t oversee the sheriff, a separately elected constitutional officer. None of the county’s Board of Supervisors or General Assembly delegation had responded to questions about the arrangement by the newspaper’s deadline.
Beloved Farm Drops ‘Tech Campus’ Bomb, Gets Roasted
By Uriah Kiser, 08/27/2026
The Fulks family, which has run Belvedere Plantation in Spotsylvania County for nearly six decades, posted on Facebook this week to reassure the public that its Fall Harvest Festival will open Sept. 12 as planned, but the post backfired after the family revealed it’s “begun working with a very reputable organization” to site a “technology campus” on the property, drawing over 1,200 reactions and accusations that the phrase is a euphemism for a data center. A review of Spotsylvania County’s public records found no pending rezoning or special-use filing tied to Belvedere or the Fulks family, meaning the operator, footprint, and terms of any potential deal remain unknown, though the family said it remains “committed to the future operation of the festival.” The backlash comes amid heightened local sensitivity to data center development, with Spotsylvania having already approved eight such projects and roughly 10 more in the pipeline, including the nearby Massaponax Tech Campus proposal seeking to rezone 589 acres along the same Route 17 corridor.
The Free Lance Star
Man indicted in connection with rapes along Fredericksburg recreational paths (paywalled)
By Keith Epps
08/27/2026, A 22-year-old man has been indicted under seal by a Fredericksburg grand jury on multiple counts including rape, abduction with intent to defile, aggravated sexual battery, and sodomy in connection with two separate attacks on the city’s canal path, several of which carry potential life sentences. A capias has been issued for his arrest, and both the Commonwealth’s Attorney and police chief declined comment due to the seal order. The Oct. 19 attack occurred near Cossey Pond, where a victim was grabbed from behind, assaulted, and shown explicit videos before a passing bicyclist interrupted the attack and called 911; the May 31 attack occurred on Ficklen Island, where a victim was grabbed, raped, and forced to perform sex acts before escaping, later telling police the attacker communicated via a translation app. If arrested, the man will be tried in Fredericksburg Circuit Court.
80-year-old man jailed in Spotsylvania molestation case
By Keith Epps, 08/26/2026
80-year-old Richard Edward Conway of Spotsylvania, who avoided jail time earlier this year after pleading guilty to a child molestation charge, was jailed Friday at Rappahannock Regional Jail on an alleged probation violation for viewing pornography or erotica, which his plea agreement barred. His probation officer discovered the alleged violation after installing monitoring software on Conway’s phone. Conway had pleaded guilty to touching a six-year-old girl’s genitals during a July 2024 visit to his home; he was later diagnosed with mild vascular dementia, and his family said the condition contributed to his actions. At sentencing, the victim’s parents had asked the court not to impose active incarceration due to Conway’s mental state and requested he receive treatment and have no unsupervised contact with children, a request the court granted. Conway remained in jail as of Wednesday.
Buttocks grabber gets maximum sentence on conviction
By Keith Epps, 08/26/2026
23-year-old Hien The Dinh of Stafford was sentenced Wednesday to 12 months in jail — the maximum penalty — for assault and battery after a jury convicted him last month of grabbing Genesis Culp’s buttocks while she jogged the River Heritage Trail in Fredericksburg on March 25. Dinh had faced three counts of sexual battery tied to that incident and two similar March assaults, but the jury acquitted him on two charges. Because misdemeanor defendants serve only half their sentence and Dinh has been jailed since March 31, he’s expected to be released within about 60 days. Judge Charles Sharp called Dinh’s conduct “horrible,” saying he’d turned the city’s walking trails “into a place of fear,” while prosecutor Elizabeth Humphries cited his history of similar “groping-type” charges in other jurisdictions in seeking the maximum sentence.
The Fredericksburg Free Press
Stafford County administrator: Budget will be difficult next year
By Johnathan Hunley, 08/27/2026
Stafford County Administrator Bill Ashton told the Board of Supervisors Tuesday that next year’s budget will be “the most challenging one we’ve done yet,” citing 3.4% inflation and rising tax breaks for disabled veterans that are cutting into county revenue even without a tax rate increase. Ashton said the county won’t be able to afford new hires in fiscal 2028, following an earlier tax rate increase this year (from $0.9236 to $0.9675 per $100 of assessed value) that funded an already-slimmed budget. Board Chairman Deuntay Diggs signaled the board wants to avoid raising taxes again and said cuts are coming, while Vice Chairwoman Maya Guy asked Ashton to still outline what it would take to hire a couple of key positions. Ashton is scheduled to present his budget on March 2, 2027, with supervisor discussions beginning as early as this October.
PJM proposal would require data centers to bring their own power
By Shannon Heckt, Virginia Mercury, 08/27/2026
Regional grid operator PJM has filed a proposal with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission requiring new large-load customers, primarily data centers, to bring their own power supply to the grid, either by directly funding new energy capacity or securing backstop power purchases. Under the plan, data centers that haven’t done so would be first in line to be shifted onto backup generators or asked to cut power use during peak demand on the hottest and coldest days, while states would gain responsibility for implementing cost-allocation and reliability policies. The proposal has drawn concern from environmental groups worried about increased use of diesel backup generators, particularly after PJM received several emergency federal waivers this year allowing generators to exceed emissions limits during grid strain; PJM also plans to create a registry of large-load customers and has asked FERC for a decision within 60 days. The move follows Dominion Energy’s creation of a new rate class imposing minimum demand charges on large-load customers like data centers and major manufacturers.
New state dashboard reveals how many are at risk of losing SNAP benefits
By Adele Uphaus, 08/27/2026
An estimated 242 families in the Fredericksburg region could lose SNAP food assistance benefits due to expanded work requirements under the federal reconciliation bill H.R. 1, according to new dashboards published by the Virginia Department of Health and Human Services. Effective Feb. 1, 2027, adults aged 55-64, parents of teens 14-17, veterans, homeless adults, and youth aging out of foster care will lose prior exemptions and must document 80 hours of monthly work to remain eligible past three months; locally, the numbers at risk range from 95 of 11,442 participants in Spotsylvania to 11 of 1,549 in King George, with 6,947 at risk statewide. In response, Gov. Spanberger signed a “Keep Virginia Covered” executive order this week aimed at minimizing enrollment barriers and protecting access to SNAP and Medicaid, which H.R. 1 is also set to cut by $1 trillion over the next decade.
Spotsylvania supervisors vote on limit to industrial land dedicated to data centers
By Taft Coghill Jr., 08/27/2026
The Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 Tuesday to amend the Comprehensive Plan so that data centers are recommended to occupy no more than 45% of the county’s land zoned Industrial, rather than the 55% staff had recommended. The compromise, offered by Supervisor Drew Mullins after Chris Yakabouski’s initial motion for 40% failed to gain support, leaves roughly 2,773 of the county’s 6,106 Industrial-zoned acres available for data center development, with 1,756 acres already used by the eight data centers the county has approved and 10 more applications pending; Yakabouski and David Goosman voted against the 45% figure because they wanted a lower cap. The vote follows the board’s February decision requiring a Special Use Permit for all data centers, eliminating by-right development, and comes as the Planning Commission works toward a full Comprehensive Plan update expected by year’s end; several supervisors said the vote sends a message that the county wants to slow the industry’s growth while noting the plan can be revisited later.
ADVANCE READS
Lauren Bock, Phil Huber, Ranjit Singh
What Blue Zones Can Teach Us About Health and Wellness
By Lauren Bock,ADVANCE CONTRIBUTOR
Michael admitted he had a problem. A Tate’s cookies and Haagen-Dazs ice cream kind of problem. Yet his Eastern European wife Svetlana saw another issue woven into Michael’s lifelong weight struggle.
‘I don’t understand you fat Americans,” she said to me defiantly in the clinic exam room one day. “You sit in your car and drive to dinner, rush through your meals, and then sit in your car to drive home and sit on your rear and watch TV.” Her arms and legs were crossed, her gaze condescending, but she was right—and she knew it.
Fight or Fold: The Pattern Fredericksburg Needs to Test on the VA
By Phil Huber, ADVANCE COLUMNIST
At the Fredericksburg VA Medical Center, staffing has fallen to roughly 41 percent of authorized levels, a direct casualty of the administration’s federal hiring freeze and workforce cuts. Veterans in our community are waiting longer, driving farther, and getting less. That single number is worth holding onto, because it’s the clearest local example of what happens when the people affected by a decision never get a vote on it. Over the past eighteen months, nearly every corner of the American economy has faced the same choice the VA’s own workforce didn’t get to make: fight the administration’s pressure, or fold to it. And the record is clearer than the headlines suggest—fighting worked more often than folding did.
KEEP IT DOWN OUT THERE!
By Ranjit Singh, ADVANCE ENVIRONMENTAL COLUMNIST
Kids are taught to keep quiet while fishing. They are told that noise spooks fish, and that the wise angler speaks only in whispers.
Later, the child matures, gains experience, and—in my particular case—acquires two aquariums. They then learn that fish don’t react much, if at all, to the normal human voice. Rather, sudden movements are what makes them dart away in fear. This makes sense since the ambush predators they must avoid to survive often rely on stealth.
Raubvögel singen nicht, as the Germans say: “Birds of prey do not sing.” Quiet can mean danger.
STATE OF THE STATE
VaNews/VIRGINIA PUBLIC ACCESS PROJECT
Virginia AG creates unit to act on federal overreach
By MICHAEL MARTZ AND ANNA BRYSON, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Subscription Required)
Attorney General Jay Jones is launching another new enforcement unit, this time to respond to actions by the federal government that he said overreach their authority in Virginia. Jones said Wednesday that the new “federal accountability unit” would allow the state to quickly challenge actions by President Donald Trump that the attorney general said threaten Virginia’s interests, such as the cuts in government employment and spending under the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
Va. to receive $353 million in landmark Meta child-safety settlement
By MARKUS SCHMIDT, Virginia Mercury
Virginia is set to receive at least $353 million from Meta Platforms Inc. under a major multistate settlement that would also require the parent company of Facebook and Instagram to adopt new safeguards aimed at protecting children from addictive features and harmful content. The agreement, announced Wednesday, could reach more than $17 billion nationwide, making it one of the largest state consumer protection settlements in U.S. history outside the Big Tobacco agreements of the 1990s. It remains subject to approval by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, where the case was filed.
VPAP Visual Virginia SOL Scores: 2025–26
The Virginia Public Access Project
The Virginia Department of Education has released SOL scores for the 2025–26 school year. See timelines of the statewide pass rates since 2005 for each SOL, grouped by subject.
In Virginia’s Navy Country, the Iran War Tests a G.O.P. Incumbent
By OLIVIA DIAZ, New York Times (Metered Paywall - 1 to 2 articles a month)
Ambling along the shore of the Chesapeake Bay on a balmy August morning, Barbara Evans laid out the dilemma she faced as she pondered whom to vote for in November to represent her in Congress. “We’re usually Republicans,” Ms. Evans, a retired business owner, said as the water crept up to her sneakers. “Now with this president, I don’t know.” The war with Iran was weighing heavily on Ms. Evans, the mother of a Marine veteran, as it is for many voters in Virginia’s Second Congressional District, where on any given day, sailors in uniform walk the streets and jet planes dot the skies.
In a small Virginia town, distrust of Big Tech hampers Trump’s AI push
By VINCENT CHOW AND LUCY QUAGGIN, South China Morning Post
The front page of the Danville Register & Bee, a local newspaper in southern Virginia with a circulation of fewer than 4,000, carried an unusual headline. “LEADER: CHINA BEHIND THE MISCONCEPTIONS,” it read, above a photograph of two homes dwarfed by a data centre behind. The leader in question was Vic Ingram, chair of the Danville-Pittsylvania Regional Industrial Facility Authority (RIFA), a local body jointly established by the city of Danville and neighboring Pittsylvania County to promote economic development in one of the poorest parts of the state. Ingram had just helped secure what officials described as the biggest economic development project in southern Virginia’s history: a proposed data-centre campus at Berry Hill…
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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.
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