FREDLINES
Claire Marshall Watkins, ADVANCE CONTRIBUTOR
Fredericksburg Free Press
Data center community advocacy groups seek local public hearings on Dominion-NextEra merger
By Jonathan Hunley 09/09/2026
A coalition of nine Virginia community advocacy organizations — including Protect Stafford and Safeguard Spotsy — is calling for greater transparency, enhanced due process and public participation as state officials evaluate the proposed $67 billion Dominion Energy-NextEra Energy merger.
In a statement released Tuesday, Protect Stafford and Safeguard Spotsy said the coalition hasn’t taken a position supporting or opposing the proposed merger. Instead, its participation is “focused on ensuring a thorough review, meaningful opportunities for affected communities to participate and access to the information necessary to understand the potential impacts of the transaction.”
‘An end to this issue’: Caroline Supervisors decline to discipline planning commissioner
By Taft Coghill Jr. 09/09/2026
The Caroline County Board of Supervisors decided against disciplining planning commission member JD Young after a closed session Tuesday night.
There was no vote on the matter, but Chairman Clay Forehand read a statement detailing that the board investigated the offer of a $25,000 proffer from developer Luck Stone to a nonprofit organization called Musical Creations Foundation which Young’s wife, Toneika Stephens-Young, owns and operates.
The board was investigating whether the proffer constituted malfeasance.
Spotsylvania supervisors appoint McLaughlin to vacant Chancellor seat
By Taft Coghill Jr. 09/09/2026
The Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors decided to lean on experience in appointing a replacement for former Chancellor District representative Gerald Childress, who resigned Aug. 6.
The board voted 4-2 to appoint former Chancellor District Supervisor Tim McLaughlin to the seat following a closed session at the end of its meeting Tuesday night.
Stafford urges residents to weigh in before Verizon drops landlines
By FPP Staff 09/09/2026
Stafford County’s government is informing residents and businesses that Verizon has filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission, seeking approval to discontinue certain traditional copper-based landline telephone services in Virginia and other states.
The FCC is accepting public comments on the proposal through Thursday, Sept. 10.
The Free Lance-Star
Pipe replacement to close Spotsylvania County road next week
By Scott Shenk 09/09/2026
Drainage pipe replacements will shut down a section of Catharpin Road in Spotsylvania County next week.
Bus driver indicted and arraigned in Stafford ... again.
The bus driver accused of causing five deaths and multiple injuries in a horrific May 29 crash in Stafford County was indicted for the second time Tuesday in Stafford Circuit Court.
ADVANCE READS
Rebecca R. Rubin, Donnie Johnston, Phil Huber
Fredericksburg’s Conservation Future: ‘A Battle for the Soul of the City’
Rebecca R. Rubin, SPECIAL TO THE ADVANCE
Somebody recently described Fredericksburg’s conservation challenge as “a battle for the soul of the city,” and I think that’s accurate. As an employer for three decades in this and other cities ranging in size from small to large, I learned that a highly developed city isn’t necessarily what attracts people; what they tend to like is outdoor places to recreate and to raise their kids as measured by open space, parks, and access to nature. Yes of course, an economic base is critical – to a point. At some stage, people start to feel the imbalance when places they walk, hike, bike or stroll have development at their edges; where there is more noise, traffic, crowds, heat, and overall incursion into their recreational space; where there is little to no shade as would be offered by forested areas; where there is eerily decreasing birdsong.
Change-of-Seasons Greetings
Donnie Johnston, ADVANCE COLUMNIST
In our area, being so close to the influences of the Atlantic Ocean, every winter storm is a crapshoot and even the best computers often get the forecast wrong.
That said, I would not count on blizzard after blizzard this winter. More often than not, a strong El Niño leads to a warmer than average winter, which is what I am predicting. Sorry, snow lovers. Less than a foot of snow all winter. Maybe none at all. That’s how I see it.
Of course, I could be wrong, and I hope I am. But I don’t think so.
11 Threats to the 2026 Vote—and 11 Ways to Protect It
Phil Huber, ADVANCE COLUMNIST
The threat to the November election is unlikely to come in one dramatic order from Washington. It is more likely to arrive through many smaller pressures: demands for voter data, questionable citizenship checks, restrictions on mail ballots, attacks on voting machines, intimidation of election workers, delayed certification, and constant repetition of fraud claims without evidence.
Some of these efforts have been slowed by states, local election officials, career public servants, civic organizations, journalists, and courts. But a strategy can do damage even when it does not fully succeed. It can confuse voters, exhaust election workers, delay results, and persuade Americans not to trust a lawful count.
STATE OF THE STATE
VaNews/VIRGINIA PUBLIC ACCESS PROJECT
Spanberger launches Virginia’s government technology overhaul, names director
By MARKUS SCHMIDT, Virginia Mercury
Virginia is creating a team of technology specialists to improve state websites and computer systems while guarding against costly technology contracts and wasted taxpayer dollars. Gov. Abigail Spanberger on Tuesday named Andrea Fletcher director of the new Virginia Digital Service, which will bring together engineers, designers and other technical experts to modernize state government operations and make public services easier to use. The team will also review how Virginia buys and uses technology, with an eye toward identifying problems before the state commits taxpayer money to poorly designed systems or contracts.
New sales tax could generate $1.27 billion over 3 years for school construction, study finds
By MEGHAN MANGRUM, Cardinal News
The sales tax dedicated to school construction on the ballot this fall could generate more than $1.27 billion over the next three years, if it’s approved in all 47 counties and cities that are considering it this year. These estimated revenue projections come from the Virginia Municipal League, based on data from the Virginia Department of Taxation. The estimates were provided Tuesday to members of the state’s Commission on School Construction and Modernization during its first meeting in more than three years. Revenue would vary widely by locality and would still not fully address the nearly $25 billion needed, as of a 2021 report, to modernize the state’s schoolhouses.
Number of youth at Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Center falls from 193 to 130
By DAVE RESS, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Subscription Required)
Virginia’s aging, under-staffed Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Center houses fewer residents these days, after a fresh look at why so many teenagers sent there with a plan for a few months of incarceration and treatment ended up staying for close to the maximum time set by state law. ... [The Department of Juvenile Justice] released 63 of the 193 youth in Bon Air when DJJ director Bob Bermingham took office in January, most to aftercare programs of therapy and supervision that, along with ankle monitors they had to wear for 60 days, allowed them to return to their communities. Others went to local juvenile detention centers, the facilities where delinquents can serve short sentences for less serious offenses or await court hearings.
Virginia kept its climate law. Dominion sees a loophole.
By ELIZABETH OUZTS, Canary Media
Even as data centers spike energy demand and electricity rates rise, Virginia has stood by its landmark climate targets when other states, from New York to Hawaii, have wavered. Legislators in the data center capital of the world didn’t just preserve the 2020 Virginia Clean Economy Act earlier this year; they strengthened it — expanding requirements for energy providers to invest in battery storage, community solar, and energy efficiency. But now, Virginia’s largest electric utility is putting the law to its toughest test yet. In rural Cumberland County, Dominion Energy is proposing to build one of the nation’s biggest natural gas facilities, even though the statute prevents new fossil fuel plants and says all of them must shut down within two decades. Utility regulators can waive the rules on fossil fuel generation if they determine grid reliability is at stake ...
***
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.”