FREDLINES
Claire Marshall Watkins, ADVANCE CONTRIBUTOR
Fredericksburg Free Press
Caroline Board of Supervisors approve Carmel Technology and Enterprise Center
By Taft Coghill Jr. 09/23/2026
The Caroline County Board of Supervisors and community members shared varying viewpoints when it came to a proposed massive industrial park called the Carmel Technology and Enterprise Center.
During a board public hearing on Tuesday, Western Caroline District Supervisor Jeff Black expressed concerns about increased traffic along U.S. Route 1 and the fact that no end-user has been determined for the facility.
Bowling Green District Supervisor Jeff Sili doesn’t believe the road infrastructure can handle the development, while other officials were optimistic about the economic benefits and community projects that developer Luck Stone proposed in exchange for rezoning 916 acres from Rural Preservation to Industrial in the Reedy Church magisterial district.
Stafford still working to get to a 180-day school calendar
By Adele Uphaus 09/23/2026
The Stafford School Board on Tuesday asked to look at a calendar for the 2027-28 academic year that removes all cultural or religious holidays, preserving only federal and state holidays.
The board and division staff are working to build a 180-day school year calendar as the first step in a multi-pronged plan to increase instructional time, after a committee formed to work on calendars for the next two years realized that Stafford’s students aren’t getting enough instructional time.
The Virginia Administrative Code dictates that the standard school year “shall be 180 instructional days or 990 instructional hours,” and while Stafford has met the requirement for instructional hours, it has not met the 180-day requirement since 2021. The current school year calendar is 172 days long, and last year’s was 171 days long.
The Free Lance-Star
Stabbing reported in downtown Fredericksburg Tuesday night (paywalled)
By Scott Shenk 09/23/2026
A Fredericksburg man is in jail, and another is hospitalized following a stabbing in downtown Fredericksburg late Wednesday night.
According to the Fredericksburg Police Department, a call came in at approximately 8:48 p.m. to the Fredericksburg 911 Center “for a stabbing injury in the 500 block of Caroline Street.”
The stabbing happened near the Caroline Street Market & Deli.
The police statement said that when officers arrived, “they located the victim suffering from a wound consistent with a stabbing. The victim was transported to a nearby hospital, where they are being treated for life-threatening injuries.”
Work to start on section of Route 1 in Fredericksburg (paywalled)
By Scott Shenk 09/23/2026
A year-long project aimed at improving traffic flow and pedestrian upgrades is set to start Wednesday on a section of U.S. 1 in Fredericksburg.
The $4.7-million project will include various changes along the four-lane highway between the Stafford Avenue and the College Avenue/Eagle Village Drive intersections.
The Virginia Department of Transportation said the work will lead to periodic overnight lane closures and some daytime closures.
ADVANCE READS
Donnie Johnston, Phil Huber
Dumb and Dumber
I have very little patience with ignorance, especially when it is treated almost as a virtue.
Despite all our diplomas and degrees, the average American is not very smart. And with the advent of artificial intelligence, we are getting dumber all the time. Many of us are very content to let a machine do the thinking for us.
These days, a degree is no reflection on a person’s intelligence. You can buy a degree. Almost anyone can earn a degree if he has the money to hang in there long enough. College has become a business, a factory to manufacture degrees, some with majors that would have made people laugh out loud 50 years ago.
Before Voting, Demand the Receipts
Phil Huber, ADVANCE COLUMNIST
President Donald Trump will take the stage this fall to campaign for Republican candidates. He will tell voters that those candidates deserve to win because they support his agenda, protect his policies, and will keep the country moving in his direction.
He will be campaigning for them. But he will also be campaigning for himself.
The president understands the bargain. If voters elect Republicans who promise to carry his program forward, they are doing more than choosing a senator or a member of Congress. They are being asked to renew his presidency through other people.
That is why the president’s record belongs in this election.
STATE OF THE STATE
VaNews/VIRGINIA PUBLIC ACCESS PROJECT
Clean Virginia: NextEra’s utility takeover attempts, alleged political moves relevant to merger case
By SHANNON HECKT, Virginia Mercury
Clean Virginia, a clean energy policy advocacy group and an intervenor in the Dominion Energy-NextEra Energy merger case, told the State Corporation Commission in a Tuesday hearing that NextEra’s past political ties and attempts to acquire utilities deserve scrutiny in regulators’ review of the proposed $67 billion merger. Ahead of the evidentiary hearings beginning later this year, involved parties are working through the discovery portion of the merger case, as legal teams develop their strategy and dig up relevant information to support arguments for or against the approval of the merger. Clean Virginia insisted that the Florida-based NextEra’s past political dealings should be considered as part of that process.
RGGI allowance prices soar with Va.’s return to compact
By MAGGIE ALLWEIN, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
In Virginia’s first auction as a renewed member of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, the selling price and proceeds have more than doubled since the last time the state participated. Energy experts are split on the implications for utility customers and Virginians, but agree that the increase was expected. Energy suppliers are able to pass the cost of RGGI onto consumers, but the generated revenue in Virginia funds three priorities, including utility customer rebates for the first time.
Virginia balks at agreement on effects of Trump arch on historic sites
By MICHAEL MARTZ, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Subscription Required)
Virginia won’t sign an agreement with the National Park Service on how a massive “triumphal arch” proposed by President Donald Trump next to Arlington National Cemetery would harm surrounding historic resources and how to minimize the damage. Those resources include a view between the Lincoln Memorial and the former home of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, conceived more than a century ago as a symbol of reconciliation between the North and South after the Civil War. The Virginia Department of Historic Resources informed the park service on Monday that it would be “premature” for the state to sign a proposed memorandum of agreement, which it said does not adequately identify the historic resources the project could affect or how to minimize harm to them.
Spanberger presses Congress for AI guardrails
By MARKUS SCHMIDT, Virginia Mercury
Gov. Abigail Spanberger on Tuesday called on Congress to set national rules for artificial intelligence, warning that its rapid development could threaten jobs, privacy and public resources if oversight remains largely in the hands of the companies building it. In a letter to congressional leaders, the Virginia Democrat urged federal action while pledging to pursue measures within the state’s authority. She sent the letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
General Assembly panel calls for more help for the hungry
By DAVE RESS, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Subscription Required)
As more and more Virginians struggle to pay for groceries, a General Assembly panel wants to push again to expand state help for the hungry. Cuts to the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in President Donald Trump’s so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill,” and a new survey showing half of Virginian households with children don’t have consistent access to enough food, give a new urgency to Virginia’s hunger issues, members of the General Assembly’s Commission to End Hunger said Tuesday.
Virginia Native American tribes wanted to join the Chesapeake Bay partnership. Not anymore.
By CHRISTINE CONDON, Maryland Matters
Seven federally recognized Native American tribes are ending their bid to formally join the Chesapeake Bay cleanup, saying they have been disappointed by the response from Bay Program leaders. The Virginia-based tribes began their quest last January, hoping to be added as a single signatory — the status awarded to each of the state governments surrounding the bay — when elected officials in the Chesapeake Bay region approved a new agreement for restoring the bay in December.
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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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