FREDLINES
By Eve Evans, ADVANCE EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
The Fredericksburg Free Press
By Adele Uphaus, 08/25/2026
Teacher vacancies persist across the Fredericksburg region as the new school year begins, with elementary and special education positions hardest hit. Fredericksburg City opened at 95.2% staffed; Caroline has one fully staffed elementary school of three and has cut long-term substitute use by about 59% over two years; Stafford has 40 vacancies out of roughly 2,153 positions, continuing a multi-year decline in its vacancy rate; King George has eight vacant or substitute-filled positions with a rate that’s dropped sharply since 2022-23; and Spotsylvania started with 51 vacant licensed positions out of about 1,845, concentrated in elementary schools and programs like the John J. Wright Center and Gateway Academy. Statewide and regionally, elementary education and special education have been the top critical shortage areas for three straight years, with world languages and math also persistently short-staffed.
Amazon Rappahannock Region Community Fund announces $350,000 in grants for local nonprofits
By FPF Staff, 08/23/2026
Amazon and The Community Foundation announced the 2026 Amazon Rappahannock Region Community Fund, which will award $350,000 in grants to nonprofits serving Stafford, Spotsylvania, Caroline, Culpeper, and Louisa counties — up from $300,000 last year, with Culpeper newly added to the program’s reach. Grants will support projects in six focus areas: STEM education, sustainability and environment, community development, digital skills, cultural heritage preservation, and health and wellbeing. Eligible nonprofits can apply through Sept. 21, after which The Community Foundation will review proposals for eligibility and alignment with the fund’s priorities.
Virginia considers calls for mandatory school nurses as healthcare gaps persist
By Nathaniel Cline Virginia Mercury, 08/24/2026
Virginia lawmakers and advocates are pushing to require a licensed nurse in every public school, updating the state’s Standards of Quality after data showed about 90.1% of schools had a nurse during the 2024-25 school year, leaving roughly one in ten without one. Senate Education and Health Committee Chair Barbara Favola and groups like the Virginia Association of School Nurses and the Virginia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics argue nurses are essential for managing chronic conditions, administering emergency protocols like epinephrine, naloxone, and AEDs, and reducing absenteeism, while cautioning that teachers and administrators shouldn’t be expected to fill clinical roles. Previous efforts, including 2020 legislation, have stalled partly because localities must help cover costs under the state’s funding formula. The Virginia School Health Services Committee is set to receive a report on the proposal Sept. 23, after which any change would require General Assembly and gubernatorial approval.
Potomac Local News
Park panel greenlights 321 units on old car lot
Uriah Kiser, 08/24/2026
The Manassas Park Planning Commission voted 4-1 to recommend approval of a rezoning that would allow a 321-unit mixed-use redevelopment on a 6.67-acre former auto sales site at 8503 and 8505 Euclid Avenue, replacing it with mostly income-restricted apartments, retail space along Bank Street, and Career and Technical Education space for public schools. Developer RST Development’s plan calls for 98% of units to be income-restricted at 60% of area median income (roughly 65,000 for a family of four), along with 668 structured parking spaces and about a third of the site set aside for open space; the project is financed through Low-Income Housing Tax Credits with no local taxpayer contribution. Planning staff recommended approval, citing alignment with the city’s comprehensive plan and increased green space, while the sole public speaker raised concerns about density and traffic but voiced support for the green space and school component. The recommendation now advances to the Governing Body for a final decision
Amazon’s $10M Road Cash Buys Dirty Generators Near Daycare
Uriah Kiser, 08/25/2026
Stafford County supervisors voted 4-2 on Aug. 18 to approve a proffer amendment for Amazon’s Potomac Church Tech Center, correcting its district designation from Aquia to Falmouth while advancing the data center project. The amendment drops an earlier request for 113,000 additional gallons per day of potable water, capping both buildings at the original 217,000 GPD limit once a reuse system is complete, and adds a $10 million cash transportation contribution in place of the applicant designing and building roughly $3 million in road work near Old Potomac Church Road. The most extensive debate centered on the site’s Tier 2 emergency generators, approved in March 2025 before new state rules requiring Tier 4 equipment took effect; the applicant said a retrofit was found structurally infeasible and would delay occupancy by two to four years, so the Tier 2 units will remain, subject to DEQ air permitting. Public speakers raised concerns about emissions near a nearby daycare, water usage claims, and construction impacts, while the applicant cited mitigation steps like utility funding for neighbors and added plantings near the daycare; the board ultimately approved the ordinance 4-2.
Police Blotter: Sexual Assault, Shooting Reported
Uriah Kiser, 08/25/2026
Prince William County police are searching for Curtis Lucas Brown Jr., 45, wanted on rape, abduction, strangulation, and other charges after allegedly sexually assaulting a 39-year-old acquaintance in a wooded area near Sudley Road in Manassas on Aug. 19; the victim was injured and taken to a hospital, and Brown remains at large. In a separate case, Jrrysawn Aushaude Cook, 24, of Manassas was arrested after allegedly shooting and grazing a man during an argument on Flotilla Way in Woodbridge, while Matthew Stephen Porcelli, 41, of Woodbridge was charged with sexual battery after inappropriately touching a Food Lion employee. Additional Prince William incidents included a brandishing at a Woodbridge oil-change shop, several shots-fired calls in Woodbridge, Nokesville, and Dumfries, and a strong-armed robbery in Manassas.
In Stafford County, Hendrix Roberson, 20, of Fredericksburg was arrested for punching someone in the face at a Sheetz after an argument over a car race challenge, and Alex Sabines-Salome, 23, of Falls Church was charged with DUI after trying to climb through a McDonald’s drive-through window while impaired. The Sheriff’s Office also reported multiple other DUI arrests, two scam/fraud cases involving impersonated law enforcement and unauthorized bank transactions, and several public intoxication arrests.
The Free Lance Star
Kaine, Vindman hear from veterans on wait times at VA center (paywalled)
By Pilar Davis, 08/25/2026
Sen. Tim Kaine and Rep. Eugene Vindman joined area veterans for a roundtable at Howell Branch Library to discuss chronic understaffing at the Fredericksburg VA Health Care Center, which opened in May 2025 but currently has fewer than 600 of the roughly 900 staff it needs. Both lawmakers attributed the shortage to federal VA staffing cuts — Kaine cited nearly 75,000 employees cut nationwide in the past year — while veterans praised the quality of care they receive but described waits of two to three months for appointments; several said they’d rather wait for VA care than use the Community Care program with civilian providers. One veteran suggested easing immigration barriers that prevent qualified foreign-trained medical professionals from working at VA facilities, an idea both lawmakers said they’d support. Vindman said he’s sent five letters to VA Secretary Doug Collins about the staffing shortage without a substantive response, and both lawmakers said they plan to bring veterans’ concerns and suggestions to VA leadership.
Woman pleads guilty to slaying ex-boyfriend in Stafford (paywalled)
By Keith Epps, 08/24/2026
33-year-old Ashlynn A. Blair of Stafford pleaded guilty Monday to second-degree murder and use of a firearm in a felony in the July 19, 2025 killing of ex-boyfriend Thomas Patrick Weidle, a former U.S. Army captain, at his Rocky Pen Road home; the original first-degree murder charge was reduced as part of a plea deal, with other charges dropped. Prosecutors said Weidle was shot first in the bedroom and then in a hallway while apparently trying to flee, and Blair later went to a neighbor’s home wearing his clothes, telling the neighbor “I shot him, and I think he’s dead” before eventually calling 911. Blair initially told dispatchers Weidle had forced her to have sex and she shot him after he wouldn’t let her leave, but she declined a rape exam and later said the sex was consensual; the two had an on-and-off relationship since 2023 that both described as toxic. Blair faces up to 43 years in prison at sentencing on Oct. 26.
ADVANCE READS
Lynda Allen, Cameron Norman
And It was THIS Big….
By Cameron Norman, SPECIAL TO THE ADVANCE
Gyotaku is a Japanese printmaking art form begun in the mid 1800’s, during the Edo period. It was originally created to accurately measure the length of fish caught in contests. In this way, no one could exaggerate the size of the fish; the print was a perfect rendition.
When the Phone Rings and It’s My Mom, Confused
By Lynda Allen, ADVANCE CONTRIBUTOR
The phone rings. The screen shows Mom is calling. I’m not proud of it, but internally I cringe, maybe even externally too. It’s not that my Mom and I have a bad relationship, though like any parent and child, we’ve had our tough times. It’s that Mom has started experiencing some form of dementia. She often has strange ideas about where she is, and is now having nearly daily delusions. One day she called to tell me that she was in prison somewhere in Virginia, even though she lives in Pennsylvania. I asked her what it looked like, and she told me it was a red brick building on a college campus, where the students live. So, she was apparently in a prison in a dorm room.
PRESS RELEASE RELEASE
Special to The FXBG Advance (and everybody else)
Spotsylvania’s Own Bekah Burke Featured in Ripley’s Believe It or Not! New Book
Spotsylvania has a hometown connection to one of the most talked-about book releases of the year. Rebekah Burke, a ballet dancer from Spotsylvania, Virginia, is featured in Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Wired Into Weird, the 23rd annual edition of Ripley’s signature book, on sale September 8, 2026.
STATE OF THE STATE
VaNews/VIRGINIA PUBLIC ACCESS PROJECT
Spanberger pushes Trump to back off new tariffs on Canada
By MICHAEL MARTZ, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Subscription Required)
An escalating trade war between the United States and Canada — Virginia’s No. 1 market for exports — is drawing strong political opposition from both sides of the political aisle. Gov. Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat in her first year as governor after three terms in Congress, publicly called on the administration of President Donald Trump to back off its proposed tariffs of 50% on a broad range of imported goods from Canada and instead negotiate a new trade agreement among the U.S., Canada and Mexico. She cited the damage already done to Virginia’s export markets by the trade war that erupted between the two countries a year ago.
‘Remember the little guy’: Kaine hears from Virginia farmers as Canada trade fight drives up concerns
By SHANNON HECKT, Virginia Mercury
Just days after failed trade talks between President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney prompted new sweeping tariffs and threats of retaliation, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., sat down with Virginia agricultural and forestry producers Monday to hear how the escalating trade dispute could affect an industry already struggling with rising costs and difficult growing conditions. Trump imposed a 50% tariff on a wide range of Canadian products, while Canada has promised similar actions in retaliation, suggesting tariffs on American dairy, steel, agricultural appliances, paper and electronics beginning in September.
1,328 people arrested by ICE in Maryland and Virginia over 2 weeks, DHS says
By JOSEPH OLMO, WRC-TV
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Monday that in just the first two weeks of August, 1,328 people were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in Maryland and Virginia. That’s nearly 100 people arrested each day in Maryland and Virginia in just the first half of the month. DHS called this “Operation Safe Community — Washington, D.C.” and it described the people they arrested as illegally in the country. Out of the more than 1,300 brought into custody, almost 400 have either been convicted or charged with crimes in the U.S. News4 has not been able to independently verify that information without a full list of the people who were arrested.
Virginia Tech graduate enrollment drops 14% as immigration restrictions grow
By ETHAN HUNT, Roanoke Times (Subscription Required)
Federal immigration restrictions are the primary driver behind a 14% decline in graduate student enrollment at Virginia Tech since 2024, and there are “a lot” of future threats to the school’s graduate programs, the university’s dean of graduate education said Monday. Since President Donald Trump took office in early 2025, the federal government has increased scrutiny of F-1 student visas, banned visa issuance to nationals of certain countries and revoked existing student visas and legal statuses for a range of reasons, including political activity.
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