FREDLINES
Claire Marshall Watkins, ADVANCE CONTRIBUTOR
Fredericksburg Free Press
Draft report recommends stronger controls on school board travel
By Adele Uphaus 09/07/2026
An external accounting firm has made a number of recommendations related to the Fredericksburg school division’s travel and reimbursement procedures.
[...] In a draft report provided to the board on Aug. 7, the firm noted multiple instances in which travel per diems and reimbursement requests were not used; purchase card charges were not supported by proper documentation; travel expenditures were posted to an “operating supplies” expenditure line; and purchase cards were used by school board members who did not have purchase cards issued in their names.
Curio expanding in downtown Fredericksburg
By Bill Freehling 09/07/2026
This week we take you inside Curio Wine Bistro in downtown Fredericksburg and reveal some exciting news about an additional planned expansion for the business that will breathe life into a long-vacant downtown space.
ADVANCE READS
Steve Watkins, Ranjit Singh, Michael Aubrecht
FREDLINES: ‘Remembering 9/11 from behind the wheel of a commuter van,’ and other local news
Steve Watkins, ADVANCE EDITOR
On Sunday, the Free Lance-Star (and every newspaper owned by Lee Enterprises) ran a first-person message from the owner and chairman of the board, David Hoffman, extolling the virtues—and necessity—of local news. The headline said it all: “Local news can bring communities together.”
“I know we will not always agree about our communities, our states, our nation and our world,” Hoffman wrote. “But I also believe most of us share more common ground than we realize. When local news helps us see that common ground, and helps us see the good that people are doing around us, it can make our communities stronger.”
He left out the part about newspapers’ essential role in holding government and those in power accountable, but an interesting read nonetheless.
Our Environmental Moment: Will We Pause in the War on Nature?
Ranjit Singh, ADVANCE ENVIRONMENTAL COLUMNIST
The red-eyed vireo is as gifted a songster as you’ll ever hear. The scarlet tanager’s brilliant plumage would be at home in a bustling papal conclave. Now, as these and many other migratory birds ready to leave our region for their southern winter homes, I can only wonder:
Will they find trees to nest in when they return next spring?
Since May, I have served as the environmental columnist for the FXBG Advance, a regional online news magazine. My writing has centered on local nature, with occasional forays into politics as it relates to our natural surroundings.
Reenactor Overkill
Michael Aubrecht, ADVANCE COLUMNIST
Let me start off by saying that I live in the midst of four of the most important southern Civil War battlefields in the country: Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Spotsylvania Court House and the Wilderness. As a result, there are Civil War reenactments that take place commemorating these battles on their anniversaries throughout the year. One aspect of reenactment, however, leaves me perplexed: The bloodless battle reenactments.
It seems strange to replicate moments in one of the worst episodes in American history. Why would anyone want to pretend to be fighting a battle that resulted in thousands of casualties? Is there any uplifting commemoration to be derived from such play acting?
STATE OF THE STATE
VaNews/VIRGINIA PUBLIC ACCESS PROJECT
Dominion’s offshore turbines multiply, despite Trump’s war on wind
By MAGGIE ALLWEIN, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Construction of Dominion Energy’s wind farm off the coast of Virginia Beach is persisting, even as the Trump administration continues to cease such operations nationwide. The Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, or CVOW, which generates power to the grid that serves Dominion Energy customers, began in 2013 with a Bureau of Ocean Energy Management lease agreement. So far, 41 wind turbines have been installed ... Once completed, CVOW will have 176 wind turbines, creating enough energy to power up to 660,000 homes.
Luria files lawsuit against Va. Department of Elections questioning validity of independent candidate’s signatures
By BRANDON JARVIS, Virginia Scope
Democratic congressional nominee Elaine Luria is suing the Virginia Department of Elections in an effort to remove Independent candidate Gerald “Bishop” Staten from the November ballot in Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District. Luria and her campaign filed the lawsuit Thursday in Virginia Beach Circuit Court, arguing that Staten did not submit the 1,000 valid voter signatures required under Virginia law to qualify for the ballot. (The Luria campaign told Virginia Scope Friday that the suit was to get accurate information and do due diligence. Now that it’s been provided, the campaign plans to file a non-suit.)
Trump’s higher education crackdown expands at Virginia universities
By SABRINA MORENO, Axios
Virginia universities are starting another school year under mounting federal pressure from the Trump administration. What began as funding threats and a DEI crackdown has expanded to broader scrutiny of universities’ hiring, scholarships, research and foreign partnerships, reports Axios’ Avery Lotz. The administration proposed a new rule on Thursday that could strip tax-exempt status from private schools and colleges that provide targeted assistance to students based on race. The proposal could affect up to 18,000 schools and would take effect after May 2027 if finalized.
Norfolk’s once-segregated botanical garden honors the Black workers who built it
By ASHLEY STIMPSON, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
When Helen Ferguson Williams was a girl, she begged her mother, Mary Elizabeth Ferguson, to take her to the Norfolk Botanical Garden. She wanted to be in the crowd when the Azalea Queen — often the daughter of a U.S. president or a foreign dignitary — received her crown of flowers. Years later, Helen’s niece asked Mary Elizabeth to take her to the garden to see the Christmas lights ... In both instances, the answer was the same. “She kept saying no, she didn’t want to go out there,” says Helen, 74. ... In 2007, Helen got a call from Martha McClenny Williams (no relation to Helen), a member of the garden’s board of directors. Helen’s mother, Martha Williams told her, was the last known living worker of the Black, mostly female crew who built the garden in the late 1930s ...
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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.
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.”
You can be smart, or you can have smart friends. I find the latter is easier, so I referred to Gemini for help: Me: "The Fredericksburg Advance captions this photo as being taken in 1882. I think that's an error. 1862 or 1863 seem more likely to be correct." AI: "You are completely correct. The image captioning this photo as being taken in 1882 is an error. This famous panorama of Fredericksburg, Virginia was captured by Civil War photographer Timothy H. O'Sullivan in February or March of 1863..."