FREDLINES
Claire Marshall Watkins, ADVANCE CONTRIBUTOR
University of Mary Washington News
Cancelled: Sept. 22 Public Debate for Virginia’s 7th Congressional District at UMW
The public debate for challengers for Virginia’s 7th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 22, at the University of Mary Washington, has been cancelled.
UMW recently learned that Republican candidate Doug Ollivant is no longer available to participate on the rescheduled date. With candidates from both major parties now unavailable, the event can no longer proceed in the format originally intended.
For additional background on the originally planned debate that is now cancelled, please see the prior news release.
Fredericksburg Free Press
Museum of Culpeper History, partners to dedicate new marker to the Manahoac Indians
By Adele Uphaus 09/21/2026
The Museum of Culpeper History will unveil a new marker this weekend dedicated to the Manaoac Indians, the indigenous tribe that once occupied territory stretching from present-day Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania ,and Culpeper west to the Blue Ridge Mountains.
The marker will be located at the Rappahannock River Campground in eastern Culpeper County, near the confluence of the Rapidan and Rappahannock rivers. This is the area where the Manahoac established a town, known as Hasinninga.
On the Marines, Strawberry Shortcake and saving a man’s life in Fredericksburg
By Jonathan Hunley 09/21/2026
As a Marine, Cpl. Harleigh Faulk is used to wearing a uniform. But she couldn’t have known that she would be called to duty in another outfit — a Strawberry Shortcake Halloween costume.
Well, OK, her task wasn’t technically part of a military operation. But it helped to save a man’s life and got her a Navy Achievement Medal last month.
Last Halloween, Faulk, a native of the Carolinas who’s stationed at the Quantico base, was with 10 or 11 other Marines at The Sky Bar in downtown Fredericksburg.
Potomac Local News
News Links: Spanberger Unveils Data Center Rules; Manassas Weighs First Friday Today
According to the Office of the Governor, Gov. Abigail Spanberger on Friday unveiled what her office called the nation’s most comprehensive data center accountability effort and signed Executive Order 22 to start putting pieces of it in motion. The framework is built around transparency, environmental standards, energy costs, grid and clean-energy rules, and workforce conditions. The order also creates a state AI task force on workforce displacement, privacy and cybersecurity.
The plan would ban nondisclosure agreements on commercial data center projects, end by-right approval for facilities using more than 25 megawatts, require community benefits agreements, drop large projects from fast-track state permitting, and cut data centers from state site-development subsidies. The governor’s office said the package will mix immediate agency directives with legislation aimed at the 2027 General Assembly. Data center proposals have stacked up across Prince William, Stafford and the Fredericksburg region.
ADVANCE READS
Bruce Saller, Phil Huber, Steve Watkins
Transition from Oil Heat to Bring Down Costs
Bruce Saller, ADVANCE CONTRIBUTOR
If your house has hot water heating (i.e. radiators) and you are dreading the high cost of heating oil this winter, you finally have another option: Air-to-water heat pumps are now available in our area. They are similar to traditional air-to-air heat pumps except the inside unit heats water instead of air.
The air-to-water heat pump is very efficient, and you can find systems with coefficient of performance ratings around 4 (1 kilo-watt hour of electricity provides 4 kilo-watt hours of heat). They have been used in Europe for decades and are finally being manufactured in the US. Like the air-to-air unit, the system needs to be backed up with either an electric resistance heater or an oil boiler. If desired, you should be able to use your existing boiler as the backup.
Unnecessary Ammunition
Phil Huber, ADVANCE COLUMNIST
America faces real enemies. Iran has demonstrated that it can plan lethal operations against Americans at home and abroad. China, Russia, and North Korea continue to develop military, cyber, intelligence, and influence capabilities aimed at reducing American power and freedom of action. The intelligence community warns that these adversaries increasingly use deniable methods below the level of open war: sabotage, coercion, cyberattack, assassination, proxy violence, and influence operations. Migration itself has become a geopolitical pressure point that hostile actors and criminal networks can exploit.
That is precisely why we should be alarmed when our own government gives them gifts.
Charlotte Street Trees—Saved Back in June—Once Again Scheduled for Execution
Steve Watkins, ADVANCE EDITOR
The stay of execution for two 30- to 40-foot willow oaks on the 500 block of Charlotte Street has turned out to be temporary. The Fredericksburg Public Works department announced this afternoon that both are on a list of 10 large heritage trees in the city targeted for removal, possibly as early as this fall.
Residents’ vigorous protests back in June managed to save the willow oaks over the summer, pending a survey documenting the” condition, sidewalk conflicts, and repair feasibility” of 46 large city trees, including the two on Charlotte.
The city arborist has now completed that survey, with 10 trees identified for removal, 14 requiring coordinated sidewalk repairs, and 33 with sidewalk damage, 28 of which are considered fixable.
STATE OF THE STATE
VaNews/VIRGINIA PUBLIC ACCESS PROJECT
Spanberger takes unusual step to limit data centers — up to a point
By GREGORY S. SCHNEIDER, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) announced a set of policies Friday aimed at controlling the rampant development of data centers, but stopped short of the moratorium that some in her party have sought. The plan “is about delivering a better deal for Virginians,” Spanberger said at a morning news conference, in which she promised to confront one of the thorniest policy issues she’s facing. “But it’s also about holding data center companies, developers and operators accountable.” The regulations show a shift in Spanberger’s stance toward the industry.
Spanberger rescinds Youngkin order that reduced regulation
By DAVE RESS, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Subscription Required)
Former Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s directives mandating a 25% cut in state regulations are no more, under a new streamlined regulatory review process ordered by Gov. Abigail Spanberger. Spanberger’s order, in addition to ending Youngkin’s mandate for across-the-board cuts, returns the authority to make recommendations to the governor on regulations to cabinet secretaries.
Three months after child drowned, Virginia health department will toughen regulations on pools
By ERIC KOLENICH, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Subscription Required)
At most public pools in Virginia, there are no legal requirements for the number of lifeguards or the protocols for protecting swimmers. On Thursday, the State Board of Health moved to change that, voting to begin the process of writing a new regulation to enforce safety measures at public swimming pools.
What It’s Like to Work in One of America’s Data Centers
By OWEN TUCKER-SMITH, Wall Street Journal (Subscription Required)
Growing up, James Waddy wanted to be a professional athlete. Now he logs 30,000 steps a day roaming the halls of a million-square-foot data center in the Virginia suburbs. The 33-year-old’s rounds include sniffing for burning equipment that could indicate overheating, feeling tubes for cracks and looking for faulty lighting or broken power transformers. Waddy, a lead engineer at the center, oversees dozens of other engineers who do the same and calls himself “The General.” ... Data centers are drawing intense scrutiny as Americans grow increasingly leery of AI and the technology’s potential risks. They’re also somewhat mysterious beyond their often boxy, nondescript exteriors: What’s inside, and what are workers doing?
*** 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.”