FREDLINES
Eve Evans, EDITORIAL ASSISTANTPHOTO
Potomac Local News
Police Blotter: Drowning Death, Burglary Reported
By Uriah Kiser, 08/19/2026
A 24-year-old man drowned Tuesday night after a canoe he was paddling with another man capsized on Lake Montclair near Dumfries; the Underwater Search and Recovery Team later found him dead, with no signs of foul play so far. Separately, Prince William County police responded early Wednesday to a burglary in the 10000 block of Slippery Elm Court in Woodbridge, where two suspects broke a basement window, entered the home and grabbed a dirt bike before an occupant confronted them; they fled on foot, abandoning the bike, and a K-9 search did not locate them.
The Free Lance Star
Incest and child pornography charges lead to prison term (paywalled)
By Keith Epps, 08/18/2026
A Spotsylvania man, Christopher German Colon, 42, pleaded guilty this week to aggravated sexual battery, incest and three counts of producing child pornography under a plea deal calling for 30 years in prison (a 130-year sentence with 100 years suspended); other charges were dropped. Prosecutors said the victim reported that Colon had sexually abused her repeatedly starting when she was 15, continuing until shortly before she reported it at 18, and that he had taken explicit photos of her dating back to middle school; hundreds of child-pornography images were later found on his phone. As part of the deal, Colon must register as a sex offender and have no contact with the victim, who was granted a lifetime protective order.
$42-million upgrades at I-95 interchange half complete (paywalled)
By Scott Shenk, 08/18/2026
VDOT says the $42 million reconstruction project at the I-95/U.S. 1 interchange near Southpoint Parkway in Spotsylvania County, which began in June 2025, has entered its final year and remains on track for completion in September 2027. The heavily traveled corridor — carrying about 56,000 vehicles a day on U.S. 1 and 130,000 on I-95 — will keep seeing lane closures, shifts and heavy equipment as crews widen U.S. 1 to six lanes, add turn and auxiliary lanes, widen I-95 on-ramps and install noise barriers.
The Fredericksburg Free Press
How have teacher salaries in the Fredericksburg area grown over past five years?
By Adele Uphaus, 08/19/2026
All five Fredericksburg-area school divisions have outpaced the state’s four-year teacher salary growth rate of 19%, per Virginia Department of Education data, though statewide and national averages remain below their 2020-21 inflation-adjusted peaks. Caroline County leads the region with about 31% compounded growth, followed by Fredericksburg City and Spotsylvania-area localities around 26-26.5%, Stafford at roughly 25% and King George at 23%. Despite the faster growth, Caroline still has the region’s lowest average teacher salary ($60,105), while Stafford and Spotsylvania are tied for the highest at about $72,385 and $72,397 respectively, according to the VDOE’s 2024-25 Teacher Salary Survey Report.
Stan’s the man: City School Board appoints Jones to interim at-large seat
By Adele Uphaus, 08/18/2026
The Fredericksburg School Board voted 4-0 Monday to appoint Stan Jones, former superintendent of Danville City Schools and former deputy superintendent of Stafford County Schools, as interim at-large representative, filling the seat through December from a pool of five applicants; voters will choose a permanent representative in November. After being sworn in, Jones joined the board for what Superintendent Marci Catlett called a “historic” early budget work session for fiscal year 2028, where members cited employee compensation, career and technical education expansion, English learner supports and building conditions as top priorities.
ADVANCE READS
Eric Bonds, Ranjit Singh, Donnie Johnston
Moratorium Now! Time to Put the Brakes on New Data Center Development
by Eric Bonds and Ranjit Singh, ADVANCE CONTRIBUTORS
Social change happens in strange ways. Ideas can seem implausible—or even downright impossible—at one point in time. But then something shifts, and those same ideas begin to seem like realistic goals, maybe even like common sense.
We seem to be in the midst of one such transition. Here in Virginia—the data center capital of the world—an increasing number of elected officials and ordinary folks are thinking that enough is enough: It’s time for a moratorium on new data center development.
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Dems, With Only Themselves to Blame for Trump, Need a Candidate and a Plan
By Donnie Johnston, ADVANCE COLUMNIST
The American people did not want Trump in 2024, but the Democrats were unorganized and had not cultivated a strong candidate. Trump seemed the better of two bad options.
Now the Democrats seem to be intent on allowing the same thing to happen in 2028, handing the Republicans four more years to laugh at the Constitution and thumb their noses at the rule of law.
STATE OF THE STATE
VaNews/VIRGINIA PUBLIC ACCESS PROJECT
SCC chair won’t recuse herself on NextEra-Dominion case
By DAVE RESS, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Subscription Required)
State Corporation Commission chair Kelsey Bagot won’t recuse herself from considering NextEra Energy’s proposed acquisition of Dominion Energy. In a letter responding to Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell’s comment that several legislators had raised questions about her prior work as an attorney for NextEra, Bagot said she had a duty to impartially consider the matter. NextEra, parent of the nation’s biggest electric utility, Florida Power and Light, wants to acquire Dominion through an exchange of shares valued at $67 billion. The acquisition can’t go ahead unless the SCC approves.
Dominion-NextEra merger could mean higher rates in the long run, experts tell Virginia lawmakers
By MAGGIE ALLWEIN AND KATE SELTZER, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Experts told lawmakers that the proposed merger between Dominion Energy and Florida-based NextEra could mean higher rates in the long run for customers. A subcommittee of the Energy Commission got the rundown Tuesday from the state and energy experts of what the proposed merger between Dominion Energy and NextEra could entail for customer bills, as well as state and federal regulation. If the Virginia State Corporation Commission and other equivalent regulatory bodies in North Carolina, South Carolina and at the federal level approve the $67 billion deal, the merger would create the world’s largest regulated electric utility.
Could a Dominion-NextEra marriage be bad news for rooftop solar?
By ELIZABETH MCGOWAN, Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism
With a whopping 3,160 megawatts of solar across at least 27 states, NextEra Energy is the nation’s undisputed renewable power colossus. Still, the Florida-based suitor of Dominion Energy has Virginia’s rooftop solar advocates on edge. Why? Mainly because its principal investor-owned utility subsidiary, Florida Power & Light (FPL), has backed attempts to limit financial benefits customers can reap by owning small-scale solar systems.
Funding for Virginia’s fire service is insufficient, studies show. There are ideas for how to change that.
By EMMA MALINAK, Cardinal News
There’s a financial crisis happening in many volunteer firehouses across the state: The costs of fire engines and other equipment have skyrocketed and the number of emergency calls has increased, while state funding has remained largely flat and funding from localities often can’t stretch to fill the gap. So far, the greatest success in fixing that problem has been studying it, said Jeremy Bennett, director of intergovernmental affairs at the Virginia Association of Counties. Two state-ordered studies, conducted in 2023 and 2024, revealed how the fire service funding model works, where it falls short, and how it can be improved. But research is only as good as its reach, he said, and many residents who drive past their local firehouse have little to no understanding of the budgeting conversations happening inside.
VPAP Visual Teacher Salaries 2024–25
The Virginia Public Access Project
The latest estimates from the National Education Association show that average teacher salaries in Virginia grew faster than the United States as a whole last year, but when adjusted for inflation, they have still not returned to the high of the 2020–21 school year.
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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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