THE WEDNESDAY ADVANCE: FREDLINES, TODAY'S READS, and STATE of the STATE
AUGUST 5, 2026. All About the Day.
FREDLINES
Eve Evans, EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
Potomac Local News
College Heights Neighbors Gather for National Night Out
By Uriah Kiser, 08/05/2026
Fredericksburg’s College Heights neighborhood held its National Night Out event Tuesday at Christ Lutheran Church, drawing 62 residents for games, snacks, and ice cream. Police Chief Betsy Mason handed out bracelets, Officer Anthony Farino let kids explore his cruiser’s lights and siren, and Mayor Kerry Devine and Councilor Susanna Finn stopped by while touring neighborhood events. Residents said they appreciated the chance to interact directly with police.
The Free Lance Star
Charge upgraded against man in fatal Stafford crash
By Keith Epps, 08/04/2026
A Stafford grand jury indicted Raymond Bond IV, 38, on a reckless driving charge Monday in connection with a June 30 I-95 crash that killed 9-year-old Davin Yap of Rotterdam, New York. Bond’s Kia Sorento struck a GMC Acadia carrying Davin and five others while changing lanes, triggering a four-vehicle chain-reaction crash; Davin died July 5 at VCU Medical Center after being freed from the wreckage. His initial traffic infraction for an unsafe lane change was dropped in favor of the reckless driving charge, which carries up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine. No court date has been set.
Montross woman pleads guilty in fatal Spotsylvania crash
By Keith Epps, 08/04/2026
Kiana Charise Johnson, 30, of Montross pleaded guilty Monday to DUI-maiming in Spotsylvania Circuit Court, with an involuntary manslaughter charge dropped as part of the plea deal. Prosecutors said Johnson was driving up to 108 mph while intoxicated on Courthouse Road in the early morning of May 26, 2023, when her Dodge Charger ran off the road and crashed, trapping her and passenger Breauna Johnson, 27; Breauna died weeks later from a pulmonary embolism linked to injuries from the crash. Johnson remains free on bond and faces up to 10 years in prison at sentencing on Nov. 9.
Defense lawyers sues prosecutor, claims defamation
By Keith Epps, 08/04/2026
Stafford attorney Eugene Frost has filed a $2.35 million defamation lawsuit against prosecutor Ryan Frank in Stafford Circuit Court, alleging Frank damaged his reputation by publicly accusing him of dishonesty. The dispute traces back to a May case dismissal on speedy-trial grounds — upheld on appeal — after Frost represented a 19-year-old client facing rape and sodomy charges from an August 2024 house party incident. Frank had claimed Frost secretly agreed to the trial date and quoted him saying Frost hadn’t been “honest,” an accusation Frost says the court record contradicts and which Frank refused to retract. Frank has not yet responded to the suit, and no court date has been set.
Fredericksburg Free Press
Bert Mizusawa wins GOP primary to try to prevent U.S. Sen. Mark Warner’s fourth term
By Jonathan Hunley , 08/04/2026
\Retired Army Maj. Gen. Bert Mizusawa won the Republican primary for U.S. Senate Tuesday, carrying every locality in the Fredericksburg area and claiming 51% of the vote to David Williams’ 29% and Kim Farington’s 20%, with 96% of votes counted. He’ll face Democratic incumbent Sen. Mark Warner, who is seeking a fourth term, in the Nov. 3 general election. Mizusawa also led in fundraising, raising $376,213 as of July 15. Virginia Democratic Party chair Lamont Bagby criticized Mizusawa as a “Trump loyalist” over his support for Trump’s policies, while Mizusawa attributed his win to being seen as the most electable candidate against Warner.
ADVANCE READS
Ranjit Singh, Eric Bonds, Donnie Johnston, Hugh Lessig
The Corporate Environmental Blame Game
By Ranjit Singh and Eric Bonds, ADVANCE CONTRIBUTORS
Philosophically, Henry David Thoreau is as American as it gets. We’re all taught from childhood about the power of the individual to effect change. Curiously, when analyzing how big corporations speak to us, one might well think that they, too, swallowed Thoreau’s Essay on Civil Disobedience whole. Case in point: Remember the “carbon footprint calculator?”
‘The Devil and Daniel Webster’ 2.0
By Donnie Johnston, ADVANCE COLUMNIST
Sometimes the truth leaps out at you like a lion from the bush.
Last Sunday I was preparing for church when I turned on the television and began flipping through channels to find something to bring background noise to a quiet house when I happened upon the movie The Devil and Daniel Webster, that 1941 classic taken from the story by Stephen Vincent Benet.
I picked up during the final half hour of the movie, and I had not been watching for two minutes before it hit me. This is a story we are living today. The names of the characters may have changed, but the tale is the same, as is the moral.
Culpeper Resident Wins GOP Primary, Setting Up Clash with Vindman in the 7th
By Hugh Lessig, ADVANCE MILITARY COLUMNIST
Republican Doug Ollivant easily won his party’s nomination in the 7th Congressional District Tuesday and will face Democratic incumbent Rep. Eugene Vindman.
In a three-way race, the Culpeper County resident grabbed more than 56 percent of the vote. Entrepreneur Philip A. Harding from Prince William County tallied 31 percent. Coming in third was Ricky Smithers, who lived outside the district. His longshot bid netted him about 13 percent of the vote.
STATE OF THE STATE
VaNews/VIRGINIA PUBLIC ACCESS PROJECT
Shannon Taylor to take on Rob Wittman in Virginia’s 1st
By JAHD KHALIL, VPM
Democrats in Virginia’s 1st Congressional District are putting forward Henrico Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor as their challenger to incumbent Republican US Rep. Rob Wittman, according to unofficial results Tuesday night. Taylor was on track to win over 50% of the vote in Virginia’s most crowded primary election. ... “With the help of our incredible law enforcement, we’ve made our community safer. But protecting our community from harm can no longer be just about stopping crime on our streets,” Taylor told supporters at an Irish pub in Henrico. “Now, our families are facing a new threat: a cost of living crisis caused by a culture of corruption in Washington.”
Luria wins Democratic nomination for Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District, will face Kiggans
By KATE SELTZER, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Democrat Elaine Luria will fight to get her old seat back against Republican Rep. Jen Kiggans in the 2nd Congressional District after earning the party’s nomination Tuesday night. The Associated Press called the race at 7:30 p.m. for Luria. With more than half of precincts reporting, Luria had 81% of the vote. She beat out candidates Nila Devanath, Bill Fleming and Patrick Mosolf. ... “As I stand up here tonight, it seems eerily familiar to when I stood here in 2018 to accept the nomination,” she said, referencing the year she went on to topple Republican incumbent Scott Taylor to represent the district.
Perriello clinches Democratic nomination in 5th District, will take on McGuire in fall; Powers to face Griffith in 9th
By ELIZABETH BEYER, Cardinal News
Former Democratic Congressman Tom Perriello won the 5th District nomination and Joy Powers took the 9th District nomination in Democratic primary contests on Tuesday. Democrats will have a steep uphill battle if they are to win either district in November. Both are considered solidly Republican seats by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report and have been won by GOP candidates with double-digit margins. “For months, I’ve visited every corner of the district to hear from thousands of local families. Folks are struggling to make it to the next paycheck, and they are fed up with this Congress making everything more expensive, more corrupt, and just plain stupid,” Perriello said in a statement after he secured his party’s nomination.
SCC orders Dominion to develop tariff to assign more transmission costs to data centers
By SHANNON HECKT, Virginia Mercury
More of the cost to build the high-voltage transmission lines that serve as power highways across the state could soon be covered by data centers, after a recent decision by state regulators. The State Corporation Commission has ordered Dominion Energy to develop a policy to directly assign the cost of transmission infrastructure to data centers and other large-load users that connect to the facilities, “with the goal of finding an acceptable and symmetrical approach towards assigning costs in these circumstances.”
Regulatory filings reveal 1,400 MW of new data center plans across three Goochland sites
By SEAN JONES, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Subscription Required)
Two more data centers have been proposed for Goochland County, according to disclosure plans filed by Dominion Energy. One of the projects, a 1,200-megawatt campus, would require four new electric substations, according to testimony filed with Virginia regulators. The disclosures come as Goochland moves from preparing for potential data center growth to accommodating multiple large-scale projects along the Route 288 corridor. ... The newly disclosed projects would add 1,400 megawatts of potential electric demand beyond the already-public, 900-megawatt TRACT data center campus proposed in Goochland.
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