FREDLINES
Claire Marshall Watkins, ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Fredericksburg Free Press
City school board receives final version of travel spending report
By Adele Uphaus 10/06/2026
At Monday’s meeting, the Fredericksburg City School Board officially received a report from certified public accounting firm Robinson, Farmer, Cox Associates on a review of School Board travel and reimbursement procedures.
The accounting firm reviewed all school board travel expenditures for the period of July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025. Based on its findings, the firm recommends several actions that the division should take to strengthen internal controls.
Republican Doug Ollivant announces that he has cancer
By FPP Staff 10/06/2026
Doug Ollivant, the GOP candidate this year in the race for the congressional district that includes the Fredericksburg area, announced Monday that he has blood cancer.
Ollivant, in a post on Facebook, wrote that he was diagnosed last week with Acute Myeloid Leukemia but that he is staying in the race against incumbent Democratic Rep. Eugene Vindman in Virginia’s 7th District.
The Free Lance-Star
Teen gets 15 years for role in Olde Greenwich shootout (paywalled)
By Keith Epps 10/06/2026
One of the teens involved in a wild shootout in Spotsylvania last year that left three people dead — including his older brother — was ordered Tuesday to serve 15 years in prison.
Darius D. Fitz, 18, of Spotsylvania, was sentenced by Judge Charles Sharp to a total of 40 years with 25 years suspended. He had previously pleaded guilty to seven charges in Spotsylvania Circuit Court, including robbery, conspiracy, unlawful wounding and unlawful assembly with a firearm.
Stafford data center on Wednesday Supervisors’ agenda (paywalled)
By Scott Shenk 10/05/2026
A public hearing for a proposed data center campus is on Wednesday’s Stafford County Board of Supervisors agenda.
The regular Tuesday meeting was pushed back a day because of National Night Out.
The proposed Accokeek Center project includes two two-story data centers totaling 590,000 square feet, along with a power substation on site.
Man convicted in Caroline for abusing infant child (paywalled)
By Keith Epps 10/06/2026
A man who physically abused and neglected his infant child was convicted of five felony offenses Monday in Caroline Circuit Court.
William Earl Grimes, 33, of Milford, was found guilty by a jury of child abuse with serious injury, child cruelty and three counts of malicious wounding.
Potomac Local News
VDOT lists overnight I-95 work through Friday
By PLN News 10/06/2026
The Virginia Department of Transportation lists overnight lane closures on I-95 and Route 1 through Friday, Oct. 10. The Falmouth Bridge daytime inspection is already posted separately.
In Fredericksburg, Route 1 from Stafford Avenue to College Avenue has alternating daytime and overnight lane closures for the Augustine Avenue intersection project. Side-street turns are restricted. Access stays open to College Avenue. Completion is expected in October 2027.
The Weekly Ringer
UMW Police omitted cases of aggravated assault on 2025 Annual Safety Report
By Anna Goodman & Chloe McCann 10/02/2026
On Feb. 6, 2024, at around 10 p.m., a man driving a silver Jeep swerved recklessly through the two-lane street of College Avenue before striking a man with his car.
“It was deliberate, [the Jeep driver] hit him deliberately…he was sitting still, they were talking, he was sitting still in the middle lane and he waited until the gentleman in the van got around to the front of the car, then he hit the accelerator and lunged forward,” George Morton told police in an incident report.
That same night, UMW police filed the crime as an “attempted murder” in the 2024 Daily Crime Log. However, when the Annual Security Report (ASR) was released on Oct. 1, 2025, no statistic accounted for this incident.
UMW students raise alarm over broken security systems
By Jenna Robertson 09/18/2026
For some University of Mary Washington students, concerns about campus safety have centered on something as simple as a door.
At the Eagle Landing Garage, students have reported that doors that normally control access to the garage have remained open for weeks. At the UMW apartments, students have also raised concerns about doors that do not close or lock properly, as well as reports of an unfamiliar person entering a residential building.
While students have long been aware of these concerns, several said they had not received direct communication from the university or UMW Police about the situations.
ADVANCE READS
Phil Huber
Keep the Line Open
Phil Huber, ADVANCE COLUMNIST
Every Sunday, I call close relatives to say hello and ask how they are doing. I began during COVID in 2020, when staying in touch took more effort, and I have kept calling ever since. Some are Democrats, some Republicans, and some independents. They do not always answer. That is OK. They know I care about them, and that counts.
Those calls came to mind when I read a recent essay by historian Lindsay Chervinsky. She revisited a letter written in 1797 by Connecticut Sen. Uriah Tracy, who believed the North and South had become so different that separation might be necessary. Tracy saw disputes over political power, immigration and slavery, among other issues, as reasons to give up on the Union.
I do not think our family conversations are comparable to the conflicts of 1797. Nor would I suggest that a Sunday phone call can settle a national crisis. But Tracy’s letter raises a question that still matters: When people disagree about important things, what keeps them from deciding they no longer belong together?
The Quakers Are Here—and Other Press Release Releases
Rappahannock Education Farm Launches Wholesome Harvest Fundraising Campaign. UMW Mourns Loss of Longtime Athletic Director and Coach Ed Hegmann. Fredericksburg Flock Camera Stops So Far This Year: Charges, Race, Sex, and Ethnicity. Mary Wash Soars into National Top 5, Ranks No. 1 in Virginia for Internships.
STATE OF THE STATE
VaNews/VIRGINIA PUBLIC ACCESS PROJECT
By RYAN NADEAU, WRIC-TV
Virginia was handed a significant legal victory in its fight to defend its law that allows qualifying undocumented and refugee students to pay in-state tuition rates. On Monday, Oct. 5, a federal judge ruled in Virginia’s favor — and against the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) — in a lawsuit challenging the state’s in-state tuition policies, according to a press release from Attorney General Jay Jones’ (D) office.
Early Voting by Congressional District and Locality for November 2026 Election
The Virginia Public Access Project
Check our updated early voting visual for daily counts of early ballots cast so far, in person and by mail. Choose a congressional district to drill down, and see the numbers by locality within each district.
Ballot Question 3 is about more than rights restoration after felony convictions
By JAHD KHALIL, VPM
The most well known portion of Ballot Question 3 deals with rights restoration for people convicted of felonies, but the amendment takes up two other issues, too. Language in the proposed amendment, if passed, would establish a “fundamental right” to vote, and another portion would change the way that a voter is found to be incapacitated. Virginia currently has a free and equal elections clause, which reads: “All elections ought to be free; and that all men, having sufficient evidence of permanent common interest with, and attachment to, the community, have the right of suffrage.” If passed, the amendment would add new language: “Every person who meets these qualifications shall have the fundamental right to vote in the Commonwealth, and such right shall not be abridged by law.”
Sen. Perry proposes a Virginia ban on surveillance pricing
By DAVE RESS, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Subscription Required)
Companies shouldn’t be able to customize higher prices for you based on your personal data, says state Sen. Russet Perry, D-Loudoun. She’s introduced legislation to ban such surveillance pricing. More and more companies set customized prices for consumers using data such as information about what people have bought, how they browse when thinking about buying something, where they shop and what kind of device they use when shopping.
In Winchester, the truth about a local news website is the city’s best-kept secret
By JAYSUN SILVER AND LAURA THOMPSON, Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism
The Winchester Gazette, a news website covering this city of 28,000 people in the Shenandoah Valley, calls itself “a publication committed to reporting the truth.” But city leaders, residents, newsmakers and a former reporter say the truth about the Gazette is a mystery. The Gazette launched in August 2023, after Winchester had been losing local news resources for years. It immediately announced that it would follow a “no byline policy,” claiming that this would give its reporters protection from undue influence. For three years, the Gazette has appeared to be a local news outlet. It files stories online about crime, government meetings and community events. But the website has never publicly identified its writers, staff, owners or source of funding.
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