When a coronavirus state of emergency set by Governor Ralph Northam was lifted this summer, it allowed students to return to the classrooms.
Some Prince William County students started the new academic year in two new schools built during the pandemic.
Potomac Shores Middle School is located near Dumfries, in the Potomac Shores neighborhood.
With its mascot, the Cardinal, Gainesville High School sits just outside Gainesville Magisterial District, neighboring Brentsville Magisterial District, directly behind the Jiffy Lube Live concert venue.
Prince William County Potomac District School Board member Justin Wilk praised the success of the new middle school's openinand its staff andas mentioned some challenges the school is experiencing.Â
"I'm very happy that things have gotten off to such a good start. The school is staffed with quality teachers, and Principle Joe Murgo has done a phenomenal job. There have been some challenges, we do need some crosswalks to ensure that the students can get to school safely. There's also the issue of so many parents driving their kids to school and getting everyone in on time."
Wilk's involvement in the naming of Potomac Shores involved taking meetings with residents whose children were drawn into the new school's boundaries. In a press release made by Prince William County Schools about the naming of Potomac Shores in Oct. 2020, Wilk stated that the name earned overwhelming support from residents who wanted the name to represent something based in the community.
Gainesville High School, the 13th high school to be opened in Prince William County, has also received praise from Brentsville District School Board member Adele Jackson, who sent a statement to Potomac Local News.
"I had the pleasure of visiting Gainesville High School a few times since school started and I am very impressed with the building, as well as the students and staff. I extend my gratitude to our supportive staff and Gainesville families. It's exciting to have the school year up and running at Gainesville High School."
Other names that were in the competition included naming the school after county police officer Ashley Guindon, who was shot and killed on her first day of duty in February 2016 while responding to a domestic dispute. Also in the running was Lillian Orlich, a 67-year career teacher, and counselor who spent the majority of her career at Osbourn Park High School.
Prince William County, the state's second-largest school division, welcomed back about 90,000 students at the start of the school year on August 23. It's the first time since the start of the pandemic in March 2020 that the majority of students have been back in a classroom for five days a week.
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Stafford County leaders want to give residents more time before a moratorium on utility disconnections ends.
While the moratorium was lifted in August, the county has discussed waiting until January 2022 before shutting off utilities for delinquent payments. Governor Ralph Northam had placed the moratorium in March 2020 to provide relief for Virginia residents who had experienced financial hardships due to the coronavirus pandemic, as many were furloughed for fired from their jobs.
The county's Utilities Department plans to notify residents of the moratorium's end later in September, giving those with delinquent accounts a four-month head start to get things in order.
During the disconnection moratorium, the number of delinquent accounts had risen by 11 percent to a total of 9,474 while the amount of money due to those delinquencies rose by 40 percent to $1.6 million. The county provided almost $500,000 in relief funds to customers through the COVID-19 Municipal Utilities Relief Program.
Northam had declared a state of emergency due to the pandemic in March 2020 which led to the moratorium.Â
The Virginia General Assembly recently adopted House Bill 7001, in order to appropriate $120 million from the latest round of federal funds from President Biden's American Rescue Plan. Funds from this cut will be used to provide direct assistance to residents who are 60 days behind on their utility payments.
The Stafford County Utilities Department plans to apply for all the grant and assistance opportunities that they are eligible for. The funds will be awarded based on the total of accounts that are 60 days behind on their utility payments.
This week, the Stafford County Board of Supervisors put its public schools in the spotlight, pressing its top administrator on Critical Race Theory.
In July, Hartwood District Supervisor Gary Snellings had planned to question officials from the county school division about CRT -- a decades-old academic framework examining how race and racism influence politics, culture, and law -- wanting to know if children are being taught the concepts in schools.
After receiving multiple emails from concerned constituents, Snellings took the floor and questioned Interim County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Stanley B. Jones on Tuesday.
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Leaders in several jurisdictions will pay remembrance to the victims that lost their lives on this, the 20th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The Stafford County Board of Supervisors declared September 11 as Patriot Day. The name made its first appearance in 2002 when the U.S. Congress passed legislation naming the day "Patriot Day." The day was further expanded in 2009 when President Barack Obama added a National Day of Service and Remembrance to the date.
In observance, Stafford is giving the majority of County offices and departments a half-day on Friday, Sept. 10, which will allow employees to leave at 12:30 p.m. The County Circuit Court will be open that day until 4 p.m.
The Regional Landfill in Stafford and the Belman Road Recycling Center in Fredericksburg will close at 4:30 p.m. On 10 a.m. Saturday, September 11, the county will hold a bell-ringing ceremony to remember those who lost their lives on that day.
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Delegate Mark Cole's decision not to run for reelection in Virginia's 88th District has created a crowded field of candidates looking to replace the veteran lawmaker who served for more than 20 years.Â
Tim Lewis, a Libertarian who is mounting a third-party run in the district that includes Stafford, Spotsylvania, and Fauquier counties, and Fredericksburg, wants to bring a different philosophy to the state capitol.Â
Originally from Montgomery, Ala., Lewis has lived in Virginia on and off since 1984 with his wife Jackie and his three children. In addition to having served 20 years in the Marine Corps, Lewis serves on the board of the child-focused non-profit Beacon Hill as well helping to fundraise for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
Lewis is a Libertarian, the country's third-largest political party. He'll run against Democratic candidate Kecia Evans and Republican Phillip Scott.
Lewis takes both Democrats and Republicans to task for continuously growing the state government and wants to offer a different choice to residents of the 88th district.
"Under both Republican and Democrat rule, we've seen the power of the government grow and take more control over our lives. There are jobs here in Virginia you can only have if you ask permission and pay Richmond for the right," says Lewis.
Lewis acknowledges that he doesn't want to run the lives of Virginians, and wants to empower Virginians to follow their own path without government intrusion. He believes that as long as someone is not hurting others or taking something that doesn't belong to them, they should be able to live their own best life and make their own decisions on what is best for them and their family which is a typical libertarian ideal.
Lewis is also focused on particular issues such as repealing a 2.5% grocery store food tax, which has also been proposed by Glenn Youngkin, the Republican candidate for governor. He also wants to open Virginia to school choice which he says is already available in Washington D.C. and in the states surrounding the commonwealth, where school funding is allocated by student, not school building. Lewis and his wife Jackie homeschool their three children.
Lewis is also focused on the repeal of Certificate of Public Need laws which govern how hospitals and medical centers operate. According to Lewis, these laws have been blamed for creating medical monopolies which denies such services to communities and increases the costs of healthcare.
"COPN requires hospitals to jump through a number of hoops and petition Richmond for permission to do something as simple as add an MRI or to build a NICU. If Richmond believes it will create "unfair" competition, they can deny the request," says Lewis.
Lewis also holds up private health offerings such as plastic surgery, Lasik, chiropractic, and hospice care as examples of providers' ability to lower costs and provide more healthcare in an open marketplace.
Historically, third party candidates such as those from the Libertarian Party have had a hard time getting on ballots. But Lewis has taken the time to go door-to-door and talk with potential voters to explain his positions, this approach got him enough signatures to get on the ballot and run in the 88th District.
"Regardless of political beliefs, I will fight tirelessly to give every voter the right of self-determination, the power to decide how to live their own lives. I'm not out here running for some powerful lobby or old political party, I'm running understanding that in the eyes of the government, each and every person in our Commonwealth should be protected on equal ground. I offer no special treatment to one group over another, I offer full liberty to all. I will push at every turn to get the government out of your way and out of your life."
Election Day is November 2. No-excuse early voting begins Friday, September 17.
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Stafford County is now considered an area of high transmission for the coronavirus due to a rise in the number of reported cases.
With the Stafford County's Fire and Rescue Department, Kim Murphy-Orr updated the Board of Supervisors on the latest coronavirus numbers in the county.
Between August  3 to Sept. 28, Stafford recorded 515 new cases of viral infections, raising the total of cases in the county to 13,502 since the pandemic. Of these new cases, nine have been reported to be hospitalized, and two people have died.
Stafford now bears the distinction as a high transmission area, which means that cases in the area have reached 10 percent per 100,000 residents, according to information from the Rappahannock Area Health District.
These Stafford numbers combine with the five jurisdictions in the health district, which includes Spotsylvania County and Fredericksburg, a total of 985 new cases were reported the week for a total of 33,206 cases since the beginning of the pandemic.
A total of 16 people from the district have been hospitalized, and three have died, bringing the county's totals up to 1,033 and 306, respectively.
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The Stafford County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday will discuss the issues of Critical Race Theory and the 1619 Project. Elected leaders on the top governing body want to know if either is being taught in the county's public schools.
The issue was originally placed on the agenda by Hartwood District Supervisor Gary Snellings on August 17, who asked outgoing schools Dr. Scott Kizner to attend the meeting to answer questions from Board members. Kizner had a previous engagement and couldn't attend, County Administrator Fred Pressley emailed Board members.
"This is totally unacceptable!" replied Snellings in an email on August 10, when he learned Kizner declined the request to appear. "The school division has known for almost two months that CRT was going to be on our agenda."Â
Rock Hill District Supervisor Crystal Vanuch, the Board Chairman, also replied to Pressley's email, noting Kizner's decision to pass up the Board's invitation "doesn't look good for our schools."Â
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Crossroads Tabletop Tavern, a Manassas-based game pub, has put out a call to local historians for information about the building that it's inhabited since 2018.
According to Crossroad's post to its Facebook page, the building that houses the tavern located at 9412 Main Street will celebrate its 111th birthday. The tavern wants to mark the occasion by finding out more about the building's history, but they've only been able to go back as far as 1984.
The building had been a bar up to that point, but Crossroads owner and founder John Hornberger says that there's proof that people used to live in the building.
"The building may have been apartments since it has the wiring and remnants of bathroom facilities that would have gone along with those kinds of things," says Hornberger.
Hornberger also talked about an artifact from back when the bar was known as Jake's. In a drop ceiling above the kitchen not visible to the public's view, signatures of the people who took part in a drinking contest are seen. If participants drank all six of the bar's original beers in one night, their names would be added to the ceiling.
Another piece of the puzzle in the history of the building comes from the world of pop music, along with other landmarks in old town Manassas the building was featured in the Steve Winwood music video for the song "Back in the High Life Again."
Hornberger also plans to officially name the building if he can't find out its official name. His choice would be the Baggins Building, a nod to the character of Frodo Baggins in the Lord of the Rings books by J.R.R. Tolkien.
Crossroads plans to have a month-long celebration for the building, including a weeklong birthday celebration, an overnight gaming session for select invitees, and a month-long sale on games.
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Kecia Evans is no stranger to politics, a wife and mother of four children with more than 22 years of experience in criminal justice.
She's got experience on the local level serving as Secretary of the Stafford County Board of Zoning Appeals and the former chair of the Special Education Advisory Committee for the Stafford County School Board.
"I decided to run again in order to give the Fighting 88th a new voice," Evans, a Democrat, told Potomac Local News.
Originally from New Jersey, Evans came to Virginia in 1992 with her family while her father served in the U.S. Air Force. Evans would graduate from Gar-Field High School in Woodbridge in 1996 and later earn degrees in criminal justice and cybersecurity from the University of Maryland-University College and Regent School of Law. Evans has spent the last 16 years working for an agency that provides advocacy and legal representation to indigent adults and teenagers.
This isn't Evans' first time around in the 88th District, which includes portions of Stafford, Fauquier, Spotsylvania counties, and Fredericksburg. She also ran in a Democratic Primary for the seat in 2019 but lost to Jessica Foster. With the winner of that race, Delegate Mark Cole retiring after more than 20 years in the seat, the field has become open for Evans to take another shot.Â
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The Virginia Department of Veteran Affairs will open a new care center for veterans in Fauquier County next year.
The new clinic, which is currently near the end of its construction phase, is being built on the former Vint Hill Farm Property. In 2017, state officials told us construction was set to begin.
The clinic, which will be known as the Puller Veterans Care Center, is one of two new locations being built by the Virginia Department of Veterans Services. The second will be located in Virginia Beach and will be known as the Jones and Cabocoy Veterans Care Center.
Both locations were chosen because of large veterans populations living nearby. The Fauquier clinic sits 13 miles from Manassas, which also has a large concentration of veterans.
The new centers are being built on property that was donated to the commonwealth for the purpose of creating these clinics. They will operate as long-term care facilities which will offer in-patient nursing care, Alzheimer's and memory care, as well as short-term rehabilitation care for veterans.
The centers will include amenities such as private rooms with bathrooms, a beauty and barbershop, a pharmacy, activity rooms and lounges, a library, and a game room.
"With the addition of the two new veterans care centers, VDVS will have centers nearby most veterans throughout the state," says Jeb Hockman, VDVH spokesman. "Nothing is more important than paying back our veterans for their unselfish service to protecting our freedoms."
The Puller Center is named for the Puller Family whose members have served with distinction in the U.S. Armed Services. Gen. Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller saw action as a Marine in Central America, World War II, and in the Korean War before retiring in 1955. Gen. Puller is only one of two men to receive the Navy Cross a record five times which among other accolades makes him one of the most decorated soldiers in Marine history.
His son, Lt. Lewis B. Pulley Jr., also served with distinction in Vietnam in 1968 where he was awarded the Purple Heart for saving his platoon after he set off a trap which caused him to lose both legs, his left hand, and several fingers on his right hand.
Toddy Puller, who served in the Virginia General Assembly from 1992 to 2016 and was married to Lewis Puller, pushed for the new veterans care facility in Northern Virginia. When she retired, she represented portions of Fairfax, Prince William, and Stafford counties in the Virginia Senate.Â
