Author: Uriah Kiser

“The door is always propped open at Black Metal Mercantile in Old Town Manassas. That’s because owner Deron Blevins says there’s a little something for everyone inside, so they might as well come in,” Prince William Times reported. “Blevins, 55, said he bet on himself back in 2023 when he opened Black Metal Mercantile on Center Street in Old Town Manassas.”

“As the Prince William School Board finalizes its legislative priorities for 2026, one key item from 2025 is off the list – for good reason,” InsideNoVa reported. “The school division has fought over the years for the removal of Virginia’s support cap, which limited state funding for support positions in school divisions.”

“The big enchilada, the one we’ve been fighting for for years … we finally got elimination of the support cap,” said Jim Council, the division’s lobbyist in Richmond.

“Virginia’s unemployment rate is expected to be higher than the national average next year, a stunning reversal for a state economy that had been the envy of other states for years,” Radio IQ reported. “That’s the forecast of the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia.”

“We expect the unemployment rate to continue to climb until about next summer at about 5%,” says executive director Eric Scoresone. “That is not great coming from 2.6 or 2.7%. That’s almost a doubling of the unemployment rate from last summer.”