Dear Editor,
The Virginia Education Association (VEA) owes an immediate and transparent explanation to its largest local, the Prince William Education Association (PWEA). For over three years, PWEA has led all VEA locals in record-breaking member recruitment. It operates with a nearly million-dollar annual budget, maintains $500,000 in savings, owns its office, and carries no debt—unlike the VEA, which rents its headquarters outside Richmond.
The court has now confirmed that haste indeed made waste and the abrogation of due process resulting from Ann Wheeler’s frantic Prince William Digital Gateway railroading warrants its derailment. Prince William County should jump off this runaway train before it careens off a bridge.
Considering all the influence peddling, evidence suppression, and cut corners associated with the project, it’s ironic that its Achilles’ heel was something as mundane as an erroneous newspaper advertisement. It’s like Al Capone being convicted for tax evasion instead of mass murder.
Dear Editor,
My name is Bill Card. My family and I moved to Prince William County and purchased a home in August 1995. Two years later, I retired from the Marine Corps, and we decided to stay here. At the time, I thought politics was a dirty business, so I focused on new career options and went to work.
Dear Editor,
The recent selection of George Stewart as the Democratic nominee for Gainesville District Supervisor came amid a deeply emotional moment for our community. The seat was vacated following the death of Supervisor Bob Weir on Sunday, July 20, 2025, after his battle with metastatic colon cancer. While I appreciate the efforts to move swiftly toward a replacement, the compressed timeline for the Democratic caucus raises legitimate concerns about voter engagement.
The morning quiet is disrupted by the whine of the saw and the din of bulldozers as yet another swath of woodland gets decimated.
Virginia, a state of great beauty and diversity and a history unmatched anywhere in the United States, is currently under pressure from rapid data center construction.
To the Editor,
Data centers may serve the digital age, but they don’t belong next to homes—especially not in Four Seasons, a 55+ community in Dumfries that includes seniors, veterans, and the disabled.
As Manassas tries to position itself as a destination for major business investment, I can’t help but wonder what message we’re really sending—especially when our public schools are struggling so visibly.
Recent reporting from Potomac Local News highlights that Standards of Learning (SOL) scores in Manassas City Public Schools are not only falling, but are also well below the state average. Osbourn High School and Metz Middle School remain only partially accredited, and our grading policies are under fire for allowing late work and multiple test retakes. These may be intended to help struggling students, but the result appears to be grade inflation and a lack of accountability.
Each year, the school calendar creeps earlier into August, cutting short a season that was once sacred in childhood: summer. I’m writing to express my concern that we’re trading sun-soaked afternoons, family vacations, and outdoor adventures for fluorescent lights, digital screens, and prematurely scheduled tests.
Not long ago, most schools in Virginia started after Labor Day. This gave kids the full summer—June, July, and August—with time to rest, travel, play, and just be kids. Today, schools in our area begin as early as August 12, while it’s still hot, bright, and perfect for swimming, hiking, and being outside. Why are we rushing children back into classrooms when summer is still in full swing?
John Williams, composer of the iconic themes from Superman, Star Wars, Jurassic Park, and many others, is the soundtrack of my childhood. So when the Kennedy Center invited my wife and me to Notes and Frames, a performance by the National Symphony Orchestra celebrating classic film scores, I jumped at the chance.
The show, held June 6, was more than a concert—it was a cinematic time machine. From the booming percussion of King Kong to the haunting strings of Vertigo, each piece reminded us how film music doesn’t just accompany a story—it is the story. These weren’t just background tracks. These scores are characters in their own right.
The 2024 election results for Manassas signal a shift in the city’s political landscape.
While Democratic Mayor Michelle Davis-Younger retained her seat with a notable 56.91% of the vote, Republicans have made meaningful inroads, building on a newfound organizational strength seen across the state as conservatives embraced Virginia’s early voting system in record numbers. In what has become one of the city’s most contentious elections in recent memory, conservatives leveraged social media and new voices, such as the “Until They Kick Us Out” podcast, to rally supporters and draw attention to their causes. The Republican Party’s increased cohesion and visibility hint at a changing dynamic in a city once considered solidly Democratic.
