According to a press release, NOVEC will be accepting both trees and greens without any decorations, ornaments, hooks, wires or light strings starting the day after Christmas. Drop-off will be available at its Gainesville Technical Center at 5399 Wellington Branch Road.

“Recycling holiday greens is just another way we help area residents and the environment,” Rick Carpenter, NOVEC Vegetation Management manager, said.


Prince William County police are searching for a suspect involved in a fatal crash that claimed the life of a 63-year-old Nokesville man in August. Arrest warrants have been issued for James Francis Byrd, 62, of Woodbridge, in connection with the collision on Bristow Road near Windy Hill Drive on August 28, 2023.

Investigators determined that Byrd, the driver of a 2021 Toyota Tundra, had a blood alcohol content above the legal limit at the time of the crash. His vehicle crossed the center line, colliding head-on with a 2003 Lexus GX driven by Thomas Spencer Stark, who later died from his injuries. Byrd sustained minor injuries in the crash.


“We have gotten concerns about the speed,” said Thomas Ruff, a traffic engineer with Timmons Group, working with city officials to look at the one-way streets in neighborhoods right outside the business district.

The study intended to evaluate the feasibility and potential impacts of converting select one-way streets to two-way streets in a downtown area, as described in their description. Bike lanes, traffic calming measures intended to slow drivers, and proposed pedestrian improvements were part of the discussion.


Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin and Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine released a statement Dec.19 following a classified briefing at the Capitol from the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Justice, and the FBI regarding the ongoing investigation into the unexplained drone sightings in Virginia.

While we appreciate the agencies taking the time to update us on the situation, this briefing was insufficient and unsatisfactory. It has been more than a year since these sightings over key military facilities in Virginia and the lack of answers about the nature, intent, and origin of these incidents is completely unacceptable. The safety of Virginians remains our top priority, and we are determined to continue pressing for additional details as well as greater coordination with state and local officials. We will be staying in close contact with the relevant federal and state agencies to ensure that these concerns are pursued vigorously.


President-Elect Donald Trump and Vice President-Elect JD Vance criticized the proposed plan in a statement released on Dec. 18 on X (formerly Twitter), where they said the deal had provisions that would hide records of the Capitol attack on January 6, 2021, and that the bill would give Congress a pay increase while Americans are “struggling this Christmas.”

The 1,547-page continuing resolution was scrapped on December 18, hours before lawmakers approved the measure. The bill aimed to prevent a partial government shutdown and included a variety of allocations ranging from disaster relief to football stadium land:


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