News

New company awarded contract to operate OmniRide buses

By Rick Horner

Keolis will begin operating the OmniRide service on Nov. 1, 2020, and has already begun changeover activities to ensure a smooth transition that will be invisible to riders. The first year of the contract is worth $24,629,187 with a start-up cost of $740,523.

Keolis provides mobility services to millions of passengers in the United States. Keolis carries over 100 million passengers each year on local, commuter, paratransit, and commuter rail services in 12 cities. This includes the Virginia Railway Express (VRE) commuter rail service, which PRTC co-sponsors with the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission.

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Robbery victim attempted to restrain suspect in fatal car crash

By Arabella Thornhill
A Stafford County Sheriff's' patrol car.

The Stafford County Sheriff’s Office has new details in fatal crash that took the life of an innocent driver on Friday, July 17.

Martha Chavez, 61, of Stafford was traveling northbound on Jefferson Davis Highway in her Nissan vehicle before being hit head-on by an escaping suspect traveling on the wrong side of the road. Chavez died at the scene with an unidentified passenger of her car being taken to a nearby hospital with serious, life-threatening injuries.

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1 dead in head-on collision after robbery suspect evades law enforcement

By Uriah Kiser
A Stafford County Sheriff's' patrol car.

Stafford sheriff’s deputies were called at 7:44 p.m. Friday, July 18 to Colonial Avenue in Falmouth to investigate a report of a stolen silver SUV. While investigators were taking the report, another deputy spotted the SUV traveling near the Rappahannock Regional Jail, about seven miles north of where the car was reported stolen.

The deputy pursued the stolen SUV, which was traveling northbound on Route 1, about three miles north to Tamar Creek Drive. Once there, the driver of the deputy attempted to stop the stolen vehicle using a pit maneuver, using his cruiser to try to cause the SUV to spin out.

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Protestors target homes of Fredericksburg mayor, city manager

By Uriah Kiser
Fredericksburg Mayor Katherine Greenlaw

Protestors used a blow horn on to take their message to the homes of Fredericksburg’s mayor and city manager.

The incidents come after Black Lives Matter protestors took to city streets in June following the death of Minneapolis resident George Floyd at the hands of a former police officer.

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At least 2 baseball fields to be lost due to Micron expansion

By Olivia Aveni Briscoe
E.G. Smith Baseball Complex in Manassas [Photo: Greater Manassas Baseball League]

Two popular baseball fields in Manassas will soon be paved over to make way to more parking for the city’s largest employer, Micron.

Micron will pay for the construction of the parking lot that will replace two of eight fields at the E.G. Smith Baseball Complex at the corner of Route 28 and Godwin Drive, and will also build an equipment shed for use by the Greater Manassas Baseball League.

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Stafford charges woman, 33, with vehicle tampering, public intoxication

By Arabella Thornhill

A suspicious woman on drugs was found to be breaking into vehicles and having credit cards that weren’t hers, according to Stafford County Sheriff’s Office.

The event occurred on July 15, 2020, when the Sheriff’s Office responded to the 500 Block of Warrenton Road in response to a call reporting of a suspicious woman. According to a Stafford County Sheriff’s Office press release, the caller told police that a woman was seen shining a light into vehicles and attempting to break into them.

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Fredericksburg to petition for statewide name change of U.S. Route 1

By Rick Horner
A pedestrian bridge over Route 1 at Mary Washington University in Fredericksburg. [Photo: Mary Washington University]

The Fredericksburg City Council will petition the Virginia General Assembly to remove the name of Jefferson Davis Highway from the U.S. Route 1 statewide.

The council made their decision in a 6-1 vote at its online meeting Tuesday night to present their petition to the Virginia General Assembly at their August special session.

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Prince William to conduct virtual learning in fall, transition later into hybrid model

By Gianna Jirak

Prince William County Schools (PWCS) students won’t be headed back to the classroom to school in fall, but they will likely return later in the school year.

During its six-hour meeting on July 15, the county’s school board unanimously approved a return to learning plan in which students participate in solely virtual learning for the first quarter, starting on September 8 and ending October 30. A goal of transitioning into a hybrid of in-person and virtual learning later in the school year remains in place, with the option for students to stay virtual.

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