STAFFORD — Plastic straws are now banned in Stafford County Public Schools.

Conway Elementary School fourth-grade student Lily Tipling pushed for change and convinced the School Board to ban plastic straws at all Stafford County Public Schools. The ban went into place on Tuesday, May 6.


STAFFORD COUNTY — Senator Mark Warner kicked back a beer with a group of brewers and distillers.

It was his last stop on a whirlwind tour of Stafford County on Friday. The listening event took place at  3 p.m. at 6 Bears and a Goat Brewing Company on International Parkway.


STAFFORD — The Stafford County School Board approved a 5% raise for all school employees in the county.

The across-the-board raise will cover teachers, bus drivers, administrators, and the superintendent which will cost the county a total of $10.6 million.


Editor’s note: This post is unlocked for 48 hours beginning Sunday, May 12, 2019.

A lot has been happening in Vint Hill over the past five years. Its growth from military ghost town to a thriving entrepreneurial village is impressive, to say the least.


WOODBRIDGE — As Prince William County’s population grows, so does the number of 911 calls handled by emergency dispatchers.

As the county quickly approaches nearly a half-million people, Director of Public Safety Communications Eddie Reyes said that not only is call the number of calls on the rise but adds the job is evolving with new smartphone technology.


DUMFRIES — With her daughter in a passenger seat about to give birth, Jena Smith drove her truck the wrong way up Route 1.

She had one hand on the wheel and the other holding a cell phone. She was on the phone with Prince William County’s 911 center, where a dispatcher told her to do anything she could to get around the stalled traffic.


PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY — Once a refuge for low and middle-income workers priced out of Alexandria and Arlington, Prince William County is currently struggling to meet its population’s affordable housing needs.

Nonprofit organization directors in the area confirmed that the community is in need of housing assistance beyond the scope of existing support systems. But with fewer affordable communities planned in the county and housing programs that are already filled to capacity, no clear solution is readily available.


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