Five high school sophomores has started a 3-D printing business to help fight the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

The students, from Charles J. Colgan Sr. High School near Woodbridge, kicked their small 3D-printing business into high-gear, and a Woodbridge Senior High School teacher is working in his home basement to help in the fight against the spread of the coronavirus virus. The sophomore students are making 3D-printed masks for local first responders.

Max Lawson and Ethan Carr received a request for 3D-printed masks from a local doctor and PWC School Board Chairman, Dr. Babur Lateef. They enlisted the help of fellow classmates Solomon Ralston, Caleb Bock, Michael Kreider, and Aiden Patterson to help boost production. Within a few days, the 3D-printing team made and delivered 151 face shields and over 81 N95 face mask extenders.

“Each of us can make a difference, and these boys are leading the way,” stated Lateef in a press release.

Ethan/Max Printing (EMP) is the company and backbone of this initiative. The company was started in 2017 when the students decided to start a business making the popular toy, fidget spinners. They are both enrolled in?Project Lead the Way (PLTW), a Career and Technical Education (CTE) program offered at several PWCS high schools. This engineering program is nationally recognized. It offers an enriched sequence of courses to prepare students for college level engineering courses

With the help of their parents and over $3,000 in community donations, the team was able to purchase printer filament and other needed supplies to continue to fill requests for nursing homes, the airline industry, and other medical facilities.

From the basement of his home, Woodbridge High School Teacher Carlos Castro is also producing 3D-printed masks. He is using printers built by the school’s robotics team. Funds received from a GoFundMe campaign were used to build two additional printers. The two newest printers were given the names Hope and Charity. They join Dave, Ryoko, and Felix, who are hard at work printing masks.

Castro is humbled to see how fast his fundraiser reached the goal of $3,000 for the purchase of supplies to make masks, mask buckles and face shields. He has made 50 masks and 25 face shields for PWCS School Food and Nutrition Services employees and has made 250 face mask buckles for the PWCS Police Department to use when they need to wear a mask for an extended period of time. Currently, he is filling a request for an Army medical team and a medical facility.?His items are available at no cost to those who need them.

“By each of us doing our part, either as a frontline responder, an essential worker or just staying home, we will get through this,” Castro stated in a press release.

A Fredericksburg area man was killed in a crash with a  tractor-trailer on Interstate 95.

Virginia State Police Trooper K. Zalasar is investigating a two-vehicle crash in Spotsylvania County. The crash occurred Thursday (April 30, 2020) at 9 a.m. on Interstate 95 at the 117 mile-marker, near Thornburg.

A 2009 Toyota Corolla was traveling north on I-95 when it ran off the right side of the highway, and collided with a guard rail. The impact caused the Toyota to come back into the travel lanes, and collided with a northbound 2005 Freightliner tractor-trailer, according to police.

The driver of the Toyota, Michael R. Sprague, 31, of Fredericksburg, Va., died at the scene as a result of his injuries. Sprague was wearing a seatbelt.

The driver of the tractor-trailer, a 49-year-old male, of Galion, OH., was not injured in the crash. The male was wearing a seatbelt.

The crash remains under investigation.

Virginia State Police was assisted by the Virginia Department of Transportation and Spotsylvania County Fire and EMS.

Ann Little is running for Mayor of the City of Fredericksburg.

She'll face incumbent Mayor Katherine Greenlaw in an upcoming city-wide election on May 19. That election was postponed from May 5 by order of Gov. Ralph Northam, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

This article is FREE to read. Please Sign In or Create a FREE Account. Thank you.

A former employee of a Safeway Food and Drug store went back to his former workplace and exposed himself, according to police.

Police were called on Tuesday, April 28, at 12:45 p.m., to a Safeway Food and Drug store at 4240 Merchant Plaza in Lake Ridge. A man, who was identified as a former worker at the stated Safeway store, walked up to the counter where a female employee was working, made obscene gestures, and exposed himself, according to police.

A witness saw it go down and then reported the incident to a store manager.

“The female employee was unaware of the gestures by the accused who left the store prior to police arriving at the business,” states Prince William County Police Department Spokeswoman, Renee Carr.

The store manager looked back into security camera tapes and found the suspect caught in the act according to police. He was then able to identify the suspect to the police.

No one was injured.

Michael Earl Alexander, 29, of 4923 Longhorn Drive of Dale City, is charged with indecent exposure with a pending court date.

The Prince William Board of County Supervisors unanimously approved a request to add approximately 84 acres of land into an agricultural and forestal district during their board meeting on April 28.

Located near the Nokesville School, the first parcel, located at 13063 Hickerson Lane, is 80 acres. It will be used for fields, forestry, crops, and livestock. The second four-acre parcel is located at 13209 Farmview Road, known as the Madera Farm. It will be used as a “wooded lot to be forested,” according to county documents.

The Agricultural and Forestal Districts are established to “provide a means for a mutual undertaking by landowners and localities to protect and enhance agricultural and forestal land as a viable segment of the Commonwealth’s economy and as an economic and environmental resource of major importance,” according to the Code of Virginia.

This addition occurred while the Prince William County Agricultural and Forestal District was under its periodic review during which owners of the land parcels that make up the district can request to be removed from it.

Many have requested to be removed from the agricultural zone, according to long-range planner Connie Dalton, which has weakened the already weak district where farmland is disappearing. 

“Unfortunately, based upon the review and what we’ve been told, Agricultural and Forestal District 91-1 may be the only one that’s left. Loudoun county has 79,000 acres in their Agricultural and Forestal District, they have 23 of them, we have maybe one at the end of this review session,” said Jason Hickman, an attorney representing the owner of the two parcels of land. 

The added 84 acres, however, may help revitalize the district, according to Brentsville District Supervisor Jeanine Lawson. 

“These applications will actually strengthen that particular district,” said Lawson.

Lawson gave a directive for Prince William staff to come up with creative incentives for inviting more landowners into the Agricultural and Forestal Districts. 

Starting today, Gov. Ralph Northam is relaxing what were his strict orders that prevented Virginians to have nonessential surgery during the spread of the coronavirus.

"Today, I'm announcing that elective surgery and dental procedures can resume when the public order expires at midnight on [May 1] with guidelines in place to ensure safety for healthcare workers and patients and to maintain an adequate supply of PPE," Northam said at a press conference on Wednesday, April 29.

Northam banned elective medical procedures on March 25 under as part of his response to the coronavirus pandemic. Since then, hospitals across the state have widely been empty, and have had to furlough staff due to lack of business.