MANASSAS, Va . — Battalion Chief Todd Lupton of the Manassas Fire Department was honored during a City Council meeting on Monday night. Though Lupton has only been a member of the Manassas team for a little over a year, his contributions are felt throughout the community.

“I would really like to thank everyone in the department,” Lupton said during the ceremony. “Receiving such an award is very humbling, but this has really been a group effort.”

My beloved dog Sophi couldn’t be a better pet, except when I open the kitchen windows.

Then and only then does she start barking uncontrollably. I have not figured out why she does this, but I have found a cure. If I am cooking something that usually causes my stove to smoke and I need to air out the kitchen, (it happens more often than I care to say) Sophi alerts the whole neighborhood.

Both Stafford and Prince William counties have made their pitches to become the next home for the FBI’s national headquarters.

In a recent letter from Prince William County Board of Supervisors Corey Stewart, the developing Potomac Shores neighborhood — with a planned Virginia Railway Express station — was dubbed a good location for the federal agency.