Politics

Warner pitches baseball bailout with unused coronavirus relief funds

By Rick Horner
Sen. Mark Warner tours the FredNats ballpark in Fredericksburg. [Photo: Fredericksburg Nationals]

Senator Mark Warner (D-Va.) paid a visit to the home of the Fredericksburg Nationals minor league baseball team to announce a bill that would offer financial assistance to minor league baseball teams in Virginia that came under hardship during the coronavirus pandemic.

The bill, known as the Minor League Baseball Relief Act, would provide grants from a pot of $550 million of unused money originally set aside for pandemic relief. The act would follow in the footsteps of the Shuttered Venues grant program which offered funding to businesses such as restaurants and music venues which had closed their doors due to crowd restrictions to prevent the spread of the pandemic.

The pandemic affected sporting venues such as FredNats ballpark, which led to the cancelation of the 2020 season, which been the FredNat's first season since moving to Fredericksburg. The team took the field for the first time in May, but according to Fred Nats Owner Art Silber, the canceled season resulted in lost revenue that would have been generated by the team’s presence.

Silber discussed the positives of how the bill would affect the Fred Nats:

“We’ve gone through a difficult financial period without having revenues for a full season like other businesses that have benefited from similar legislation. It would provide some additional revenue that would allow us to invest more in the ballpark, do some hiring, and some other things that would help us to fully realize our business.”

Warner also touted the importance of Minor League Baseball not just as a drive of economic growth but as a source of entertainment for local baseball fans.

“For many working families, catching a weekend Minor League Baseball game at stadiums across the Commonwealth is an affordable and fun family outing.”

Working alongside Warner on the bill is fellow Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine as well as Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Sen. Richard Blumethal (D-Conn.).

In addition to the FredNats, eight other Virginia-based teams from the Minor League and the Appalachian League would be eligible for relief which could amount up to $10 million for the team. The Minor League teams include the Richmond Flying Squirrels, the Norfolk Tides, the Lynchburg Hillcats, and the Salem Red Sox.

The eligible Appalachian League teams include the Danville Otterbots, the Pulaski River Turtles, the Bluefield Ridge Runners, and the Bristol State Liners.

The FredNats, formerly the Potomac Nationals, moved from Woodbridge to their new home in Fredericksburg in 2018. The $35 million stadia, located next to the Fredericksburg Expo Center on Carl D. Silver Parkway, was constructed under a public-private partnership between the team and the city.

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Maya Guy, a self-described community activist, seeks Aquia School Board seat

By Rick Horner
Guy

Maya Guy, a parent, and a self-described community advocate, is running to represent the Aquia District on the Stafford County School Board.

Guy, who has been involved with Stafford County Public Schools in some capacity since 2007, believes that she can make an impact in helping to improve student’s educational experiences, retaining teachers, and building a relationship with the County’s Board of Supervisors.

Guy’s journey began when her then-school board representative inspired her to volunteer with the schools as a homemaker and mother of five.

“I couldn't tell you how I ended up meeting my school board rep at the time, and she was just really inspiring and, you know, you know, reached out and was like, hey, you know, why don't you help me?" Guy told Potomac Local News.

"Which was weird, right? Like an elected official reaching out to me because I just moved here, and I just never had anyone really care,” added Guy.

She's volunteered to serve on school advisory committees, the parent-teacher associations at Brooke Point high, Moncure elementary, and Shirley Heim Middle schools. Guy has also volunteered as the Education Chairperson for the Stafford NAACP.

Guy wants to solve the issues of teacher retention that have plagued the county for years,

“Why are there 100 openings every single year? And we're pulling [employees from the schools' guidance departments to be teachers]. You know, people who aren't even teachers or teaching long term subs are in our high schools, in our elementary schools.” said Guy

Guy also believes in transparency and lets parents know how the school division spends its money.

“I think that the school board should have autonomy over their budget. I don't think they should have to prove what they're like," said Guy. "It should be transparent where the money goes and how it's spent.”

The county School Board regularly squabbles over funding with the county's Board of Supervisors, which sets the county's property tax rates to the county government and its schools. In neighboring Prince William County, the two respective Boards have a revenue-sharing agreement where the Board of County Supervisors automatically transfers more than half of the county government's budget to the School Board, no questions asked. 

Guy has also spent time in Loudoun County, now at the center of a national debate over critical race theory, and transgender rights in public schools, serving on the Superintendent's Equity Diversity Opportunity Advisory Committee.

Earlier this month, a federal judge ordered the school division to reinstate teacher Byron "Tanner" Cross. It suspended him for refusing to refer to a student by students' chosen pronoun.

Recently, the committee took up the issue. While Guy does subscribe to the idea, she couldn’t understand why parents and residents of the Loudoun County were approaching the committee about the critical race theory.

“It's never even been mentioned in any of the meetings. But I've been reading on social media. People are talking about it. We've never mentioned it. It's just really strange that people are pushing that on the committee when that's not what we deal with," said Guy. 

Guy ultimately wants to find ways to support all students who come to Stafford County Public Schools, Guy related to Potomac Local News a story from her early volunteer work with the school about a student who was scared after an accident.

“Some little boy fell down on the playground, and he was scared. He wasn't hurt. There was no blood. But he was scared. He thought he broke something, and I was there for him. His mom was probably at work, like making the walk around. And I realized how important that moment was for that little boy, that there was someone there to love him.”

Maya Guy will be on the ballot on November 2 for running for Aquia District Supervisor on the County School Board. She'll face longtime resident David Fauth. 

Though political parties do endorse School Board candidates, state law requires School Board races to be non-partisan.

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McAuliffe fact-check retraction leaves state buzzing

By Uriah Kiser

Virginia public radio station WCVE in Richmond retracted a column posted to its website today — a fact check piece about former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe.

The piece, which was also shared by statewide news aggregator Va News from the Virginia Public Access Project, called out McAuliffe for falsely claiming his Republican opponent, Glenn Youngkin, praised him during a panel discussion the Youngkin hosted in 2018, on which McAuliffe was a panelist.

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Who’s on my ballot in Prince William County? | November 2, 2021 General Election

By Uriah Kiser

We’re on the road to the November 2 General Election here in Virginia – one of the few elections in the U.S. this year.

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Virginia Senator Amanda Chase tours Arizona forensic election audit

By Uriah Kiser
Chase

A representative from the Virginia State Senate is just back from a trip to Arizona, where she toured the largest forensic audit of the November 3, 2020, General Election. 

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What happened during Democrat Jennifer Carroll Foy’s run for Virginia governor?

By Uriah Kiser

When Jennifer Carroll Foy was crisscrossing the state on a tour bus in 2019, she seemed like the perfect candidate for governor.

Recently elected to a second term in the House of Delegates, representing Woodbridge, and the northern portion of Stafford, the Democrat won a landslide victory over her Republican challenger. Young, female, African-American — it seemed like she had it all, especially in 2020, a year that saw many calls to elevate more minority, progressive candidates to higher office.

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Exclusive meetings or town hall? Stafford tries to involve more residents in political redistricting process

By Rick Horner
Meg Bohmke and Tom Coen will serve as the Chairman and Vice Chairman, respectively, of the Stafford County Board of Supervisors in 2020.

Stafford County has run into another stumbling block when it comes to its redistricting efforts this year.

The county’s Board of Supervisors was to vote on a resolution that would replace a series of committee meetings with a pre-redistricting public information session. The move was designed to make the mandatory political redistricting process more inclusive.

County residents face a major redistricting effort as officials look to redraw the seven political districts used to set voting precincts and to guarantee equal representation on the Board of Supervisors and School Board. In February, the county had planned to host a series of committee meetings with a select group of county residents to assist in the redistricting process.

However, the county has experienced unprecedented delays in receiving the data from the 2020 Census, which is used to not changes in population and demographics.

Multiple residents spoke on the matter and balked at the thought of opening up the process to the community in a town hall meeting format. Many asked the Board to reconsider, saying the change believing it to be a "backward step in transparency and inclusion."

Ironically, it's the exact opposite of what was intended by the resolution.

State law requires redistricting to occur every 10 years, where political districts are redrawn, taking into account changes in population. They were last redrawn in 2010, and the pandemic forced officials to delay the redistricting process to 2021. 

In response, the board decided to defer the decision at the suggestion of Hartwood District Supervisor Gary Snellings. The Board decided to defer until the next meeting to make a further look into the resolution.

While the board members were open to the deferral, some took issue with implications made by residents during the public comment time.

Falmouth District Supervisor Meg Bohmke took exception to the idea that replacing the series of committee meetings with a town hall meeting is an attempt to close off transparency in the redistricting effort and keep it behind closed doors. Boehmke mentioned that the only meetings held behind closed doors were subjects that required the Board to have closed meetings.

In recent months, closed meeting topics have included the county’s recent legal, including the legal issues raised with a federal lawsuit involving the issues with the All-Muslim Association of America and a cemetery site in North Stafford. Personelle matters and bargaining positions are also regularly discussed behind closed doors, allowed by state law.

The delayed 2020 U.S. Census has hampered the redistricting effort in Stafford County. Data from the decennial census, also delayed by the pandemic, has yet to be passed down to the county, making any decisions based on hard data difficult, officials said.

The Board will question whether to keep the stakeholders or go with the public information session at their next meeting on June 15.

Publisher's note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly attributed a statement about the county's legal issues with the All-Muslim Association of America to Supervisor Meg Bohmke.

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Milde wins GOP nomination in bid to take back Aquia seat

By Uriah Kiser

It’s a homecoming, of sorts, for Republican Paul Milde. He won his primary bid to be the GOP nominee for the Aquia District seat on the Stafford County Board of Supervisors.

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