Black Friday Membership: Many of you asked about a Black Friday deal, and here we go: SAVE 50% on Local’s Only Membership. For one year, you’ll get access to everything we post at half the cost. Click here, and THANK YOU for your support. *Offer ends tonight.

Thanks for reading via email (please subscribe for FREE if you have not already done so). It’s the simplest way to receive our news and ensures social media algorithms won’t prevent you from seeing our local news.

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving Eve. If you’re one of the 44 million travelers hitting the road for Thanksgiving, VDOT has a tool that shows you when to expect the biggest delays.

Small Business Spotlight: We’ve started receiving responses to our survey of small businesses in the area. We’ll use the responses to create news stories about small businesses, which are the lifeblood of our local economy.

Look for them to appear soon. It’s free to participate and to be featured.

Stay safe, and have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Aya and Jazbia, our student interns from Stafford and Prince William county schools, respectively, have been hard at work keeping you updated this weekend with the latest news and events. I hope you’re having a great weekend.

Upcoming weekend events: See our list and post yours to our community calendar so that we may share it with our readers!

Santa arrives: Join us for fun and games at Potomac Mills mall tomorrow at 2 p.m., when Santa will arrive. I’ll be there to capture photos. Please say hello!

Interview with the mayor: Fresh off her re-election to a second term, Manassas Mayor Michelle Davis Younger has agreed to her first-ever interview with Potomac Local News. I’ll sit down with her at city hall next month. In the meantime, let me know what you think I should ask her.

Meet the Principal Series Continues: Manassas Local Editor Caitlyn Meisner launched this series at the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year to introduce nearly two dozen new principals in Prince William County Schools. Now, we’re shifting focus to highlight the new and existing principals in Manassas City Public Schools. Each principal has answered the same questions (in bold), and their responses will be shared below. Stay tuned as we continue to profile the educational leaders shaping our community’s schools.

Choir Call Answered: We called for Christmas choir performances, and you delivered! The Gainesville Community Choir (GCC) submitted a video and press release about their upcoming shows. Keep those choir videos coming—I’m excited to feature them during the holiday season!

The Gainesville Community Choir will perform a winter collaborative concert titled *“From Darkness to Light.” The program includes Dan Forrest’s LUX: The Dawn from On High and other seasonal selections performed with the Fairfax Choral Society. Catch these performances:

• Friday, December 6 at Grace United Methodist Church in Manassas
• Saturday, December 7 at Annandale United Methodist Church

Stafford Schools Go Silent: We recently reported on Stafford County Public Schools hiring a new superintendent. Interestingly, no press release about the hiring was sent to us, though it was shared with other news organizations. We obtained the press release after filing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

This follows an incident where the district’s public information officer asked us to leave the premises after we questioned the school board chair about the ongoing bus crisis. Since then, communication from Stafford Schools has been sparse.

According to the PIO, we’re “not supposed to be asking questions of school board members.” While disappointing, this lack of transparency won’t deter us from bringing you the important stories affecting our community.

Tell your choir teacher: We want to feature your school or church choir on Potomac Local News. Please send us a link to a YouTube video of your group performing your Christmas best, and we’ll post it on our site and in our email newsletter.

It’s FREE to post your events on the calendar. If you don’t, who will? Post ’em here.

Prince William Supervisors meet: What’s on the Board of County Supervisors agenda.

Stafford Supervisors meet: What’s on today’s Board of Supervisors agenda?

Here are the top five most-read articles on Potomac Local News in the past month.

1. Three Stafford Schools Face Accreditation Challenges Amid Performance Issues: District Prepares for State’s New Accountability System
2. Prince William County Unveils First-Ever Parking Garage in Woodbridge
3. Hayfield High School Football Banned from 2024 and 2025 Playoffs Amid Recruitment Probe
4. Stafford County Schools Transportation Leader Resigns Following Bus Crisis
5. Election Night Update: The Latest from Local, State Races

Thanks for your continued support!

– Uriah Kiser

Good morning. We’ve been following a major crash in Stafford County that closed Interstate 95. Updates here, and we’ll keep posting new information as we get it.

Limited: X, formerly Twitter, has limited the number of posts we can make. Sign up for our FREE emails for the latest news and community information.

It’s here: WASH-FM (97.1) switched to around-the-clock Christmas music at 4 p.m. yesterday.

Have a great Saturday, and enjoy the sunshine. Thanks for your continued support of local news in our community.

We’re really focused on the events calendar because we use it to write our popular upcoming events posts, like this one. Posting your event to the calendar is free, so if you’re a business or organization with an upcoming community event, please post!

Before we get to the weekend, I’ll see you around town on Friday at the ribbon cutting for a $54 million commuter garage in Woodbridge and later in Manassas at the Leadership Prince William Emerging Leaders graduation ceremony. Please say hello!

-Uriah

I like this one.

“Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald, “The Great Gatsby”

Have a great day.

— Uriah