Press Rewind podcast
No time to read our weekly recap newsletter? Then listen up. Here’s the Press Rewind podcast, which will catch you up on top headlines in five minutes or less.
The week’s top stories
-We drive a lot in this region, whether it’s to commute north in the direction of one capital, or south in the direction of another. Or, even just to shop along busy thoroughfares such as State routes 3 and 610. But traveling from Fredericksburg to Stafford County, or vice versa, could be a better ride when a refurbished Falmouth Bridge opens in a few years, Joey LoMonaco reports.
-What really happened during and after a racially-tinged incident in Spotsylvania County in July? It seems to be becoming less clear as time goes on. There was an apparent confrontation between white county residents and a Black lesbian couple from Richmond. Spotsylvania residents Elizabeth Wolfrey and Mark Goodman face misdemeanor charges in connection with the incident, but now the Richmond couple face their own charges of felony obtaining money by false pretense and filing a false police report, a misdemeanor. Taft Coghill Jr. has the story.
-The Stafford County Board of Supervisors agreed last week not to enter into a new lease agreement with the Patawomeck Indian Tribe — at least for now. For the previous decade, the tribe maintained 6.5 acres of county-owned land near Aquia Landing Park. But when discussion of a new lease came up in May, the talk turned to the legitimacy of the Patawomeck, an issue the Free Press investigative podcast, “The Tribe” has explored in depth.
-Senior citizens in Spotsylvania aren’t pleased that, as of next year, they won’t have a dedicated gathering space. The locality’s school system is taking over the Marshall Community Center, which is home to many senior activities, and those pastimes will be spread throughout the county, Coghill reports.
-The Riverside Center for the Performing Arts is dreaming of … what else, this time of year, but a “White Christmas.” A production of the musical, based on the 1954 movie with Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye, runs until Dec 28, Stephen Hu writes in Free Time, our weekly arts and entertainment newsletter.
Go figures (numbers in the news)
117 — Number of townhouses proposed for a 37-acre Spotsylvania County site. Seventeen single-family detached homes also are slated to be built on the “Hill Farm” property north of the State Route 3 and Bragg Road intersection. Bill Freehling has more on the project in Biz Beat Roundup.
Scenes from the sideline
PHOTOS: Colonial Forge drops a heartbreaker to Woodbridge in Region 6B semifinals
What they’re saying
“I would much rather hire a person than buy a metal detector to put into a middle school.” –Nicole Cole, Spotsylvania County School Board member and delegate-elect. She was talking about spending money on mental-health personnel for schools rather than on security measures. Her comments came at a recent legislative breakfast.
Pressing on (a look at the week ahead)
-The city’s school system has a large Afghan student population. We spent time with the three people whose job it is to make them feel at home.
