Press Rewind podcast
No time to read our weekly recap newsletter? Then listen to this. It’s the Press Rewind podcast, which will catch you up on top headlines in five minutes or less. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
The week’s top stories
-The Virginia Department of Education recently released its 2024-25 accountability data, which changes the accreditation system for schools. Educators in the Fredericksburg area are still getting used to the new evaluation criteria, but the public can already access data on each of the region’s five school divisions.
-Local tax-relief programs for veterans have meant millions of dollars of lost revenue for Stafford County, and now King George County is joining its neighbor in asking the Virginia General Assembly to return some of that revenue to localities, Taft Coghill Jr. reports.
-North Stafford High School made it to the state football championship game last weekend, but Chesapeake’s Oscar Smith High School, the reigning Class 6 champ, was too much for the Wolverines. Jamar Billingsley has the story.
-Del. Bobby Orrock, defeated last month after serving for 36 years, isn’t ruling out a return to politics. He said last week that his loss to Spotsylvania County School Board member Nicole Cole was spurred on by anti-President Trump sentiment and by many Republicans not voting.
-Stafford supervisors, school board members and some residents have expressed opposition recently to Dominion Energy’s proposed North Anna-Kraken Loop project, a 70-mile, 500-kilovolt power line that would go through the county as well as through Louisa, Spotsylvania, Caroline and Fauquier counties. Last week, the Board of Supervisors took more steps to register their discontent with the project, which they’re concerned could be harmful to Staffordians and to property values.
Go figures (numbers in the news)
4 — Number of elephants planned for the middle of the new Mudd Tavern Road roundabout in Thornburg. Kalahari Resorts is seeking to erect decorative art — including statues of four adult African elephants — there to celebrate the hotel, convention center and water park it’s building. Bill Freehling has more on this and other business news in Biz Beat Roundup.
What they’re saying
“She was a treasure who will surely be missed. There’s a hole in the fabric of the universe today.” –Ralph Gordon, singer/songwriter who was friends with Kathy Douberly, a mainstay of the Fredericksburg music scene who died Dec. 7. Stephen Hu examines Douberly’s legacy in Free Time, our weekly arts and entertainment newsletter.
Pressing on (a look at the week ahead)
-We’re going to go out on a limb and proclaim that the biggest news next week will be … Christmas! If you celebrate, may you experience all of the joy of the season.
