Press Rewind podcast down and out
Your podcaster is, unfortunately, again in poor voice. We’d like to say that this is because he just conducts so many interviews all the time, but, more likely, it’s due to another batch of bad germs. When the congestion fades, the podcast will return!
The week’s top stories
-The Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors voted last week to buy the New Post Sports Complex, which includes three parcels totaling about 234 acres, for $5 million. A large purchase like that often can be controversial, but the supervisors faced opposition Tuesday on another matter: Several retired Spotsylvania employees complained about the county changing their health insurance company, Taft Coghill Jr. reports.
-Stafford County’s Board of Supervisors, meanwhile, voted last week to raise the real-estate tax rate by more than 4 cents. It will go from the current figure of $0.9236 per $100 of assessed value to $0.9675. That’s a decrease from County Administrator Bill Ashton’s proposed rate of $0.985, but the increase still has sparked discussion, especially on our Facebook page.
-With the overall Stafford budget approved, the county’s School Board voted the next day for an education spending plan that includes funds to open three schools and increase starting teacher pay. The board, though, did have to make $2 million worth of cuts to its preliminary budget and defer spending another $1.9 million to make revenue and expenditures align.
-Stafford supervisors also recently approved the construction of a freestanding emergency room on U.S. 17. The ER will be run in conjunction with the Spotsylvania Regional Medical Center.
-Fredericksburg schools were briefly put on lockdown last week as police investigated a shooting in a city neighborhood. The security measures were eventually relaxed, though, and students were safely released.
Go figures (numbers in the news)
2 — As in, the second. The owners of Smuggler’s Cafe in downtown Fredericksburg are planning a second, beverage-oriented business nearby called Smuggler’s Cauldron. Bill Freehling has more on this development and other business news in Biz Beat Roundup.
What they’re saying
“The flow between songs, how one affects the next — it’s like painting. You put two colors next to each other, and they change each other.” -Seth Casana, bandleader, Elby Brass. He told Kathy Knotts about the sequencing of songs in a concert setlist and about the history of the group in Free Time, our weekly arts and entertainment newsletter.
Pressing on (a look at the week ahead)
-Dominion Energy’s proposed North Anna to Bristers electric-transmission project will be a topic of discussion at two meetings in Stafford this week, and we’ll be there for both. The controversial power line proposal is on the county Board of Supervisors’ agenda Tuesday, and Del. Stacey Carroll will hold a town hall with Dominion on Thursday at Colonial Forge High School.
