Press Rewind podcast
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The week’s top stories
-A Ruther Glen pilot died Tuesday when the plane he was in crashed near Shannon Airport. Rowland A. Babcock Jr., 78, was in a Montana Coyote airplane that came down on the property of Greenline Service Corp., a John Deere dealership on Tidewater Trail in Spotsylvania County.
-The Spotsylvania School Board on Monday voted against implementing pre-hire drug testing of employees. A motion to develop a policy for implementing testing of new hires and rehires who work directly with students failed by a vote of 3-4. The testing issue previously came up in March at the request of School Board member Rich Lieberman, who said it was a campaign promise to voters, Adele Uphaus writes.
-The Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday night voiced strong opposition to a new state law that took effect July 1 that permits the construction of manufactured homes in all zoning districts that allow single-family homes. The supervisors voted 5-1 to reject the ordinance in Spotsylvania, citing the decline of property values and apprehension that state lawmakers are infringing on the authority of local government. Taft Coghill Jr. has the details.
-Spotsylvania residents packed county government meetings during the week to protest the proposed Crossroads Technology Campus. The project includes 2.2 million square feet of data center buildings, three electrical substations and other infrastructure on about 633 acres. The development would be on the north side of Mills Drive, with additional frontage along Lee Hill School and Eagle drives, Coghill reports.
-There’s a new mural in downtown Fredericksburg that celebrates not only the region’s history, but also its natural wonders. It’s on the back side of Goolrick’s pharmacy, and it was done by city artist Bill Harris. Your Press Rewind writer caught up with Harris to talk about public art.
Go figures (numbers in the news)
$500,000 — Fredericksburg-area median housing prices hit this threshold for the first time ever in June, according to the Fredericksburg Area Association of Realtors. Bill Freehling has more on this and other business news in Biz Beat Roundup.
What they’re saying
“Looking back now I messed up that boy really bad. But I still cut his hair to this day!” -Kora Lester, Virginia’s youngest licensed barber at 16. He was talking about practicing hair-cutting on a friend when he was 12.
