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What’s to become of the keepsakes left at Arlington Cemetery?
During one of their winter visits to Arlington National Cemetery, Mark and Nancy Umbrell placed a colorful patchwork quilt beside their son Colby’s grave. It had arrived in the mail years earlier from a sender they did not know after the 26-year-old’s 2007 death in Iraq. They had observed other visitors leaving mementos, a gesture that felt to them like a fitting way to both honor the fallen Army officer and thank the quilt maker whose kindness meant so much in their moment of grief, Nancy Umbrell said.
GOP candidates campaign in Lynchburg ahead of U.S. Senate primary
With the upcoming primary in June, Republican U.S. Senate candidates are hitting the campaign trail. Two of the five running, Chuck Smith and Eddie Garcia, came to a veteran event in Lynchburg. Incumbent Senator Tim Kaine is the only Democratic candidate in the race.
Virginia went all in on solar. Then its powerful utility changed the rules.
Four years ago, Fairfax County announced a landmark clean energy plan to install solar panels on more than 100 buildings including schools, community centers and government facilities. But progress on that goal — which the county estimated would save $60 million in utility costs over 25 years — has stalled after the state’s biggest utility imposed expensive grid connection requirements that solar proponents say make those midsize projects not viable. Fairfax had completed six projects before Dominion Energy changed the requirements for midsize solar in December 2022. Since then, the county has downsized two projects to fall below the requirements’ parameters, while five others — including a police station, stormwater complex and library — are on hold.
UVa student panel: The significance of college counselors and how Virginia falls short
In 1954, ruling on the case of Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court asserted that “education is perhaps the most important function of state and local governments.” While this case dealt with racial segregation in schools, it upheld the notion that all children should have the opportunity to pursue an education “on all equal terms.” Over the past 70 years, the nature of education has changed, with college degrees now required to pursue many careers. Across the nation, and in many of Virginia’s public schools, there is a lack of adequate college counseling and preparatory resources.
Fauquier County planning commission greenlights 93-acre solar farm near Bealeton
A 93-acre solar farm proposed for southern Fauquier County has cleared a hurdle that tripped up similar projects before it. The Bealeton Solar Center — a utility-scale solar farm halfway between Bealeton and Remington — got a boost last week when the county planning commission decided unanimously that it aligns with the county’s comprehensive plan.
Amazon buys former Parsons Farm for $218 million for first mid-county data center complex in Prince William
It’s official: Data centers are moving into Prince William County’s mid-county. Amazon has purchased the former Parsons Farm landscaping outlet and the surrounding acreage for $218 million. The sale, first reported earlier this week by the Washington Business Journal, confirms the fears nearby residents expressed at public hearings before the Prince William County Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors earlier this year: that concrete buildings up to 85 feet tall would soon be on the horizon for sleepy Independent Hill.
New Va. budget allocates $3.75M toward cleaning up contaminated ‘Money Point’ section of Elizabeth River
With the newly signed Virginia state budget, $3.75 million will now go toward cleaning up a historically contaminated and polluted section of the Elizabeth River watershed. In the southern branch of the Elizabeth River, sitting below the waters just above the Gilmerton Bridge, lies a layer of tar runoff and creosote leftover from an industrial lumber yard in the early 1900s.
100 years after Charlottesville’s Lee statue went up, work starts to find a replacement
A hundred years ago, a bronze statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee astride his horse Traveller was erected in what was then known as Lee Park in downtown Charlottesville, where it stood until … eight years ago, when Zyahna Bryant, a Black student at Charlottesville High School, wrote a petition to City Council calling on the city’s leaders to remove the “offensive” statue … The statue would remain up throughout this until … three years ago, when Lee was removed and the park renamed.
Private meeting spurs new collaboration involving Virginia Tech and surrounding towns
Virginia Tech is signaling its intentions to take a more active role in infrastructure planning for the New River Valley. University representatives, as well as those from Blacksburg, Montgomery County, Christiansburg and the New River Valley Regional Commission, came together in a recent private meeting, and it was then announced that a new initiative to jointly plan for the future of the region is starting. … The announcement comes after Blacksburg Mayor Leslie Hager-Smith said in January that the Virginia Tech needs to take more accountability for the pressure its growth is putting on the town.
‘Your quiet community could be destroyed’: Gum Springs residents in Fairfax fight to preserve local history
In 1833, West Ford — a freed slave — bought 214 acres of land in Northern Virginia and founded the oldest free-sustained African American community in Fairfax County known as Gum Springs. “A Black man in Northern Virginia, buying property in 1833? That just didn’t happen,” said Ronald L. Chase, president of the Gum Springs Historical Society and Museum.