Our family loves Dolly Parton. We’ve been to Dollywood. So on Friday morning, on the way to taking my 5-year-old granddaughter to Hazelwild Farm, I stopped by Paul’s Bakery on Lafayette Boulevard and bought two dozen Dolly Parton donuts — some for family, some for the staff at Hazelwild’s Country Day Preschool.
I was not the only one making the trip.
Town Council honored Officer Justin Hendrickson on Tuesday for stopping at a catastrophic Interstate 95 crash while off duty, helping pull people from a burning vehicle, and giving first aid until fire-rescue crews arrived.
The May 29, 2026, southbound crash in Stafford occurred about 2:30 a.m. and killed five people and injured more than 30. Hendrickson, hired by the Occoquan Police Department in September 2022, was heading home after a shift when he came upon the scene.
The same roundup includes the arrest of a man charged in an August 19 sexual assault near Sudley Road in Manassas, and the arrest of a Manassas Park High School teacher accused of being intoxicated on school grounds Thursday morning.
Police also reported a man charged with assaulting an officer at the adult detention center after a disturbance near Potomac Mills Road, and a teen’s arrest in a Woodbridge smoke shop burglary. In Stafford County, deputies reported a public intoxication arrest and two fraud reports.
Good Afternoon
The American Legion Post #28 (Buck Keyes) in Triangle, Virginia is celebrating 100 years of comradery and community service to the state of Virginia and the United States of America. The Post will be hosting a Centennial celebration on October 10th, 2026, from 12 noon until 6 pm. Free food and fun for all! Please publish our invitation to the public as you possibly can. Thank you. The address and the Point of Contact are as follows:
Manassas will advertise and hold a public hearing on the Mathis Avenue streetscape after four residents asked for one on the last day they could.
Planning and Community Development Director and Assistant City Manager Matthew Arcieri said Wednesday that former City Council member Lynn Forkell Greene’s request triggered the meeting. Greene is running again this fall as an independent for one of three open council seats on the Nov. 3 ballot.
Police charged men from Woodbridge, Manassas and Stafford in an undercover child-exploitation operation, a Fairfax patient committed after killing his landlord left the country on a weekend pass, and Stafford officials said next year’s budget will be especially tight.
According to FOX 5 DC, police arrested nine men ages 21 to 48 in an undercover operation targeting suspects who initiated sexually explicit online conversations they believed were with minors. Detectives said most of the men traveled expecting a sexual encounter with a child and instead were met by investigators. The nine suspects face a combined 20 criminal charges, including solicitation of a minor, procuring a minor for prostitution and attempted indecent liberties.
The family that has run Belvedere Plantation for nearly six decades went to Facebook this week to speak for itself.
The message was meant to be clear. The Fall Harvest Festival still opens Sept. 12. Field trips, the corn maze, and the pumpkin patch are not canceled. Nothing about this season changes. The Fulks family said it wanted customers to hear that from them, not from the rumor mill.
Stafford County’s Sheriff’s Office sent four emergency-communications employees to a Las Vegas 911 conference this spring under a package Stafford bought with public funds — airfare, hotel and registration billed by the software vendor — then cut each of them a $233 county check for meals. Attendance, the office, and the vendor all say it is not required. The county’s quote still prices four of those packages every year for five years.
The Sheriff’s Office operates Stafford’s 911 center and contracts with Priority Dispatch Corp. — legally Medical Priority Consultants, Inc. — for the software used to triage emergency calls. A March 19, 2025, quote obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, Q-79047, is tied to existing Contract No. 21-034-3120SSB and folds four annual “Navigator All-Inclusive” packages into a five-year Emergency Police Dispatch implementation and maintenance deal.
A modest frame house built for George Washington’s brother offers visitors an intimate window into the taverns that helped spark American independence.
As America celebrates its 250th birthday in 2026, the Rising Sun Tavern in historic Fredericksburg stands as a tangible link to the conversations and connections that helped forge a nation. Once the private home of Charles Washington, the site now welcomes guests to experience 18th-century life through costumed interpreters and preserved spaces that buzz with stories of rebellion.
COVID-19 activity is climbing again in Virginia, including high wastewater readings in Woodbridge, while nearby school divisions report lingering teacher vacancies, a national education leader visits a new Manassas campus, and Prince William and Manassas roll out new library loans and a city license plate.
According to the Prince William Times, COVID-19 activity in Virginia remains low but is increasing, the Virginia Department of Health said, with 842 cases recorded in the week ending Aug. 22. Emergency room and urgent care visits for diagnosed COVID-19 accounted for 0.6% of all such visits that week, a share that has tripled since mid-July. State officials said late-summer increases have occurred each year since 2020, though summer peaks have been lower over time.
