Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Fairfax, Prince William) announced the opening of a new Data Center Lab at the Woodbridge Campus of Northern Virginia Community College.
Officials gathered Wednesday, March 23, to discuss data center training at the campus' workforce development center. College President Dr. Anne Kress praised Connolly for his help procuring $5.1 million in funding for the data center lab.
Connolly worked alongside Virginia Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, both Democrats, to obtain the funding.
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A Stafford sauce maker will see her flavors stocked by the Fredericksburg Food Cooperative starting Thursday, March 24
Since its opening 13 months ago, Always Flavored has sold its spices and sauces to customers at farmers' markets in Stafford and Spotsylvania counties and at events like Fredericksburg Brew Fest.
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The Federal Government will reimburse Stafford County for costs incurred during a crippling January 3 snowstorm that halted traffic on Interstate 95, knocked out power for tens of thousands, and put children out of school for a week.
FEMA announced that federal disaster assistance funds would be made available to aid local, state, and tribal efforts to affect recovery after the winter storm. The funding was set aside for several localities after President Biden approved a major disaster declaration for the state.
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Vita Nova Creatives and Coffee will hold its grand opening on Tuesday, March 29.
According to the cafe's operations manager Jessica Millar, Vita Nova's event will begin at 6:30 am and conclude at 5 pm. During the grand opening, the cafe will sell regular-sized drinks at $1 and hold prize drawings.
Founded by Paula Millar, Vita Nova strives to be not just a neighborhood cafe but a space for local artists. The idea for what would become Vita Nova began after Millar participated in a creative retreat in Waco, Texas, in October 2020. Millar was encouraged after the retreat to open a space where creative types could hang out, enjoy something to drink, and be creative.
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That’s the question that The Stafford County Sheriff’s Department is asking prospective applicants for their 8th annual Junior Deputies Academy.
According to the sheriff’s department website, the department will begin accepting online applications starting on March 20 for their annual July summer camp. The event is being held for Stafford County students going into 4th through 7th grade for the upcoming 2022-23 school year.
The academy will provide a setting where interested students can learn about deputies’ jobs through educational hands-on activities and experiences. According to the sheriff’s department website, the academy will also have classroom presentations that center on the department’s core values. According to the academy’s website, these values include professionalism, fairness, integrity, and compassion.
According to the sheriff’s department website, the intention is that the academy’s students would continue to practice these values after they graduate from the program.
The availability of the program is limited to 50 seats for each week of the academy. Prospective applicants must provide a short, written explanation of why they want to attend the program. The explanation is limited to a maximum of 150 words.
According to the sheriff’s department website, the department uses a blind, randomized selection process to choose who will fill the academy’s seats.
All applicants that are accepted will be notified by email on April 30.
There is no fee or charge for the academy since it’s funded by a combination of state grants and funds allocated by the sheriff’s office to run the program.
The academy will hold its rising 4th and 5th graders classes from July 11 through 15. Classes for rising 6th and 7th graders will be held July 18 through 22.
For more information, visit their website or contact at scsojda@staffordcountyva.gov
Manassas City Public School's budget proposal would give a five percent salary increase for most employees.
The proposal was laid out in a presentation to the Manassas City Public School Board as part of its proposed budget for the Fiscal Year 2022-2023, starting July 1, 2022. Support staff, licensed teachers, and administrative staff would all see pay hikes.
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The Stafford County Public School Board is putting together funds to provide turf fields for two Stafford County high schools.
North Stafford and Colonial Forge high schools are the only two in the county that don't have turf fields for their athletic teams. The artificial playing surface makes for more predicable game conditions, and advocates have been making the rounds with the School Board and the Board of Supervisors to win funding to switch the grass fields to turf.
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The Stafford County Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing on March 15 to consider changes to the county’s magisterial districts.
Those changes would involve adopting new election districts and precinct boundaries and new polling places. A county redistricting committee developed the option, which will be presented at the hearing and the board’s redistricting work session held this past February.
The board proposal will involve many changes to the districts, exception Garrisonville District which would remain unchanged. When reorganizing the districts, the committee examined future population growth, fairness to political parties, and racial equality.
The proposal includes changes such as:
- Extending the southern boundary of the Griffis-Widewater District to the intersection of Garrisonville Road and Richmond Highway (Route 1). The proposal would also move all of Marine Corps Base Quantico to Griffis-Widewater.
- The Aquia Harbour subdivision would be placed entirely in the Aquia District along House District 23.
- The Falmouth District would extend north, creating a new boundary with Aquia at Hospital Center Boulevard and Old Potomac Church Road.
- The Celebrate Virginia Subdivision and areas south and east of the Greenbank Road would form the new southern boundary of the George Washington District.
- Areas north of Poplar Road and south of Aquia Creek would move to the Rock Hill District.
Virginia jurisdictions are required by law to reorganize their election districts every 10 years to reflect population changes. The reorganization relies on new data from the U.S. Census, held in 2020.
Redistricting was delayed because the U.S. Government did not release the Census data until August 2021 due to delays attributed to the coronavirus pandemic.
According to the 2020 Census, Stafford County’s population is 156,479. In 2010, it was 128,961. The county’s population grew 19 percent in 10 years.
Other delays in the process included establishing a state redistricting committee responsible for drafting the commonwealth’s congressional and state assembly maps, which rely on redistricting information from the local level.
Those maps were produced by the Virginia Supreme Court on December 28, 2021, following the failure of a statewide, bipartisan redistricting commission to agree on new maps.
The late adoption of the maps accelerated the process for local redistricting, county officials said.
A public hearing will be held in the board chambers at 1300 Courthouse Road on March 14 at 7 p.m.
Stafford County Tourism will apply for a $160,000 grant from the Virginia Tourism Authority to help the county draw more visitors.
The Stafford County Board of Supervisors authorized the submission of the grant application so that the funds could be used to support new and additional efforts to help the tourism industry recover in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
