KO Distilling, the Manassas-based producer known for its smooth-tasting bourbon, released its first bottle of bonded bourbon.

KO’s Distiller’s Reserve Bottled in Bond, a four-year-old, 100-proof bourbon whiskey kept in wooden barrels made from charred American White Oak. The whiskey itself is distilled from Virginia grown grains, including 70% corn, 20% wheat, and 10% malted barley.

Distiller’s Reserve is the second bonded straight bourbon whiskey made in Virginia. The first was released in November 2019 by Ragged Branch, a Charlottesville-based distiller that opened its doors in July 2014. Ragged Branch Rye Whiskey Barrel 77 is also a four-year, 100 proof bourbon that sells for $57 and premieres at the Mount Vernon Whiskey Festival in November 2019.

Distiller’s Reserve will distinguish being the first Virginia-made bonded bourbon to be widely available in Virginia ABC stores. A 750-milliliter bottle will sell for $80, a mid-level price for such a considerably high-quality bottle of bourbon, the distillers say.

The most expensive Virginia bottle made whiskey is George Washington’s Straight Two-year rye whiskey, which is bottled at Mount Vernon and costs $189 for a 375-milliliter bottle.

According to Paste Magazine, bourbon must follow certain requirements to be considered bottled in bond. First, the whiskey must be produced in the U.S. during a single distillation season at a single distillery. Second, the whiskey must be aged in a federally bonded warehouse under U.S. government supervision for a minimum of four years. Third, the spirit must be 50% alcohol, which is considered 100 proof whiskey. Finally, the label must identify the distiller of origin and if in a different place where the whiskey was bottled.

“We are thrilled to present our first bonded whiskey, many of the distillers in our area are pretty young, but we’ve been around for five years, which allowed us to be the first to come out with our own bonded bourbon,” stated KO’s sales and marketing manager Pat Flannery.

KO Distilling is a craft distiller that was founded by Bill Karlson and John O’Mara back in 2015. Both men were cadets at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and served in the Navy Reserves.

KO produced their first aged spirit, Bare Knuckle American Whiskey, in November 2016. The distillery is located at 10381 Central Park Drive in Manassas, just off Godwin Drive.

At this point, a loving foster home would be considered for him just to give him a little hope that he is loved as much as we tell him he is.

George has always had a chronic upper respiratory infection that gives him sneezes. He DOES NOT infect other cats. A clean, quiet, stress-free environment will help him feel a little better. Sometimes stress and changes can set off these symptoms. He has been surrounded by healthy cats and has never transmitted his sneezes to them. We think this is another reason he is overlooked.

This is Carter Lyra’s senior year at Woodbridge Senior High School.

So far, the 17-year-old, who lives in Lake Ridge, has spent it sitting at home, behind a laptop, attending virtual classes. He says his teachers are “struggling to make a connection” with students. The virtual classes educate him “no better than that what Google can provide me,” he said.

Kindergarten and first-grade students have returned to in-person learning at Prince William schools at a 50% capacity as of December 2. Half of the students sit with a teacher inside a classroom, and the other half use a laptop to attend class from home.

Second and third-grade students aren’t due back to an in-person classroom until January 12, 2021. Middle and high school students won’t be able to walk through the door of a school building until February 2.

Keeping students from in-person learning has put a damper on Lyra’s adolescence. He’s isolated from his friends and finding it nearly impossible to meet new ones. He’s also unable to get a date, which is clearly at the forefront of the young man’s mind.

He believes the School Board’s decision to keep students out of the classroom has become less about protecting students from a deadly virus and is now more politically motivated. “COVID-19 is out of your hands, but you have created this situation,” said Lyra as he scolded the Prince William County School Board at its meeting on Wednesday, December 3. “You should be ashamed of yourselves.”

At-large School Board Chairman Dr. Babur Lateef, Jennifer Wall, and Justin Wilk, who represent the Gainesville and Potomac magisterial districts, respectively, have been vocal about their desire to see children return to in-person learning.

A vocal minority of School Board members, to include Lorree Williams, Lillie Jessie, and  Daine Raulston, of the Woodbridge, Occoquan, and Neabsco magisterial districts — all of whom have been endorsed by the county’s Democratic Party — do not.

In neighboring Fairfax County, the largest school district in the state, reports that online learning has been such a disaster that theres an 83% failure rate in the student population.

Return to in-person learning will continue

While Lyra may have to wait another 60 days to see most of his friends again, School Superintendent Dr. Steven L. Walts says he’ll move ahead with his plan to return students to the classroom in a 50% capacity model. While all students will continue to learn from home on Mondays, students will alternate during the remainder of the week, with half of the students coming to school while the other half learn from home.

“At this time, I am not recommending any changes to our operations, which is due in large part to the limited numbers of students we have in the building currently coupled with our extensive mitigation efforts. This includes winter sports at the high school level, which will continue as planned with additional mitigation requirements,” Walts said during Wednesday’s meeting.

Newly installed plexiglass now separates children from others as they sit at their classroom desks. They, like their teachers, are forced to wear facemasks. And, like pencils and paper, hand sanitizer is now atop the list of must-have school supplies.

All of this is happening when the number of coronavirus cases reported within the school division is on the rise.

“Since the last School Board meeting, we have had 69 cases of COVID-19 of either students or staff virtual or in-person, reported to [Prince William County Public Schools] for November 15 — November 21, and 39 cases reported November 22-29. This brings the total for November to 177 cases as of Monday, November 30, compared to 84 in October, and 50 in September,” Walts penned in his remarks to the School Board.

However, very few people in Prince William County — 0.7% out of every 100,000 — have been hospitalized with the disease over the past seven days. Statewide, there have been no reported coronavirus-related deaths of small children since the pandemic began in March and only one death of a person between the ages of 10 and 19.

But, as the number of coronavirus cases rises, so does the anxiety of some parents. “In March, we were pulling children out of a house fire [when schools were ordered to close], and we’re sending them back when the fire is raging,” said one parent, who phoned into the School Board meeting.

Instructors are scared, too. “Teachers can’t get what they need [personal protective equipment], and when students test positive coronavirus, their teachers aren’t told about it. Many hear about it from other students,” one teacher told the school board over the phone.

But others, like Ashland Elementary School School Principal Dr. Andy Jacks, negated her claim and assured elected leaders that teachers were, in fact, receiving protective gear. “Feeling safe is important, and if anyone feels like they need more [personal protective gear], all they have to do is ask for it,” said Jacks.

Superintendent Walts, who also continues to phone into School Board meetings since online classes resumed in August, suggested that individual School Board members who have concerns about teacher safety bring them to his subordinates to have them addressed, occurring out of public view.

Elected official singles out reporter over facemask

When it comes to wearing personal protective gear at the county school headquarters, it appears the School Board is selectively enforcing who has to wear a facemask and who doesn’t.

During Wednesday’s meeting, this reporter was one of 11 people sitting in the large meeting room, in one of 22 chairs, all of which had been set six feet apart.

Admittedly, I was one of two people in the room who didn’t have their faces completely covered by a mask. My mask was resting on my chin while a man two rows in front of me, sitting closer to the School Board members, was not wearing a mask.

About an hour into the meeting, Vice-Chairwoman Lorree Williams, who was presiding over the meeting and represents the Woodbridge Magisterial District, stormed off the dais and approached a man who later identified himself as the director of security at the school division, and whispered into his ear.

Shortly thereafter, the security guard approached me and demanded that this reporter pull up his facemask while saying nothing to the man in front of me. When I refused and pointed out the hypocrisy of the order, the security director summoned a police officer who asked me to step out of the meeting.

Now in the lobby with the officer and the security guard, fully masked due to us standing less than six-feet apart, the security guard demanded I use the mask to cover my entire face due to an executive order put in place by Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam that requires reaffirms facemasks to be worn indoors, and now requires children five years or older to shield their faces from public view.

He declined to allow me to sit in the back of the large meeting room, well away from the meeting attendees, at more than a six-foot distance, to observe the meeting.

Pivoting, he then offered me the option of sitting in the lobby, without a facemask, and viewing the meeting on a TV screen. In the end, and despite a clear effort by an elected official to single out a member of the press, this reporter complied with the police officer who asked that I wear the mask for the remainder of the meeting.

This incident marks the first time in this reporter’s 20-year career a that politician has used force during a public meeting to intimidate the press.

No law in Virginia grants School Boards the authority to require meeting attendees to wear masks. When challenged, similar executive orders issued during the coronavirus pandemic by governors in New York and Michigan have been found to have violated citizens’ First Amendment Rights and are now deemed unconstitutional.

On Tuesday, the Campbell County, Virginia Board of Supervisors declared that county a First Amendment Sanctuary, vowing not to enforce any new coronavirus restrictions by Governor Northam.

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Police report a woman walking along Prince William Parkway in Woodbridge was nearly abducted tonight in the area of Interstate 95.

Investigators now want to talk with a driver who apparently honked a car horn, which triggered the would-be abductor to release the arm of the victim.

Attempted Abduction – On December 1 at 5:20PM, officers responded to investigate an attempted abduction that was reported to have occurred in the area the Prince William Pkwy and the I-95 interchange in Woodbridge (22191) earlier that afternoon at approximately 4:00PM.

The victim, a 37-year-old woman, reported to police that she was walking home along a footpath on the Prince William Pkwy, just passed the I-95 overpass, towards Summerland Dr when she encountered three unknown men. During the encounter, one of the men grabbed the victim’s arm and attempted to pull her into a near wooded area. The other two men were nearby and did not touch or interact with the victim or assist the initial suspect.

According to the victim, a passing motorist traveling westbound on the Prince William Pkwy towards I-95 slowed their vehicle and honked the vehicle’s horn which caused the suspect to release the victim. The vehicle continued driving and the three men fled into the nearby wooded area. The victim was not injured in the incident and reportedly observed the same men in the same area on November 22. No altercation occurred on that date.

The pathway used by the men is a known cut-through from the Prince William Pkwy to the dead-end of nearby Horner Rd. Detectives with the Special Victims Bureau are seeking to speak to the passing motorist who may have observed the encounter or the assistance from any other witnesses to the incident. Additional information will be released when available. The investigation continues.

Suspect Descriptions:
Light-skinned, brown complected, male, late 20’s to early 30’s, 5’4”-5’5”, approximately 140-145lbs with a thin build and dark-colored eyes [suspect who grabbed the victim]

Last seen wearing a black ski-mask, short black sleeve t-shirt with white lines on the chest, black jeans, and black shoes (possible Converse shoes) with white shoelaces

The suspect reportedly had a white bandage on his right hand which started below his wrist and covered the entire hand, including his fingers

Light-skinned male, brown complected, late 20’s to early 30’s, 5’4”-5’5”, approximately 140-145lbs with a thin build
Last seen wearing a black ski mask, black t-shirt, black jeans, and black shoes

Male, unknown race or ethnicity, 30’s, 5’4” to 5’5” with a thin build
Last seen wearing a black ski mask, dark navy blue long-sleeve shirt with a large plaid design, blue jeans, and yellow construction-style shoes

Here’s a look at today’s coronavirus hospitalization report.

Prince William Health District

There are a total of five new coronavirus hospitalizations to report today in Prince William County, bringing the number of new total hospitalizations reported in the county to 12 in the past 24 hours. The new numbers have increased the hospitalization rate per 100,000 of the county’s 465,000 people from 0.5% to 0.6%.

Three continues to be the average number of Prince William County residents who have been admitted to hospitals with the disease over the past seven days. That number remains flat.

There are no new hospitalizations or deaths reported in Manassas or Manassas Park, where the average hospitalization rates remain one percent and 0.8% of the entire population, respectively.

There is one new hospitalization of a Manassas Park resident to report. The average hospitalization rate in that city is 1.7% of the population, with a running average of zero hospitalizations in the past seven days.

Rappahannock Area Health District

One new death has been reported today in Caroline County. The seven-day average hospitalization rate is 0.5% per 100,000 people.

There is one new report of hospitalization in Stafford County today. The seven-day average hospitalization rate remains at one, and the average number of hospitalizations per 100,000 people in the county reduced from 0.8% to 0.7%.

There are no new hospitalizations reported today in King George or Spotsylvania counties, or in Fredericksburg City.

There is one new hospitalization reported today in Spotsylvania County, bringing the average hospitalization rate per 100,000 people to 0.5%. There’s an average of Spotsylvania resident admitted to a hospital for coronavirus over the past seven days.

Statewide

A total of 1,472 people are hospitalized with the disease — 50 more than yesterday.

The Hylton Performing Arts Center in Manassas had planned to reopen to the public in January. Now the center says it will remain closed spring, at least.

The Center for the Arts in Fairfax, VA and the Hylton Performing Arts Center in Manassas, VA will delay the start of indoor, in-person performances until March 2021, at the earliest. The two performing arts venues, which are operated by George Mason University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA) will continue to present digital performances and events through Mason Arts at Home and Hylton at Home, featuring a diverse lineup of renowned professional artists, community arts partners, and students and faculty of CVPA. The venues will gradually phase in a small number of in-person, indoor performances when it is considered safe to do so, in coordination with state and George Mason University officials.

This decision means that more than 20 performances originally scheduled for January into March are affected, including longstanding favorites the Virginia Opera and the American Festival Pops Orchestra, as well as some performances rescheduled from spring 2020, including the six-time Grammy Award-winning Irish ensemble The Chieftains. These performances will be canceled, reimagined as digital events, or rescheduled for future seasons.

“With patrons’ well-being at the forefront of our actions, we continue to monitor safety levels and will open our doors accordingly,” shared Director of Programming Adrienne Bryant Godwin. “This time allows us to ensure patron safety as well as that of the artists and the staff who make each performance possible. We are working with the performers who were not able to appear at our venues during this time to reschedule for future seasons.”

The venues will announce new programming updates in January 2021, which will feature a combination of both digital and in-person performances through May. For most ticketed performances, sales will be announced by email a few weeks prior to the event and on the venue’s website.