Good evening and Happy Memorial Day.

Please take time this holiday weekend to remember those who fought and died for the freedoms we enjoy every day here in the U.S.

Some holiday weekend notes:

• Local government closures.
• Highway work zones suspended.

Coronavirus restrictions lifted are also lifted as of today.

• Here’s a recap from the governor’s office.

Be safe and have a great weekend.

Standing, facing the U.S. Flag, and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance was a daily occurrence when I was a child in Prince William County Public Schools.

• Today, it might surprise you

As we report on the school policies from public school divisions across our region, we’d like to hear from you.

• Does your child stand and recite the pledge?
• Does their school require them to do so?
• Should children say the Pledge of Allegiance? Why or why not?

We want to hear from you.

• Please email us your thoughts and help us tell this community news story.

During my time covering state and local politics, I’ve heard a lot of stump speeches.

• Glenn Youngkin, the GOP nominee for Virginia Governor, gave one near Dumfries this week.
• It was essentially a rehash of a video he showed before he took the stage, produced after winning his party’s nomination.
• The win came this month, the video is still fresh, so we’ll give him a pass.
• We hope he adds some new topics to the repertories as time goes on.

Finally, as he moves around the commonwealth, I hope he sets aside time to speak with (gaggle, as we refer to it) with the when get steps off stage.

• It’s a common practice that both candidates and sitting governors do regularly, and it didn’t happen after his speech near Dumfries.
• A gaggle was never planned that evening, a Youngkin campaign spokeswoman said today.

Anyone who knows me will tell you my family loves animals.

• From cats, dogs, and goats — we’ve shared a large part of our life with our pets.
• That’s why it’s so important that, here at PLN, we do our part when it comes to reuniting lost pets with their owners and helping pets find forever homes.

Starting today, we’ve added a Pets section to our News Email to feature pets available for adoption and stray animals rescued by animal control.

• We’ll share posts from area Animal Control offices to include Prince William and Stafford counties.
• We trust and will share only information from these resources.

If you work at an area shelter, please feel free to email us a link to your embeddable social media post on Facebook, featuring your animal, or Tweet us your animal @PotomacLocal.

Hey everyone, we love getting your feedback.

Rick’s story really confirms what I have suspected for so long… that very few – if any – of the local government leaders in Stafford County have one iota of understanding what this damned Stafford Downtown Project is all about anyway!

What is really criminal is they aren’t telling the Stafford citizens one thing about this whole monstrous proposal someone is trying to stuff right down the throats of the taxpayers.

I strongly suspect, Uriah, that there is something mighty fishy going on here in my little corner of the world.  I do hope you and your people will continue to keep a close eye on our situation AND continue to REPORT what is going on – it’s for damn sure the local government doesn’t have a clue and has no intention of telling ‘we – the people’ anything!

Appreciate all that you do!

— Jean Eustice, Stafford

We’ll keep an eye on it for you, Jean.

Also coming this week in relation to the Downtown Stafford project: an invitation-only open house to showcase the new 5G wireless project being installed as part of the remaking of the courthouse area.

• We’ll have a full report.

This is our community, and we’re honored to cover it.

• As always, please connect with us by sending your news emails
• Please support us by becoming a subscribing PLN member today.

Tonight’s newsletter is brought to you by Mary Washington Hospital.

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• Click here to get more information on how Mary Washington Healthcare can help.

Alright, good evening, and welcome to the news email for a Thursday night. It was an eventful evening for me at Wednesday’s Prince William School Board meeting.

• It was the first time I was asked to leave a police officer meeting in my nearly 20-year career.
• I outline what happened and what locally-elected politician singled me out for not having my facemask completely over my mouth and nose.
• Most importantly, we update the situation with children going back to school in the county, and we hear from one student who says his online education is no better than what he can find on Google search.

Today’s news email is made possible today with support from the UPS Store of Bristow/Manassas. Now is the time to ship your holiday gifts to beat the rush, and the UPS Store has certified packing experts to make sure your gifts get where they’re going safely.

Most of the time, getting the news means you were in the right place at the right time.

For a photographer, that particularly rings true, because if you’re not there, you miss the shot. On Sunday, our photographer was there outside a Goodwill store in North Stafford as smoke billowed out of the building due to a fire in a trash compactor.

Our photographer, Mary, sent me the shot from the scene, as well as statements from witnesses who she spoke with — many of whom were standing around watching the commotion as fire crews worked to douse the blaze.

• You can see her photo and our full report here.

I always appreciate receiving photos from Mary, and from you. Please email them to us at news[at]potomaclocal.com.

Thank you for your continued support and for being a paid subscriber to Potomac Local News.

For the past five months, we’ve heard from multiple people who called police officers in Prince William County everything, from racists to terrorists to members of the prison industrial complex.

These speakers stand at a microphone and voice their opinions during the citizen comment portion of the Supervisors’ meetings, are very vocal, have called for abolishing the police department altogether, and often evoke the applause of their supporters who stand outside the meeting room to rally for their cause.

All of this got us wondering — are Prince William police officers really the monsters they’re being made out to be? I grew up in Prince William County, have had many interactions with police there, and have never found them anything but professional. But, I’m a white guy, and maybe, just maybe, my experiences differ from others.

Here’s our original report today about the Prince William police department and its years of high marks from the residents it serves. It comes as the Board of County Supervisors on Tuesday, December 1,  will take up a resolution to remove any references to defunding or shifting of priorities of the county police department in the upcoming 2021-2024 county strategic plan. Since 2009, the police department — one of the most respected in the U.S. has scored 90% or better on citizen surveys conducted by independent research firms.

Thank you to our paid subscribers who support this type of reporting.