We are excited to announce that Dolce Amore Sweets, a popular farmer’s market merchant, is opening its first bricks-and-mortar bakery here in Manassas.

Dolce Amore is a family owned business with Peruvian roots.  

After completing culinary school in New York City, owner Jennifer Solis decided to follow her dreams in 2014 and start a bakery with Peruvian flavors.  She came to Manassas in 2016 and began selling homemade empanadas, pastries, cakes and more at the Manassas Farmer’s Market. 

Less than three years later demand for Dolce Amore’s made-from-scratch delights has increased so much that she is ready to take on a storefront.  

In May, Dolce Amore Sweets will open at 8641 Sudley Road, just across from Novant/UVA Health System Prince William Medical Center.  

This post is sponsored by the City of Manassas Economic Development Department. 

The 2019 General Assembly session adjourned on February 24 after a few hiccups.  Two weeks ago, I discussed the legislation that I passed.  In this column, I will explain various budget actions we took.

First, unlike the Federal Government, our budget is balanced as required by the Constitution of Virginia. Next, the General Assembly needed to address modifications to our tax code to bring it up to speed with changes made by Congress with the Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2018.  This is usually labelled “conformity.”

“Straight conformity” would cause an additional $600 million of state revenue largely due to the interplay between the new increased federal standard deduction and the $10,000 cap on state and local taxes and mortgage interest (“SALT”).

We addressed this in two phases.  First, for the 2018 tax year, every taxpayer receives $110 refund if tax returns are filed before June 30.

For tax years 2020 through 2026, the state standard deduction is raised by $1,500 for individuals and $3,000 for joint filers.  This is worth about $86 per year for individuals or $172 per couple.  The budget also removes the $10,000 cap on SALT for state income taxes.  However, due to our low 5.75% state income tax rate, that is only worth roughly about $575 if you pay $20,000 of combined income taxes and mortgage interest or $1100 if you pay over $30,000 per year.

These combined actions took about $450 million out of our annual revenues on an annual basis or $2.7 billion over six years and limited our ability to fund multiple priorities.

Notwithstanding, we were able to fund a few things.  First, we increased secondary funds to secondary education by $50 million.  This included pushing the teacher pay increase from 3% to 5%, $12 million in new school counselors statewide, and $24.9 million in new dollars for At-Risk students.

Virginia’s state-supported universities received a $57.5 million increase in funds conditioned on a tuition freeze for 2019 and $168 million to build the new Virginia Tech Innovation Campus at Potomac Yards in connection with the Amazon project.  We also added $5 million in support for our community colleges, $16.6 million to increase computer science degrees, and $4 million towards Virginia’s New Economy Workforce Credential Grant Program (AKA “FastForward”).

We increased Virginia’s contribution to the Housing Trust Fund by $3 million per year to a total of $14 million per year.

The money committees also included my proposal to hire staff at prisons and study the Commonwealth’s ability to provide earlier reparative therapy to sex offenders in state prisons instead of waiting until they have completed their jail sentence.  Historically, providing these services in post-jail secure inpatient facility have cost nearly twice as much as prison.  Starting earlier and shortening civil commitment will save taxpayers millions.

We finally started the process of investing in rural broadband with a $15 million investment along with $1 million in Enterprise Zone grants to encourage solar.

Virginia’s cash reserves will stand at $1.45 billion at the end of the biennium which is a strong hedge against a downturn in the economy.

While the budget makes some progress, I also felt like it was a missed opportunity to make progress on long standing funding priorities because there are many priorities the General Assembly could have funded if we had not cut taxes.  First, our secondary education funding continues to lag behind our re-Great Recession historic commitment.  Virginia’s teachers remain some of the lowest paid in the nation.  Virginia’s higher education system remains a crown jewel, but our college tuitions are some of the highest in the nation.  We not only need to freeze tuition but roll it back.

Virginia also has thousands of families waiting for childcare subsidies so parents (mainly mothers) can go back to work. We still have 12,000 families waiting for Medicaid services for mentally and developmentally disabled children.

Virginia’s public employees remain significantly behind private sector wages which hurts retention and proficiency.  The construction backlog and staffing needs at Virginia’s State Parks is over $100 million while demand for parks skyrockets.

Please email me at [email protected] if you have any feedback!

It is one of my favorite days of the year — Christmas Eve — a time full of wonder, magic, and memories.

For so many, so much is possible on this day. Reuniting with family and friends, making new ones, serving your neighbors, and giving to the less fortunate are just some of the things that spring to mind on this day.

And there is a lot of uncertainty for many in our region facing furloughs with a Federal Government shutdown. The National Christmas Tree on the Ellipse in Washington, a symbol of peace not only for our region but around the world, has gone dark in the wake of the shutdown.

But we’ve been here before, and we all hope for quick resolution for the hundreds of thousands of government workers in our region, as well as business owners and non-government employees impacted by the shutdown.

And, I hope that just for a moment this Christmas, you put fear and politics aside and enjoy the sights and sounds of the season, the music, and forget about your woes and do everything you can to bring a smile to the face of the person standing next to you.

Merry Christmas.

We’re about to say goodbye to 2018 and hello to a brand new year.

And as we do this time every year, we’re getting ready to take a look back at the biggest stories of the year based on the number of views each story received on our website.

From covering floods (it’s the rainiest year on record in Washington, D.C.), new toll lanes coming to Interstate 66, business expansions like Micron (Virginia’s largest economic deal ever) and Amazon, or the debate over how to best develop the last remaining rural pieces of property in our community, it’s been a busy year for local news.

This year also marked a change for us at Potomac Local, too.

• We listened to you and made an improved email newsletter that delivers local news you where you are.
  We hired a team of new reporters in an effort to expand the types of stories we cover, to deliver more trusted local news that matters to you.
• We invested more than $6,000 in a new website (a big investment for a small company like ours).
• And we launched a new premium subscription tier of content and now have more than 400 paying subscribers.

In the era of “fake news,” Potomac Local plays a vital role in strengthening the local news ecosystem by providing reporting on the local issues that impact us here at home. It’s what our subscribers trust us, and pay us to do.

In turn, a better-informed community is a stronger community. And our subscribers make Potomac Local stronger.

Right now, as of this writing, 20 more people can take advantage of a special offer to save 30% on an annual subscription to Potomac Local by using the coupon code STRONGER.

This offer, which started out at 30 coupons at the beginning of the month, ends Dec. 31, 2018, or whenever the remaining 20 coupons are claimed, whichever comes first.

We value your support and look forward to serving you as a paying subscriber in the coming year.

Healthy living can be tough, but for Dr. Adam Brown, Chief of Emergency Medicine at Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center and Sentara Lake Ridge, he’s practicing what he preaches. Over the last year, Dr. Brown has lost 65 pounds through diet and exercise.

• It can be challenging to change habits. As a Doctor, what would you tell folks who are working on getting healthier?

I would first say — “You can do it!” As long as you can move and have the ability to make decisions about what and how you eat, you can do it. You can get healthier and feel better. Over the past year, I have had my own journey with getting healthier and feeling better, both mentally and physically. In the end, I have lost about 65 pounds since January 2018, losing from size 40 waist to a size 32. Change, however, takes planning, preparation, dedication and most importantly, support. Avoid gimmicks. They simply don’t work especially in the long run. You may have transient wins, but your goal should be to be healthier in life and not for just a season.

• Personally, you made some changes- what was the biggest help/tip/motivator for you?

Over the past year, I have made significant changes to my entire life and the results physically and mentally have been dramatic. Mentally, I recognized watching the news on a constant loop of negativity was unhealthy. So, I turned it off. That was so hard, but I just turned it off. Watching the same people day-in and day-out argue about the current state of the world, became unhealthy. I still read the newspaper and check in to the news occasionally, but let’s be honest, no matter which side of the political spectrum you are on, there is a lot of negativity out there. Replacing that negative focus on more positive things (i.e. exercise, spending time with friends and family) has made a huge difference.

Physically, I have altered my food choices and I exercise daily. I limit red meats and fried foods, increased healthy fruits and vegetables, and limited simple sugars and carbohydrates.  I educated myself on just how many calories were in the things I ate and I made substitutions. You would be surprised how many calories are in “healthy” foods like sushi or pasta. For example, instead of eating a large bowl of pasta with sauce, I eat twice as many vegetables and a smaller bowl of pasta. Instead of 2 sushi rolls, I had sashimi and a roll. The flavors are similar, but the volume shifts.

From an exercise perspective, I have also replaced sitting on the couch with movement like walking in the evenings, going to an exercise class or doing the elliptical at the gym. I also have turned to weight lifting 3-4 times a week. In effect, I break a sweat exercising 25-30 minutes every day. So what’s the result? I feel great! I can run 1, 2, 3 miles now without taking a break. Before, I got winded walking up my steps.

Seeing my body change and feeling better has been the biggest motivator. Just looking at pictures from my 40th birthday to now, are dramatic and keeps me engaged. I do not want to go back. While the change is slow, looking at the change over time keeps me going. But there are secondary motivators like my iPhone App. I use a fitness app to track my food consumption every. single. day. Yes, it seems tedious, but it has kept me honest and educated about my choices throughout the entire process. My circle of friends and my spouse have been motivating as well. But here’s the key – I needed a friend or buddy to walk with me on this journey not just shout from the sidelines. Both my spouse and one of my best friends have walked with me the entire way. They both have lost weight, built lean muscle, and are living a healthier life. At times, we have struggled, but have brushed ourselves off and started getting healthier again.

• What do you wish everyone knew in their quest to take control of their health?

I wish people could feel as good as I feel. It’s life-changing. And it’s a healthy life change that I controlled and managed. It’s also so affirming to hear the positive comments and the cheers from the sidelines as I have been on this journey.

Lastly, I want people to know that they can control many of their health conditions. So many of our health conditions can be reversed with healthy living. When I turned 40, I had borderline high blood pressure, borderline cholesterol and weighed 256 pounds. Now, I have low blood pressure, low cholesterol, and a low resting heart rate all due to diet and exercise changes. No medications.

This post is sponsored by Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center.

By Eliut Morales

The holidays are coming up, and for the next few weeks, shopping malls will be filled with people shopping for gifts for their loved ones. If you happen to be at Manassas Mall this holiday season, be sure to look up, and you’ll find our new banner hanging above Santa’s picture station!

You see banners and advertisements at shopping malls all the time, so it may not seem like a big deal to most. For us, however, it means a great deal. The opportunity to be represented in what may be the most populated part of the mall in December means that we’ll be able to reach out to many more families about all we have to offer! Many people will be at Santa’s station to take pictures with him, and our banner will be there for everyone to see!

The pictures on the banner are only a glimpse of all the fun and exciting programs we have waiting for you. After you’re done shopping, check out Breakfast with Santa or the Light Parade to get in the holiday spirit! We’re very excited for the opportunity to show families all of the recreational activities that are right in their neighborhood.

So if you’re at Manassas Mall shopping this holiday season and find our banner, be sure to take a selfie and share it on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter. Don’t forget to tag us by using the hashtag #MPCC2018! We look forward to seeing all the new faces that will be stopping by thanks to this opportunity. You belong here!

The Manassas Park Community Center is located at 99 Adams Street in Manassas Park, VA, Managed by the City of Manassas Park Department of Parks and recreation, the facility is home to basketball courts, a swimming pool, wellness areas, special events, and recreational classes. For more information visit us at manassasParkCommunityCenter.com or call at 703-335-8872.

This post was written and sponsored by Manassas Park Community Center