Prince William County officials held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for Kaiser Permanente's new Caton Hill Medical Center in Woodbridge.

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On September 14 at 4:06 a.m., officers responded to the 7-Eleven located at 5401 Prince William Parkway in Lake Ridge to investigate an armed robbery.

Police said a man entered the store and approached the counter.

As the employee walked behind the counter, the suspect brandished a firearm and demanded money from the cash registers. The suspect took an undisclosed amount of money before fleeing the area in a silver sedan.

No shots were fired, and no injuries were reported.

The investigation continues as detectives attempt to identify the suspect, identified as a heavy-set white male, approximately 5 feet 7 inches tall, 300 pounds, last seen wearing a black balaclava, green hooded sweatshirt, blue jeans, and black shoes with white soles

Updated 5 p.m. — For the second time this week, police in Prince William County have filed charges against a student after a gun weapon was found on school property.

On Tuesday, September 13 at 9:29 a.m., the School Resource Officer (SRO) assigned to Lake Ridge Middle School, at 12350 Mohican Rd. in Lake Ridge, was contacted regarding a student who assaulted another student with a knife while on school property.

The investigation revealed two 12-year-old girls arranged to bring a knife to school that day. That morning, one of the students brought a knife and gave it to the other student, police said.

The 12-year-old student then entered a classroom where the knife was brandished and held to a separate 12-year-old female student’s neck. A teacher intervened and was eventually able to take possession of the knife.

During the encounter, the teacher sustained multiple cuts to the hand. School personnel detained the 12-year-old student and contacted the SRO. The student victim reported minor injuries. While investigating the incident, the SRO determined both 12-year-old female juveniles were involved in the incident.

Following the investigation, both students were arrested. A 12-year-old female juvenile of Woodbridge is charged with aggravated malicious wounding, and possession of a weapon on school grounds.

Another 12-year-old girl of Woodbridge is charged with possession of a weapon on school grounds.

Both have pending court dates, and both are now at the county’s Juvenile Detention Center.

On Monday, September 12 at 10:10 a.m., a School Resource Officer assigned to the school at 15201 Neabsco Mills Road was notified by school personnel that a student with a gun was inside the school.

The investigation revealed a student, identified as the accused, brought the gun to school, and displayed it to other students while in a bathroom.

Two students, identified as 15-year- old male juveniles, who at some point had the firearm, were arrested, police said.

Both were charged with possession of a firearm on school property. Their court date is pending. Both are now at the county’s Juvenile Detention Center.

The outlook for Abigail Spanberger (D) is looking better in her race to keep Virginia’s 7th Congressional seat. The Cook Political Report today moved Spanberger’s race against Republican Yesli Vega, a Prince William Board of County Supervisor member, from “toss-up to “lean Democratic.”

The move comes on the heels of Democrats’ successes in recent weeks, passing the Inflation Reduction Act, which addresses climate change, hiring 87,000 more IRS agents to audit citizens and small businesses, transferring some student loan debt to U.S. taxpayers and away from the borrower, and raiding the home of a former U.S. President Donald Trump to secure classified documents.

Until now, the 7th Congressional District, the 2nd in Virginia Beach, and the 10th in western Prince William County and Loudoun County were seen as competitive. The 7th Congressional District (full map here) includes eastern Prince William County, Stafford, Spotsylvania, King George and Caroline counties, and Fredericksburg city.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) advised his fellow Republicans seeking seats in Congress this fall.

“I think any candidate running today, if they are not focused on education, if they’re not focused on children and parents, then they are missing what I heard and I’m hearing from Virginians,” Youngkin told Potomac Local News during a visit to Colonial Forge High School on Thursday, September 1., 2022. “There are so many issues that families are worried about their kitchen, around their kitchen table, cost of living, and the ability to make enough money to pay the bills.”

Youngkin won the governorship in a November 2021 General Election, becoming the first Republican to win the highest office in the state since Bob McDonnell in 2009. Since then, the governor’s popularity has continued to increase, with a 55% approval rating.

On Thursday, Youngkin echoed one of this most vital campaign messages from a year ago — teachers and administrators in public schools must work in partnership with parents regarding students’ education. After seeing how some teachers conducted business during online learning during the pandemic, parents protested, saying they wanted more involvement in their child’s education.

The fight continues for conservatives in Loudoun County, where the father of a girl who was raped by a transgender student in a county high school protested during a School Board meeting and was arrested. It was a flashpoint in the parental rights movement last year.

According to the nonprofit Fight for Schools, Equality Loudoun posted on August 3 to its now defunct Twitter account, schools should never tell parents if their child is gay or transgender. Instead, it says children should tell their parents directly. “If you aren’t a safe space for your child, that’s on you,” the now-deleted Tweet stated.

Back in the 7th District, Spanberger shifted the campaign focus from national issues to Gov. Glenn Youngkin when she pressed him for answers on how the state will work to prevent another shutdown of Interstate 95 seen on January 3, 2022, snowstorm. At the time, the state was managed by Gov. Ralph Northam (D), who had just 12 days left in office.

Top Virginia Republicans called Spanberger’s move a distraction and said they’re confident in winning for Vega.

“When Virginia’s previous Democrat Governor failed to act decisively in the face of last year’s storm–a product of distraction from his primary duties while he was consumed by the unexpected disclosure of his racist past–Spanberger was nowhere to be found and had paid no attention to disaster relief planning before the winter storm season,” Virginia Republican Party Chair Rich Anderson told Potomac Local News. “Governor Youngkin will apply the hard-learned lessons of the past to ensure this doesn’t happen again. He has a great roadmap to do so in the state report that resoundingly condemned the Democrat administration for its lack of leadership in disaster relief planning.”

A first for the area, OmniRide will implement a new local bus service on Sundays.

Buses will travel along the Woodbridge/Lake Ridge, Dale City, Dumfries, Route 1 routes, and Prince William Metro Express between Woodbridge and the Franconia-Springfield Metro station.

The service will cost about $1 million a year and will begin Sunday, August 28.

Sunday service will mimic the Saturday service schedule in place since 2004. There is no weekend service in western Prince William County, Manassas, or Manassas Park.

The Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission unanimously approved Sunday service at its July 7 meeting in Woodbridge.

“Sunday service will be very beneficial for residents,” said Woodbridge District Supervisor Margaret Franklin, a transportation commission member. “We do have some initial work to get people back onto the bus as we’re still working on getting ridership back to 100 percent since the pandemic.”

“Sunday service is not only good for OmniRide but good for the region,” said Prince William County Occoquan District Supervisor Kenny Boddye, whose constituents requested the new service.

“We’re making the bus sexy,” said Prince William Neabsco District Supervisor Victor Angry on July 7, the transportation commission’s current chairman.

While new service is added in eastern Prince William, OmniRide is changing service in the west, specifically in Manassas Park. OmniRide will cut Route 68 through Manassas Park on December 12, 2022, and replace it with a service Like Lyft or Uber, called Microtransit, which allows riders to book a ride through their phone or by calling OmniRide’s Customer Service office. Instead of a bus, riders are driven in vans.

Also, on July 7, commissioners voted to allow transit agency staff to begin tinkering with local bus routes in both the eastern and western sections of Prince William County. During OmniRide’s Employer Council meeting on June 30, Director of Operations and Operations Planning Perrin Palistrant said it is too soon to provide details on portions of routes that will be restructured.

Commissioners will review the proposed changes at their October 6, 2022, meeting at the system’s transit center at 14700 Potomac Mills Road in Woodbridge. Changes to the bus routes will be implemented next year.

Finally, OmniRide hopes to add a new service from Gainesville to Reston. The commuter bus service would coincide with the opening of the Silver line Metro rail extension.

Riders would board buses at Balls Ford Road and ride to the soon-to-open Innovation station on the Silver line, near Dulles Toll Road and Route 28. Public comment on the service should begin in October, and commissioner approval could come in December.

*This story was corrected to reflect the correct route number for the Manassas Park bus to be discontinued.

Uriah Kiser is the founder and publisher of Potomac Local News. Send news tips to [email protected].

Police are searching for a man with a tattoo on the side of his face. The man is wanted in connection with strangulation of a woman in Lake Ridge.

Prince William police tell us:

Strangulation | Domestic Assault & Battery – On August 7 at 9:56PM, officers responded to the Glen Ridge Commons Apartments located in the 12800 block of Island House Lp. in Woodbridge (22192) to investigate a domestic.

The investigation revealed the victim, a 20-year-old woman, and an acquaintance were involved in a verbal altercation that escalated. During the encounter, the suspect struck the victim and grabbed her neck before the parties separated.

The victim reported minor injuries. When officers attempted to detain the suspect, he actively resisted and fled on foot. As the investigation continued, officers determined the identifying information the suspect initially provided was false.

Officers are seeking to speak with anyone who has more information about the suspect. The investigation continues.

Suspect Description:

A black male, between 18-22 years of age, 5’10-6’00”, approximately 160lbs., with a tattoo on the left side of his face
Last seen wearing a black shirt with white writing on the front, black pants, and gold Nike shoes

Two robbers used a stick to strike a 62-year-old man on the back of the head and demanded his money.

Prince William police tell us:

A case against a murder suspect was dismissed by Prince William County Circuit Court Judge Carol A. Weimer Jr. on August 4.

On October 21, 2019, 21-year-old Nathaniel Isiah Hickson was found suffering a gunshot wound in the 2300 block of Briar Rose Lane in Lake Ridge. The victim was taken to a hospital, where he later died.

Police charged Najoun Courtney and Tre Rose with murder. Police said Hickson was shot during a drug deal, and the two suspects fled the scene.

In November 2021, Rose pleaded guilty to a lesser charge, conspiracy to commit robbery, and agreed to testify in an unrelated murder case, in addition to testifying against Courtney.

On August 4, the prosecutors could not prove to the judge that a felony drug transaction had occurred. Afterward, Courtney’s attorneys, William Warrier and Ben Talley of the Prince William County Public Defender’s Office, asked the judge to dismiss the case.

“The Public Defender conducted our own investigation of these allegations and concluded that the commonwealth’s collection of evidence, and its conclusions about the evidence gathered, were fatally flawed and suffered confirmation bias,” said Prince William County Public Defender Office Director Tracy Lenox in a statement to Potomac Local News.

Prince Willliam County Commonwealth Attorney Amy Ashworth said the office took the case very seriously and presented 26 witnesses and 130 pieces of evidence, seeking a 2nd-degree murder conviction. When the judge struck the robbery charge, prosecutors asked the judge to amend the charge to 1st-degree murder, but Weimer declined and dismissed the case.

“If this case had been sent to a jury, we believe we would have secured a conviction,” said Ashworth. “While we respect the judge’s decision, we strongly believe that the evidence was sufficient to prove the robbery charge, which was the predicate offense for the felony murder charge, and are disappointed by the outcome.”

Courtney was incarcerated on the 2nd-degree murder charge from his arrest on November 12, 2019, until the commonwealth decided not to prosecute on November 19, 2021, said Lenox. However, prosecutors handed down a direct indictment of Courtney on March 8, 2022, and he was again held on these charges until the time of trial last week.

In between those times, he was held continuously on other charges in Spotsylvania County, for which he served a significant sentence, said Lenox.

Nasdaq falls 1.19% as negative Micron guidance weighs down tech stocks — U.S. markets declined as chip stocks continued to struggle Tuesday, dragging down the tech market…Tuesday’s decline came as shares of chipmaker Micron fell 3.74% after the company warned that its revenue could fall short of its prior guidance, citing “macroeconomic factors and supply chain constraints. [UPI]

OmniRide to host public hearings to discuss proposed changes to routes — The regional transportation provider aims to change routes along the Interstate 66 and 95 corridors, local routes, and routes that serve disabled residents. [Press release]

Spanberger talks supply chain in Stafford — As part of U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger supply-chain tour Monday, the 7th District representative stopped by the McLane Company warehouse in Stafford County. [Fredericksburg.com]

Virginia weighs changes to ‘fuzzy’ recall system that lets judges remove local officials — Activists in Virginia are increasingly turning to the state’s court-driven recall process to try to take out their frustrations on local officials they feel have done something wrong. In Prince William County, activists have launched recall efforts against two county supervisors over their alleged connections to the data-center industry as the county considers a massive data center project.” [Virginia Mercury]

Stafford education group requests response to convocation that sent 8 to hospital — The Stafford Education Association is requesting that the school division make restitution payments to staff following Friday’s convocation event, during which 80 individuals required medical treatment due to soaring temperatures. [Fredericksburg.com]

Friends of the Occoquan Fall River Clean-Up 2022 — The Friends of the Occoquan team and mascot Sheba invite you to come out and be a River Hero at its annual Fall River clean up. [Press release]

The Woodbridge Community Choir is planning its Christmas show and needs singers.

The Christmas concert series is planned for December 3rd & 4th, with the possibility for other performances to be scheduled. The Christmas Glow program features new arrangements of your favorite carols and some new songs.

The choir welcomes singers of all ages and walks of life and does not hold auditions. The choir also seeks a piano accompanist.

Weekly rehearsals occur on Mondays at 7:30 p.m. at Lutheran Church of the Covenant, 15008 Cloverdale Road in Dale City. The first rehearsal of the 2022 Christmas season is Monday, August 29.

The Woodbridge Community Choir is an all-volunteer SATB choral group, offering free concerts to the community since 1966. The choir includes professional and amateur musicians, both choral and instrumental.

The musical directors, accompanists, and soloists are volunteers and have included some of the area’s leading musicians. In addition to two concert seasons (Christmas and Spring), the choir also holds many social events with members and their families and participates in community service projects.

Contact [email protected] for more information.