Craig Vasey, a retired University of Mary Washington professor, was in the vanguard of racial theorists in the 1980s – this Black History Month, he reflects on what’s been gained, and lost.
Reflections for Black History Month
Nugget, a Yellow Lab, Fights For the Spotsylvania Sheriff’s Office
He is the newest member of the Sheriff’s K9 workforce and one of only three dogs in the state trained for this purpose.
Humor: When a genuine Hockey God takes to the pickleball court, grandma best look out – hip-replacement surgery be damned.
The pickleball court is no place for arrogance according to a friend of mine who is not yet 50 and has taken up pickleball at a tennis club in Annapolis, Maryland. He had to sign a special waiver indicating that he was not “technically” old enough to be playing pickleball, but in the event he […]
Kerr: Stafford County Has a Severe Problem with Food Insecurity
Stafford County, with a population 145,000, ranks 15th in the state in terms of per capita income (there are 134 counties and cities in Virginia), and nationally comes in at 19th in median income. These are two indicators that imply a thriving and healthy economic picture. Certainly not one where there would be a serious food insecurity […]
MATT HURT: In an Independent Analysis of SOL Scores the City Shines
Editor’s Note: Now that the most-recent SOL data is available, the Advance has received several requests for a deep dive into results for Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, and Stafford. We contacted Matt Hurt, a leading authority on Virginia SOL scores, and asked him to parse the data and tell us what he finds. Today we are pleased […]
CORTEZ: Hispanic Heritage Month and How Far We Have Come
What a difference a day makes for a proud American during Hispanic Heritage Month standing before Lieutenant Governor Winsome-Earle Sears in her Richmond office as State Senator Bryce Reeves read a state proclamation reflecting on my life and achievements relative to veterans and media. Sponsored by Democratic Delegate Paul Krizek representing the 44th Dist. and […]
LOCAL HISTORY: Old Fredericksburg Jail
Tucked away behind its more famous neighbor, the Renwick Courthouse, the old jail seldom generates any interest for passersby. Little significant research has been done on it, and it is not a stop on any of the city’s historic tours. Yet it is one of the more interesting and unique buildings downtown. Fredericksburg’s first recorded […]
Guest: Make Mark Taylor the Most Over-Paid Janitor in the State
“Either you support parents’ rights or not, That’s how simple it is for me,” Spotsylvania School Board Chair Lisa Phelps, said in an August 17 Free Lance-Star story about implementing a new conservative transgender student policy. “If you support parents’ rights or not, this vote is very telling.” Oh really? So now the chairwoman of the county […]
Guest: UMW’s Student Conduct System Underwent External Review – Concerns Remain
On April 22, 2022, University of Mary Washington President Troy Paino sent a community-wide email calling for an external review of UMW’s entire student conduct system. The call was in response to an investigative piece I published in The Weekly Ringer, UMW’s independent student newspaper, exposing how the Office of Student Conduct and Responsibility had mishandled on-campus […]
Guest: Mark Taylor’s Untruths Demean the Legal Profession
On Thursday, August 3, I received a phone call from a concerned parent, a friend, who was trying to access her child’s records through ParentVUE. That’s the online tool that gives parents and guardians access to their child’s bus information, class schedules, grades, immunization records, and attendance records among other important student information. She told […]