Work to close parts of city, Stafford roads Work will close sections of two roads next week, one in Stafford and the other in Fredericksburg....

IF YOU DRIVE through the countryside today or tomorrow, you'll probably find that there is the sweet aroma of new-mown hay in the air. There will probably be more hay on the ground this weekend than at any other time this summer....

Rep. Rob Wittman, R-1st District, is planning the last of three campaign kickoff events on Sunday. Wittman's event will be at 5 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Express on U.S. 17 in Stafford County. He previously held campaign kickoff events May 5 in Montross and May 12 Williamsburg/James City County....

BY CATHY JETT Cathy Powell Cavender has given her parents a gift that was four generations and more than 100 years in the making....

An anti-abortion prayer rally will be held at the Fredericksburg Expo and Conference Center on Tuesday night. The African American Life Rumble, sponsored by the Fredericksburg Prayer Furnace, begins at 7 p.m at the convention center in Central Park. It's one of three prayer gatherings at the center next week....

BY RUSTY DENNEN Crossroads Vineyard Church, which meets in Fredericksburg Christian High School, had one more reason to celebrate at its Easter service last month: It added a second service in a season of growth....

Robert E. Lee. Jeff Davis. Ulysses S. Grant. Ladies in crinoline skirts, artillerists with Stribling's Battery, cavalrymen, U.S. Colored Troops, the 2nd South Carolina String Band, tintype photographer Robert Szabo, sharpshooter "Kansas" Tom Johnson, blacksmith Edgar Harrison and war correspondent Theodore Davis....

The Virginia Supreme Court has ruled Spotsylvania's School Board erred in not awarding its custodial contract to the lowest bidder two years ago. As a result, the School Board voted this week to change providers, effective July 1....

U.S. Rep. Rob Wittman wants the Defense Department to evaluate and report to Congress on how American military leaders in Afghanistan decide to release detainees. But Adam Cook, his Democratic opponent in this fall's election for the 1st District seat--who once helped make those decisions in Afghanistan--says Wittman is politicizing the issue and undercutting military leaders' authority....

Tuition at Germanna Community College will increase $5.50 per credit hour, or $16.50 for the average three-credit hour course, beginning this fall, the Virginia Community College System announced Thursday. "It pains us--and any community college--to see tuition increased," Germanna President David A. Sam said in a statement....