This story is the second in a series about how special education students and their families are coping with remote instruction in Fauquier County Public Schools. Read the first story here. Read more

The number of Virginia and Fauquier County residents receiving unemployment insurance benefits continues to creep downward, according to the latest data from the Virginia Employment Commission. The number of workers who received benefits during the filing week ending Sept. 5 is about the sam… Read more

Along with expanding county employees’ access to child care for their children, members of the board of supervisors will also likely discuss at a work session next week the possibility of using CARES Act funding to subsidize child care for low-income county residents, according to a Sept. 1 … Read more

The total number of weekly claims for unemployment insurance benefits in Virginia have fallen by 33% during the past four weeks, according to the latest data from the Virginia Employment Commission for the filing week ending Aug. 22. Still, more than 10 times the number of state residents re… Read more

The three branches of the Fauquier County Public Library system will reopen for browsing on Monday, Aug. 24. Very limited seating will also be available for users who wish to use Wi-Fi or public computers; until Aug. 23, an appointment is necessary to use public computers. Curbside service w… Read more

The number of individuals in Virginia receiving unemployment insurance benefits is essentially unchanged from last week, according to the latest weekly claims data from the Virginia Employment Commission. The number of unemployment filings had dropped 28% in the two weeks following July 25, … Read more

Even in the middle of a pandemic, sometimes baseball games are still canceled for old-fashioned reasons.  Read more

Another week of unemployment claims data released Thursday by the Virginia Employment Commission told a similar story to that of recent weeks. New layoffs in the Hampton Roads area are surging along with new cases of the novel coronavirus, and the overall employment situation in the rest of … Read more

Fauquier County has been in no way immune to the pandemic’s economic fallout, but the county’s employment situation continues to be better than that of Virginia as a whole, according to the latest data from the Virginia Employment Commission. Read more

Testing for the novel coronavirus has become exponentially more accessible since the pandemic began. In Virginia, 43 times more tests were performed during the most recent week than in mid-March. Getting tested before traveling or returning to work has become a routine part of life during th… Read more

Fewer Fauquier County residents filed for unemployment insurance benefits last week than in any week since early April, but the number of county residents receiving benefits is still more than 16 times higher than before pandemic-related layoffs began. Read more

Offices of the Virginia Department of Veterans Services have reopened for in-person services by appointment only. Read more

The Fauquier County School Board voted unanimously Monday night to reopen county schools on Aug. 24 using a “blended” instruction model, with students attending school two days per week and learning from home the other three. Read more

A new survey of Fauquier County parents indicates majority support for sending children to school four days a week this fall instead of just two -- a possibility that remains on the table as school board members continue to weigh options for the upcoming school year, which could begin as soo… Read more

Unemployment claims filed during the week ending July 4 rose in both Fauquier County and Virginia as a whole despite the easing of some pandemic restrictions as the state entered Phase 3 of Gov. Ralph Northam's reopening plan. Read more

It's not yet clear whether new state guidance reducing, in some cases, the recommended physical distancing among students in Virginia schools from 6 feet to 3 feet will have a substantive effect on Fauquier County’s plans for reopening its public schools. School board members will discuss re… Read more

Public computers at the Fauquier Public Library branches in Warrenton, Bealeton and Marshall are now available by appointment, according to a July 6 blog post on the FPL website. However, library buildings remain otherwise closed. Read more

EDITOR’S NOTE: On June 29, Fauquier County Public Schools Superintendent David Jeck presented to the school board four possible plans for opening schools in the fall. Read more

At least for now, Virginia’s mask mandate has survived another legal challenge, the tenth so far. The latest suit was brought forth on behalf of Philip Carter Winery in Hume, and its representative, Philip Strother. On June 29, Judge Jeanette Irby of the 20th Judicial Circuit denied a motion… Read more

According to the latest data from the Virginia Employment Commission, initial claims for unemployment benefits rose in both Fauquier County and Virginia as a whole during the latest filing week, which ended June 27. This is the first time that initial claims have increased since the week end… Read more

Here are some thoughts for the end of June, as we move into the seventh month of this pandemic. I would like to cite a quote from one of my early emails: Read more

As COVID-19 cases in Texas, Florida and Arizona and California are soaring, Virginia is keeping a lid on new cases. The state added 624 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, June 26, and 677 cases on Saturday, but since then has been able to remain below 600 new cases a day. Five hundred and nine… Read more

On the morning of Saturday, June 27, the 48 graduating seniors at Wakefield School in The Plains made their way up from the school’s gym to an improvised commencement ceremony site in one of the parking lots on campus. In addition to the fancy southern attire that is a hallmark of Wakefield … Read more

At the very moment that most businesses and their employees were being hit the hardest by the economic repercussions of the pandemic, Neha and Ajit Jadhav purchased thousands of dollars worth of gift cards from three local restaurants and donated them to local first responders and health car… Read more

As a percentage of the total labor force, the number of claims for unemployment insurance benefits by residents of Fauquier County continues to be much less than the state and national averages. Read more

Although some county offices opened on Wednesday, June 24, Fauquier Public Library Director Maria Del Rosso said in a June 22 phone call that the interior spaces of the county’s library buildings will most likely not reopen this month. Read more

On Friday, June 19, the Virginia Department of Health website updated its modeling for the state; the model was created by the University of Virginia Biocomplexity Institute. The analysis attempts to put the results of mitigation efforts in perspective. Read more

The flood of layoffs at the height of the pandemic has turned into a trickle, but most people who lost their jobs since March have not returned to work. Read more

Playgrounds in county-owned parks are now available for use, according to Gary Rzepecki, Fauquier County’s director of parks and recreation. All playgrounds were cleaned, sterilized and fitted with fall-cushioning material last week. Read more

It’s an old saying: A friend in need is a friend indeed. For some small businesses in Fauquier County that have been shut for weeks during the pandemic, their landlords have turned out to be good friends indeed. Read more

On Thursday, June 4, the Virginia Employment Commission released the latest weekly statistics on claims for unemployment insurance by Virginia residents. The latest filing week ended on May 30. Read more

Courtesy of Virginia Mercury Read more

The United States Department of Agriculture has announced a program to provide financial assistance to producers of agricultural commodities in order to help offset sales declines and increased marketing costs associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more

Since April 12, free Internet access has been available in the parking lot of Leeds Ruritan Club Park in Hume, thanks to a Wi-Fi hotspot set up by Blaze Broadband, a local firm. Even though the park is currently closed due to the pandemic, anyone can utilize the Wi-Fi from their vehicle in t… Read more

In Virginia, the total number of initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits filed during the pandemic is now greater than the number of initial claims filed during the 18-month recession that began in December 2007, according to the Virginia Employment Commission. Read more

On bingo days at the Fauquier Health Rehabilitation & Nursing Center in Warrenton, nursing home residents sit in the doorways of their rooms facing into the hallway, four to a group, while a staff member calls out the numbers. “That way they can interact with other residents and still st… Read more

Hospitals practice regularly for disasters or disease outbreaks that bring a flood of patients to their doors. But those drills are predicated on the assumption that it’s temporary – that the dire event will soon pass and operations return to normal. Read more

Only 17 people were at Moser Funeral home in Warrenton on May 15 to attend the funeral of Milford “Glen” Cordell of Casanova. If it wasn’t for COVID-19, his wife Carol believes there would have been more than 200 attending. Cordell coached youth sports in Vienna for more than 40 years and wa… Read more

Gov. Ralph Northam acknowledged Tuesday he “was not prepared” when he agreed to take photos with well-wishers at Virginia Beach over the weekend despite having left his face mask in the car. But he wants the rest of Virginia to do better and announced a statewide face-covering rule starting Friday, May 29. Read more

Restaurants in Prince William County and Manassas will remain to-go only this weekend, despite efforts by Prince William County and Manassas officials to seek Gov. Ralph Northam’s permission to allow some outdoor seating. Read more

Hero’s Bridge, a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving older veterans, has implemented four new programs for veterans during the COVID-19 pandemic. The organization recognizes that veterans older than 65 are traditionally an isolated segment of the population. “We quickly minimized our… Read more

On Friday, May 15, Executive Order 61 went into effect, signaling the beginning of the first phase of the Forward Virginia plan for much of the state. Phase 1 aims to gradually ease public health restrictions while containing the spread of COVID-19; it remains in effect until midnight on Jun… Read more

Beginning Thursday, May 21, Patient First will begin drive-up COVID-19 testing by appointment at its locations on Lee Highway in Gainesville, and Old Bridge Road in Lake Ridge. Read more

The University of Mary Washington is offering “COVID-19 in Context,” an eight-week online summer course starting June 1 free of charge to the community. Read more

The Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association has launched a new online data dashboard focused on statistics associated with COVID-19 cases in licensed nursing facilities across the commonwealth, the association announced in a news release Monday. Read more

Courtesy of Virginia Mercury Read more