Two Spotsylvania County high school students died in a car accident on Thursday morning, several days before the start of a new school year.

STAFFORD —  Stafford officials are optimistic that they will be able to meet the Commonwealth of Virginia’s challenge to obtain funds for the purchase of Phase II of the Crow’s Nest peninsula.

FALMOUTH — A crime has touched a normally quiet street that residents say is lined with police officers and government workers. The Stafford County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the rape of a 17-year-old girl who lives on Indian Wood Lane in Falmouth.

STAFFORD —  A 17-year-old Stafford boy who disappeared from Stafford on July 12, has still not been found.

FREDERICKSBURG — They stood strong on the front lines in Iraq last year, providing protection to a strategically deepwater port and escorting convoys before returning home in February.

STAFFORD — The Stafford County Board of Supervisors has given a green light to the Stafford Fire and Rescue Department to ask for money.

AQUIA —  Trish Harmon said Aquia Harbour looks just like it was did when she left it 30 years ago. Harmon has been hired as the community’s new police chief, but she said she remembers North Stafford when there was only one convenience store on a two-lane Garrisonville Road

STAFFORD — County supervisors worked Tuesday to allow county residents to decide if they want to borrow money to pay for road improvements.

STAFFORD — A new preschool may be on its way to the Stafford County. Officials with Primrose Schools said they have targeted the region as a key development area and are currently looking for a site inside the county to build their next school.

RICHMOND — The number-one age-related eye disease, which affects more than 22 million Americans, is cataracts —  a clouding of the eyes’ lenses.
Cataracts affect more individuals than glaucoma, macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy combined. According to the World Health Organization, the condition is the leading cause of blindness.

Zack Ketz will start classes at the University of Virginia this fall and it’s unlikely the “imaginary people on the Internet” will foot the bill.
But Ketz tried.

MANASSAS — The Center for the Arts’ Rooftop Productions announces auditions for its opening production of the 2008-2009 season. Actors and actresses, ages 19 and up, are needed for roles in James Thurber’s Tony Award winning comedy review, “A Thurber Carnival.”  Auditions will consist of cold readings from the script and will be held on Aug. 24 and Aug. 25 from 7 to 9 pm at the Center for the Arts, 9419 Battle Street in Manassas.

GARRISONVILLE — A woman attempted to rob both Nails Today and Choice Cleaners, two businesses on Garrisonville Road, on the evening on Aug. 14, reported Stafford County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Bill Kennedy on Aug. 15.

The following was taken from calls to the Stafford County Sheriff’s Office from Aug. 11-15:

WASHINGTON — Sen. James Webb’s speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Orlando, Fla., Tuesday, and his scheduled appearance at the American Legion conference next week in Phoenix, will make him the only national Democrat to address both major veterans groups in person this election season.

Thirty years ago, peaceful, agricultural Louisa County went nuclear. More than 2,600 homes have sprouted for vacation and permanent residency on or near Lake Anna since Dominion Virginia Power turned on its first reactor at North Anna Power Station.

A 27-year-old Culpeper man has been arrested on felony charges related to a sexual assault on an acquaintance on Monday

Gar-Field High School graduate Sheena Tosta won the silver medal today in the 400-meter hurdles at the Beijing Olympics

FALMOUTH — The Stafford County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the rape of a 17-year-old girl in the Falmouth area.

STAFFORD — Before the fireworks started on July 4, Mother Nature unleashed some of her own.

STAFFORD — Plans were unveiled Tuesday for the construction of a new terminal at Stafford Regional Airport.

Fire-rescue finishes screenings; official says more volunteers would add to department

WOODBRIDGE — The case of a Massachusetts man indicted on 20 counts of distributing sexually explicit material has been continued to December.

STAFFORD — The Stafford County School Board is considering a 10-point grading scale after several regional schools have also raised concerns about their various grading systems.

STAFFORD — Hundreds are expected at Chatham Manor this weekend as the historic site holds a living history event.

STAFFORD — The Wildlife Center of Virginia in Waynesboro is preparing for several open house sessions that will allow the public a glimpse into what the facility is all about.

RICHMOND — A serology case file review by the Virginia Department of Forensic Science led Virginia State Police investigators to arrest a convicted sex offender Monday for the rape and murder of an 88-year-old Emporia woman. 

RICHMOND — The Federal Trade Commission reports that 5 percent of all identity theft cases are child victims with 54 percent of those victims being children less than 6 years of age. 

STAFFORD — The Kenmore Foundation has announced a change in operating hours for Historic Kenmore Plantation and Ferry Farm.

FALMOUTH — Three Delaware residents were arrested Aug. 4 shortly before midnight for attempting to defraud two businesses in the southern part of the county, reported Stafford County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Office Bill Kennedy on Aug. 5.