Rain can't dampen Boy Scouts' spirits
Rain, heat, even lightning. No matter what the conditions were at the National Scout Jamboree yesterday, the Boy Scouts of America's main motto is to "be prepared."...

Same cast of characters turns out for every show
For decades I've associated the sound of country music with being violently ill. Naturally, I blame my parents....

Fredericksburg grand jury releases indictment
The following people were indicted recently by a Fredericksburg grand jury: Christopher Evan Backe, Orange, carrying a concealed weapon....

New courts plan for city
Less than a month after being sworn in as Fredericksburg's Ward 3 City Councilman, Fred Howe III is asking his colleagues to look at an alternative court-building plan he believes could save time and money. While the council as a group has agreed to hear Howe out on his proposal, it's unclear what the appetite for a possible change in direction will be, more than three years after council members got their first public look at options for modernizing city courts....

jamboree rail
jamboree facts making friends across the world...

Soiling justice
TALK ABOUT bitter harvests. While tens of thousands of black farmers wait for justice delayed--in the form of a $1 billion-plus settlement for decades of discrimination by the U.S. Department of Agriculture--a truth-twisting website managed to shift the limelight to spurious black-on-white bias within the USDA, discussed here in a July 26 editorial, "Rush to judgment." Although the contrived episode of "reverse racism" consisted of one context-stripped statement by Shirley Sherrod, a 62-year-old USDA official who was actually trying to make a point about racial conciliation, before the full truth emerged almost everyone in sight, including President Obama, had embarrassed himself by jumping to unwarranted conclusions....

Spotsy camping site faces $6K fine
By RUSTY DENNEN A Spotsylvania County campground is facing a $6,000 fine over continuing issues with its sewage-treatment plant....

Area gas prices for Friday, July 30
at the pump AREA GAS PRICES...

Is Lohan's fate really news?
THE United States is fighting two wars, thousands are working to clean up all the oil that has washed up on the Gulf Coast and some economists are forecasting a double-dip recession. So what is the top story of the week? Lindsay Lohan might get out of jail today....

JM grad conducts a strings concert tonight at Fredericksburg United Methodist Church
JM grad leads strings camp, concert tonight Daniel Crook of Fredericksburg, a 2010 James Monroe High School graduate and violinist, will conduct a strings concert tonight at 7 p.m. at Fredericksburg United Methodist Church....

Scouts race to aid NASCAR drivers
NASCAR drivers Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. learned yesterday that they can turn to Boy Scouts if they're injured in a race. They participated in a first-aid competition in which several Scouts at the National Scout Jamboree treated them for broken legs, broken arms and burns on their hands....