Area under thunderstorm watch

Most of the region, from Fredericksburg and Stafford County and most of Maryland has been placed under a Severe Thunderstorm Watch by the National Weather Service until 8 p.m.

Some of the storms could become severe, and the weather service has also warned of the possibility of an isolated tornado.

At 2:30 p.m. Thursday, a line of storms could be seen on radar developing west of Winchester.

Temperatures throughout the day have been climbing into the high 90s, approaching the triple digits in some places.

Friday will be a slightly cooler day, with a forecasted highs in the low 90s, according to the weather serivce.

Effort launched to combat premature births

One man is out to raise $30,000 for unborn children.

Jonathan Arehart, CEO of Cavendo Corporation in Manassas, was picked by a local chapter of the March of Dimes to lead a fund raising and awareness effort for the March for Babies, a major fundraiser for the organization.

The money will go to help mothers have full-term pregnancies and to deliver healthy babies.

“I’m serving as the 2011 chair for March for Babies because I believe our children’s health is a top priority,” said Arehart. “All babies should have the chance to be born healthy."

Premature birth affects more than half a million babies each year, and those involved with the awareness campaign say that number is growing each day. Babies that are born too soon are susceptible to death or disability, according to Arehart.

A Manassas womens health center is just one of the local organizations that will benefit from the money.

Two Web sites about the organization are available, one in English and one in Spanish, where those interested can learn more information.

Arehart’s Cavendo Corporation provides Web site design, development, hosting and maintenance services for clients throughout Northern Virginia.

As police department turns 40, top cop comments

The Prince William County Police Department will turn 40 next month and they want you to come and celebrate with them.

The party starts at 11 a.m. Saturday on the Sean T. Connaughton Plaza, behind the McCoart Building off Prince William Parkway in Woodbridge. All of the usual outdoor family fun activities are planned, like a dunk tank, face painting, moon bounce and an appearance by McGruff the Crime Dog.

But those who are curious about how police officers do their jobs and those who want to know more about the tools they use will get a behind the scenes look. Scheduled to be on display is the major crimes and incident command unit, Command One, the SWAT team, scuba team, forensic unit, mounted patrol and Marine One – Prince William County’s watercraft patrol unit – just to name a few, according to the county police Web site.

Police equipment, old and new, will also be on display. And so will a chronology of major events in Prince William County’s history. They’ll also have a vintage county police cruiser on display.

The police department formed in July 1970, taking over major policing operations from the Prince William County Sheriff’s Department, said police chief Charlie T. Deane. He was promoted to chief in 1988 but was recruited to the force from the Virginia State Police the same year the department began, when the county’s population was just over 100,000 people.

“We were all very excited about embarking on a new segment of our careers and establishing a new department,” said Deane. “Back then we were all generalists. We had K9s and the motorcycles, but over time, because of the demand for the services we developed more specialization.”

Now nearly 400,000 people live in the county and the department in recent years has seen its fair share of tough cases, including the Lexie Glover case in 2009, the Smith murders in Dale City in 2008 and the Bobbit case in 1993, when at 26, Lorena Bobbit used a knife to sever her husband’s penis.

She was later found not guilty by reason of insanity. Her husband, John Wayne Bobbit, went on to star in a pornographic film after having the organ reattached.

Area under severe thunderstorm warning

Lightning is flashing in the sky and thunder is crashing overhead in Woodbridge, as the Potomac communities – from eastern Prince William to North Stafford – are under a Severe Thunderstorm Warning.

The storm is capable of producing quarter-sized hail and winds up to 60 mph, according to the National Weather Service.

The storm has tracked out of the west, from Fauquier County to the Potomac River. 

It comes tonight after the region grappled with temperatures in the mid 90s on Tuesday.

The Virginia Department of Health encourages everyone to drink lots of water and to stay indoors, preferably in air conditioning, for as long as possible.

Temperatures are expected to remain hot throughout the rest of the week, according to the weather service.

Amtrak to run VRE trains for two weeks longer

Amtrak workers will continue to operate Virginia Railway Express trains until July 9 under a new agreement.

The new employees for Keolis Rail Services of America, a French Company, were supposed to take over VRE operations June 28. But training has taken longer than anticipated, and that has prompted VRE’s CEO Dale Zehner to ask Amtrak for the two-week extension.

“You should know this is not my first choice,” said Zehner in a letter to VRE riders. “Keolis is expected to be ready to operate much of, if not all of the VRE service by June 28, and VRE prefers what is known as a “soft start” or “staggered start” of service on June 28, with the Fredericksburg line operated by Keolis and the Manassas line operated by Amtrak.”

The extension is not expected to affect service on either the Manassas or Fredericksburg line.

VRE awarded at $85 million, 5-year-opearations contract to Keolis last fall. Amtrak lost the bid to the company, which has never operated in the U.S.

Amtrak has been contracted to operate and maintain VRE trains since the service began in 1992.

Plan to use taxes to build HOT lanes explored

Taxpayers could get a bill for the cost to build High Occupancy Toll lanes on Interstates 95 and 395.


Virginia Secretary of Transportation Sean T. Connaughton said his office is reviewing plans which explore the financial viability of converting HOV lanes between Dumfries and the Pentagon to toll lanes, and then extending then south to Stafford and Spotsylvania counties.

Part of those plans, presented by the Virginia Department of Transportation at Connaughton's request, include slapping taxpayers with a portion of the construction costs for the proposed lanes.

Another scenario has two private firms, Texas-based Fluor, Inc. and Australia’s Transurban, which would operate, maintain and profit from the lanes for up to 80 years, harboring all of the construction costs, said Connaughton.

VDOT’s plans could become public in the next few weeks, after they are reviewed the Federal Highway Administration, said Connaughton.

The renewed interest in building the lanes follows a combined $20,000 donation from Fluor, Inc. and Transurban to the Virginia GOP last month, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.

After giving $25,000 to Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell during his 2009 campaign, Fluor, Inc. also donated $15,000 to McDonnell’s inaugural committee in January, according to VPAP.

In addition to donating to R. Creigh Deed’s gubernatorial campaign last year, Fluor, Inc. has donated $13,500 to state Democrats so far in 2010, VPAP showed.

The I-95 / 395 HOT lanes project was put on hold in August when VDOT said Fluor Inc. and Transurban couldn’t come up with enough private investors for the project.

Then Arlington County sued state and federal officials claiming that required environmental impact studies needed before the lanes could be built were not done, and that the lanes would adversely affect residents who live along I-95.

Arlington leaders last fall courted Prince William County officials about joining their suit, but they declined after reading the suit’s allegations that only rich, white suburbanites from Stafford and Spotsylvania counties would benefit from the new lanes.