The Virginia Flyover

SATURDAY, JULY 18, 2026

Good Morning! On this day in 1947, during a ceremony at the Pentagon in Arlington, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower commissioned Florence Blanchfield as a lieutenant colonel, making her the first woman in U.S. history to receive a permanent commission in the Army following the Army-Navy Nurse Act.

Learn about another historic Virginia military woman by answering today’s Trivia question.

For years, spotting an email scam felt easy. Bad grammar, a fake logo, an obvious ask, and you’d catch it. But the emails that drained nearly $21 billion from Americans last year didn’t look sloppy at all. They looked like they came from your bank, your pharmacy, even your own family, and adults over 60 lost the most of anyone. In today’s episode of The Flyover Podcast, Amy breaks down five quick inbox moves that clean up your clutter and quietly lock scammers out. Which one are the con artists counting on you never learning? Tune in here to learn more!

Today’s sponsor is Immersed, offering investors the opportunity to get in early on an extended reality company developing next-generation productivity software and XR hardware before its planned public listing.

Virginia Creeper Trail to Fully Reopen Next Year

The Virginia Creeper Trail will fully reopen on March 31, 2027, more than two years after Hurricane Helene forced the closure of its damaged section.

The storm damaged 30 of the trail’s 31 historic trestles along 17 miles in 2024, prompting a $240 million rebuild, which began in December 2025.

The 17-mile stretch between Damascus and Whitetop Mountain will reopen after a winter that lets the rebuilt trail settle. The Damascus-to-Abingdon section has stayed open throughout.

Before the storm, the trail drew about 250,000 visitors every year, generating over $61 million annually for four Southwest Virginia counties.

Skyview High School Boundary Plan Approved

The Fairfax County School Board approved attendance boundaries for the new Skyview High School in Herndon, impacting around 2,500 students.

The boundary phases in over three years, pulling students from the Chantilly, Westfield, and South Lakes highschools before taking full effect in the 2028-2029 school year.

Skyview occupies the former King Abdullah Academy campus, bought in 2025 for $150 million. The school opens this fall with more than 700 ninth and 10th-grade students.

Critics have voiced that the decisions could disrupt long-standing school communities and raise safety issues as students will have to cross the Route 28 corridor to reach the school.

WinterWorld Festival Announced

The Richmond Flying Squirrels have announced plans to turn CarMax Park into a 39-day holiday festival called WinterWorld, running from Nov. 18 to Jan. 3, 2027.

The ballpark will feature over a million lights, a 12,500-square-foot ice pond, a six-lane ice slide, a Ferris wheel, a Christmas tree maze, and more.

The team’s owner and his ownership group, Navigators Baseball, are contributing over $3 million towards the festival.

5,000 free passes are set to be given out to Richmond-area residents through local nonprofits and community organizations. More than 75,000 people are expected to attend the event.

Flying together with our sponsor

This Private Company Is Up 4,000% Already

How do you follow 4,000% valuation growth? By preparing for what’s next. That’s what Immersed did, reserving the Nasdaq ticker $IMRS. But the real opportunity for investors is now, before public markets.

Why? Immersed changed the game in extended reality (XR), developing the Meta Quest store’s most popular productivity app. 1.5M people, including Fortune 500 teams, already use it up to 60 hours a week.

But that’s not all. Immersed’s soon-to-be-released XR headset has 2M more pixels than Apple’s Vision Pro for 70% less money. No wonder they’re projecting $71M in first-year sales.

And with partnerships in place with Google and Samsung, investors are taking advantage of this limited-time chance before its next stage of growth.

Executives and founders from Intel, Meta, and Reddit invested. Don’t miss your chance to join them before the July 30 deadline.

➤ Roanoke: VIA Centers for Neurodevelopment has officially opened a newly renovated playground at its Roanoke VIA Day School, giving students with autism and related challenges a specialized outdoor space. (More)

➤ Henrico County: Hundreds of community members are fighting to save a willow oak tree at R.C. Longan Elementary School, which is slated for removal to make room for an expanded parking lot. (More)

➤ Herndon: Noodles & Company permanently closed its Centerville Road location, one of 30 to 35 restaurants the chain plans on shutting down nationwide in 2026. (More)

➤ Harrisonburg: A fundraiser with a $4,000 goal has been launched to replace a bronze duck statue stolen from outside the Explore More Discovery Museum. (More)

➤ Newport News: Construction has begun on a new $40 million Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom Library at the former Sherwood Shopping Center site, which will replace the aging 1977 facility on DeShazor Drive with a 51,144-square-foot building. (More)

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➤ Virginia Tech coach James Franklin said at his first ACC Kickoff that the Hokies “won the offseason” by securing a top-30 recruiting class and a strong group of transfers since his hiring in mid-November. (More)

➤ ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips said the league had developed doubts about Rio de Janeiro’s ability to host the season opener between Virginia and NC State, which was moved back to Charlottesville. (More)

➤ ESPN ranked Virginia Tech’s Oct. 24 visit to Clemson as the No. 4 game on the 2026 ACC schedule, while naming Virginia’s trip to SMU an honorable mention. (More)

➤ Yesterday’s Results: The Open | MLB | WNBA

Flying together with our sponsor

➤ Two identical twin sisters. Same DNA. Yet one appeared years younger than the other. What Harvard scientists discovered next led them to a little-known “facelift protein” that researchers now believe may play an important role in how our skin ages. See the fascinating discovery here.

Flying together with our sponsor

Google, Microsoft, & Meta Partnered With This XR Startup

The world’s leading tech giants have all partnered with Immersed, an XR startup chasing a $250B+ opportunity in remote work.

Immersed combines the world’s most-used remote work XR software ($127B by 2030)1, AR/VR hardware ($100B+ by 2026)2, and AI productivity tools ($36B)3 into one productive, collaborative virtual office. Its valuation has grown 4,000% to date.

Over 1.5M professionals, including Fortune 500 teams, already use Immersed. The company is now scaling mass production of Visor, a productivity-designed headset with 75,000+ people on the waitlist, representing $71M in projected first-year sales.

Executives from Intel, Meta, and Reddit have invested, and Immersed has already reserved the Nasdaq ticker $IMRS. You can become an early-stage shareholder before the July 30 deadline.

1Source: https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/ai-productivity-tools-market-23074
2Source: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/ai-productivity-tools-market-report
3Source: https://www.giiresearch.com/report/grvi1512062-ai-productivity-tools-market-size-share-trends.html

This is a paid advertisement for Immersed Regulation A+ offering. Please read the offering circular at https://invest.immersed.com/

➤ The Virginia Zoo in Norfolk welcomed two new cheetahs, 3-year-old brothers Walnut and Cashew, to its African Safari Trail. (More)

➤ A Covington bowler set a Guinness World Record for the longest consecutive bowling session, completing more than 600 games throughout nearly six days and knocking down an estimated 45,000 pins. (More)

➤ The 48th annual Suffolk Peanut Fest will take place Oct. 8-11, featuring live music, family activities, contests, attractions, and a new custom drone light show. (More)

The following stories are featured exclusively on The Flyover Podcast—a daily show that gives you the most important headlines in under 15 minutes, straight from the heart of the country. Clicking the link will take you directly to these stories:

➤ The emails draining billions from Americans no longer look fake, and these habits stop nearly all of them. (Hear Tips)

➤ Researchers have found a way to smuggle a drug past the brain’s toughest barrier and into glioblastoma tumors. (Hear Details)

➤ Federal officials have linked lettuce served at this fast food chain’s locations to a multistate parasite outbreak that has hospitalized dozens. (Podcast Available)