Thursday, February 13, 2025

Good morning! On this day, the Virginia Convention of 1861 convened to discuss whether the Commonwealth should secede from the United States. Most of its 152 delegates were Unionists on the day the convention started. However, by April (after secessionists attacked Fort Sumter), the convention voted to leave the Union.

State employees are allowed to be deep seekers. However, The Virginia Flyover reports in Top Stories why they won’t be using DeepSeek. Then scroll down to Sports to read about the Norfolk man who will be fighting for a belt.

Sting Operation Targets Online Predators

Seven men were arrested on charges that they were seeking criminal encounters with minors. The arrests follow a Fairfax County sting operation targeting online predators.

Among those arrested are a Falls Church High School teacher and a teacher from Buffalo. The seven men face a cumulative 25 felony charges.

Fairfax police stated that the suspects initiated “explicit” conversations with the officers posing as children. “There’s no entrapment associated with these operations. After we establish probable cause, we arrange to meet with a predator and make an arrest,” Police Chief Kevin Davis said.

Another Fairfax County teacher, John Barger, was charged with sex crimes earlier this month following an unrelated investigation. Barger faces two felony counts.

Virginia Deep-Sixes DeepSeek

Employees of the Commonwealth will not be allowed to use the Chinese artificial intelligence program DeepSeek on their work devices. “China’s DeepSeek AI poses a threat to the security and safety of the citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia,” Gov. Glenn Youngkin wrote in an executive order barring the AI service.

Virginia has also banned apps developed by ByteDance Limited and Tencent Holdings Limited. The state prohibits visiting TikTok or WeChat on state-issued devices. All have ties to China.

DeepSeek admits that it stores some data on servers in the People’s Republic of China, which Youngkin said raises significant security and privacy concerns.

State employees who had already started using DeepSeek were required to remove it by the end of the day yesterday.

Plan Now for Renaissance Fun

It is not too early to start planning a trip back in time this year.

The Virginia Renaissance Faire takes place in Spotsylvania over six weekends from May 10 to June 8. It features period music, jousting, hound coursing, and history demonstrations.

For a single-day gathering, the Wolfswood Faire is scheduled for Aug. 23 in Appomattox. Guests can enjoy medieval games, sword fights, music, and even a chance to cool off in a dunk tank.

The Olde Dominion Fantasy & Medieval Faire has not yet announced a date for its September unveiling in Thaxton. In past years, it has allowed visitors to meet Robin Hood and Prince John and then earn their spurs as knights of the realm.

If you are looking for a festival during the cooler fall weather, Ravenwood Faire will host a family-friendly medieval celebration beginning in mid-October when it takes over the Frederick County Fairgrounds for two weekends.

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➤ Statewide: Almost 100,000 customers lost power as a winter snowstorm turned to freezing rain on Wednesday. Dominion Energy warned people to stay at least 30 feet from downed wires. (See Outage Map)

➤ Virginia Beach: Last year saw the fewest violent crimes in the city in the past five years, according to police statistics. Violent crimes were down 22.3% from 2023 and 21% from the average of the previous three years. (Details)

➤ Washington, D.C.: President Trump nominated Terry Cole, Virginia’s Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security, to be the new head of the Drug Enforcement Administration. Cole worked for the DEA for two decades. (More)

➤ Henrico County: An independent report concluded that poor communication from the city of Richmond worsened last month’s water problems. More than 100,000 county households were ordered to boil water for four days after Richmond’s water outage cascaded into neighboring counties. (Details)

➤ Roanoke: The city council asked a panel of judges to appoint a seventh member after the six sitting council members deadlocked over the choice. The position came open when Joe Cobb was elected mayor last year. (More)

➤ Richlands: An elementary school special education teacher was charged with two counts of abduction and two counts of cruelty to a child after she allegedly taped a student to a desk. Additional charges are possible. (Details)

➤ Undefeated Keyshawn Davis gets a shot at the lightweight boxing title tomorrow. The Norfolk native will fight Denys Berinchyk for the WBO belt at Madison Square Garden. (Details)

➤ Virginia Tech’s women’s tennis team hosts Marshall at 2 p.m. tomorrow. The Hokies have won six straight. (More)

➤ VT’s Emma Lemley earned ACC Pitcher of the Week honors after she got two wins (one a perfect game), racked up 22 strikeouts, and threw 11 scoreless innings. (More)

➤ UVA’s Gary Martin was named the ACC Men’s Cross Country Scholar-Athlete of 2024. The junior set a conference record at the ACC Championships with a time of 22:17.6. (Details)

Yesterday’s results: NBA | NCAAM | NCAAW | NCAASB | Soccer

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➤ Hyatt has proposed building a hotel along the Danville riverfront to rehabilitate a brownfield site. The location was once part of the Dan River Mills network. (Details)

➤ Peraton, a tech company based in Reston, has announced plans to open a new campus at the location that used to be Volkswagen’s North American headquarters near the Dulles Toll Road. (More)

➤ Stack, a data center firm, announced plans for a Loudoun County facility. The campus would include a pair of two-story buildings offering a total of 144 megawatts. (More)

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➤ Vada Carawan, an 11-year-old Girl Scout from Virginia Beach, called 911 and saved her father by performing CPR while he was having a heart attack in November. (Hear the 911 Call)

➤ Ion International Training Center in Leesburg is in its final days as a full-size hockey rink. The space is set to be turned into an entertainment venue and convention hall. (Details)

➤ Some conservation groups have petitioned the Virginia Marine Resources Commission to impose regulations aimed at protecting diamondback terrapins from getting stuck in blue crab pots, where they can drown. The commission has two weeks to respond. (More)

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