Loudoun County
- Loudoun County Expands GMU Direct Admission to All Qualifying Seniors
Following a successful pilot at three high schools that raised planned GMU enrollment by 35 percent, Loudoun County Public Schools will open direct admission to every senior earning a 3.25 GPA or higher.
- Loudoun County School Board Unanimously Opposes Overhead Transmission Lines
The Loudoun County School Board reaffirmed its preference for underground power routes and rejected multiple above-ground options on school property in a unanimous vote.
- Loudoun Officials Detail Constitutional Limits on Student Searches by Schools and Officers
Ms. Scanlan outlines how 1980s case law and the Fourth Amendment tightly constrain search authority for Loudoun school officials and SROs.
- Loudoun Schools Prepare Artificial Intelligence Classroom Pilot as Device Costs Surge Past 70 Percent
Board members split over Gemini Notebook trials at seven middle and high schools while Chromebook and staff laptop prices jump on chip shortages.
- Loudoun Supervisor Calls for Developer Transparency in Project Reviews
Loudoun County Supervisor Koran Saines spoke during a recent Board of Supervisors meeting about the need for improved transparency in how developers present project designs.
- Caleb Kershner Questions Substation Technology Noise Differences
Loudoun County Supervisor Caleb Kershner initiated a discussion on the relative noise levels associated with gas insulated switchgear substations and air insulated switchgear models.
- Loudoun County Supervisors Proceed With Aspen Substation Following Deliberations
The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors has approved advancing the Aspen Substation project located near Leesburg.
- Laura TeKrony Discusses Compensation Amid State Guidelines
Loudoun County Supervisor Laura TeKrony addressed the compensation structure for board members during a recent meeting.
- Loudoun School Board Receives Plea on Power Lines Near Campuses
During a public comment period at the Loudoun County School Board meeting the presentation addressed high-voltage power lines planned near school properties.
- David Reid Responds to Phyllis Randall on Data Center Responsibilities
Virginia Delegate David Reid has published an op-ed that addresses statements made by Loudoun County Chair Phyllis Randall concerning data center development.
- Loudoun County Public Schools Details Transportation Operations and Future Needs
Loudoun County Public Schools operates a transportation department responsible for an average of sixty route changes per day.
- Loudoun County Public Schools Outlines Threat Assessment Enhancements
Loudoun County Public Schools has presented details on plans to introduce a threat assessment coordinator as part of school safety improvements.
- Loudoun Supervisor Caleb Kershner Addresses Solar Panel Effects on County Vistas
Loudoun County Supervisor Caleb Kershner addressed the effects of solar panel installations on the county’s scenic vistas during a recent discussion.
- Loudoun County Data Examines Teacher Pay Growth Versus CPI
Loudoun County Public Schools released data comparing teacher average salary growth to Consumer Price Index trends in a recent presentation.
- Loudoun Democrats Re-Approve Aspen Substation — Sell It as Oxygen-Machine Reliability After Data-Center Boom
After briefly rescinding approval, the Democrat-majority board restores Aspen amid talk of 95 existing or proposed substations; Umstattd and Randall frame wires as life-safety while critics say homes had power before 200 data centers.
- Loudoun County Board to Review Grant Initiative for Broad Run Farms Water Connections
Loudoun County, Virginia, is governed by a nine-member Board of Supervisors consisting of Chair At-Large Phyllis Randall, Vice Chair Michael Turner of the Ashburn District, Juli Briskman of the Algonkian District, Sylvia Glass of the Broad Run District, Caleb Kershner of the Catoctin District, Matthew Letourneau of the Dulles District, Kristen Umstattd of the Leesburg District, Laura TeKrony of the Little River District, and Koran Saines of the Sterling District.
- Loudoun County School Board Updates Discipline Policy on Criminal Charges
Loudoun County School Board adds a provision allowing 10-day suspensions and reassignment recommendations for students charged with specified offenses involving intentional injury.
- Loudoun’s Turning Point: First 5–4 Data-Center Denial in 2024, Scaled 6–3 Pass, Then March 18 End of Open By-Right
Turner’s timeline traces Democrat-board politics from the first major denial of a 2.9M sq ft project, to a 1.3M by-right comeback, to the 7–2 March 18, 2025 vote ending open by-right — with grandfathering still attached.
- Abigail Spanberger Signs Executive Order 22 on Data Center Accountability and AI Task Force
Governor Abigail Spanberger’s Executive Order 22 and 2027 legislative slate target NDAs, local approval for large loads, noise and backup power, and an AI task force—without a statewide moratorium.
- Loudoun’s Substation Swarm: 95 Existing or Proposed, 30–40 More Coming — Every Data-Center Vote Becomes a Wires Vote
County presentations tied to Aspen put Loudoun near a hundred substations with dozens more planned; Democrat supervisors admit approving a campus means approving the substation and line that follow.
- Loudoun Votes: Democrat Board Ends Open By-Right Data Centers — After 9–0 Use Expansion and 5–4 Grandfathering
Ghiorzi hearing notes and Granicus timestamps show a 7–2 main motion, a failed 5–4 attempt to kill administrative grandfathering, a 9–0 add-data-center use on 1972–1993 lots, and Briskman’s 41M / 61M sq ft warning.
- Valley Link’s 765 kV Northern Line Is PATH Reborn — Aimed at Loudoun Data Centers, Critics Say
RICHMOND / LOUDOUN COUNTY, Va. — A roughly 260-mile, 765-kilovolt transmission line from West Virginia into Maryland — the northern spine of PJM’s Valley Link portfolio — is being pitched as new reliability steel.
- Kimley-Horn to Loudoun: Data-Center Pipeline Implies ~8,190 MW — More Transmission Than PJM Had Approved
County-commissioned September 2024 due diligence tallies ~117 pipeline buildings at ~70 MW each and urges corridor mapping, undergrounding, collocation, and reconductoring as Democrat-led Loudoun faces the grid gap it helped create.
- Western Loudoun Push: One Underground HVDC Instead of MARL and Valley Link North Overhead
LOVETTSVILLE, Va. — Theresa Ghiorzi and a JotForm petition urge Loudoun, Frederick, and Clarke officials to back a single underground HVDC alternative to FirstEnergy’s MARL/Gore–Doubs–Goose Creek 500 kV and Valley Link North 765 kV lines into Data Center Alley.
- Theresa Ghiorzi Moves to Dismiss Golden-Mars, Citing Loudoun Route Rigging and Untallied Homeowner Takings
RICHMOND / LOUDOUN COUNTY, Va. — In PUR-2025-00056, Theresa Ghiorzi asks the SCC to dismiss Dominion’s Golden-Mars 500/230 kV application, restart siting de novo, finish Line #514 first, and stop connecting high-demand customers until Data Center Alley load drops below NERC-violation thresholds.
- Loudoun Sheriff Issues Letter Clarifying ICE Cooperation Practices
Loudoun County is governed by a nine-member Board of Supervisors that includes Chair At-Large Phyllis Randall, Vice Chair Michael Turner of the Ashburn District, Juli Briskman of the Algonkian District, Sylvia Glass of the Broad Run District, Caleb Kershner of the Catoctin District, Matthew Letourneau of the Dulles District, Kristen Umstattd of the Leesburg District, Laura TeKrony of the Little River District, and Koran Saines of the Sterling District.
- MARL Price Tag Climbs Toward $1.46 Billion After Loudoun Reroute and NextEra Cost Doubling
LOUDOUN COUNTY, Va. — The Mid-Atlantic Reliability Link corridor into Data Center Alley is getting more expensive — and Loudoun’s own routing politics are part of the reason.
- MARL Power Line Is Generation Delivery for Data Centers, Not Grid Reliability, Filings Argue
LOUDOUN COUNTY, Va. — The Mid-Atlantic Reliability Link project — the multi-state 500-kilovolt corridor also described as MARL / Gore-Doubs-Goose Creek — is being sold as a reliability upgrade.
- PJM Shortlists Dominion’s Heritage-to-Mosby Underground HVDC as Southern Backbone for Northern Virginia Load
RICHMOND / LOUDOUN COUNTY, Va. — PJM’s 2025 Window 1 southern-cluster shortlist puts four Dominion +/- 525 kV HVDC variants from Heritage to Mosby — about 185 miles and roughly $4.8–$5.0 billion — against cheaper 765 kV and 500 kV overhead portfolios, with proposal 275 leading incremental transfer into NOVA.
- Line 514 Was Sold as Rusting Towers. Loudoun’s Data Center Alley Needs the Power Anyway.
LOUDOUN COUNTY, Va. — Before the Golden-Mars 500-kilovolt project became the latest fight at the State Corporation Commission, another line
- Loudoun County Board Approves Temporary Pause on Data Center Applications
The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors approved a plan during its September 15, 2026, meeting to temporarily pause final action on data center and electrical substation applications requiring legislative approval.
- Dominion Pitches Fully Underground HVDC Into Loudoun as PJM Answer to Data Center Load
RICHMOND / LOUDOUN COUNTY, Va. — Dominion Energy Virginia is asking the PJM Board to greenlight a High Voltage Direct Current project the
- Abigail Spanberger Urges Congress to Police Artificial Intelligence Risks to Privacy, Jobs, and Resources
The governor’s September 22 letter to House and Senate leaders seeks federal guardrails as Virginia advances Executive Order 22 and data-center accountability rules.
- Loudoun’s Data Center Loop: Democratic Supervisors Greenlit the Boom. Ratepayers and Homeowners Face the Lines.
LOUDOUN COUNTY, Va. — Northern Virginia already hosts the densest cluster of data centers on the planet.
- EMF Fear Still Drives Virginia Power-Line Residue Fights as Democrat-Approved Data Centers Need New Steel
RICHMOND / LOUDOUN COUNTY, Va. — Electromagnetic fields are not a side conversation in Virginia’s transmission boom.
- County Adds Public EV Charging Stations at Cascades Library
Loudoun County has installed new electric vehicle (EV) charging stations for public use at the Cascades Library, 21030 Whitfield Place, Potomac Falls.
- Loudoun County Supervisors Advance 12-Month Pause on New Data Center Applications
Loudoun’s Board of Supervisors voted 7-1-1 to draft a temporary pause on new data-center applications while rewriting local rules, with a final vote expected in October.
- Loudoun Supervisors Vote 7-1-1 to Advance Yearlong Data Center Application Pause
Staff must draft a resolution for a final October vote after Chair Randall frames the pause as time to rewrite local rules.
- Loudoun Supervisors Advance Proposed Yearlong Pause on New Data Centers
A temporary halt on new applications heads toward a final vote Oct. 13 as neighbors and electrical workers clash over growth.
- Loudoun County to Weigh Temporary Pause on New Data Center Applications
Supervisors will review staff plans for a development freeze while rewriting standards and ending remaining by-right grandfathering.
- Virginia House Bill 47 Aims to Expand Tax Relief for Military and Foreign Service Retirees
House Bill 47, which seeks to broaden state income tax subtractions for retirement benefits earned by uniformed services and United States Foreign Service officers, has been left in the House Finance Committee as the 2026 legislative session progresses.
- Loudoun County to Consider Data Center Pause, Removing By-Right Grandfather Clause
A view of a data center in Loudoun County next to Chick Ford & Ryan Bickel Fields.
- David Reid House Bill 182 on High School History Substitutions Clears Assembly
RICHMOND, Va. — House Bill 182, a measure altering high school graduation requirements by permitting substitutions in history and social studies credits, has successfully navigated the Virginia General Assembly and now awaits action from Governor Abigail Spanberger. The bill, introduced by Delegate David Reid of the 28th District in Loudoun County, seeks to provide students
- Loudoun County Supervisors Hear Bill Integrating Environmental Justice Into Comprehensive Plans
The speaker told the board, chaired by Phyllis Randall with Vice Chair Mike Turner and members including Juli Briskman, that the bill would update comprehensive planning to include strategies for addressing disproportionate environmental and health risks in certain communities. T
- Loudoun County Supervisors Hear Call to Fix Childcare Benefits Cliff
The speaker described a scenario involving a mother named Tiffany, who, despite diligent efforts including extra work hours, received a raise that disqualified her from subsidies. This led to unaffordable childcare costs, forcing potential withdrawal from the workforce.
- David Reid Measure to Add a Judge in Loudoun and Fauquier's Twentieth Circuit Advances
RICHMOND, VA – With the 2026 Virginia General Assembly session in its final weeks, a key provision to increase the number of judges in the Twentieth Judicial Circuit has gained significant traction through House Bill 443. Originally introduced as House Bill 46 by Delegate David R
- Public Comment at Loudoun School Board Raises Alarms Over Child Safety Incident
The meeting occurred in Loudoun County, Virginia, under the oversight of the Loudoun County School Board. The board consists of nine members: Chair April Chandler, Vice Chair Anne Donahue, and representatives from the county’s magisterial districts including recent additions sworn in January 2026.
- Public Comment at Loudoun County School Board Highlights Concerns Over Renaming Committee Process
The speaker stated that the group is expected to prioritize input coming specifically from this area and put forward recommendations reflective of community sentiments. Concerns were raised about past processes that became highly political, prompting the board to commit to closely monitoring the current effort to ensure it discourages such maneuvering.
- Loud Explosion Heard Friday Night in Leesburg
On Friday night in Leesburg Virginia, a loud noise and flash of light were heard. A Maryland resident claimed to have seen a lightning strike.
- School Resource Officers’ Training Highlighted in Loudoun County School Board Deliberations
School Resource Officer candidates complete more than 800 hours in police academy instruction, encompassing core policing competencies, followed by over 500 hours of supervised field training.