Every year since 2011, Assistant Dean of Science Ia Gomez has organized the National DNA Day celebration at NOVA-Manassas. National DNA Day commemorates the completion of the Human Genome Project in April 2003 and the discovery of the double helix in 1953. This year’s speaker was Kirk Odom who was falsely convicted of rape.

Republicans in Prince William County, Manassas and Manassas Park will be able to vote between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. this Saturday, April 25 to choose GOP candidates for sheriff, clerk of court, supervisor chairman and several supervisor seats. There is just one polling place per district; city GOPers vote at Metz; government issued ID required.

The High School Naming Committee will hold two community meetings to receive name suggestions for the “12th” High School, currently under construction in mid-county with a Manassas address.

A new institution of public learning on the "Ferlazzo site" at Spriggs and Minnieville Roads is set to open at the start of the 2016-17 school year. Plans for its use as an elementary school (original plan) or a larger Porter Traditional School (revised plan) must be decided by the Prince William County School Board soon to allow the building, modeled after Yorkshire Elementary School, to be properly configured.

Eric Marx, PRTC’s Director of Planning and Operations, has been appointed interim executive director of the transportation agency effective May 15. PRTC’s current Executive Director Alfred Harf informed the Commission earlier this year of his intent to resign after 16+ years as the organization’s leader and agreed to time his departure to suit the Commission’s need for an orderly transition.

On Thursday, April 9, at 3:15 p.m., the bell in the Occoquan Town Hall rang for four minutes to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the surrender at Appomattox Courthouse and the end of the American Civil War.

Community members will get the chance to weigh-in on April 13 and April 16 on how best to use a new school going up at Spriggs and Minneville Roads.

Historic Manassas, Inc. has received the Virginia Main Street Milestone Achievement Award for volunteer investment in downtown revitalization efforts. Since 1997, more than 60,000 volunteer hours have been donated to the historic downtown area for events and revitalization.