CHUMLEY HANDS OFF TO CHUMLEY: Kettle Run football preview. Sports, page 9 u
August 15, 2018
Our 201st year
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Vol. 201, No. 33
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www.Fauquier.com
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$1.50
More than 1,600 are eligible for Medicaid expansion
Fauquier scientist aims to reimagine the National Air and Space Museum By Leland Schwartz Times Staff Writer
Pieces of history are missing from the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, and Ellen Stofan has to figure out how to raise $250 million to put them on exhibit and tell their stories. At the same time, Stofan, a resident of The Plains and the museum’s new director, is overseeing a drive to reimagine the nation’s most popular museum. She wants girls to know they are badly needed in the sciences and that exciting and challenging futures await them there. It was no accident Stofan, NASA’s former chief scientist and the first woman to run Air and Space, became a planetary geologist. Her mother was an elementary school science teacher and her father, a NASA scientist. But most girls, Stofan says, are not attracted to the STEM fields. “I think the message kids lose is that science, technology, engineering and math are fun and a way to solve big challenges that the world has,” she said. As the commercialization of space and fields like artificial intelligence and robotics explode, it’s critical they attract a diverse workforce, Stofan said. Otherwise, girls will “lose out economically,” and the sciences will “lose out talent-wise, idea-wise and creativity-wise.” While Stofan, 57, thinks things have improved over the years, diversity in the sciences remains a real problem.
See SCIENTIST, page 2 INSIDE Business.............................................15 Classified............................................36 Communities......................................30 Faith...................................................34
County to add 4 staff to handle new applicants By James Ivancic Times Staff Writer
TIMES STAFF PHOTO/LELAND SCHWARTZ Ellen Stofan, a resident of The Plains and the new director of the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum, in front of Lunar Module 2, built for ground testing and later converted to match LM ‘Eagle,’ which went to the moon on the Apollo 11 mission.
Fauquier Focus...................................25 Lifestyle..............................................23 Looking Back......................................19 Opinion.................................................4
See MEDICAID, page 2
Obituaries.............................................6 Puzzles...............................................14 Real Estate..........................................29 Sports...................................................9
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Fauquier County officials are expecting a 2-percent bump in the number of residents eligible for Medicaid when Virginia expands the health insurance program for the poor Jan. 1. Currently, 6,252 Fauquier County residents receive Medicaid benefits. That number is projected to increase to about 7,852 in 2019, according to Jack Ledden, director of social services for Fauquier County. Ledden briefed the Fauquier County Board of Supervisors on the impact of state’s planned Medicaid expansion during a work session Thursday, Aug. 9. The Virginia General Assembly approved expanding the program earlier this year to those making up to $16,754 a year, or about 138 percent of the federal poverty level. Virginia’s current Medicaid program is among the leanest in the nation, serving people who make only up to $9,700 a year. Even disabled people were ineligible if they surpassed that income threshold. Also, no able-bodied, childless adults qualified for benefits, no matter how little they made.
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