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Prosecutors drop mask-wearing charge filed after Virginia gun rally

RICHMOND, Va. — Prosecutors have dropped a felony charge filed against a woman who was cited for wearing a mask in public following a gun rights rally at the Virginia Capitol last month.

News outlets report 21-year-old Mikaela E. Beschler was arrested an hour after the Jan. 20 rally when Richmond police asked her to remove a bandanna covering her face.

Her attorney said the mask-wearing charge was dismissed Wednesday after the state acknowledged it would be difficult to prove she had criminal intent to conceal her identity.

A prior Virginia case allows an exception under weather conditions, and news outlets said it was freezing the day thousands of gun-rights activists rallied.

School bus emergency? Fairfax County students have a plan to handle it

This story is part of WTOP’s 2026 Back to School coverage. The wheels on the bus will soon be going round and round again in Fairfax County, Virginia, and some of its young riders are learning what to do if there’s an emergency on the way to school. The annual Safety Patrol Training Camp, hosted by Fairfax County Public Schools' Office of Transportation Services, combined hands-on exercises with classroom lessons to teach students how to keep calm during emergencies on buses. The training can feel remarkably realistic, with overturned school buses on their side or completely upside down in the middle of the county bus depot. Other buses, right side up, fill with smoke that is water-based but mimics the intensity of a bus overheating.
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