The Free Lance–Star is the principal daily newspaper distributed throughout Fredericksburg, Virginia, United States, with a circulation area including the city of Fredericksburg and all or parts of the counties of Spotsylvania, Stafford, King George, Caroline, Culpeper, Fauquier, Louisa, Orange, Prince William and Westmoreland.

The Free Lance was first published on January 27, 1885, when Col. John W. Woltz and William E. Bradley founded the paper as a twice-weekly publication to serve the news and advertising needs of the community.

The two papers continued to be published separately until 1926 when, under the leadership of Josiah P. Rowe Jr. (a World War One fighter pilot with the 147th Aero Squadron November 1917 to November 1918), they were combined into The Free Lance–Star, a single newspaper published 6 days a week.

[4] The newspaper was purchased by Sandton Capital Partners on June 19, 2014, ending the Rowe family's involvement.

Later on, in 1994, The Star Radio Group bought 99.3 WYSK: The Rock Alternative The company purchased WWUZ, a classic rock-formatted station out of Bowling Green in 2001.

In September 2010, the company added a sports talk station, ESPN The Game, at AM 1350 and FM 96.5.

In 1984, The Free Lance–Star was named by Time magazine as one of two top small daily newspapers in the country.

The 29-foot (8.8 m) high press, includes four printing towers, and two folders that can run as separate processes.

The building is mostly lit by skylights, using sunlight in the day and moonlight and low-energy fluorescent lights at night.

Print Innovators immediately planted native grass after construction ceased, to restore a natural environment of frogs, deer, rabbits and turtles.

Print Innovators can service customers of The Free Lance–Star in a 400-mile (640 km) radius, twice as fast as the previous press.

The Free Lance–Star has been the title and secondary sponsor of several events in Fredericksburg, such as the Free Lance–Star Classic All-American Soap Box Derby (which for many years has been the biggest Soap Box race in the country), and The Great Train Race & Caboose Run, a youth mile run through downtown Fredericksburg.

In 1996, Ralph "Tuffy" Hicks,[8] a city councilman, brought up the idea of bringing the race back to Fredericksburg.