The Mary Riley Styles Public Library in Falls Church is looking to move forward discussions about police reform in the community.
The City of Falls Church announced today that the library will host an online forum next Wednesday (Aug. 5).
The panelists for the event include the city’s police chief, the president of the Fairfax County NAACP and the city’s HR director. Jennifer Carroll, the library’s director, will moderate the event.
“Learn more about the national Mayor’s Pledge (which was signed by Mayor [David] Tarter in June); the City’s Use of Force Review Committee; the principles of 21st century policing; and what issues lie behind the ‘defund police’ movement,” according to the event description.
The event is set to start at 7 p.m. People can register for the Zoom event by emailing [email protected].
File photo
Kiln & Custard served up a sweet surprise for National Ice Cream Day.
On Sunday (July 19), the woman-owned custard and ice cream chain rolled out two monthly subscription options. The Kiln & Custard locations are inside the Kiln & Co. pottery stores in Vienna, Falls Church and Reston.
Customers can get either four pints of frozen custard with toppings and cones delivered one or two per month. The custard comes in the business’s signature glass jars, according to its website.
The custard does not contain any artificial coloring or flavorings, according to the website.
People with a sweet tooth interested in the subscriptions can contact Kiln & Custard at 703-255-7155 and [email protected].
Kiln & Custard also recently extended the hours for the Vienna and Falls Church locations. Now, they are open from noon-7 p.m. in Vienna and from 1-8 p.m. in Falls Church Wednesday-Saturday. The website says that the Reston location is closed for the season.
For the second year in a row, a local student wants people to support a 50-mile walk fundraising for World Vision International, a global Christian humanitarian organization.
Last year, Alex Covell and a group of James Madison High School students organized the first 50-mile walk, which raised $9,000 — almost double the $5,000 goal to benefit World Vision’s efforts to provide clean to people in developing communities, Covell said.
The World Health Organization estimates that 800,000 kids die each year due to diarrhea, which can be caused by unclean water.
“We were inspired to do this walk because of the staggering number of people who lack access to clean water, a resource us in the developed world don’t think twice about,” Covell said. “We are walking 50 miles because it takes on average $50 to get one more person lifelong access to clean water.”
Covell, who now attends Northern Virginia Community College, said that he came up with the idea for last year’s walk after he broke his wrist and was looking for something to do. “I probably had not walked more than 10 miles,” Covell noted.
So he decided to walk 50 miles from his family’s house to Baltimore, but no one wanted to join him.
Things changed when he saw the Vienna Presbyterian Church was hosting a 6K to support World Vision. “I really liked the cause,” Covell said. Working with the church’s missions team, Covell was able to find walkers for his 50-mile walk.
“We’ve shown that we can do it,” Covell said. “It’s been a little bit easier this year to get excited about it.”
This year’s walk will start at 3:30 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 1. Walkers can expect six rest stops along the route.
Initially, Covell said he was aiming for 100 walkers, but cut his goal back to 20 due to safety precautions because of the pandemic. The roughly 20 students and young adults will walk 50 miles from the W&OD Trailhead in Purcellville to the National Mall in D.C. Covell said he expects they will reach D.C. around 9 p.m.
For people wondering what walking 50 miles is like, Covell said the joints start to ache and blisters pop up on the feet. “It was a really cool experience — a little bit painful,” Covell said.
While there wasn’t any group training last year, Covell said the team had two 20-mile walks recently to prepare.
As of today, the event has raised $9,700 of the $50,000 goal. “The reaction has been very positive,” Covell said. “As people are donating, oftentimes they leave messages that are encouraging.”
Like last year, the donations will support World Vision. “By walking, we are trying to help World Vision elevate this suffering,” Covell said. To date, World Vision has helped 3.2 million people get access to clean water, according to its website.
People who want to support the cause can donate, sign up to walk or volunteer to help on the day of the walk.
COVID-19 Update — “Hospitalizations due to COVID-19 hit a new low in Northern Virginia on Sunday. But, as other parts of the state continue to struggle with the coronavirus, Gov. Ralph Northam issued a new warning this weekend for the public to follow health guidelines.” [Inside NoVa]
We will be watching the public health data closely over the weekend––if the numbers don't come down, we may have to take additional steps to blunt the spread of this virus.
Wear a mask and practice physical distancing so we don't have to move back.
Be smart and stay safe.
— Governor Ralph Northam (@VAGovernor73) July 25, 2020
Reminder: Lock Your Car — “After responding to a flood of vehicle break-ins and thefts in recent weeks, the Vienna Police Department in its July 24 weekly police highlights issued a statement urging residents to do their part to deter thieves.” [Inside NoVa]
A Note on Notes — Starting this week, Morning Notes will be a little different. When the pandemic hit N. Va., we started publishing Morning Notes every weekday to keep readers informed. Now with August recess approaching for local, state and federal governmental bodies, we’re reducing Morning Notes to Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
— Falls Church Views (@fallschurchview) July 3, 2020
Parents in Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties plan to hold a rally tomorrow to call for Fairfax County Public Schools to offer in-person learning this fall.
Earlier this week, the Fairfax County School Board approved a fully virtual start, reversing plans to offer parents the option to pick either fully online or a hybrid of in-person and online learning.
According to posts in the public Facebook group behind the event, the rally is scheduled to take place outside FCPS’s administrative office at 8115 Gatehouse Road from 10 a.m.-noon.
People are asked to wear masks and social distance at the event, according to the posts.
The posts also say that the event is not political. “We come from all different beliefs but when it comes to our children, we want schools to be open and safely!” one commenter wrote in the group.
While the event page for the rally does not specify what the supporters want in-person learning to look like in the fall, the Facebook group has a message saying: “This is a group for those interested in kids going to school five days a week. Not interested? Prob [Probably] not your group.”
The school system has faced pressure from the Trump administration. A few weeks ago, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and President Donald Trump said that schools must open in the fall, with Devos singling out FCPS as a “disaster” in early July. Yesterday, Trump said that schools may need to delay opening due to another surge of cases.
As a surge of coronavirus cases continues in Virginia and teachers’ unions raised safety concerns over in-person learning, FCPS Superintendent Scott Brabrand said that he was worried about staff feeling comfortable returning for instruction in the classroom.
Dominion Energy plans to roll out an autonomous, electric shuttle named “Relay” for testing in Merrifield as early as next week.
The self-driving shuttle will make a loop between the Mosaic District to the Dunn Loring-Merrifield Metro station. Fairfax County and Dominion Energy teamed up last year to start the pilot program to improve connectivity between the station and the shopping center, which are just under one mile apart according to Google Maps.
Peggy Fox, Dominion Energy’s spokesperson, told Tysons Reporter that testing is expected to start soon on the pre-mapped route. “It will be several weeks before we’re able to accept passengers,” Fox said.
Currently, the autonomous shuttle, which was made by the French company EasyMile, is in Alexandria awaiting its move to Merrifield next week, Fox said.
According to Dominion Energy, Relay is the first test of autonomous public transportation in Northern Virginia.
Photos courtesy Dominion Energy
Moviegoers will have to wait a little bit longer than expected for the AMC cinema at Tysons Corner Center to reopen.
AMC Theatres announced yesterday (Thursday) that it plans to reopen its U.S. movie theaters in mid to late August after previously saying they would start screenings by the end of July.
“This new timing reflects currently expected release dates for much anticipated blockbusters like Warner Bros.’ ‘Tenet’ and Disney’s ‘Mulan,’ as well as release dates for several other new movies coming to AMC’s big screens,” according to yesterday’s announcement.
Earlier this month, AMC Theatres said that it is working to reduce its total debt by at least $460 million.
AMC noted that roughly one-third of its movie theaters in Europe and the Middle East reopened under normal operations.
Photo by Denise Jans on Unsplash
Updated 7/28/2020 — The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved the Memorandum of Agreement today.
Chairman Jeff McKay said that when he and former Hunter Mill District Supervisor Cathy Hudgins first worked on the program, they were faced with skepticism about how much it would get used. McKay said that the program has seen “tremendous popularity” and that it helps address equity issues around transportation.
“This program has been greatly expanded in a short period of time,” McKay said.
Earlier: While Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) will start the school year virtually, county officials want to make sure students will have continued access to free bus passes.
Fairfax County and FCPS teamed up in 2015 to create a pilot program that gives free Fairfax Connector bus passes to middle and high school students.
“Since its inception, nearly two million trips have been taken through the Free Student Bus Pass Program (FSBPP) and as of February 2020, student ridership accounted for approximately 6.5 percent of the total Fairfax Connector ridership,” according to county documents.
More from the county:
Through this innovative program, students can access extracurricular activities, stay after school for support and tutoring, access after school jobs and internships, and visit libraries, museums, and other recreational activities.
The program familiarizes students with public transportation and supports the development of a more multi-modal generation of young adults in the future. This is critical to increasing transit ridership, reducing traffic congestion, and improving mobility around the National Capital Region.
Fairfax County officials are looking to formalize the collaboration so that the program can continue.
The Board of Supervisors is set to vote on Tuesday (July 28) to approve moving forward with a Memorandum of Agreement between the county and FCPS, according to the meeting’s agenda.
Once the agreement is complete, the county will provide free rides on the Fairfax Connector to students with eligible passes and promote the program, while the school system will register, distribute and manage the passes.
In addition to the pilot program with Fairfax Connector, the county also works with the Washington Area Transit Authority (WMATA). In 2018, the county and WMATA expanded the bus pass program to include Justice High School in Falls Church.
Starting with the 2018-2019 school year, students now receive the bus pass in the form of a “specially designed SmarTrip Card,” according to Fairfax County’s website.
Fairfax County Public Schools has reversed course and now plans to have a fully virtual start new school returns in a few weeks.
On Tuesday, the Fairfax County School Board approved the virtual start after FCPS Superintendent Scott Brabrand said that he was worried about staff feeling comfortable returning for instruction in the classroom.
Previously, the school system was going to give parents the option to choose between fully online learning or a hybrid model with a combination of in-person and virtual learning.
In late June, the Fairfax County Federation of Teachers and Fairfax Education Association raised concerns about teachers’ safety with in-person learning during the pandemic.
In early July, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos slammed FCPS as a “disaster” and DeVos, along with President Donald Trump, said that schools must open in the fall. Yesterday, Trump said that schools may need to delay opening as COVID-19 cases rise.
When Tysons Reporter asked readers on Monday, July 13, which option they liked, roughly 45% said they would choose fully online learning, while 39% picked the hybrid model.
Now that the school system has switched to the fully virtual option to kick off the school year, we want to know what your thoughts are. Do you agree with the school system’s decision?
Photo via Element5 Digital/Unsplash
McLean Man Found Dead in Potomac River — “A body found Tuesday night in the Potomac River between Virginia and Maryland near Great Falls has been identified as a McLean resident.” [McLean Patch]
What a COVID-19 Surge Could Mean for Metro — “Metro expects to bring rail service to 90% of pre-pandemic levels by Aug. 16, but if a new surge of Covid-19 cases should plunge the region into a second wave of shutdowns, the system would likely follow suit, Paul Wiedefeld, general manager of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, said Thursday.” [Washington Business Journal]
Virtual Option Pushed for Falls Church Public Schools — “Out of an abundance of caution in the midst of the current Covid-19 pandemic, F.C. Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Peter Noonan changed his mind this week and now wants everyone to stay home this fall when classes are due to resume Aug. 24.” [Falls Church News-Press]
School to Be Named for Late Rep. John Lewis — “The Fairfax County School Board on Thursday voted to rename Robert E. Lee High School after the late U.S. Congressman John R. Lewis. The new name will be effective for the 2020-21 school year.” [Inside NoVa]
