Franconia Townhouse Fire Under Investigation — Fairfax County fire investigators are still working to determine the cause of a townhouse fire that occurred in the 6500 block of Gildar Street on Saturday (April 2). The blaze didn’t cause any injuries, but four people have been displaced, and there was an estimated $93,750 in damages. [FCFRD]
Fairfax City Police Search for Missing Woman — “Fairfax City Police are still searching for information Tuesday on the disappearance of Amanda Childress, 43, who may have also been the victim of an assault…Investigators said the assault may have happened in the 10400 block of Eaton Place on March 6.” [ABC7]
GMU Dedicates Memorial to People Enslaved by Namesake — “The Enslaved People of George Mason Memorial is located on the campus’s recently renovated Wilkins Plaza, named for the late civil rights leader and George Mason University professor journalist Roger Wilkins. On Monday, several hundred people assembled in Wilkins Plaza for the monument’s dedication.” [Patch]
ACLU Lawsuit Over Mask-Optional Law Continues — A federal judge denied a motion to dismiss a challenge of Virginia’s law making masks optional in schools. The Fairfax County School Board filed a brief supporting the 12 families with immunocompromised children, while the Fairfax County Parents Association, a community group that grew out of the Open FCPS campaign, has backed the state. [WTOP]
Reston Woman Wins Cherry Blossom Race — “Sunday marked the first Credit Union Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run since 2019, and with it, a local became champion for the first time since 1983, according to race officials. Susanna Sullivan of Reston, Virginia, won the elite women’s race.” [WTOP]
County Police Recognize Child Abuse Prevention Month — “Pinwheels will be displayed outside Public Safety Headquarters and at our district stations throughout April in honor of Child Abuse Prevention Month. Pinwheels are a reminder of the carefree spirit of children and symbolize the happy childhood every child should have.” [FCPD/Facebook]
It’s Also National Poetry Month — Fairfax County is celebrating National Poetry Month by having community members read poems “that showcase the diverse and compelling work of contemporary American poets” throughout April. The series kicked off with County Executive Bryan Hill reading “Crossing” by Jericho Brown. [Fairfax County Government/Twitter]
It’s Wednesday — Light rain in the morning and overnight. High of 65 and low of 51. Sunrise at 6:46 a.m. and sunset at 7:38 p.m. [Weather.gov]
Safeway isn’t going anywhere, but change is coming for the rest of Merrifield’s Pan Am Shopping Center.
Citing a need to adapt to evolving retail trends, property owner Federal Realty Investment Trust wants to turn the strip mall at the corner of Route 29 and Nutley Street into a mixed-use development with three residential buildings, townhouses, and a public plaza.
Submitted to Fairfax County on Thursday (March 31), the proposed development plan eliminates almost 30,000 square feet of retail space from the shopping center by demolishing multiple buildings, including the one that currently houses Micro Center and Michaels, to make way for the new housing.
Firefighters rescued two cats from a house fire in McLean last night (Monday) caused by a kerosene lamp.
One of two occupants was transported to a hospital with minor injuries, the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department wrote in a news release.
Investigators determined that the fire started at the house in the 6800 block of Churchill Road after an occupant accidentally spilled kerosene when refilling a kerosene-fueled lamp. When the lamp was turned on, the kerosene ignited and spread to nearby combustibles in a first-floor bedroom, the release said.
The Celebrate Fairfax! Festival, a summer highlight featuring bands, carnival rides, and more at the Fairfax County Government Center, once again won’t occur — but this time, there’s a replacement.
The nonprofit Celebrate Fairfax!, Inc. announced Friday (April 1) on Facebook that it will switch the festival from one large event to different events staged throughout the county.
“Similar to many other organizations we are embracing change as we evolve,” the organization’s announcement said. “Along those lines, we will not be hosting the traditional Celebrate Fairfax! Festival at the Government Center. Instead, we will be focusing more broadly on Fairfax County as a whole, by bringing a part of the festival into each of the County districts.”
The ongoing renovation of Cooper Middle School is heating up — literally.
Fairfax County Fire and Rescue units put out “a very small, smoldering fire in a construction area” next to the school at 977 Balls Hill Road around noon today (Tuesday).
According to the fire department, the fire did not present any danger to students, who are currently on spring break anyway, and no evacuation was required.
The Fairfax County Police Department has adopted some new equipment to improve how quickly it can process crimes.
It includes a National Integrated Ballistic Information Network system to automate ballistics evaluations, where bullets and firearms can be matched from separate scenes, providing key links for crimes.
The department is also “piloting a rapid DNA Test Machine to help uncover timely information for crime investigations,” Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay said in a March 31 digital newsletter.
Mars, Inc., the company that owns both M&M’s and Pedigree Petfoods, is planning to expand its existing headquarters in McLean.
According to an application submitted to Fairfax County on March 30, the American multinational manufacturer of candy, pet food, and other food items says that its current corporate home no longer meets its needs.
Defamation Trial Over Domestic Violence Op-Ed Starts Next Monday — “Johnny Depp, 58, and Amber Heard, 35, who were briefly married from 2015 to 2017, are set to begin their long-anticipated defamation trial with jury selection that day. The trial is expected to last through the end of May, and the case has drawn national and international attention.” [Inside NoVA]
D.C. Area TV News Anchor Dies — “For decades, Bruce Johnson’s voice could be heard emanating from TV sets around the Washington region, delivering the day’s news with both gravitas and humor. Johnson, who spent 44 years at local CBS affiliate WUSA9, died of heart failure Sunday morning, according to the station.” [DCist]
Vienna Softball League Raises Funds to Repair Field — “Caffi Fields, three fields that are home to the Vienna Girls Softball League, undergo annual maintenance with thousands of dollars costs shared between the league and Town of Vienna. But the league says more extensive repairs are needed to make the fields more usable, prompting the launch of a community fundraiser.” [Patch]
Letter Highlights Herndon’s Ties to U.S. President — “President John Tyler (1790-1862) was born in Charles City County, Virginia, located along the James River, west of Williamsburg. His family had long roots in Virginia, dating back to Colonial Williamsburg…Their descendants, however, reached all the way to today’s Herndon.” [Herndon Historical Society/Patch]
Springfield Girls Hockey Team Competes in Nationals — The St. James girls hockey team was the only Virginia group competing in its division at a youth national championship tournament this past weekend. They played on Thursday (March 31), Friday (April 1) and Saturday (April 2) in West Goshen, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia. [USA Hockey]
County Joins “City Nature Challenge” — “The challenge begins at 12:01 a.m. local time on April 29 and runs through 11:59 p.m. on May 2. Residents can take part by going outdoors in their neighborhood, backyard or a park, then look to see what’s there and take photos of wild plants, animals and fungi. Upload the photos through a free app provided by iNaturalist.” [Sun Gazette/Inside NoVA]
Goat Gets Stuck in Fence at Frying Pan Farm — “There’s always that one kid. Some farm visitors noticed that one of our goats had decided to move to the next pasture and got stuck in the fence. Eric to the rescue! He’s worked at the farm long enough to know this game and easily helped free the goat from the fence.” [Fairfax County Park Authority]
It’s Tuesday — Rain throughout the day. High of 59 and low of 47. Sunrise at 6:48 am and sunset at 7:37 pm. [Weather.gov]
When Cunningham Park Elementary School Principal Katherine Le asked if she would paint a mural for the school, Ellen Singletary responded as any job interviewee would: she said yes.
Singletary landed the job, becoming the art teacher for the Vienna school of roughly 400 students, but thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, it took more than two years for that proposed mural to materialize.
With about 70 volunteer hours and $1,200 worth of paint and other supplies, Singletary transformed the long, winding sidewalk that connects the school’s main building to its playground into a rainbow-hued journey through rain clouds, mermaids, dragons and most daunting of all, a replication of the mini-roundabout at Park and Locust streets.
Your perception of the state of the COVID-19 pandemic in Fairfax County might vary depending on which data dashboard you’re looking at.
For instance, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention classifies the county’s COVID-19 community level as “low” based on the hospitalization metrics that the federal agency has used since February.
