A prison sentence is pending for the man who fired gunshots in Tysons Corner Center on Father’s Day weekend last summer, triggering a panicked evacuation.
Noah Settles, a 23-year-old D.C. resident also known as the rapper No Savage, pleaded guilty to four felony charges related to the incident, Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano announced today (Thursday).
He will serve at least three years in prison, with a potential maximum sentence of 33 years.
“When I came into office, we promised to take serious crimes seriously,” Descano said in a statement. “I can think of few more serious crimes than this: taking a gun and firing into a crowded, public space, endangering the safety of our community members and visitors, disrupting public life, and threatening their future sense of safety.”
A Fairfax County Circuit Court jury indicted Settles on seven charges in September after he fired three gunshots in one of the D.C. area’s busiest malls on June 18. Stores in Tysons Corner Center were locked down, and visitors reported people screaming and fleeing what they feared was an active shooter.
No one was injured by the gunfire, but three people were taken to the hospital with injuries that occurred during the evacuation, Fairfax County police said at the time.
The Fairfax County Police Department later identified Settles as their suspect, describing the incident as an escalation of a verbal argument between two D.C. “crews.” He turned himself in at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center on June 22.
In a hearing today, where prosecutors showed footage compiled from mall surveillance cameras and bystanders’ phones, Settles pleaded guilty to three counts of maliciously discharging a firearm in an occupied building and one count of using a firearm in the commission of a felony, according to Descano’s office.
He had also been charged with felony attempted malicious wounding and two misdemeanors for brandishing a firearm and carrying a concealed weapon.
With the plea, Settles will avoid a trial that had been scheduled to begin Monday (Feb. 13). A sentencing hearing is set for June 23.
“Today’s outcome guarantees accountability for every piece of this incident,” Descano said. “The defendant is pleading guilty to the most serious charges, giving the judge the opportunity to craft a sentence commensurate with seriousness of crime.”
Since the June 18 incident, Tysons Corner Center has been the site of two other gun scares, one of which stemmed from a shattered light fixture and the other related to a jewelry store robbery.
Fairfax County Public Schools is spending what amounts to two full elementary school renovations per year on unexpected increases in construction costs.
Ahead of a school board meeting on the fiscal year 2024-2028 capital improvements program (CIP) tonight (Thursday), one of the major talking points has been the dramatic impact those increases in construction costs have had on the school system’s construction and renovation plans.
At a work session last month, FCPS staff opened up about how badly the construction costs have affected the district’s reserve funding — specifically a “facilities reserve” used to help fund projects.
“At the start of 2022, that balance was $31 million,” interim assistant superintendent Chuck Fanshaw said. “The current reserve balance is at $16 million…There’s an unprecedented amount of escalation [in costs] over the last year that was anticipated by no one.”
Fanshaw said upcoming construction costs are coming in at around 30% over what had been budgeted, totaling around $28 million across four projects. There will be more specific numbers, Fanshaw said, once those projects go to bid in March.
Providence District School Board Representative Karl Frisch laid out the trouble FCPS is facing with the current construction cost crisis.
“In layman’s terms: we’ve spent half of the reserve and Falls Church High School still needs another $33 million in addition to what it was bonded for, even though we only have $16 million left in the reserve, and to address this, you’re thinking of including something to address this in the next bond,” he said.
Frisch said FCPS has spent more than $50 million in unanticipated construction costs — enough to finance two school renovations.
“Typically an elementary school renovation costs $25 million,” Frisch said. “We’re talking about the ability to renovate two elementary schools that we’ve had in additional costs, not to mention the money from the reserve that was spent.”
Frisch suggested FCPS may want to slow down its construction timeline to see if the construction materials market evens out, citing reports of declining lumber prices as a sign that some relief may be ahead.
“No one wants to slow things down, but we’re shooting ourselves in the foot by pouring this money out the window instead of waiting, perhaps a year, to see if prices stabilize for construction materials,” Frisch said. “There’s not a lot we can do about prevailing wages, but where we can do something is the cost of materials for construction.”
Frisch argued that the worst-case scenario is construction slows down, but the best-case scenario is that FCPS saves $40-50 million that would have been spent on overpriced construction materials.
Fanshaw said the rate of increase will likely go down from the current spike, but it’s unlikely the cost of construction will go back to pre-pandemic levels.
“The rate will go down, so it won’t be increasing as much, but nobody sees a retreat at this point in time to the previous level,” Fanshaw said. “It’s worth monitoring and it’s going to have a huge impact. Every school system I’ve talked to is wrestling with the same question at this point in time. The reality is the dollars are what they are, we can build up to the dollars we have, which means it’s going to take longer.”
Chief Operating Officer Marty Smith said the idea of holding off on purchasing to see where the market goes holds true for school real estate as well:
The logic you’re using for brick and mortar also holds true for real estate. When you think about the environment we’re currently in for real estate, when you think about interest rates, it might be prudent for us to come together with recommendations for us to think about the timing on certain purchases so we can maximize our spending power for major land purchases down the road.
The proposed FY 2024-2028 CIP identifies funding for 25 renovation projects over the next five years, along with the Justice High School expansion and new construction on Dunn Loring and Silver Line elementary schools.
Photo via Josh Olalde on Unsplash
A new micro-roast coffee shop hopes to beautify an aging office building in the Town of Vienna.
Frame Coffee Roasters recently got the Vienna Board of Architectural Review’s approval to add signage above its future entrance at 302 Maple Avenue West. It will fill a ground-floor space vacated a couple of years ago by Burke & Herbert Bank, which relocated.
The shop will serve cold sandwiches, pastries and madeleines to go with the coffee, which will be made from beans roasted by owner Johnny Lee.
“I want to make this space as a gallery or some kind of art museum,” Lee told FFXnow, explaining the intent behind the shop’s name. “As the customer comes in, they should feel a very cozy and comfortable area and with some big frames for some beautiful art posters, and also good smells from the coffee and some good food with the coffee.”
This will be Lee’s first business, but he has experience as a barista and learned how to roast coffee beans in his native South Korea.
When he first saw Maple Avenue, he was struck by the abundance of restaurants, delis and other “beautiful shops.” The street’s role as a connector for commuters going to and from D.C. added to its appeal.
“I thought it was the best place for grabbing a coffee in the morning,” Lee said.
After recently obtaining a final needed building permit, Lee anticipates that construction will take about two months, putting Frame Coffee on track for an April opening.
At the Jan. 19 meeting, BAR members lauded the proposal as an aesthetic improvement over the previous tenant, particularly since it’ll remove a navy blue awning that wraps around the front of the building.
“I think this is a good design for this particular building,” BAR Chair Roy Baldwin said. “I like the idea that the awning is removed. This building is verging on historic, because it’s been around for a long time.”
The two-story office building was constructed in 1962, according to Fairfax County land records. Current owner Vienna Property Management LLC acquired the property for $2.4 million on Feb. 1, 2016.
Though it’s not an official historic site, one board member called 302 Maple Avenue a rare example of a “true modern building” in Vienna. Baldwin said the awning had “never looked really right,” commending Frame Coffee for a plan that “respects the building.”
The proposed sign will consist of illuminated channel letters that appear black during the day and white at night, per the BAR staff report.
“I think the signs that change from night to day or day to night are actually pretty elegant,” board member Paul Layer said, adding that the coloring “definitely goes well” with the building’s beige facade.
A representative for Frame Coffee Roasters confirmed the business will repaint and do any necessary repairs on the area that will be newly exposed once the awning is removed.
While Vienna residents often lament the town’s abundance of banks, this is the second former bank set to be converted into an eatery. The BAR approved plans to turn the vacant SunTrust Bank at 501 Maple Avenue West into a Yellow Diner last summer.
Fairfax County officials have waited a decade now for public school buses to be outfitted with video cameras, and their patience is wearing thin.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a motion Tuesday (Feb. 7) asking Fairfax County Public Schools to explain why it has yet to implement a school bus stop-arm camera program that staff started exploring back in 2013.
The supervisors emphasized the program’s urgency after a year of surging pedestrian fatalities, including some crashes that killed students but didn’t directly involve school buses.
“It’s inconceivable to me that the school board or school administration has ignored this opportunity to make our children safe,” Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust said. “…You don’t have to be on the roads very long around here to see people passing school buses. Something bad is going to happen if we don’t implement this program.”
FCPS “is working with a vendor and the contract is in review,” a spokesperson told FFXnow, but it had no further comment on the delays or a possible timeline going forward.
Failing to stop when a school bus is loading or unloading students is prohibited in Virginia, which imposes a civil fine of $250 for violations.
After the state gave localities the authority to let their schools install video-monitoring systems in 2011, Foust led the county board in directing staff on Oct. 29, 2013 to work with FCPS on adding cameras, according Chairman Jeff McKay’s board matter.
What followed, however, was a flurry of legal questions requiring more state legislation to clarify that police departments can mail summons to violators and permit vendors access to Department of Motor Vehicles data.
Once those concerns were resolved, FCPS staff notified Foust’s office in January 2020 that a vendor had been selected and contract negotiations were underway — only for COVID-19 to put those talks on hold.
FCPS procurement staff then learned in April 2021 that their contact for the vendor had left the company, leaving them unsure whether the existing offer was still viable.
In December 2021, McKay sent a letter to then-Fairfax County School Board chair Stella Pekarsky proposing that a camera program be in place by summer 2022, but neither the school board nor FCPS responded.
After getting an “informal” update this past December, McKay says he has “lost my patience with the excuses that seem to come up from the working group repeatedly,” which he reported range from the disruptions of the pandemic to questions about the availability of police resources.
“I want to hear exactly why this hasn’t been started and hear exactly what the timeline will look like to implement this,” McKay said, noting that all the school board and community members he’s talked to support the program. “…I don’t know that I’ve ever seen something so widely supported, and yet, so miserably delayed, and it’s time to act on this.”
The board’s request comes as Fairfax County prepares to install speed cameras in school and work zones. The county has yet to announce the sites for its pilot program, but County Executive Bryan Hill said Tuesday that the cameras will be put in place next week.
Hill told the board he will talk to FCPS Superintendent Michelle Reid about getting an update on the bus cameras “hopefully” in the next two weeks.
Rachna Sizemore-Heizer, an at-large school board member and the current chair, says the county can expect an update soon.
“FCPS is negotiating with the vendor and working through details with our County partners around budget implications, scope, and implementation responsibility,” she said in a statement to FFXnow. “I look forward to providing an update soon.”
Virginia school systems with bus stop-arm cameras include Falls Church City, Arlington and Newport News.
According to the National Safety Council, school bus-related crashes killed 1,252 people in the U.S. from 2011 to 2020, about 5% of them bus passengers. About 70% of those fatalities were occupants of other vehicles and 16% were pedestrians, though it’s unclear if that includes students walking to or from a bus.
Beware of Tax Scam — “Some residents may have received a ‘distraint warrant’ letter from the ‘Tax Assessment Securities.’ This scam alleges that a warrant has been issued against the recipient due to delinquent tax debt and states the Federal Tax Authorities may take enforcement action to satisfy the debt. Fairfax County did not send this letter and is not connected with it in any way.” [Department of Tax Administration]
Virginia Task Force 1 Lands in Turkey — “WHEELS DOWN: Two flights carrying @usaid search and rescue experts from @vatf1 @ffxfirerescue & @LACOFD just touched down in #Türkiye. Team members will soon be working to search for survivors of these deadly earthquakes.” [USAID/Twitter]
Auto Parts Thief Arrested in Merrifield — “Catalytic converter thief caught! Monday night, officers were called to Kings Chapel Rd in Merrifield for a man stealing a catalytic converter. Officers found & arrested the man. In his truck, they found four catalytic converters & three A/C units.” [FCPD/Twitter]
Police Seize $500K in Drugs From Huntington Man — A 28-year-old Huntington man was arrested and charged on multiple drug-related counts after Fairfax County police found marijuana and THC products in his vehicle and home. The investigation began with a traffic stop after detectives learned that he was allegedly transporting drugs from out of the state. [FCPD/Facebook]
FCPD Tests New License Plate Readers — “A new type of license plate reader technology adopted by the Fairfax County Police Department is already yielding positive results in the department’s effort to catch car thieves and solve other crimes.” The FCPD is the first police agency in the D.C. area to use the Flock Safety License Plate Readers, starting with an eight-week test period that began in November. [Patch]
Community Gardens Available at Culmore Park — “The newly developed Boyd A. and Charlotte M. Hogge Park in the Culmore area includes a large, fenced community garden with 34 raised 6-feet-by-9-feet garden beds available to rent for one year — February through November…The Hogge Park Community Garden Plots are rented at an annual cost of $80.” [FCPA]
Teens Lead After-School Arts Program in Reston — “Something very special is happening at Dogwood Elementary School in Reston. Friendships are blossoming, and kids are learning as teenagers mentor smaller kids in music and art…The Tuesday after-school program is the brainchild of Ella Kim, 15, and Emma Kim, 13 — sisters who are classically trained musicians.” [WTOP]
Tysons Corner Center Owner Reports Strong Year — “Macerich’s slice of high-end retail property is surpassing even the national mall landlord’s big expectations. The real estate investment trust said it signed nearly 975 leases last year totaling more than 3.8 million square feet, demand not seen since the Great Recession.” [CoStar News]
It’s Thursday — Overcast throughout the day. High of 66 and low of 45. Sunrise at 7:08 am and sunset at 5:40 pm. [Weather.gov]
Fairfax County and several other localities have released a draft of the Regional Fair Housing Plan that not only provides some goals for housing, but comes with a look at specific zoning changes that can be made to help achieve those goals.
The plan was put together by a team of representatives from eight localities, including Fairfax County, and a few partner groups. A 60-day public comment period is scheduled to run through March 31, allowing locals to submit their thoughts on the plan.
The plan comes as Fairfax County considers drastic measures to try to boost the supply of affordable housing countywide, including compelling developers to replace affordable housing lost in redevelopment.
The overall goals laid out in the Regional Fair Housing Plan are:
- Increase the supply of affordable housing for families earning at or below 60% of the Area Median Income (AMI) for the region — especially where there hasn’t been any.
- Change zoning and land use policies to expand access to fair housing. Increase the development, geographic distribution, and supply of affordable housing.
- Implement policies to preserve affordable housing and prevent displacement of residents. Keep the same number of existing affordable rental units in our region.
- Increase the number of homeowners in the region and reduce the unequal treatment and discriminatory practices that keep members of protected classes from buying a home.
- Protect the housing rights of individuals who are part of protected groups. For example, people of color, those with disabilities and seniors.
- Increase community integration and reduce housing barriers for people with disabilities.
- Make public transit easier to access and afford for members of protected classes.
Each of the goals comes with strategies for localities to pursue. Some of the potential zoning changes, for example, involve not only reducing limitations on accessory dwelling units (ADUs), but also offering incentives to homeowners who want to build them on their properties.
The plan also lists fair housing goals and strategies for specific localities. For Fairfax County, it suggests:
- Reform the county’s for-sale workforce dwelling unit policy by lowering income requirements and creating a separate policy for high-rise condominiums outside Tysons
- Protect the housing rights of individuals in protected groups
Fairfax County has its own 231-page document in the plan outlining the current state of affordable housing, a history of affordable housing policies, and what work remains ahead. The document includes a detailed breakdown of economic stratification in the county.
According to the report, Black and white communities in Fairfax County are “moderately” segregated. In fact, the county’s white residents are more segregated from non-white residents than at any point since 1990.
According to the document:
Fairfax County’s highest priority should be to work to expand the housing choices of existing and potential new residents beyond the neighborhoods dominated by their own race or ethnicity. It needs to make African Americans aware that housing is available to them throughout Fairfax County. It needs to make Asians and Hispanics aware that housing is available to them outside enclaves in which concentrations have developed. It needs to expand the housing choices of Caucasians to include racially integrated neighborhoods. If White households do not continue to move into integrated neighborhoods, these neighborhoods inevitably resegregate.
Beyond just increasing the supply of affordable units, the plan makes policy suggestions aimed at making housing more accessible to seniors, people with disabilities, and other protected classes.
One strategy involves creating a loan fund to help tenants, nonprofit groups and local governments buy apartments and manufactured home parks that are for sale.
“Adopt design standards that require accessible units in new multifamily developments that receive public funds,” the document said. “10% of all units must be accessible to people with mobility disabilities and at least 4% for those with hearing and/or vision disabilities.”
Construction is set to begin on a replacement of the collapsed pedestrian bridge by the Freeman Store and Museum in Vienna.
The project will require crews to block off a portion of the Washington and Old Dominion Trail, necessitating a detour, according to the Town of Vienna.
“The detour will be set up in the parking lot next to the trail between Maple Avenue and Church Street for the duration of the project,” the town said in a tweet yesterday.
Construction is expected to take approximately six months, Vienna Public Information Director Karen Thayer told FFXnow, putting the project on track to finish this summer.
Heads up! Lookout for a detour along the W&OD trail as crews replace the collapsed pedestrian bridge between the Freeman Store and W&OD Trail. The detour will be set up in the parking lot next to the trail between Maple Avenue and Church Street for the duration of the project. pic.twitter.com/r56yRfklJ7
— Town of Vienna, VA (@TownofViennaVA) February 7, 2023
The town has been looking to build a new bridge over Piney Branch by the Freeman Store for over half a decade now. The existing wooden bridge was closed off in 2016 after water issues and general deterioration rendered it unusable.
Built out of steel and timber, the new bridge will be 52.5 feet long and about 5 feet wide, according to the final engineering plan.
Construction was delayed after an initial request for contractor bids got no responses, and rising costs for lumber and other materials pushed the project over budget, the Vienna Town Council was told in 2021.
The town was able to close the budget gap with a $148,514 allocation from the Virginia Department of Transportation, which provided a grant as part of its Transportation Alternatives program for fiscal years 2023 and 2024.
As reported to VDOT, the bridge replacement carries a total estimated cost of $360,042.
This biweekly column is sponsored by The Mather in Tysons, Virginia, a forward-thinking Life Plan Community for those 62 and better.
In times of stress, a positive attitude can help you stay healthy and happy. Multiple studies have indicated that positive thinking can benefit everything from your immune system to your heart health, and even your longevity.
Evidence of this is supported in the groundbreaking Age Well Study from Mather Institute. The Institute is the research arm of Mather, the parent organization to The Mather, a Life Plan Community coming to Tysons. The Age Well Study’s findings include evidence that older adults living in Life Plan Communities who scored high in optimism reported better levels of health and less stress than others.
What if you’re not a natural “glass half full” optimist? The good news is that you can teach yourself the skills to build positive thinking into a habit — and thus, approach even unpleasant situations in a more positive and productive way.
Follow these research-based tips to practice positive thinking. If you can stick with them, you can transform your outlook:
- Take 5 for Gratitude — Set aside time every day to reflect on what you’re thankful for. Write down — or mentally list — three things from the day that make you grateful.
- Flip the Script — Be aware of your “self-talk”, or your constant stream of automatic thoughts. This is where most of us reinforce negative or positive thinking about ourselves and the world around us. Evaluate your self-talk periodically and correct negativity. Practice positive self-talk.
- Put on a Happy Face — Even if you don’t feel like smiling, doing so can physically ease your stress. Acting happy can lead to actual happiness.
- Try a Fresh Perspective — Feeling sad or angry? Concentrate on looking for a positive side to the situation. Rather than stressing about being stuck at home, appreciate your surroundings and spend some time savoring your favorite music.
- Keep Moving — Physical activity boosts your mood, reduces stress, and makes it easier to focus on the positive. Ideally, exercise for 30 minutes a day — either all at once or in 10-minute increments.
If you’re not a natural positive thinker, you won’t change overnight. However, by practicing habits like the ones above, you can reduce negativity and enhance your health as well as your ability to cope with stress constructively.
The Mather in Tysons, VA, for those 62 and better, is a forward-thinking Life Plan Community that defies expectations of what senior living is supposed to be. It opens in 2024.
The preceding sponsored post was also published on FFXnow.com
As Wall Street continues to debate the likelihood of a recession, the past couple years of economic turmoil have already hit many Fairfax County residents in the wallet — and the stomach.
The need for food assistance remains almost as high as in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Merrifield-based nonprofit Food for Others, which saw twice as many families seeking help in 2020 compared to 2019.
To accommodate that elevated demand, Food for Others recently expanded its warehouse at 2938 Prosperity Avenue to 26,000 square feet. The 10,391-square-foot addition opened on Jan. 23 and will get a formal celebration at 8:15 a.m. tomorrow (Thursday).
“Food For Others has played a vital role as a food hub for non-profits and thousands of families around the County, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Providence District Supervisor Dalia Palchik, who will be at the grand opening, said by email. “This recent expansion demonstrates their continued commitment to our families’ success.”
In addition to providing more storage and office space, the expansion has helped the nonprofit implement a revamped distribution model that lets its clients choose their own food, instead of having to accept whatever’s given to them in preassembled boxes.
The new “My Market” functions like a grocery store. Visitors walk in with a shopping cart and pick items off the shelves, which are stocked with dry and canned goods as well as perishable food, like produce and meat.
“It’s a much more dignified experience,” Food for Others Executive Director Annie Turner told FFXnow. “Before we had a situation where the volunteers were standing on a loading dock and the [clients] were down, 5 feet below them…It didn’t seem equitable having someone hand you food down.”
Food for Others first tried out the concept in 2016 and, after getting positive feedback, added a permanent market in early 2020. That much smaller site was only open for a couple of weeks before COVID-19 shut it down, but it was enough to demonstrate the model’s benefits.
“It really reduced the food waste, and families were actually taking less food, because it was the food that they really wanted,” Turner said.
Over 300 families came through the expanded market when it opened last month, according to Turner.
Distributing close to 3.7 million pounds of food last year, the nonprofit assists 225 to over 300 families per day. While demand hasn’t returned to the heights of 2020, it dwarfs the 60 to 80 families that Food for Others saw on a busy day prior to the pandemic.
Turner says requests for help started to decline in late 2021 but surged again last spring, as inflation sent prices for food, gas and other expenses soaring.
Food for Others is bracing for another influx due to federal funding running out for emergency Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program allotments. The increased benefits granted recipients in response to the pandemic will end nationwide in March.
More than 43,000 Fairfax County residents receive SNAP benefits. In its most recent report, the Capital Area Food Bank estimated that 24% of county residents experience food insecurity.
“Next week will be the last emergency allotments,” Turner said. “So, we anticipate a higher number of families once the families feel the hit of no longer getting that emergency allotment.”
With its expansion, the nonprofit has more capacity to meet the need for its existing services — and to introduce some new ones.
Using its new office space, Food for Others will partner with other nonprofits to provide everything from SNAP enrollment assistance to case management and dental care.
“We have a space in the new area that can help us provide those other services for our clients. So, we want it to be transformational and not just transactional,” Turner said.
Hybla Valley Murder Case Dismissed — Fairfax County General District Court Judge Vanessa Jordan dismissed a second-degree murder case yesterday (Tuesday). Court records don’t explain the dismissal, but the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office says it plans to ask a grand jury to indict Francisco Joel Juares, who was arrested in August for the fatal shooting of D’Mari Norris. [The Washington Post]
Six New Markers Recognizing Black History Planned — “Six Historical Markers were chosen from a field of 53 submissions to honor the Black/African American Experience in the county…The next step in the process will be working with staff and members of the History Commission to refine the language of the markers, work with a vendor to create the marker and plan installations” [Fairfax County]
Vienna Man Charged for Disrupting Tobacco Store — “A Vienna man is facing multiple charges, including one for carrying a concealed weapon, after refusing to leave a business on Fairfax Boulevard last Thursday afternoon, according to the weekly crime report. Officers responded around 12:03 p.m., to the Tobacco King at 9607 Fairfax Blvd. for the report of a man…disrupting the business.” [Patch]
General Assembly Session Reaches Midpoint — “Lawmakers in the House of Delegates have reached bipartisan consensus on one major issue, gun safety: a bill to provide a tax credit for buying a gun safe…Other topics such as abortion, criminal justice and education have also produced little cooperation during a politically charged year when all 140 seats in the legislature are on the November ballot.” [The Washington Post]
County Businesses Added Over 12,000 Jobs Last Year — “Fairfax County Economic Development Authority (FCEDA) continued to successfully support businesses from start-ups to global companies growing in and relocating to Fairfax County. FCEDA worked with 148 businesses that announced the addition of 12,767 jobs to the Fairfax County economy in 2022.” [FCEDA]
Fridge Delays Slow Local Restaurant Openings — “Before the pandemic, it took a brisk four weeks to get [a refrigerator]. Now the wait can stretch to six months.” Affected businesses include Ellie Bird, a cafe that hoped to open in Falls Church last November but now has its fingers crossed for this month. [Washingtonian]
McLean Medical Startup Lands New Funding — “McLean’s ShiftMed LLC has raised a colossal $200 million in new funding to continue a massive expansion of its staffing platform, which connects health care provider organizations with clinical workers, to meet unrelenting demand for its services amid an industrywide labor crisis.” [Washington Business Journal]
Vienna Economic Development Director Honored — “Economic Development Director Natalie Monkou is among those named [Tuesday] as one of Northern Virginia’s 40 Under 40 honorees. The annual recognition is presented by the Leadership Center for Excellence and Leadership Fairfax, and it recognizes young professionals who have demonstrated exceptional accomplishments in their profession.” [Town of Vienna]
It’s Wednesday — Mostly cloudy throughout the day. High of 57 and low of 44. Sunrise at 7:09 am and sunset at 5:39 pm. [Weather.gov]
