To help ease congestion, the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) said it will suspend work on many highway projects and lift lane restrictions on interstates and other major roads.
VDOT said in a release that Labor Day is one of the busiest travel days of the year. Past traffic data suggested the congestion is heaviest from noon to 7 p.m. on Friday and intermittently throughout the holiday weekend, Monday included.
Pickleball has evidently become a hot nighttime activity in the Town of Vienna.
Vienna police have issued six noise violations this year for players hitting the courts at Glyndon Park (300 Glyndon Street) after hours, according to the department.
The most recent issues were reported on Aug. 20 and 24, per the Vienna Police Department’s crime highlights for the week of Aug. 19-25:
Superintendent Addresses Handling of Former Glasgow Counselor — “Fairfax County parent Staci Ali-Ibrahim sat at the end of a long table at Glasgow Middle School Thursday night, and asked Superintendent Michelle Reid why Virginia’s largest school system doesn’t have a clear plan in place to ensure they are notified by law enforcement when a staff member is arrested and charged with a crime.” [WTOP]
Springfield Students Upbeat After First Week of School — “Everyone at Forestdale seems to be having plenty of feelings this week. The prevailing one is joy at being back together again, and hope that this year — the second one back full time after pandemic lockdowns — will be even less disrupted by COVID-19 than the last one.” [DCist]
Hawk Caught in Car in Dunn Loring Area Saved — “Animal Protection Police Officer McLemore to the rescue! This morning, APPO McLemore was called to the area of I-66 and I-495 after a driver realized a hawk was caught in the grill of their car. APPO McLemore removed the hawk from the car and arranged for it to be cared for by a licensed wildlife rehabilitation center.” [FCPD/Facebook]
Metro Launches Ridership Survey — “Through the end of November, Metrorail customers will be asked to complete ridership surveys that will help ensure future policy decisions reflect the needs of Metro customers. Metro staff in yellow vests will be handing surveys out at various stations across the system, and they will be collected from drop boxes at stations through the end of November. Surveys can also be completed online” [WMATA]
NoVA Leaders Talk Affordable Housing and More — “Northern Virginia needs to build more affordable housing, promote teleworking, support the Metrorail system (despite its ongoing woes) and ensure better education funding, top officials from five area jurisdictions said Aug. 25 at the seventh annual Northern Virginia Elected Leaders Summit.” [Sun Gazette]
Virginia Could Ban Gas Vehicles Because of California — “California’s decision to ban the sale of new gas-powered cars beginning in 2035 will also halt the sale of such vehicles in Virginia due to a 2021 law linking the commonwealth to the western state’s vehicle emissions standards, state attorneys have concluded.” [Virginia Mercury]
Woodlawn Fire Station Celebrates Diversity with Mural — “If you passed by Fire Station 24, Woodlawn, lately you may have noticed the newly completed mural on its façade featuring portrait depictions of six firefighters. Mural reflects the diversity of #FCFRD and diversity of community we serve. Mural by Artist Nicholas Zimbro.” [FCFRD/Twitter]
Dulles Airport Leader on Makeover Plans — “Plans for a 14-gate concourse announced earlier this year are part of a broader modernization effort at Dulles, which has long served as the region’s international hub. Shepherding the airport through that process is Richard Golinowski, who worked in various roles at the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority for more than two decades.” [The Washington Post]
It’s Monday — Humid and partly cloudy throughout the day. High of 88 and low of 73. Sunrise at 6:36 am and sunset at 7:45 pm. [Weather.gov]
Another big name in enterprise information technology is coming soon to Herndon. Iron Mountain, a Boston-based company that provides records management, data backup and recovery, document management and data centers,…
It has been one year since The Perch opened, providing a slice of publicly accessible, recreational space on Capital One’s growing Tysons campus. To celebrate the first anniversary of its…
It has been one year since The Perch opened, providing a slice of publicly accessible, recreational space on Capital One’s growing Tysons campus.
To celebrate the first anniversary of its elevated park, Capital One Center announced yesterday (Thursday) that its now-biannual Perchfest will return on Sept. 16-18 — almost one year to the date after the grand opening in 2021.
The Fauci Pouchy has arrived in Tysons.
The first Virginia franchise of D.C.-based Capo Deli is now open for business at 8359B Leesburg Pike in Tysons Square by the Greensboro Metro station, offering fresh Italian subs and cocktail pouches inspired by longtime U.S. health official Dr. Anthony Fauci.
The location has actually been operating since early June, according to Ziad Abulaban, who co-owns the Tysons site with his brother, Mohammed. However, they’ve taken a gradual approach to advertising the opening, starting with an Instagram post on July 11 before making the leap to Facebook on Aug. 17.
Former Glasgow MS Counselor Faces New Charge — “A former counselor at a northern Virginia middle school has been charged with providing false information to the state’s sex offender registry. Virginia State Police said they arrested Darren Thornton, 50, on Thursday in Richmond. Thornton’s tenure as a counselor at Glasgow Middle School…has prompted multiple investigations.” [Associated Press/WTOP]
Counselor Conviction Raises Reporting Questions — “Fairfax County leaders and Virginia’s Attorney General are calling for changes after a counselor convicted of sexually soliciting a minor stayed employed at a middle school years after his arrest.” A letter asks the General Assembly to look at “how Virginia handles information sharing regarding the arrest and conviction of people between jurisdictions within the state and across state lines.” [WUSA9]
Richmond Highway Developers Seek Help With Rising Costs — “Fairfax County has taken steps to spur more development along Richmond Highway. It modified its land use plan across a 7.5-mile stretch of the corridor in 2018 to enable more than 15M SF of potential development near transit centers…But since that time, the pandemic and inflation have made projects that would add density to the corridor much harder to pencil, developers said.” [Bisnow]
Great Falls Teen Cooks Up TikTok Following — “No one tells the story of [Matthew] Merril’s remarkable journey better than he does, and he repeats it often in zany, fast-paced cooking segments on his TikTok (@matthewinthekitchen) and Instagram (@mmerril) pages, where he demonstrates how to whip together everything from cookies to a formal Thanksgiving dinner.” [Northern Virginia Magazine]
Lake Accotink Park B-Day Party Starts Early — “Join our 60th Anniversary Party at 10 a.m. and enjoy an extra hour of fun at Lake Accotink Park this weekend. Due to increased community interest, anniversary activities will begin an hour earlier…The carousel and mini golf will now open at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 27, 2022.” [Fairfax County Park Authority]
Local TV Station to Highlight Tysons — “I am so excited to join [Friday’s] Fox 5 DC Zip Trip to highlight Providence District happenings, upcoming initiatives, what makes Tysons a great place to live, work, and visit! We have a great lineup of special guests and I hope you can tune in!” [Supervisor Dalia Palchik/Twitter]
Park Authority Offers Sale on Rec Center Memberships — “Take advantage of the membership sale that starts on Sept. 1 and runs through Oct. 15, 2022. Whether you’re a new or returning member, you can save up to 15% on the purchase of an annual membership.” [FCPA]
I-395 Lane Closures Coming to Springfield — “The southbound I-395 general purpose lanes will have lane closures at Edsall Road (Route 648), weather permitting, Monday night, Aug. 29 and Tuesday night, Aug. 30 for bridge painting work…Each night, the left two lanes of southbound I-395 at Edsall Road will be closed at 10 p.m., followed by the left three lanes at 11 p.m.” [VDOT]
Notable Defense Official Buys McLean Mansion — “Gil Cisneros, a high-ranking Pentagon official, former Democratic congressman and lottery jackpot winner…and his wife, Jacki, purchased a newly constructed, 6-bedroom home in McLean for $8.037 million, according to public records. The 9,100-square-foot home…features six bathrooms, three half-baths, an in-ground swimming pool, a four-car garage and four fireplaces.” [Washington Business Journal]
Oakton Day Round Two Draws Crowd — “Some 400 local residents, community representatives and volunteers on Aug. 14 attended the second annual ‘Oakton Day in the Park,’ held in Oakton Community Park on Hunter Mill Road. With the backdrop of music from local performer Chris Devine, attendees enjoyed a wide range of activities.” [Sun Gazette]
It’s Friday — Humid and partly cloudy throughout the day. High of 88 and low of 73. Sunrise at 6:34 am and sunset at 7:50 pm. [Weather.gov]
The future is burning bright for Smell of Love Candles and its 12-year-old CEO.
After starting the Vienna-based business in his family’s kitchen about two years ago, Alejandro Buxton will bring his homemade, soy and coconut wax candles to Tysons Corner Center next week, opening Smell of Love’s first brick-and-mortar location.
Located on the mall’s second floor between Victoria’s Secret and Banana Republic, the kiosk will open with a ribbon-cutting at 10 a.m. next Thursday (Sept. 1). Customers during opening weekend, which will go through Sept. 5, can enter a giveaway for the chance to win a year of free candles.
This sponsored column is written by the team at Arrowine & Cheese (4508 Cherry Hill Road in Arlington). Sign up for the email newsletter and receive exclusive discounts and offers. Experience Arrowine’s Tastings & Events. Have a question? Email [email protected].
Few subjects provoke more angst than wine. For many, wine is a great mystery, a secret handshake, or a password. It doesn’t need to be.
My job with this bi-weekly column is to help you safely navigate the complex world of wine without intimidation or nonsense. You are in control.
If you take a moment and read my musings, hopefully you find them valuable, educational, practical and perhaps even entertaining. I will be trying to get you to engage and ask questions, make requests for future articles and reach out. I’m listening but know I’m an excruciatingly bad typist and have learned to use the fewest words possible for practicality’s sake.
Let me begin with a little about myself. I am 64 years old and have been in the wine biz since, and I hate to say it since 1977; I began my career in the very spot that Arrowine currently occupies. In those days, you “old-timers” out there might remember the “old” Cheese and Bottle.
I’m not just a fine wine retailer but also an importer within the confines of the laws of the State of Virginia. I have traveled extensively throughout France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Austria, Hungary, Switzerland, The New Republic of Macedonia, Serbia, Greece, Israel, South Africa and Argentina in search of the best wines these places have to offer. I also hunt for “new-growers” whose work has yet to be discovered or who are not currently represented in Virginia or our region.
I proudly support Virginia’s Wine Industry. Did you know we are now the fifth largest producer of wine in the USA? Virginia Wine is no longer an oddity; we produce the best wine on the East Coast. And many Virginia wineries are “World Class!”
I have extensively traveled throughout Oregon. I’m long overdue for a California and Washington State road trip, but I have a store to run. Pre-COVID, I usually took six buying trips a year. That’s a lot of miles, moving daily, staying in small hotels with no elevator or A/C. And despite what people might think, crappy food. So I usually travel to the countryside, and there aren’t many resources in the middle of nowhere.
All that said, I wouldn’t change a thing. You need to go where the wine is! I’ve met many humble, hard-working families, men and women who are genuinely jack-of-all-trades; they grow grapes, transform the juice into something delicious, and then market it in many cases worldwide. They only get to practice their craft 40 or so times in a lifetime! So you have to be a quick study. How many occupations are this demanding?
I am the ambassador of these families. My job is to tell their stories and, when appropriate, convey how much risk there is at every step. A career in agriculture is like walking on a tightrope without a net. There is so much out of your control, precocious flowering and then a late frost that can wipe out your entire harvest, hail damage, too much rain or not enough, excessive cold or heat, insect infestations, wood diseases and the list goes on and on.
And then you have to ferment the juice and try to get it into the bottle without screwing it up. Sell it and hopefully get paid. Making wine from your own grapes is not for the faint of heart. Trust me!
Congratulations if you made it to the end of my ramblings, I have a secret to share with you. It is the one simple thing guaranteed to heighten your pleasure of drinking wine or anything else.
Never and I mean never, use glass without thoroughly washing with soap and water before using it! I’ll explain why in two weeks and give you a little experiment to perform at home.
Cheers,
Doug
The preceding sponsored post was also published on FFXnow.com
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