Fairfax County Fire & Rescue Department Capt. Kimberly Schoppa died today (Tuesday) from occupational cancer, Fire Chief John Butler and the department announced.
Schoppa was hired as a firefighter in 2004 for the department and served over 18 years. She was assigned to Fire Station 27 in West Springfield at the time of her death.
SCOTUS Lets TJ Admissions Policy Stay During Appeal — With three justices dissenting, the Supreme Court denied the Coalition for TJ’s request to block the new admissions policy for Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. The denial will let Fairfax County Public Schools use the policy to evaluate the incoming Class of 2026, as the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond considers the case. FCPS says the appeals court has approved its request for “an expedited schedule to resolve the legal issues involved in the admissions process.” [SCOTUSblog/Twitter, FCPS]
No Injuries in Turnpike Shopping Center Crash — The driver of a sedan that crashed into an empty storefront next to Kokee Tea in the Fairfax City shopping center on Saturday (April 23) survived unharmed, city officials said yesterday (Monday). Damages to the building at 9668 Main Street are estimated to be between $20,000 and $30,000. [City of Fairfax Fire Department, Patch]
Police Partner With DNA Lab to Solve Tysons Murder — “The young woman’s skeletal remains were discovered in 2001, near a drainage ditch behind an apartment complex in what’s now known as Tysons, Virginia — and Fairfax County police still have far more questions than answers…The crowdfunded effort with Othram Inc. and DNASolves would pay for cutting-edge testing…which isn’t currently available through the state labs.” [WTOP]
Pollen Plagues D.C. Area — “Pollen counts are way up again. Today’s tree count of 1,405.75 grains per cubic meter is the second-highest of the year so far. The highest value was recorded March 7, when the count topped 2,300. Intense pollen seasons are becoming worse and longer in a warming world.” [Capital Weather Gang]
Herndon Man Wins Lottery After Buying 30 Tickets — “A Virginia man collected a total prize of $147,500 when he bought 30 identical tickets for a single lottery drawing. Benjamin Shuler of Herndon told Virginia Lottery officials he bought 30 tickets for the March 28 Pick 4 night drawing, all bearing the numbers 0-8-1-6.” [UPI]
Tysons Pedestrian Bridge Moves in Place — The Virginia Department of Transportation has photos of a truss for the new pedestrian/bicycle bridge being built over I-495 at Tysons Corner Center. The bridge was put in place over this past weekend and is scheduled to open later this year, though it’s unclear when work on a second phase that will extend a shared-use path to Route 123 can begin. [VDOT/Twitter]
County Archaeologists Start Newsletter — “The Fairfax County Archaeology and Collections Branch (ACB) is launching an e-newsletter. The ACB identifies, documents, and interprets the material culture of Fairfax County to promote shared stewardship of cultural resources, nurture a deeper understanding of the past, and inspire future generations.” [Fairfax County Park Authority]
It’s Tuesday — Possible light rain in the afternoon and evening. High of 64 and low of 54. Sunrise at 6:18 am and sunset at 7:58 pm. [Weather.gov]
When The Mather Tysons opens in 2024, the senior living facility might employ some workers of the artificial intelligence variety.
Rest assured, these robots won’t be capable of planning a HAL 9000-style takeover. Instead, they will perform simple, repetitive tasks, such as delivering food to tables and apartments and cleaning hallways.
“Our hope is that it helps us retain team members, that they’ll recognize that we’ve gone kind of the extra step to provide them a level of assistance they may not get elsewhere in similar roles,” Mather Director of Culinary Operations Thad Parton told FFXnow.
Additional raises are coming for Fairfax County government employees, specifically firefighters, police officers and other uniformed public safety workers.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors plans to allocate $6.1 million in the upcoming budget to give a step increase to certain public safety workers hired on or before June 30, 2021. The proposal is part of a mark-up package that will go before the board tomorrow (Tuesday).
Officially, Fairfax County’s COVID-19 community level remains low, but when the county last saw this many cases, Fairfax County Public Schools was still fighting to keep masks in place.
The Fairfax Health District, which also includes the cities of Fairfax and Falls Church, is now averaging 270 cases a day for the past week — the highest seven-day average since Feb. 13 (274 cases) — after adding more than 300 cases each on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday (April 21-23).
A Starbucks in Merrifield has unionized.
About a month after filing a petition for an election, workers at the cafe at 3046 Gate House Plaza voted 30-2 in support of forming a union on Friday (April 22), becoming the coffee company’s first store in Fairfax County to take that step.
“My first reaction was just happiness,” employee and organizer Claudia Sol said. “We’re all very proud of each other for what we were able to accomplish…It’s pretty amazing to see all the work that our store did to be able to unionize, and we’re looking forward to what’s to come.”
Property tax bills are poised to go up — but somewhat less than initially expected.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors’ budget policy committee discussed a plan on Friday (April 22) to set the property tax rate at $1.11 per $100 of assessed property value, a 3-cent decrease from the current rate.
However, due to increased assessments, property tax bills will still increase by $465 on average, or 6.7%, according to a county projection.
Case Against Park Police Who Shot McLean Man Dropped — “Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares (R) on Friday dropped the state’s federal appeal in the manslaughter case against two U.S. Park Police officers, effectively ending any attempt at criminal prosecution of the officers who fatally shot unarmed motorist Bijan Ghaisar in a Fairfax County neighborhood in 2017.” [The Washington Post]
Hundreds Help Pack Ukrainian Refugee Donations — “Hundreds of volunteers gathered this weekend in Oakton to help pack approx. 1800 boxes with donations collected for displaced Ukrainians. Huge thanks to our community members for donating, these wonderful volunteers, and to Paxton Co. for generously shipping these items.” [Chairman Jeff McKay/Twitter]
Mount Vernon Fire Started by Hair Dryer — A house fire in the 3700 block of Nalls Road on Wednesday (April 20) was started accidentally by an electrical event involving a hair dryer in the basement bathroom, the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department says. There were reported injuries or displacements, but the fire caused an estimated $37,500 in damages. [FCFRD]
Medical Reserve Corps Volunteers Critical to Covid Response — “Since February of 2020, over 1,400 MRC members volunteered more than 65,000 hours at vaccination clinics and testing events, and assisting with outreach, isolation and quarantine efforts, logistical support, and so much more.” [Fairfax County Health Department]
Merrifield Nonprofit Gets Boost from Football Fans — “Wolf Trap Animal Rescue keeps receiving donations from the public in honor of Dwayne Haskins, the former Washington quarterback who died in an accident on a Florida highway on April 9. Haskins…selected Wolf Trap Animal Rescue as his organization to represent for the NFL’s My Cause My Cleats campaign.” [Patch]
Turner Farm Observatory Seeks “Dark Sky” Designation — “To help reverse the trend of growing light pollution, the Great Falls observatory applied to become an Urban Night Sky Place with the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA)…If approved, the observatory would become the first IDA-designated place in the Washington region.” [Greater Greater Washington]
Construction Starts on Woodley Hills Park Playground — “The Fairfax County Park Authority will begin the installation of a new playground and removal of the existing playground the week of April 25, 2022. Construction access to the site will be from Old Mount Vernon Road. It is anticipated that the playground replacement will be completed by early June 2022.” [FCPA]
Reston Library Book Sale Starts Wednesday — The Friends of the Reston Regional Library will host its biggest book sale of the year, starting with a members-only night from 5-8 p.m. on Wednesday (April 27). The sale will be open to all starting at 10 a.m. Thursday through Sunday (April 28-May 2) and include 35,000 to 40,000 books. [Friends of the Reston Regional Library]
It’s Monday — Mostly cloudy throughout the day. High of 75 and low of 55. Sunrise at 6:19 am and sunset at 7:57 pm. [Weather.gov]
The weekend is almost here. Before you start working on an elaborate drag costume or head to bed for some much-needed sleep after avoiding those pranksters, let’s revisit the past week of news in Fairfax County.
Here are the 10 most-read stories on FFXnow this week:
Ideas for potential stories can be sent to [email protected] or submitted as an anonymous tip. Photos of scenes from around the county are welcome too, with credit always given to the photographer.
Students have one week left to submit their ideas for new markers honoring Fairfax County’s Black and African American history.
The county is set to close the submission period for its 2022 Historical Marker Project on April 30. The project is part of a larger initiative to highlight the experiences of Black and African American residents that launched in February, coinciding with Black History Month.
