Winter Weather Advisory in Effect — “The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Weather Advisory in effect from 6 a.m. until 1 p.m. tomorrow, Thursday, Jan. 20. Snow accumulations of up to two inches with locally higher amounts around three inches are possible, which could impact the Thursday morning commute.” [Fairfax County Emergency]
Tysons Vaccine Site Delays Opening — The Tysons Community Vaccination Center will open late today (Thursday) due to this morning’s expected winter weather. The site will operate from noon to 5 p.m., and anyone whose appointment has been affected by the change in hours can walk in to get a vaccination today. [Fairfax County Health Department/Twitter]
Police Identify Suspect in Cold-Case Murders — Fairfax County and Prince George’s police believe a man currently serving life in prison for a 2002 murder was behind two decades-old, unsolved crimes. Officials say Charles Helem confessed to killing a woman in Mount Rainer in 2002 and gave details about a 1987 Herndon murder that only the killer would know. [WTOP]
Food Left on Stove Starts McLean Fire — Two adults were displaced by a house fire that occurred around noon on Sunday (Jan. 16) in the 2000 block of Great Falls Street. Investigators determined that the fire was started by food left on a stove burner that ignited cooking oil and “nearby combustibles,” resulting in $93,750 in damages. [FCFRD]
Inova to Close Covid Testing Site — “Due to decreased volume in appointments at Inova’s Vehicle-Side COVID-19 Testing Center – Falls Church, the testing site will close on Fri, Jan 21. The testing site will remain open Wed, Jan 19 – Fri, Jan 21, 8am-2pm for symptomatic patients with appointments.” [Inova Health/Twitter]
Tysons Corner Center is getting an up-close-and-personal look at reproductions of Michelangelo’s famous ceiling paintings from the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel.
An art exhibit that’s made its way through cities across the globe is coming to the mall on Jan. 28 for a month-long showing. Called “The Sistine Chapel: The Exhibition,” it features high-definition photos and printings that emulate the brushstrokes of the 16th century artwork.
“This exhibition gives visitors a chance to engage with Rome’s most iconic treasures in ways that were never possible,” said Martin Biallas, CEO of the Los Angeles-based event planning company group SEE Global Entertainment, producer of the exhibit.
The show will occur from Wednesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., taking place in a 10,000 square-foot space on the mall’s lower level across from H&M.
A timed ticketing system is in place to limit capacity and allow for social distancing, according to a press release.
Visitors have already snatched up all of the dates in January for the first three days of the show.
While visitors to the historic Sistine Chapel can view the artwork from around 66 feet away, that’s reduced to around 13 feet with the show, the company says on its website.
“This exhibition is like a sanctuary; you’re transformed into a completely different world,” said Biallas, who produced the exhibit after seeing the ceiling frescoes in person.
“When I visited the Sistine Chapel in Rome, there were long lines and we were rushed through,” he said. “This exhibit at Tysons Corner Center allows everyone an opportunity to see the amazing art at their pace and up-close, at an affordable price, and enjoy an inspiring and unforgettable experience.”
Tickets generally range from $19 to $23 per adult plus fees, but family bundles and other discounts are available for seniors, students and the military. Visitors can also purchase audio guides.
The Fairfax County School Board is looking at adding more holidays, including Diwali and Yom Kippur, to a proposed calendar for the upcoming 2022-2023 school year.
The board reviewed a proposed calendar from Fairfax County Public Schools staff during a work session yesterday (Tuesday), with a vote on the matter scheduled for their next regular meeting on Jan. 27.
The proposed 14-holiday schedule would begin July 1 and have a two-week winter break, one-week spring break, and days off for students through professional work days. It would mirror neighboring school districts’ holidays, a staff presentation showed.
FCPS staff recommended adding Diwali and Yom Kippur as full holidays with Rosh Hashanah as a day off for students. Staff would have the option to use it for professional development or also take the day off at their own discretion.
The proposed calendar includes an observance of Eid al-Fitr in 2023, even though it falls outside of school hours. The Muslim holiday marking the end of Ramadan will begin at sundown on Friday, April 21 to sundown on Saturday, April 22 next year.
FCPS is officially observing those four holidays for the first time this academic year, but the school board stopped short of granting students days off.
Last year’s calendar development proved unusually tense, with numerous residents voicing concerns about the process and local religious leaders expressing disappointment from a diversity standpoint.
Superintendent Scott Brabrand said yesterday that he accepted responsibility for a calendar process last year that was divisive and hurtful but added that he thought the calendar process this year was enhanced.
“It is complex. There’s no perfect calendar process. I think this process was better than the process we had before,” Brabrand said.
This time around, FCPS enlisted a calendar committee, consisting of school staff, students, parents and associations, to weigh in on the changes. FCPS Chief Operating Officer Marty Smith said several faith-based groups were invited, but not all chose to participate.
School board members wondered whether staff assigned different weights for priorities identified through a community input process that included surveying staff, students, and families. Brabrand said the proposal wasn’t a formula, but the staff’s best solution.
Despite a nearly two-hour long work session, school board members called for clearer justification from staff regarding which holidays will be recognized and adding Veterans Day as a day off for students.
“We want for this to not come across as arbitrary to our community, that people can take a look at the same data and kind of come close to the same conclusion,” Mason District Representative Ricardy Anderson said.
School board members suggested that the survey feedback wasn’t incorporated as well as it could have been.
Guided by U.S. Supreme Court rulings throughout the last century, public school holidays for religious occasions must be justified with a secular reason, such as high absence rates.
Mount Vernon District Representative Karen Corbett-Sanders said the proposed calendar was driven by FCPS’ operational needs, not one that reflects community feedback.
“We need to work on this calendar more to ensure that that has that mutual respect and inclusivity of all in it,” she said.
Updated at 1:50 p.m. — A Winter Weather Advisory for Fairfax County, with the National Weather Service predicting up to 2 inches of snow from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. tomorrow.
Earlier: All Fairfax County Public Schools students will participate in classes online tomorrow (Thursday) for the first time since February 2021.
The district announced the move shortly after noon today, citing weather forecasts that indicate some snowfall early in the morning.
Middle and high schools will have a two-hour delayed start, and elementary schools will begin the day at 10:30 a.m. FCPS advises all students to bring their laptops home and ensure their devices are charged.
Students were already scheduled to go home two hours early to mark the end of the second quarter. The early dismissal will remain in effect, and there will be no classes on Friday and Monday, which have been designated as a teacher work day and a professional development day, respectively.
FCPS is implementing virtual learning tomorrow after using up its five “traditional” snow days in response to winter weather that hit the D.C. area during the week of Jan. 3-7.
As of 10 a.m., the National Weather Service is projecting that Fairfax County could see 1 to 3 inches of snow between 1 p.m. today and 7 p.m. tomorrow. The D.C. area has a 64% chance of getting at least an inch of snow.
More details from the FCPS announcement are below:
Division operations are open on time and school and central office building work spaces are open. Employees are expected to report to work on time.
All employees (exempt and non-exempt) who are able to telework, meaning their job duties can be completed remotely and have access to the appropriate technology, may do so. Individuals who are unable to telework and those employees designated as essential are expected to report to their work site. Unscheduled leave is in effect. If you have questions, please contact your direct supervisor.
School age child care (SACC) centers are closed.
ACE students should check their email for communications from ACE staff and instructors.
We will reassess the weather conditions tomorrow to determine any potential impact on activities that are scheduled on school grounds.
Grab & Go breakfast and lunch will be available from 10 a.m.- 12 p.m. Please pick them up at our weekly meal kit distribution locations, listed on our website.
The emergency room that Reston Hospital Center is building in Tysons isn’t expected to open for another three months, but efforts to staff the new facility are already underway.
HCA Healthcare Inc., the Nashville-based company that owns Reston Hospital, currently has 26 positions listed in its job database for the Tysons ER, a standalone facility that will be located at 8240 Leesburg Pike between Tysons Corner Center and the Route 123 interchange.
The project has encountered some construction challenges due to pandemic-related supply shortages, but it is currently on target for an April launch, according to HCA Healthcare spokesperson Suzanne Kelly.
With almost a quarter of U.S. hospitals reporting staffing shortages earlier this month amid surging Covid cases, HCA told Tysons Reporter’s sister site Reston Now that its most critical vacancies are the job openings for the Tysons emergency room, particularly when it comes to nurses and imaging professionals.
“Like healthcare organizations nationwide, Reston Hospital Center is working to address a tight labor market, which coincides with nursing workforce shortages compounded by the pandemic,” Kelly said in a statement. “As part of the HCA Virginia Health System, our facilities are working to retain our existing colleagues, attract new nurses, and encouraging and supporting those considering a career in nursing through education programs.”
Set to operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, the 14,000 square-foot Tysons emergency department will have 11 private treatment rooms, including a trauma room and 10 exam rooms, and provide the same services as at a hospital-based emergency room.
In addition to registered nurses, the facility is seeking a clinical coordinator, radiologic and ultrasound technologists, a director of emergency services, and maintenance workers.
To address immediate staffing needs, HCA is offering a $20,000 sign-on bonus to registered nurses with at least one year of experience, including for positions in the Tysons ER, according to its job postings.
The healthcare system said in a statement that it’s also recruiting nurses from other states and even internationally to work in Virginia, adjusting pay, and implementing “incentive and recognition programs,” among other “aggressive recruitment efforts”:
To support immediate staffing shortages, we’re offering sign on bonuses and employee referral bonuses. Additionally, we are also recruiting nurses from other states and even other countries to come to Virginia to support our nurses and help ensure we are providing top quality care to our patients during this unprecedented time. We are attracting new nurses to work at our facilities through aggressive recruitment efforts including sign-on bonuses and referral bonuses in strategic areas and specialties. We also continue to partner with bricks-and-mortar colleges and universities, and online programs, to attract more people to choose careers in healthcare. This will build a future pipeline to fill long-term healthcare staffing needs.
As reported by Reston Now this morning, HCA is now requiring employees to get a COVID-19 vaccine after the Supreme Court allowed a federal mandate issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to take effect last Thursday (Jan. 13).
While most D.C. area hospitals were already requiring their staff to get vaccinated, HCA put its requirement on hold in November after a federal judge blocked the CMS mandate.
Reston Hospital says it will comply with the mandate so it can keep serving Medicare and Medicaid patients.
“Any HCA Healthcare colleague who works in, or has work-related reasons to visit, these facilities or care settings is required to have their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by January 27 and be fully vaccinated by February 28, unless they receive a medical or religious exemption,” Kelly said by email.
The Fairfax County Park Authority has officially opened the door for an arts building at Clemyjontri Park in McLean.
The park authority board voted unanimously on Jan. 12 to revise the Clemyjontri master plan to include an arts center or a similar community-serving facility as an option for its next phase of development.
“The revision gives the park authority the flexibility in how Clemy may be further developed,” Timothy Hackman, the board’s Dranesville District representative, said. “If in fact it is, it creates the potential for new and exciting opportunities for the community and the county.”
FCPA initiated the master plan revision process in December 2020 after the nonprofit McLean Project for the Arts unveiled a proposal earlier that year for an arts center at Clemyjontri, which is best known for its colorful, accessibility-focused playground.
Originally adopted in 2002, the park’s master plan breaks its development into three phases. The first phase involved the construction of the playground and main parking lot in 2006, and it was followed by the addition of a secondary parking lot and trails in 2019.
Under the newly revised plan, the county has two options for the third and final phase:
- A local history museum or a meeting and event space in the former home of Adele Lebowitz, who donated the property to the park authority
- A new arts center building
If the arts center comes to fruition, the plan calls for the Lebowitz house to be preserved, an overflow parking lot to accommodate larger evening events, and outdoor amenities, such as a gazebo, outdoor classrooms, and a gathering area with gardens.
The building itself will have space for social events, galleries and exhibitions, and classrooms, FCPA senior landscape architect and project manager Doug Tipsword told the Park Authority Board’s planning and development committee prior to the vote.
Tipsword noted that park authority staff heard some concerns at community meetings about the proposed facility’s size, visibility from residential neighborhoods adjacent to the park, and potential noise and traffic impacts.
The master plan dictates that existing trees on the north side of the Lebowitz house be preserved as a buffer and new evergreen shrubs planted on the park’s east and west sides.
In response to questions about the arts center’s size, county staff revised their presented design to emphasize that it’s conceptual, not a literal representation of what the building will look like.
“Specific details on facility design, usage, hours of operation, those kinds of things are reviewed and approved via separate public processes prior to development,” Tipsword said.
Now that the master plan revision has been approved, the park authority has to submit a more concrete proposal to the county’s planning department and go through the special exception and public facilities review processes, which both require public hearings.
While MPA is the most likely candidate to operate the arts center, the park authority will consider other possible partners as well.
“I think the park authority, to give everybody some comfort, will in fact analyze any such proposals thoroughly and will be sensitive to any overall community interests that may be expressed,” Hackman said.
Map via Fairfax County Park Authority
Metro Leader to Step Down — “After more than six years leading the D.C. region’s transit agency…Metro General Manager and Chief Executive Officer Paul Wiedefeld is retiring. Wiedefeld, 66, will leave his position in six months, Metro Board Chairman Paul C. Smedberg announced in an unexpected statement Tuesday afternoon.” [DCist]
Fairfax County Records First Pedestrian Death of 2022 — Police are investigating a crash that occurred just before midnight on Jan. 8 on Lee Highway at Forum Drive in Fairfax. Joel Gonzalez, 22, of Fairfax was hit by a sedan driving east on Lee Highway and later died from his injuries in a hospital. [FCPD]
Falls Church Supports Voting Rights Bill on MLK Day — “U.S. Sen. Mark Warner and Rep. Don Beyer joined Edwin Henderson II, founder of the Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation, on Monday to celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. with nearly 100 other people at the Tinner Hill Civil Rights Monument in Falls Church.” [Patch]
Website to Order Free At-Home Covid Tests Launches — A federal website where people can order up to four rapid COVID-19 test kits per household is now up and running. The tests will be delivered by the U.S. Postal Service and are expected to take seven to 12 days to ship. [NBC News]
Providence District Supervisor Has New Daughter — “Jeffrey and I were thrilled to welcome our new daughter Sivan Esther Friedman into the world on Monday, January 17, and we couldn’t be more thrilled. Our little peanut is a little early, (perfect balance, her mother is always late) and weighs in at 4 lbs. 14 oz., but everyone is healthy, and we couldn’t be more over the moon.” [Dalia Palchik]
Local Hybrid Plane Startup Gets Funding Boost — “Lockheed Martin Ventures has invested in Electra.aero Inc., a Falls Church-based hybrid-electric aircraft designer and builder that specializes in a growing air taxi market…The funding will support Electra’s plans to start flight testing its hybrid-electric ultra-short takeoff and landing aircraft (eSTOL) this year, according to a press release.” [Washington Business Journal]
Sisters Thai is coming to Capital One Center.
Distinguished by interiors designed to evoke cozy living rooms, the restaurant chain has leased 5,029 square feet of space at 7730 Capital One Tower Road, the Washington Business Journal reported Thursday (Jan. 13).
Capital One Center confirmed in a press release that this will be Sisters Thai’s fifth location and its largest yet, joining venues in the Mosaic District, Alexandria, Fairfax City, and Potomac, Maryland.
“Having been a fan of Sisters Thai for the last decade, it is great to see their growth to become one of the region’s top destinations for Thai food,” Capital One Center Managing Director Jonathan Griffith said. “We couldn’t be more thrilled to welcome them to the exciting new Capital One Center development in Tysons.”
Located under Capital One Hall’s box office, the new restaurant will offer Thai street food, curry bowls, and drinks from a central bar. It will also house an extension of Magnolia Boutique Dessert Bar & Coffee, the cafe that the Sisters Thai team runs on Maple Avenue in Vienna.
It is expected to open in late 2022.
“We are so excited to be a part of the growing development at Capital One Center, and host our flagship restaurant adjacent to Capital One Hall,” Sisters Thai owner Tammie Disayawathana said in a statement. “There is so much energy at Capital One Center and we’re proud to bring our family-run business to complement this mini-city.”
Capital One’s headquarters campus near the McLean Metro station has seen some significant changes over the past two years, starting with the arrival of Wegmans in November 2020.
Between August and October of last year, the mixed-use development added The Perch skypark, a major performing arts venue in Capital One Hall, and The Watermark Hotel.
However, retail options are limited right now to Wegmans, The Perch’s Starr Hill Biergarten, a restaurant and bar called Wren in the hotel’s lobby, and the nail salon Nothing in Between Studio.
Capital One’s headquarters building previously had the City Works Eatery and Pour House and a Starbucks, but they have both closed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Capital One Center expects to see more leasing activity this year, stating that several signings will be announced in the near-future.
Anticipated tenants include the not-yet-named occupants of the food trucks recently installed in The Perch. The trucks and a mini-golf course called Perch Putt remain on track to open this spring, Capital One Center Manager of Marketing and Community Affairs Meghan Trossen says.
Construction is also underway on a mixed-use building across the street from Capital One Hall that, when completed this year, will be able to accommodate anywhere from 1,500 to over 20,000 square feet of retail, according to Capital One Center.
Photo via Google Maps
The peak of this winter’s omicron variant surge might be in the rearview mirror for Fairfax County.
After hitting an all-time high of 2,520 cases on Thursday (Jan. 13), the county’s COVID-19 caseload has dropped sharply over the past few days to a current weekly average of 1,919 new cases per day, according to Virginia Department of Health data.
That remains well above previous surges in the pandemic, since the county had never averaged more than 1,000 cases until this past Christmas. It’s also unclear whether Sunday’s snowstorm and yesterday’s government facility closures for Martin Luther King Jr. Day affected testing and reporting.
However, the Fairfax Health District’s testing positivity rate has declined from a seven-day rolling average of 34.1% on Jan. 10 to 29.9% as of Friday (Jan. 14), even with the number of tests reported increasing over that time frame.
With 1,595 cases added today (Monday), the district, which includes the cities of Fairfax and Falls Church, has recorded a total of 157,537 Covid cases, 4,379 hospitalizations, and 1,267 deaths during the pandemic.
Signs started to emerge last week that coronavirus infections may be peaking in the D.C. area and other East Coast cities where the omicron variant first surged in the U.S. The rapid rise and decline in cases echoes what other countries have seen from the variant, though health experts warn that relaxing precautions too soon could lead to another uptick.
Notably, the drop in cases hasn’t translated into a drop in hospitalizations. In Fairfax County, the rate of hospitalizations related to Covid has stayed relatively stable over the past month, with the seven-day average hovering around five to six cases since the beginning of the year.
Virginia hospitals are reporting a weekly average of 3,871 Covid patients — more than at any other point in the pandemic. The majority of those patients are unvaccinated people, who are being hospitalized at 4.2 times the rate of their fully vaccinated counterparts.
After increasing with their expansion to younger children and the introduction of booster shots in the fall, the pace of vaccinations has slowed in the Fairfax Health District since the winter holidays, the Fairfax County Health Department’s vaccine dashboard indicates.
The 945,418 district residents who have gotten at least one dose constitute 79.9% of the total population, including 89.4% of people 18 and older. The percentage of adults is actually slightly behind Virginia as a whole (89.8%).
In the Fairfax Health District, 837,068 residents — 70.7% of the population and 79.9% of adults — are fully vaccinated, meaning they’ve received two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
According to the VDH, 392,916 Fairfax County residents have gotten a booster shot or third dose. That amounts to 34.2% of the population, including 42.8% of adults.
The Weekly Planner is a roundup of interesting events coming up over the next week in the Tysons area.
We’ve searched the web for events of note in Tysons, Vienna, Merrifield, McLean, and Falls Church. Know of any we’ve missed? Tell us!
Tuesday, Jan. 18
- Baby Lapsit Storytime — 10:30-11 a.m. at Tysons-Pimmit Regional Library (7584 Leesburg Pike) — Enjoy books, songs and bounces for children up to 18 months old.
Wednesday, Jan. 19
- “Traveling While Black” — noon-8 p.m. at the McLean Community Center (1234 Ingleside Ave.) — A virtual reality movie shows participants’ part in the struggle for racial justice. One-hour appointments are available for the exhibit, which runs through Feb. 12.
Thursday, Jan. 20
- “Ballerina Boys” — 1 p.m. at The Alden (1234 Ingleside Ave.) — A film shows a glimpse of an iconoclastic group, Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, also known as The Trocks, a diverse all-male ballet company based in New York. Free, but registration is required.
Friday, Jan. 21
- “The Dinner Party” — 8-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Vienna Community Center (120 Cherry St. Southeast) — The Vienna Theatre Company presents playwright Neil Simon’s one-act play, a comedy about marriage and divorce that centers around strangers gathering for an unorthodox dinner party. Tickets are $15. There are additional performances through Feb. 6.
Saturday, Jan. 22
- Albert Lee — 8 p.m. at Jammin Java (227 Maple Ave. East) — The British guitar legend behind “Country Boy” and part of Grammy Award-winning group performances with “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” and “Cluster Pick” comes to Vienna with his full band. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Tickets start at $20.
Sunday, Jan. 23
