Dominion Energy Backs Electric School Bus Push — “Dominion Energy announced an initiative to bring electric school buses en masse to school districts around Virginia. The effort comes amid a Fairfax County group’s call for its school district to transition to all electric buses.” [Patch]

McLean Program Encouraging Green Thumbs — “The McLean Trees Foundation’s Neighborhood Tree Program returns for its sixth year… For $50, the foundation will help McLean homeowners select a tree and then deliver it, help to plant it and offer instructions on caring for it.” [Inside NoVa]

Transforming Tysons Into a Walkable City — “According to its comprehensive plan, Tysons is aiming to become ‘a true urban downtown for Fairfax County’ by 2050. But the question on a lot of people’s minds is how they will get there, and how they will get around within the four-square-mile area.” [Greater Greater Washington]

New Track at McLean School — “Fairfax County officials, school staff and students on Aug. 22 dedicated a new track on the grounds of Franklin Sherman Elementary School in McLean… The soft-surface track is 1,550 feet long, or just more than one-quarter mile, and will be used by Franklin Sherman Elementary students and community members.” [Inside NoVa]

Foust Shares His Favorite Local Spots — Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust shared some of his top picks of things to do and places to go around McLean in a guest article. [Connection Newspapers]

Therapy Dog Comes to Vienna School — “The student services department at Thoreau Middle welcomes therapy dog Jackson Granados as part of their clinical team. Jackson will be at Thoreau part-time with school social worker Joy Granados visiting select classrooms and students and traveling the hallways at arrival and dismissal times.” [Fairfax County Public Schools]

New HQ in Tysons Building — “Strategic consulting firm Dean & Company has signed a 36,205-square-foot lease at 1600 Tysons Boulevard, with plans to move its corporate headquarters [there]… The company currently operates out of 8065 Leesburg Pike in Vienna.” [Commercial Observer]

Silver Line Work Affecting Tysons — “Beginning later this month, pedestrians and drivers will encounter daily lane and partial sidewalk closures along eastbound and westbound Route 7 (Leesburg Pike) and northbound and southbound Route 123 (Dolley Madison/Chain Bridge Road), along the Silver Line Phase 1 alignment in the Tysons area.” [Inside NoVa]

Tysons may not have the liveliest nightlife at the moment, but that could soon change as more late-night restaurants and places to hang out open. “Tysons After Dark” will highlight a different spot every week.

Known for their signature dog-themed art and extensive specialty sandwich options, one of the local Lost Dog Cafes has a lively spot in Tysons.

Lost Dog Cafe started in Arlington’s Westover neighborhood in 1985 by two animal lovers, the cafes have grown to five locations owned and operated by former employees, according to its website. The Tysons spot at 1690A Anderson Road opened in 2011.

Located in the shopping center with the Safeway behind Mitre, Lost Dog Cafe was filled with about two dozen diners when Tysons Reporter visited around 8:30 p.m. on a Tuesday.

Jumping from the canvas onto the wall, the art gives nods to Tysons area history, including Northern Virginia’s trolley line in the early 2oth century, the amusement park at Great Falls, the opening of Tysons Corner Center in 1968 and the early stores at the intersection of Route 123 and Leesburg Pike.

The menu boasts 32 types of gourmet pizzas and 50 specialty sandwiches — all of the sandwiches are under $10, while the pizzas cost around $12 (small), $17 (medium) and $20 (large).

Diners can also chow down on salads, pasta, soups and make-your-own sandwiches. For drinks, Lost Dog Cafe offers extensive draft and bottle lists featuring local brews.

People at the Tysons spot can expect trivia from 6-8:30 p.m. every Tuesday, along with tap takeovers by local brewers and open mic nights a couple of times a month, an employee told Tysons Reporter.

For fans, the cafe sells Lost Dog-branded t-shirts, hoodies and hats in the $25-$50 range.

The Tysons location is open from 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 11 a.m.-10 p.m. on Sundays.

Vienna police are looking for the suspect who brandished a knife at customers inside the Panera Bread along Maple Avenue.

The incident occurred shortly before 9 p.m. last Friday (Aug. 23) at 136 W. Maple Avenue.

“A subject walked into the store and brandished a knife at customers inside the store,” police said. “The subject then left the store on foot prior to police arrival.”

A Panera Bread employee called the police, according to the report.

In a separate incident, police are investigating an attempted fraud involving the Giant at 359 E. Maple Avenue yesterday (Thursday).

Shortly before midnight, “a person called into Giant and impersonated a security officer for the supermarket chain in an attempt to scam one of their store employees out of a large amount of money,” police said.

“The employee realized it was a scam and hung up the phone before completing the unusual request,” police said.

Photo via Facebook

Labor Day is coming up on Monday (Sept. 2). For people staying in the Tysons area for the holiday weekend, some government facilities will be closed and public transit options will be operating on modified schedules.

Tysons Reporter has rounded up a list of public services that will be affected by the upcoming holiday.

County-wide

• All county offices, schools and libraries will be closed on Labor Day.
• The State Courts will be closed for the day.
• The Metrobus and Metrorail will adopt a Sunday schedule for Labor Day and resume typical service on Tuesday.
• The Fairfax Connector will operate on a Sunday schedule for Labor Day.
• Fairfax County Neighborhood and Community Services will be closed from Saturday (Aug. 31) until Monday (Sept. 2).
• United States Postal Service offices will be closed Labor Day.

Vienna

• The Vienna Community Center will have reduced hours on Labor Day from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m.
• The Town of Vienna’s government offices will be closed Labor Day.

McLean

• The McLean Community Center will be closed on Labor Day.

Falls Church

• The City of Falls Church’s government offices and buildings will be closed Labor Day.
• The City Council Work Session, originally scheduled for Monday, will be moved to Tuesday (Sept. 3) at 7:30 p.m. in the Community Center (223 Little Falls Street).
• The Mary Riley Styles Public Library will be closed on Sunday (Sept. 1) and Monday (Sept. 2).
• Falls Church Community Center will be closed for cleaning until Tuesday (Sept. 3).

Speaking of closed offices, Tysons Reporter will be on a break as well on Monday.

The Ice Cream Jubilee pop-up in Tysons Galleria is now closed.

The location closed its doors during the last week of July after serving customers since December 2018, according to Jenna Hahn, the vice president of operations for Ice Cream Jubilee.

“While we very much enjoyed getting to know the people of the area, we decided to focus on our permanent locations,” Hahn said.

Matthew Woods, the assistant manager of Jubilee’s Ballston spot, said the Tysons location was not meeting its sales goals.

“The foot traffic didn’t pick up during the summer as we expected it to,” Woods said, adding that sales were unusually low especially for the hot summer months.

Unlike the Tysons location, Ice Cream Jubilee in Ballston seems to be very popular according to Woods. He added that they still have a steady flow of customers despite the start of the new school year.

The left lane of eastbound Leesburg Pike at Gosnell Road is closed.

A traffic signal outage caused the lane closure, Fairfax County Police Department tweeted at 9:17 a.m.

Police are on scene, according to the tweet.

Drivers can expect delays.

TRAFFIC ALERT: The left lane of EB Leesburg Pike (Rt. 7) at Gosnell Road is closed due to a traffic signal outage. Officers are on-scene. Please use caution and expect delays. #FCPD pic.twitter.com/R9m83u5Rwa

— Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) August 30, 2019

Map via Google Maps

A few big names are coming to the Filene Center at Wolf Trap in September before summer ends.

Closing out Labor Day weekend celebrations, Grammy-award-winning singer Mary J. Blige is set to perform on Tuesday, Sept. 3. Tickets cost $45.

Later that week, Jennifer Hudson is set to bring her signature soul sound. The Grammy and Oscar winner will take the stage with the National Symphony Orchestra. Tickets are $45.

Finally, the venue will host The Gipsy Kings — a group of flamenco, salsa and pop musicians from France that is nearing its 30th anniversary.

Tickets start at $39.50 and include a digital download of The Gipsy King’s upcoming album.

The list of Wolf Trap events in September:

• Sept. 1: UB40 and Shaggy
• Sept. 3: Mary J. Blige
• Sept. 5: Jennifer Hudson and the National Symphony Orchestra
• Sept. 6: The Piano Guys
• Sept. 7: Kacey Musgraves
• Sept. 8: Gipsy Kings featuring Nicolas Reyes, Tonino Baliardo

The full Wolf Trap schedule is available online.

Photo via Wolf Trap 

The unofficial end of summer is approaching with Labor Day coming up this weekend.

Drivers can expect moderate to heavy congestion between noon-6 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 30, and Monday, Sept. 2, according to the Virginia Department of Transportation.

On Monday, HOV restrictions will be lifted on I-66 and I-395 and rush hour tolls on the 66 Express Lanes Inside the Beltway.

“With nearly 100 million Americans embarking on getaways with family this summer, and with 33% of Americans indicating they would go on at least one additional road trip, if gas prices remained low, which is occurring, odds are millions are packing up their cars for their final summertime excursion this Labor Day,” according to AAA Mid-Atlantic.

Meanwhile, the Transportation Security Administration expects 263 million passengers and crew to pass through security checkpoints nationwide from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend.

Whether you’re hopping on a plane, speeding away in a train, hitting the roads or staying local, Tysons Reporter wants to know your Labor Day weekend travel plans.

The future of 5G in Falls Church is unclear. 

The new service offers cell phone users faster speeds but is not yet available in the City of Falls Church.

Karen Jones is a member of the Falls Church Tree Commission who prepared a city plan for how to implement the new service. Though she began her research out of concerns for tree preservation, she said her research guided her down another concerning path. 

She found that in order to bring 5G services to the city, telecommunication companies would likely install transmitters  — roughly the size of a child’s backpack — on already existing infrastructure like telephone polls, streets or powerlines.

“They’re boxy, not attractive typically, and they will be put on streetlights and on the side of buildings,” she said.

The transmitters’ high frequency only reaches so far meaning they would need to be installed every 100 feet, Jones added.

She is urging the city to adopt a 5G policy since telecommunication companies could approach the city any day with a proposal.

According to the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the city has 90 days to approve or reject a plan once the Federal Communications Commission proposes implementation.

If the City of Falls Church already has a plan, Jones said they will be able to have more control over the way 5G is implemented within city limits.

To ease the aesthetic burdens of 5G, Jones spoke with several companies that specialize in covert transmitters.

Ericsson, for example, makes products that allow contractors to hide 5G antennas in the wallpaper or under carpet, according to Jones. She also discussed solutions like hiding 5G antennas under specialized manhole covers.

“There is also a significant amount of research and prototyping on transparent conductive films,” Jones said.

Jones already presented her proposal to the Tree Commission and is going to educate City Council members on the topic in the coming weeks.

“There are mediation measures that need to be considered. They need to consider this now because the FCC has embarked on this unprecedented focus of building out 5G,” Jones said. 

Photo courtesy Karen Jones

AT&T no longer has a store along Leesburg Pike by the Greensboro Metro station.

A sign in the storefront window says that the store is permanently closed in Pike 7 Plaza and encourages people to head to the store in Vienna at 211 E. Maple Avenue.

The store closed on July 17, a spokesperson for Federal Realty Properties, told Tysons Reporter.

“We apologize for any inconvenience but this location is currently closed,” the sign said.