Hoagies are on the horizon for Fairfax County.

Wawa, the convenience store chain with a cult following, just reiterated its commitment to opening stores around the county, and said that the store models may be unique to the area.

“Fairfax County and Northern Virginia is a really important market for us,” Wawa CEO Chris Gheysens was quoted as saying in a WTOP article Thursday. “We are looking at strategically bending our store model to get more access to that area and plan to announce some openings in that area coming up.”

Wawa currently has two stores in Northern Virginia — in Sterling and Chantilly. It also has two locations in the District — a store new Dupont Circle that opened late last year and a new location in Georgetown that opened yesterday.

A Wawa rep confirmed to Tysons Reporter last month that it was “actively looking for new locations in Vienna and look[s] forward to sharing confirms plans and locations as they take shape,” leading to julibation on social media. The company has previously said that it is hoping to open 30-50 stores total in the D.C. area.

Photo courtesy Grant/PoPville.com

What to Do About Backyard Wildlife — “Don’t pet or feed wild animals. In fact, local animal control encourages you to ‘haze’ them if at all possible. As winter sets in, homes around Fairfax County could look particularly appealing to animals looking for a refuge for the cold weather or a bite to eat.” [Reston Now]

Flood Watch Today — The area remains under a Flood Watch through 6 p.m. as rain continues today. Some storms may form later in the day. This evening, the solstice will usher in winter on the shortest day and longest night of the year. [FairfaxNews, Capital Weather Gang]

Winter Weather Reminder — “Today is officially the first day of winter! Enjoy the season but stay safe and warm. Sign up for Fairfax Alerts to stay informed on winter weather.” [Twitter, Fairfax Alerts]

Holiday Grocery Store Hours — Patch has a list of grocery stores around the Tysons area and the hours for each on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Most grocery stores will be closed on Dec. 25, though some will be open with reduced hours. [Patch]

A man who was unloading his handgun near Silver Diner in Tysons accidentally shot himself Wednesday morning.

The shooting happened “outside of a business” on the 8100 block of Fletcher Street, just before 9:30 a.m., according to police. That block is home to Silver Diner and a Capital One Bank branch, though an FCPD spokesperson said the department “[does] not include the business if it was not directly involved.”

The man shot himself in the leg, suffering non-life-threatening injuries.

“A witness and officers rendered aid,” police said in a crime report. “He was taken to a local hospital with injuries that are not life threatening.”

“Officers confirmed the man lawfully possessed the gun,” the crime report added. “The Office of the Commonwealth Attorney will be consulted for any possible charges.”

Map via Google Maps

Across all of Fairfax County, Tysons has the highest concentration of cybersecurity companies with headquarters or major operations.

According to a list put together by the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority (FCEDA), Tysons has 119 cybersecurity companies, the most of any jurisdiction in the county. Tysons is followed by Reston with 79 companies and Herndon with 68 companies.

Economic groups have been working to turn Tysons into a Silicon Valley for cybersecurity. Bringing in more tech companies, and how that could impact education and infrastructure challenges around the region, was a major theme of the Tysons 2050 event

Some of the cybersecurity companies — or companies with cybersecurity components — in Tysons include:

• BAE Systems — a defense, security and aerospace company
• Centurum — a network engineering and infrastructure company
• Cyren — a cloud-based internet security services company
• Dell EMC — a data storage and management company acquired by Dell in 2016.
• HumanTouch — a private and public sector cybersecurity company
• Leidos — a defense and intelligence industry focused cybersecurity company
• Merlin International — a cybersecurity company focusing on both government and commercial contracts
• Microstrategy — a data analytics company
• MITRE — a not-for-profit company that operates research and development centers
• Nehemiah Security — a cyber-risk assessment business
• Novetta Solutions — a data-analytics focused business
• OBXtek — a technical and logistics solutions company which works primarily with the federal government
• Preferred Systems Solutions — an IT management, development, and operation company
• PFP Cybersecurity — a cybersecurity company utilizing analog signals to assess the integrity of digital information
• Raytheon — a major defense contractor
• RSA — a commercial-focused cybersecurity company
• Strategic Operational Solutions — an IT strategy and management consulting firm
• Tangible Security — a cybersecurity company
• Tanium — an endpoint security and systems management company
• Trustwave — a business-focused cybersecurity company
• Veris Group — a Tysons cyber-risk assessor that acquired in 2016 by cybersecurity company Coalfire
• Verodin — a cybersecurity management company

There are also several major cybersecurity companies located around the Merrifield area, including:

• Cisco Systems — an IT, networking and cybersecurity company
• Harris Corporation — a company built on improving business’ cybersecurity effectiveness
• Kingfisher Systems, Inc. — a cybersecurity contractor
• Lockheed Martin — a global security and aerospace company
• TEKsystems — an IT staffing company

Photo via FCEDA

Union Hill isn’t anywhere close to Tysons, but state Del. Mark Keam (D-35) is taking an active role in a fight against a controversial gas compressor station proposed to be built in Buckingham County neighborhood.

Yesterday (Wednesday) the State Air Pollution Control Board delayed a decision on whether or not to approve a piece of Dominion Energy’s $7 billion Atlantic Coast natural-gas pipeline.

The board voted 3 to 1 in favor of a delay in approval, but a new vote was not scheduled.

Staff from Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality said at the meeting that the area around the compressor was sparsely populated and did not have historic resources of significance.

But local community members have repeatedly protested contested staff’s findings. Keam says he’s in the nearby residents’ corner and told Tysons Reporter there’s reason for concern in his home district.

Keam – "I also cannot sit idly by while a neighborhood of low-income, elderly African Americans in Union Hill is about to be destroyed by a compressor station constructed near the sacred grounds where freed slaves are buried in unmarked graves."

— Blue Virginia (@bluevirginia) December 20, 2018

“[Dominion] has used misleading data that covers a broader range,” said Keam, referring to a census cited in DEQ reports. “But if you go neighborhood to neighborhood, it shows that these [residences] are very close and more condensed. I went around there and I can tell you that there are houses within eyesight of this location.”

Keam’s assessment goes against the findings of DEQ staff, which reiterated at yesterday’s meeting that a failed attempt to have Union Hill recognized by the Department of Historic Resources further cemented staff’s findings that the area surrounding the proposed compressor station does not qualify for historic protections.

While DEQ staff said the broader census data shows no greater concentration of minorities than the rest of the state, local residents characterized Union Hill as a historic African-American neighborhood settled by freedmen and emancipated slaves following the Civil War.

Keam said staff’s findings are the result of understaffing and over-reliance on information provided by Dominion:

I’ve had deep concerns about this from the get-go. DEQ only has a few people that work on these things. Like most government agencies, they are overworked and understaffed… The fact that they have to rely on applicant, I understand that’s the process, but something like this that’s so controversial… it would really beg the question why DEQ isn’t spending more time looking into these issues. I’m hoping this will give everyone a chance to come to consensus. But it tells you, if they’re willing to overlook this, what else are they overlooking.

Keam acknowledged that he would still have been opposed to the compressor station even if it weren’t at Union Hill, pointing to concerns that the federal law authorizing the pipeline allowed Dominion Energy to cite its own affiliates as the customers when making a case for the pipeline’s economic necessity.

At the Atlantic Coast Pipeline website, Dominion Energy says the new pipeline will save consumers an estimated $377 million in energy costs, but Keam said existing underground pipelines are only being used at 50 percent capacity, so Keam said a new line won’t necessarily mean Northern Virginia will see a decrease in energy costs, but that Dominion Energy will push the costs to build the pipeline onto the consumer.

“Our power lines are fine,” said Keam. “It’s not going to have any impact on getting more or less power. But if Dominion is spending, eventually someone will have to pay for it, and that’s ratepayers like you and I. Whatever cost, they get to spread to its ratepayers.”

Finally, Keam argues that the placement of the various compressor stations, like one on Native American land in North Carolina, further shows the oppressive mechanisms at work behind the pipeline.

“You’re not going to see [this compressor station] in McLean or Tysons,” Keam said. “This is land they bought for pennies on the dollar where [the residents] are the descendants of slaves. It’s racial injustice.”

Photo via Twitter

(Updated 3:30) There’s lots of new development around Tysons, but one of the more unusual is a series of residential buildings constructed last night inside the Tysons Biergarten, made entirely from gingerbread.

The Tysons Biergarten is normally a pretty adult-oriented place, one of the few hotspots of the local nightlife, but yesterday (Wednesday) evening the Biergarten toned down the “bier” part and hosted its 3rd annual toy drive for local youth shelter Second Story. The event included gingerbread house making with youth involved with Second Story and a visit by Santa.

The event was the culmination of a month of toy collection at the Biergarten, where over fifty toys were collected. An earlier fundraiser for the organization raised $500.

Second Story, formerly known as Alternative House, is a youth services and safe shelter near Tysons that was founded in 1972.

The shelter offers a variety of programs, from caring for infants and young mothers to helping teenagers and young adults in distress, and offers a crisis shelter for teens for up to three weeks at a time. It also provides counseling for anyone in need across any of the shelter’s programsand offers longer-term support programs, like rent assistance and help with applications and training.

Abigail Brougher, a communications specialist for Second Story, said the Tysons Biergarten event, along with toy drives hosted by the Tysons Partnership and Tysons Corner Center, mean the shelter will be able to make sure every child and youth involved with the program is able to get a Christmas present.

“Second Story is so thankful for relationships in Tysons,” said Brougher. “It’s important to us to be able to give out toys at Christmas and they are all donated.”

Brougher said there’s no total tally of toys and funds raised yet, and it won’t be counted until after the holiday season, but roughly speaking the shelter has received hundreds of toys.

“Our two objectives are providing safe havens and opportunities,” said Brougher. “The opportunity to have that Christmas experience is important to us.”

While it’s a little late in the year to still give toys, Brougher said there’s still plenty that Tysonians can do to support the shelter year-round. Tysons Corner Center is also still collecting toys until Monday, Dec. 24, at the Santa HQ outside the Nordstrom.

“The biggest thing is to get involved,” said Brougher. “We have tours once a month. That is a really important way to learn about Second Story. We hold them on the second Tuesday of the month and you can sign up online. You get to tour our teen shelter, see where young people are staying, and learn more.”

For those looking to learn more about the shelter but can’t make it out for a tour, Brougher said Second Story also recently finished the first season of its podcast, which interviews people who went through the program.

“We have so much support from the Tysons community,” said Brougher. “They’re a huge part of us being able to do what we do.”

https://www.facebook.com/TysonsBiergarten/videos/375456116351572/?__xts__[0]=68.ARCx2HOlHfUy8WA2QtNQ7hRCyru8ha-sA061a0OmRhoyBJkKdKoIAguX0NV_QYREVK2LpwhY9yQQWCfGNm7gACS9oWqV6vFcoIJZD-Aaotc6ttAhKvWvB04iNuEUO0fcUk3KzCp4KD2zxpEeMcqiPDM_NkUdEJcC2RIQUnNZlhd5OSRl6rJqallOPR6hLg20_Bnh3oTyZ9cYPWQWwOWDtkDxZ4VbzLOkyXVu75AnEVSNjiuDWxYkQ7ct9SqH1Cz34zYsCcQorno-jo34M0ZVQ_KkI8H-0e64jiUI-WYn1B5v3_dcWLrO3LskB9zAtt1lANF9dRckRJSkIBL6X7JNTNkUEVFCJgIiTNs1yaMn6ur9LnLVp1Kn_A0euqYwcIrgdAiTqC2twFMx2nKeoJoAc83fu8H8u2eCJ_t3QFt8JyZjr4x2-0gXlJr-HV6TsQ&__tn__=-R

Photo courtesy Matt Rofougaran

Two women in their 20s were arrested at Tysons Corner Center Tuesday night and now face a dozen criminal charges apiece.

Police say the women, both 27 and from California, used a stolen credit card to buy merchandise and then returned it to a store in the mall for credit to their personal accounts. Police were called and followed the women as they ran out of the store, according to Fairfax County Police.

“The officers followed and arrested both women,” FCPD said in a crime report. The pair “were found to have numerous stolen credit cards in their possession” and “charged with eight counts of credit card theft, two counts of defrauding a merchant, receiving goods from credit card, and identity fraud.”

Silver Line Phase 2 Could Be Delayed — “Nearly 300 cracks have formed in buildings at the new Metro facility that will house and maintain railcars for the Silver Line extension to Dulles Airport and Loudoun County, News4 has learned. In addition, the rail yard project, located on airport grounds, will be delayed because of significant construction and contract issues. That’s leading to concerns that the entire Silver Line project will face yet another setback.” [NBC 4]

Addressing Anxiety in McLean — “As part of a yearlong focus on anxiety, the Safe Community Coalition (SCC), in conjunction with the McLean High School PTSA, hosted the IndieFlix Original documentary “Angst: Raising Awareness Around Anxiety” on Thursday, Dec. 6, 2018, at McLean High School.” [McLean Connection]

Mover Accused of Stealing from Home — “A moving crew was helping move items into one room of a home in [Vienna] between 12:30 p.m. and 2:15 p.m. The resident believed one of the movers had been acting suspiciously. After the moving crew left, the resident found jewelry missing from the home.” [Patch]

(Updated 7:20 a.m.) Fairfax County Police say a pizza delivery driver was finishing up a delivery on Monday in the Gates of McLean neighborhood in Tysons East when he saw a man climb into the car and drive off.

According to a crime report, the theft took place around 10 p.m. The vehicle was unlocked with the keys in the ignition and the engine on while the delivery driver went up to the residence to drop off the food.

“While returning to his vehicle, he saw a man get in his car and drive off,” FCPD said.

“Officers found the car with the man sitting in the driver’s seat. Stolen property belonging to a resident that lived nearby was located inside of the vehicle as well,” said police. “Michael Louk, 47, no fixed address, was charged with auto theft, vehicle trespassing, and grand larceny.”

Photo courtesy Fairfax County Police Department

(Updated 2:30 p.m.) If you’re looking for a last minute holiday gift, the Torpedo Factory Artists’ Association’s location in the Mosaic District will be offering (relatively) affordable art until this coming Sunday, Dec. 23.

The ≤500 exhibit features a range of art types with a focus on affordability, all items being priced at or below $500. The artwork in the gallery includes painting, photography, and glass mosaics.

The gallery is open Wednesday through Sunday from 11 a.m.-7 p.m.

After the ≤500 exhibit closes on Sunday, a new exhibit called “Voyages” will run from Dec. 26 through Jan. 27 and “MicroResidencies” from Jan. 30 through March 3.

The Mosaic gallery is managed by the Torpedo Factory Artists’ Association. The Mosaic gallery opened at 105 District Ave in April this year, on a one-year lease, after a short run in November 2017 as a pop-up gallery.