The weekend has almost arrived. Before you head out to take in some cherry blossoms or catch up on some much-needed sleep, let’s revisit any recent news from the Tysons area that you might’ve missed from the past week.
These were the most-read stories on Tysons Reporter this week:
- Fairfax County opens COVID-19 vaccine appointments to all “Phase 1b” groups
- Vienna Police: Girl harassed outside Dunkin Donuts, man seeks to dump cannonball
- Police identify driver in fatal crash on Arlington Boulevard
- Man dies after crash on Arlington Boulevard in Merrifield
- Deadline for comments on proposed Vienna Metro improvements coming Monday
Ideas for stories we should cover can be sent to [email protected] or submitted as an anonymous tip. Photos of scenes from around the community are welcome too, with credit always given to the photographer.
You can find previous rundowns of top stories on the site.
Photo by Joanne Liebig
Want to get in touch with the team bringing you news about Tysons, McLean, Vienna, Falls Church and Merrifield?
Send news tips, press releases, and feedback to [email protected] or use our anonymous message form. Our news team does not have a phone line for inbound calls.
In addition, we invite readers to share photos they have taken from around the Tysons area. Submitted pictures may be boosted on our social media or included in our Morning Notes posts, with credit always given to the photographer.
The best way to send photos is to email us or tag/direct message us on our social media accounts (Instagram, Twitter and Facebook), which can also be used to contact the news team.
For advertising inquiries, please contact [email protected].
As 2020 draws to a close, Tysons Reporter is looking back on the stories that defined the past year.
Unsurprisingly, COVID-19 was at the forefront of people’s minds locally as well as nationally. Readership spiked when the pandemic shut down Fairfax County in the middle of March and again toward the end of May, when Northern Virginia prepared to reopen.
Still, the past 12 months brought plenty of more conventional changes to the Tysons area as well.
The arrival of Wegmans to Capital One Drive in November generated much excitement, as did the introduction of the electric, self-driving Relay shuttle at the Mosaic District in Merrifield.
Fairfax County saw record levels of voter turnout for the Nov. 3 general election, while local officials considered tackling issues from affordable housing to abandoned shopping carts.
McLean residents debated the future of their downtown and the Interstate 495 corridor, and Vienna residents continued to report unusual crimes, as their town moved forward with plans for a new police station.
Overall, it was an eventful, often challenging year. Here are Tysons Reporter’s top 10 most-viewed articles of 2020:
- Tysons Corner Center reopened stores in May with COVID-19 restrictions in place.
- A Tysons office worker tested positive for COVID-19.
- The Sheraton Tysons Hotel permanently closed on Apr. 3 as the hospitality industry reeled from the pandemic.
- Government and community facilities in Fairfax County, Vienna, and the City of Falls Church closed in mid-March.
- Tysons Reporter got a preview of Showplace Icon ahead of the movie theater’s grand opening on Mar. 6.
- Northern Virginia delayed joining the state’s phased reopening plan in May as COVID-19 hospitalizations in the Fairfax Health District increased.
- Brio closed its Tysons Corner Center restaurant in January with no official explanation.
- A worker at a Fairfax Square office building in Tysons tested positive for COVID-19 in March.
- Videos captured parachuters jumping off a building under construction on the Capital One campus in early April.
- Local protests against racism and police brutality led the Walmart in Tysons to close early on June 5.
Photo courtesy Ed Schudel
Tysons Reporter’s parent company, Local News Now, is proud to announce three new full-time hires.
These hires, two of which are for newly-created positions, are made possible by a strong recovery in LNN’s advertising business since the depths of the pandemic-induced recession. We were further emboldened to add to our team, despite uncertainty about the economy and the pandemic, by our Patreon community and the support provided by readers.
LNN publishes Tysons Reporter, as well as ARLnow, ALXnow, and Reston Now. We also provide sales and technical services to PoPville.
The new hires will allow us to improve the breadth and depth of our local journalism, while also strengthening our increasingly-popular sponsored content offerings.
Angela Woolsey is joining us as the new Tysons Reporter editor, replacing Catherine Douglas Moran, who is now an Associate Editor at Industry Dive. Angela was formerly a general assignment reporter for the Fairfax County Times.
Jo DeVoe is joining us as a reporter and copy editor for ARLnow and Tysons Reporter. She joins us from Hearst newspapers in Connecticut, including the Greenwich Time, where she primarily reported on education.
Carson Kohler will be joining the team on Nov. 2 as our new Content Marketing Manager, helping advertising clients maximize their sponsored content investment with us and better engage our readers. She is currently a writer with The Penny Hoarder.
Additionally, Scott Fields will be joining us as a part-time contributor, providing coverage for both our Arlington and our Fairfax County sites.
Thank you to our Northern Virginia and D.C. communities for your support and readership. We look forward to continuing to find ways to better serve you.
We’re looking for photos of what it’s like to live, work or play in Tysons, Vienna, McLean, Falls Church or Merrifield.
Jay Westcott, the staff photographer for our parent company Local News Now, will be off until September. Until his return, we’re looking to showcase photos from our readers for our Morning Notes posts and our Instagram.
Are you working in-person? Shopping at the mall? Going for a run along the W&OD Trail? Snap a few pictures on a professional camera or your smartphone and send them to us in a large file format, along with the name you’d like the photos credited to.
You can reach us at [email protected] or tag/direct message us on our social media accounts (Instagram, Twitter and Facebook).
We’re looking for photos of what it’s like to live, work or play in Tysons, Vienna, McLean, Falls Church or Merrifield.
Jay Westcott, the staff photographer for our parent company Local News Now, recently underwent successful hip surgery and is about to start physical therapy. He’ll likely be off until September, so until his return, we’re looking to showcase photos from our readers for our Morning Notes posts and our Instagram.
Are you working in-person? Shopping at the mall? Going for a run along the W&OD Trail? Snap a few pictures on a professional camera or your smartphone and send them to us in a large file format, along with the name you’d like the photos credited to.
You can reach us at [email protected] or tag/direct message us on our social media accounts (Instagram, Twitter and Facebook).
Yesterday, we chatted with outgoing reporter Ashley Hopko about covering the coronavirus pandemic, holding elected officials accountable, learning new beats and much more.
Hopko joined Tysons Reporter’s parent company Local News Now a year ago as part of the Poynter-Koch Media and Journalism Fellowship. During her time reporting primarily for Tysons Reporter and our sister site Reston Now, she covered a range of stories, from taking the lead to create weekly profiles of local startups to interviewing teens about their startups and fundraisers.
When not reporting for the two sites, Hopko worked on a media project documenting the challenges Mexican journalists face, which won first place in the fellowship’s competition.
Today is her last day.
Listen below to the podcast, which was produced by Catherine Douglas Moran, Tysons Reporter’s editor. Due to the work from home arrangement, the audio was recorded during a phone call, so pardon the occasional scratchiness.
Here are the articles mentioned in the podcast:
- Looming Liquor Tax Increase Forces Falls Church Distillery to Scale Back
- Falls Church Distillers Making Hand Sanitizer to Minimize Shortage
- Fairfax NAACP President Talks Black Lives Matter Movement
- Alcorn Addressing Damage Concerns With Tysons Restoration Project
Here are some of Hopko’s many startup stories:
- From Fingerprints to Facial Features: Tysons Startup Looks to Streamline Identifications
- Founder Shares Local Startup Journey, Staying Active in Tysons
- Student Startup TeenServ Gains Traction With Local High Schools
- Tysons Startup Uses Artificial Intelligence to Help Non-Profits
- Tysons Startup Sud Stud Seeking Solution to Slippery Situations
Music in podcast courtesy Bensound.com
Local News Now is the company behind the site you’re reading. We aren’t usually very visible or vocal, preferring to let the reporting of our Northern Virginia local news brands — ARLnow, ALXnow, Tysons Reporter, Reston Now — speak for itself.
LNN does not endorse candidates nor publish editorials. But today we would like to make the following statement, the first of its kind in our company’s 10-year history.
Black lives matter.
We are far from the first company to state this incontrovertible fact, but it bears repeating. Black lives matter and the threat from systemic racism and racial injustice needs to be addressed by urgent policy reforms and an honest ongoing discussion.
To that end, our sites will continue our local reporting on matters related to inequitable policies, misconduct by those in authority, and the concerns of marginalized communities. We will keep reporting without fear or favor, with a facts-first approach that illuminates and informs.
We believe that impartiality can coexist in journalism with deeply held principles. For instance, belief in free speech, our democratic system, and the importance of small business is widely held among U.S.-based local news publications, including ours. We do not try to “balance” election stories by saying that some do not believe in democracy and fair elections. It’s just a given that elections are a positive part of our society.
Likewise, we also believe that Black lives matter and believe in LGBTQ equality, and do not feel the need to provide a counterpoint to either in our reporting. The worth of a human life and equal treatment under a law are objectively positive things. There’s no debate, no second side that needs to be heard in order to be impartial.
We recognize that there has been room to evolve our approach to local news over the years. More about some of the changes we have implemented can be found here. We will continue to evaluate our reporting and approach to covering the community as we move forward.
Today is Juneteenth, which celebrates the emancipation of remaining enslaved persons at the end of the Civil War. We are giving our employees — who have tirelessly covered the pandemic and protests over the past few months — the afternoon off as a time of reflection. We hope that our readers also use this opportunity to reflect on the challenge of achieving racial justice in this country, including here at home.
You might have spotted a new byline on Tysons Reporter. Say hello to Madeline Taylor, the summer intern for Tysons Reporter and our sister sites Reston Now and ARLnow.
She is a rising junior at the George Washington University, where she majors in journalism and mass communication and minors in psychology. During the school year, Taylor reports stories and helps with production for her college’s TV station and also is a member of the GW dance team “First Ladies.”
Local News Now, the parent company of Tysons Reporter, is her first journalism internship.
“I’m so excited to be interning for Local News Now this summer and to be writing my first published articles,” she said. “Thanks, [LNN’s publisher] Scott, for taking a chance on me during these unprecedented times.”
During her three weeks here, she’s already had several bylines for Tysons Reporter. So far, Taylor’s reporting has ranged from covering how the Town of Vienna nixed its 130th birthday party plans for a virtual race to interviewing local restaurant owners on how they reimagined their eateries’ openings during the pandemic.
Originally from Wheaton, Ill., a suburb of Chicago, Taylor will cover all things local news in Northern Virginia this summer.
“I’m looking forward to covering local happenings and expanding my worldview by interviewing a wide variety of people,” Taylor said.
We’re looking for your photos of what it’s like to live, work or play in Tysons, Vienna, McLean, Falls Church or Merrifield during the coronavirus.
What does it look like to social distance in an urbanizing area? How crowded is the W&OD Trail? Where are people going to get outside but stay away from crowds?
Whether you snap pictures on a professional camera or your smartphone, we are always interested in sharing your photos (with credit to you!) in our Morning Notes on weekdays or on social media.
The best way to send photos is to email us at [email protected] or tag/direct message us on our social media accounts (Instagram, Twitter and Facebook).
