Morning Notes

Local Task Force Deployed to Turkey — “Members of Virginia Task Force 1 in Fairfax County are making plans to head to Turkey and Syria after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit parts of the countries, killing thousands of people and leaving thousands of others missing among the rubble. The task force team will consist of 79 people and six dogs, the task force said in a tweet Monday afternoon.” [Patch]

County Honors Partners in Covid Response — “On Saturday, Feb. 4, more than 1,000 community members and organizations gathered at the Fairfax County Government Center for an official recognition ceremony hosted by the Health Department and the Board of Supervisors.” [Fairfax County]

Fairfax Connector Launches New Route — Fairfax Connector held a ribbon-cutting yesterday for its newest route: Route 660, “a new, limited-stop, weekday express service that operates from Centreville to the Tysons Metrorail Station, via the Fairfax County Government Center and Vienna Metrorail Station. Route 660 operates in the I-66 Express Lanes every ten minutes in both directions.” [Fairfax Connector]

Virginia May Ease Emissions Rules for Data Centers — “Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality says it may loosen emissions rules so those server farms can get more power from emergency generators this spring instead of the grid amid energy supply worries.” The department is “concerned” about “severe, localized constraints in electricity transmission” in Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties. [Northern Virginia Magazine]

Fort Belvoir Gets New Cafe — “A new café featuring a mix of Vietnamese, Mediterranean and Mexican foods opened in December at the Fort Belvoir Community Center. HarpaZo, operated by Ngoc Pham, offers a variety of fresh house-made sandwiches, tacos, bowls, sides and beverages, as well as a breakfast sandwich served on toasted Vietnamese baguette.” [On the MoVe]

Local Newspaper “Effectively” Shutters — “The Sun Gazette newspaper has not published new articles on its website since Friday and may have printed its last edition.” Key staff from the outlet, which covered Arlington and parts of Fairfax County, have been hired for a new paper called Gazette Leader that will launch later this week. [ARLnow]

Local Teen Is Aces at Pickleball — “At just 18 years old, Fairfax County’s Alix Truong is one of the top pickleball players in the country…A multi-sport high school athlete, Truong took up pickleball with her dad during the pandemic, realized she was a natural, and is now winning tournaments on the APP pro tour.” [ABC7]

Learn About Spring Street Widening Construction — The Virginia Department of Transportation will hold a meeting Monday, Feb. 13 at the Herndon Community Center “on the work underway in the area of Spring Street and Herndon Parkway to improve safety and operations for drivers and safety, accessibility and connectivity for bicyclists and pedestrians.” [VDOT]

It’s Tuesday — Mostly cloudy throughout the day. High of 54 and low of 31. Sunrise at 7:10 am and sunset at 5:38 pm. [Weather.gov]