Morning Notes

Reminder: Last Day to Ride Self-Driving Shuttle — “Relay, the autonomous electric shuttle, is scheduled to take its final spin around Merrifield’s Mosaic District on Friday. The pilot project designed to test the effectiveness of driverless public transportation will be coming to an end.” [Patch]

McLean’s Spring Hill Road to Close — Spring Hill Road between Georgetown Pike and Old Dominion Drive will be closed from Monday, June 26 through Thursday, June 29 between 9 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. each day “for a pipe replacement…Through traffic will be detoured via Old Dominion Drive, Towlston Road (Route 676) and Georgetown Pike” [VDOT]

GMU Professor Loses “Anti-Male Bias” Lawsuit — An appeals court rejected George Mason University psychology professor Todd Kashdan’s argument that the university discriminated against him when it punished him for sexual harassment. Kashdan was barred from teaching graduate students for two years, among other measures, after four female students reported him for “repeated inappropriate comments and behavior.” [The Washington Post]

Teens Charged with Springfield Smoke Shop Burglary — “Four teenagers from Lorton have been arrested for a brazen smoke shop burglary in Fairfax County last month. The teens were caught on camera ramming a stolen car into the Smoke Bazaar store on May 21…Detectives determined two of the teen suspects were also connected to two additional commercial burglaries a week before at different Springfield smoke shops.” [WUSA9]

No Takers for Vacant Falls Church Motel — “The Stratford Motor Lodge has been an eyesore for neighbors and passerbyers since it closed and was boarded up in 2021…Development proposals have come and gone — including a senior living center and a Wawa convenience store — but high construction costs and interest rates have presented challenges to soliciting proposals.” [Falls Church News-Press]

Fairfax City Police Introduce Hybrid Vehicles — “The City of Fairfax Police Department recently rolled out its first four hybrid vehicles…The new Hybrid Ford Police Interceptor Explorers are a step toward modernizing the city’s fleet of public safety vehicles to meet the current and future needs of residents, the city, and the environment while maintaining the highest performance and safety standards.” [City of Fairfax]

Lorton Woman Added to World Cup Team — “Two soccer players from Northern Virginia have made the U.S. Women’s National Team for this summer’s Women’s World Cup. Defender Emily Fox from Ashburn and midfielder Andi Sullivan from Lorton were named to the 23-woman roster announced earlier this week.” [Inside NoVA]

Herndon Roofing Company Pursues Expansion — “Beacon, a Herndon roofing and building materials company that has been aggressively expanding throughout the U.S., has opened three new distribution centers in New England, northeast Ohio and southwest Virginia…The company has now opened 10 new distribution centers…since January and intends to add five more by the end of the year.” [Washington Business Journal]

It’s Friday — Showers and possibly a thunderstorm. High near 81. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. At night: Scattered showers and thunderstorms, mainly between 8pm and 2am. Low around 69. [Weather.gov]