Author: Angela Woolsey

Angela Woolsey is the site editor for FFXnow. A graduate of George Mason University, she worked as a general assignment reporter for the Fairfax County Times before joining Local News Now as the Tysons Reporter editor in 2020.

Around Town

Lake Fairfax festival, Vienna tree plantings highlight local Earth Day celebrations

By Angela Woolsey
The Lake Fairfax Marina from across the water (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

The environment will take center stage across Fairfax County over the next two days, thanks to an abundance of Arbor Day and Earth Day festivities.

The county’s headliner is the annual Earth Day Fairfax festival, which has relocated to Lake Fairfax Park (1400 Lake Fairfax Drive) in Reston this year after previously taking place at the Sully Historic Site in Chantilly.

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News

Resource center for adults with disabilities launches in Hybla Valley

By Angela Woolsey
The nonprofit SPARC celebrates the opening of its new Hybla Valley Community Center location and launch of a Mobile Exploration Lab with a ribbon-cutting (courtesy SPARC)

A nonprofit that provides day programs for adults with disabilities has expanded its services to Hybla Valley.

Joined by local and state-level elected officials as well as program participants and their families, Specially Adapted Resource Centers (SPARC) celebrated the opening of its newest site at the Hybla Valley Community Center (7950 Audubon Avenue) with a ribbon-cutting ceremony last Friday (April 17).

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News

Reston-based startup rolls out on-demand laundry services lockers

By Angela Woolsey
Washera lockers at Venture X Brambleton (courtesy Washera)

A fresh startup headquartered at Reston Station is testing the waters for its automated, contact-free laundry services lockers.

Washera deployed the lockers in public for the first time earlier this month at the coworking offices Venture X Brambleton (23710 Schooler Plaza) in Loudoun County, founder and CEO Ali Alawad told FFXnow.

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Around Town

Taste of Vienna returns with dozens of food vendors, cake-eating contest

By Angela Woolsey
Taste of Vienna banner over Maple Avenue (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

Taste of Vienna is set to return this weekend, putting a spotlight on local restaurants while also raising funds for the Vienna Volunteer Fire Department (Vienna VFD).

The 13th annual food festival will take over the fire department’s parking lot at 400 Center Street South from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. this Saturday (April 25).

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Countywide

Warner challenger among three congressional candidates fined for wagering on elections

By Associated Press and Angela Woolsey
FILE - The prediction market app Kalshi is displayed on a mobile phone, April 16, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley, File)

Three congressional candidates wagered on the outcome of their own elections on Kalshi, according to the prediction market, which said yesterday (Wednesday) that it fined and suspended the men from their platform for five years.

It is the latest high-profile case of alleged insider trading on prediction markets including Kalshi and Polymarket, which have brought bipartisan scrutiny from Congress and calls for stricter regulations of the websites where people can put money on just about anything.

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Countywide

Fairfax County voters supported redistricting amendment except in four precincts

By Angela Woolsey
Campaign signs for and against Virginia's constitutional amendment on redistricting outside Daniels Run Elementary School in Fairfax City (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

Fairfax County is poised to be split up into five Congressional districts after Virginia voters narrowly passed a constitutional amendment yesterday (Tuesday) that will let the General Assembly adopt a new map outside the standard once-a-decade redistricting cycle.

Statewide, it was a tight race, with about 51.5% of voters backing the referendum and 48.4% opposing it — a difference of approximately 97,600 votes out of the more than 3.1 million ballots cast, according to preliminary results from the Virginia Department of Elections.

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Around Town

Tysons Galleria’s closing Saks Fifth Avenue might turn into a fitness center

By Angela Woolsey
Doors closed on the upper level of Saks Fifth Avenue at Tysons Galleria (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

Tysons Galleria hasn’t bid farewell to Saks Fifth Avenue yet, but a potential new occupant for the emptying space has already emerged.

The chain Onelife Fitness is proposing to convert the two-story department store into a full-service fitness facility with exercise areas, studios and other indoor recreational amenities, according to Wire Gill land use attorney Evan Pritchard.

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Countywide

BREAKING: Va. voters approve redistricting amendment, as Fairfax results pour in

By Angela Woolsey and Associated Press
A "vote yes" sign for the April 21 special election on the redistricting constitutional amendment outside the Vienna Community Center (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

Virginia voters appear to have approved a constitutional amendment to allow a one-time, mid-decade redistricting effort in today’s tightly contested special election.

While opponents initially led based on early voting, ballots reported later in the evening by Fairfax County and other heavily Democratic jurisdictions in Northern Virginia tipped the scales in favor of supporters, according to preliminary results reported by the Virginia Department of Elections.

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News

Fairfax High student sentenced to jail for groping multiple girls

By Angela Woolsey
Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney Steve Descano speaks outside the Fairfax County Courthouse following a Fairfax High School student's sentencing for assault (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

A Fairfax High School student will serve more than four months in jail for reportedly groping multiple girls in the school’s halls.

Israel Christopher Flores Ortiz, an 18-year-old who’s currently a junior at Fairfax High, was sentenced today (Tuesday) to 180 days in jail for each of the nine fellow students he was found guilty of assaulting earlier this year.

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News

FCFRD: Herndon-area apartment fire started by smoking materials in mulch

By Angela Woolsey
The Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department responds to fire at the Kendrick Court Senior Apartments in McNair (via FCFRD)

Three people were forced out of their homes last week by an apartment fire in the Herndon area that investigators say resulted from improperly discarded smoking materials.

The Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department was dispatched at 12:42 p.m. last Wednesday (April 15) for reports of an outdoor fire that was spreading to the Kendrick Court Senior Apartments building (13430 Coppermine Road) in McNair.

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