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

Brunch-focused cafe First Watch opening in Franconia with free coffee

By Angela Woolsey
First Watch serves breakfast, brunch and lunch dishes (courtesy First Watch)

A daytime-only cafe in Franconia will get next week off to an energetic start, offering free coffee to diners as part of its grand opening on Monday (March 18).

First Watch, a fast-casual restaurant chain based in Florida, will open its latest Fairfax County location in the Festival at Manchester Lakes shopping center (7027C Manchester Blvd) at 7 a.m. Free cups of coffee from Project Sunrise will come with every meal through Friday, March 22.

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Around Town

Women’s fashion boutique makes move to Tysons after 36 years in Arlington

By Angela Woolsey
The clothing store Daniel's Boutique is moving to Tysons after 36 years in Crystal City (courtesy Mona Rashidi)

(Updated at 11:50 a.m. on 3/19/2024) A local wardrobe consultant who has worked with celebrities like Kim Kardashian is setting up shop in Tysons.

Nasrin Rashidi hopes to reopen Daniel’s Boutique, the women’s clothing store that she owns with her husband, Sasan, at 8150 Leesburg Pike in early April. Named after the couple’s son, the business had operated in Crystal City for 36 years until closing its location there on Dec. 17.

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News

FCPD: Driver dies after head-on collision with Tesla in Fairfax Station

By Angela Woolsey
Fairfax County Parkway and Ox Road in Fairfax Station (via Google Maps)

(Updated at 4 p.m.) An 81-year-old man from Fairfax Station was driving in the wrong direction on Fairfax County Parkway when he fatally collided with a Tesla this morning (Thursday), police say.

Officers responded to the parkway at 12:06 a.m. after getting a call for a crash involving a 2002 Chevrolet Trailblazer and a 2022 Tesla sedan just north of the Ox Road (Route 123) interchange, according to the Fairfax County Police Department.

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News

Proposed Hilton hotel in Tysons encounters skepticism from county staff

By Angela Woolsey
The south entrance of the proposed Hilton hotel in Scotts Run (via Fairfax County)

Fairfax County staff aren’t sold on a development proposal to replace a planned office building in Scotts Run with a dual-branded Hilton hotel.

Developer Cityline Partners is seeking to construct a 17-story hotel building with a four-level parking garage at the intersection of Dolley Madison Blvd and Anderson Road in the Tysons neighborhood.

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News

Driver charged with DUI, manslaughter after fatal pedestrian crash on Beltway

By Angela Woolsey
Virginia State Police vehicle (photo by John Calhoun/JC Photography)

A driver involved in one of the two fatal pedestrian crashes that occurred on the Capital Beltway this past Sunday (March 10) was allegedly intoxicated and didn’t have a valid license, according to the Virginia State Police.

Carlos Nunez Morales, a 26-year-old Woodbridge resident, has been charged with driving under the influence, involuntary manslaughter and driving with a revoked or suspended license after police say he hit and killed a pedestrian on I-495 near the Telegraph Road exit in the Rose Hill area.

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News

Flat real estate tax rate, new paid family leave policy proposed in Vienna budget

By Angela Woolsey
Vienna Town Hall (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

(Updated at 2:40 p.m.) Vienna officials have released a proposed budget that maintains the town’s current real estate tax rate, despite continued economic challenges from inflation and supply chain issues.

The $53.8 million budget for fiscal year 2025, which starts July 1, holds the tax rate at $0.1950 per $100 of assessed value. Combined with a cumulative 3-cent reduction over the previous three years, the town will have cut its tax rate by 14% since 2021, Town Manager Mercury Payton said in a message to Mayor Linda Colbert and the town council.

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Around Town

Taste of NoVA food festival coming to Army Museum in Fort Belvoir

By Angela Woolsey
The inaugural Taste of NoVA event was held in Leesburg in 2023 (courtesy Amie Otto/Northern Virginia Magazine)

Dozens of restaurants and breweries from across Northern Virginia will descend on the Fort Belvoir area this spring.

The National Museum of the U.S. Army (1775 Liberty Drive) will host this year’s Taste of NoVA, a relatively new food festival produced by Northern Virginia Magazine as a celebration of its annual 50 Best Restaurants list.

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News

Nonprofit’s use of McLean senior center to make and distribute free meals approved

By Angela Woolsey
SevaTruck provides free meals at the Annandale Community Center in March 2023 (courtesy Fairfax County Neighborhood and Community Services)

SevaTruck Foundation has been granted permanent use of the Lewinsville Center’s kitchen for its food distribution operations.

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved a special exception on March 5 that will let the nonprofit continue making and providing free meals out of the senior center in McLean, which also houses adult day care and child care programs.

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Countywide

Solar eclipse viewing glasses now available at Fairfax County Public Library branches

By Angela Woolsey
People at Reston Town Center witness the 2017 partial solar eclipse through viewing glasses (photo by Dave Emke)

Fairfax County Public Library is giving away free solar eclipse viewing glasses in anticipation of next month’s event, but to snag a pair, you’ll have to move fast.

Each branch will have “a very limited allotment” of a few hundred glasses at most, FCPL Board of Trustees chair Brian Engler confirmed. Though some branches received shipments early, the glasses were expected to be ready for distribution at all locations today (Wednesday), according to FCPL Director Jessica Hudson.

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News

Funding for new tree plantings approved by Vienna Town Council

By Angela Woolsey
Entrance to the East Creek Trail in Vienna (via Google Maps)

The Town of Vienna will take a critical step this coming Arbor Day toward replenishing its tree canopy, thanks to the late councilmember Maud Robinson.

During its March 4 meeting, the current Vienna Town Council gave staff the go-ahead to spend $50,000 from the Robinson Trust on a planting project that will add 145 trees along local streets and the East Creek Trail.

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