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

West Falls Church, Tysons restaurants make semifinals of James Beard Awards

By Angela Woolsey
Fairview Park's 2941 Restaurant is a semifinalist for the 2024 James Beard award for Outstanding Restaurant (file photo)

A longstanding fine dining establishment in West Falls Church near Merrifield and a rising star in the Tysons culinary scene are both representing Fairfax County this year in the semifinals of the prestigious James Beard Awards.

The only Virginia eatery recognized in a nationwide category, 2941 Restaurant (2941 Fairview Park Drive) was named a semifinalist for “Outstanding Restaurant” by the James Beard Foundation, which announced competitors for its 2024 Restaurant and Chef Awards yesterday (Wednesday).

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News

Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office denies ignoring ICE detainer for man facing child porn charges

By Angela Woolsey
The Fairfax County Adult Detention Center (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

The Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office is vigorously denying allegations that a man facing child sexual abuse and porn charges was released from the county’s jail last year in defiance of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainer.

In a Jan. 8 press release, ICE accused the sheriff’s office of not honoring a criminal detainer for an unnamed “Honduran national” when the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center released him from custody last July. The federal agency said the man subsequently assaulted a deportation officer during a raid on his Springfield home on Jan. 4.

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News

Study encourages Vienna to allow shared parking to balance supply and demand

By Angela Woolsey
A consultant study identifies Maple Avenue Shopping Center as an example of an "underutilized" parking lot (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

A new study suggests shared parking and other strategies could help the Town of Vienna address its parking challenges, which it found stem less from capacity issues than management ones.

Set to be presented to the Vienna Planning Commission tonight (Wednesday), the draft report by consultant Nelson Nygaard recommends creating a program or agreements where property owners share the town’s mostly private parking lots as an alternative to building a public garage.

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News

Police chase man on bicycle after reported theft attempts in Bailey’s Crossroads

By Angela Woolsey
Fairfax County police chase a bicyclist on Columbia Pike in Bailey's Crossroads (courtesy Dave Statter/Twitter)

A man allegedly responsible for a series of thefts and larcenies in Bailey’s Crossroads was arrested this morning (Wednesday) after trying to flee from police on a bicycle.

Fairfax County police officers responded to the 5200 block of Leesburg Pike around 7:40 a.m. after a woman reported to 911 that a man on a bicycle had “attempted to snatch her purse twice” about 10 minutes earlier near the Crossroads Place shopping center, according to scanner traffic on Open MHz.

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News

County board signals support for preserving smaller Lake Accotink

By Angela Woolsey
Paddle boats at the dock on Lake Accotink (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors hopes to preserve a smaller version of Lake Accotink, but a number of questions still need to be answered before it commits to a specific action plan.

At Braddock District Supervisor James Walkinshaw’s request, the board directed staff yesterday (Tuesday) to begin a series of studies to flesh out a task force’s determination that it would be feasible for the county to save 20 to 40 acres of the Springfield lake as opposed to fully dredging it or allowing it to disappear.

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Countywide

Fairfax County casino bill advances on tie vote to full Senate committee

By Angela Woolsey
State Sen. Dave Marsden argue for his bill to make Fairfax County eligible for a casino before the state Senate's subcommittee on gaming (via Senate of Virginia)

Updated at 6 p.m. — The Senate General Laws and Technology Committee voted 10-4 with one abstention this afternoon to report Senate Bill 675 to the finance committee, which is next scheduled to meet on Tuesday, Jan. 30.

The committee will review the bill and could potentially kill it, but state Sen. Dave Marsden, who’s on the committee, says he’s confident it will pass.

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Around Town

McLean Community Center to host free festival celebrating Lunar New Year

By Angela Woolsey
The Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company will perform at The Alden on Feb. 10 after the McLean Community Center's Year of the Dragon Festival to celebrate the Lunar New Year (photo by Anthony Alverez)

The Year of the Rabbit is about to give way to the Year of the Dragon.

To welcome the Lunar New Year, which will officially begin on Feb. 10, the McLean Community Center is inviting the public to a free Year of the Dragon Festival and a show by the New York-based Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company on Sunday, Feb. 4.

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News

Armed robbery at Tysons hotel leads to drug and gun seizures, police say

By Angela Woolsey
Residence Inn at 8400 Old Courthouse Road in Tysons (via Google Maps)

Police recently seized over a dozen firearms and some drugs from a Maryland house in connection to an armed robbery at a hotel in Tysons.

Officers were called to the Residence Inn at 8400 Old Courthouse Road at 3:46 a.m. on Dec. 19 for the reported robbery, according to the Fairfax County Police Department.

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News

FCPD: Man arrested almost 33 years after wife’s murder in West Falls Church

By Angela Woolsey
Jose Lazaro Cruz has been arrested for allegedly murdering his wife, Ana Jurado, in West Falls Church on April 30, 1991 (courtesy FCPD)

The man believed to have killed 24-year-old Ana Jurado in West Falls Church over three decades ago had started an entirely new family by the time he got arrested, Fairfax County police say.

Jose Lazaro Cruz arrived and was taken into custody at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center last Thursday, Jan. 18 — 32 years after detectives got a warrant charging him with murdering Jurado on April 30, 1991, officials announced yesterday.

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News

JUST IN: Two people died in house fires this weekend, Fairfax County Fire and Rescue says

By Angela Woolsey
Fairfax County firefighters responded to a house fire in Mount Vernon on Saturday, Jan. 20 (courtesy FCFRD)

(Updated at 5:15 p.m.) Two people died in separate house fires over the weekend, the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department says.

The first fire occurred in the 3800 block of Kings Hill Court in Mount Vernon around 5:58 p.m. on Saturday (Jan. 20).

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