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

McLean Project for the Arts unveils return of regional painting showcase

By Angela Woolsey
McLean Community Center (file photo)

The newest exhibition curated by the McLean Project for the Arts (MPA) is all about painting.

The local arts organization will launch the 14th iteration of “(Not) Strictly Painting” — its biennial showcase of work from artists based in the Mid-Atlantic region — with an opening reception from 7-9 p.m. tonight (Thursday).

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News

Residents protest rent increase, ‘unsafe’ living conditions at Groveton apartments

By Angela Woolsey
Lafayette Apartments residents gather to protest after property manager Jonathan Rose Companies recently raised their rents (courtesy TWU)

The rent is getting too high, residents of a committed affordable housing complex near Huntley Meadows Park say.

The owner of Lafayette Apartments (7136 Groveton Gardens Road) in Groveton increased rents starting on June 1, even though living conditions have become “unsafe” and “hazardous” in recent years, according to Tenant and Workers United (TWU), a local grassroots organization that supports advocacy efforts by low-income communities of color.

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News

County board allows housing at Merrifield’s Pan Am Shopping Center

By Angela Woolsey
Apartments have been proposed to replace the retail buildings that currently house MicroCenter and Michael's at the Pan Am Shopping Center in Merrifield (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

Fairfax County has opened the door for mixed-use development at the Pan Am Shopping Center in Merrifield.

The county’s Board of Supervisors unanimously approved an amendment to its comprehensive plan yesterday (Tuesday) that will allow housing and additional retail to supplement the existing strip mall at 3089 Nutley Street SW.

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News

Man dead after breaking into Springfield home while nude, police say

By Angela Woolsey
Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department ambulance (file photo)

Fairfax County police are investigating a possibly drug-related death after a man allegedly broke into a Springfield house, sans clothes, early this morning (Wednesday).

Officers got a call at 12:30 a.m. for “a nude man acting erratically and forcing entry into a residential home” in the 5700 block of Ash Drive, the Fairfax County Police Department reported in a news release.

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Around Town

New festival to celebrate Virginia coming to Tysons Corner Center

By Angela Woolsey
George Mason University officials are among the community partners expected to attend the inaugural Celebrate Virginia festival at Tysons Corner Center on Saturday (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

(Updated at 2:05 p.m. on 9/13/2023) The Commonwealth of Virginia will take center stage at Tysons Corner Center this Saturday (Sept. 16).

The first annual Celebrate Virginia festival will enliven the Plaza at Tysons Corner Center from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. with beer and wine tastings as well as live entertainment, an artisan market and a mural painted in real time.

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News

Former Army employee charged with killing West Springfield woman in 1994

By Angela Woolsey
Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis holds a press conference to announce the arrest of a suspect in Robin Lawrence's murder (via FCPD/Twitter)

Nearly three decades after she died, police say they know who killed Robin Lawrence.

Stephen Smerk, a 51-year-old man now living in Niskayuna, New York, has been charged with second-degree murder after recently confessing to killing Lawrence at her West Springfield home in 1994, Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis announced this afternoon (Monday).

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News

FCPD set to revive partnership with Vienna for drug investigations

By Angela Woolsey
The Vienna Police Department headquarters (file photo)

The Fairfax County Police Department is hoping to add a detective from the Town of Vienna to its ranks.

Under a reciprocal agreement set to be approved by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors tomorrow (Tuesday), the Vienna detective will specifically help investigate drug and vice crimes as part of the larger department’s Organized Crime and Narcotics division.

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Around Town

Thriller novelist David Baldacci headlines county library’s new Local Author Book Festival

By Angela Woolsey
Suspense novelist David Baldacci will headline Fairfax County Public Library's first Local Author Book Festival (photo by Allen Jones)

For local bookworms who missed out on last month’s National Book Festival in D.C., you’re in luck.

Fairfax County Public Library will launch a book festival of its own on Sept. 30 with an exclusive focus on writers based in Northern Virginia.

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Around Town

Vienna’s second-oldest business plans to celebrate 70th anniversary in style

By Angela Woolsey
Sharon Holland has owned Vienna's Merle Norman Cosmetic Studio since 2015 (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

You wouldn’t guess from looking at the warmly lit, orderly store that Vienna’s Merle Norman Cosmetic Studio is about to turn 70 years old.

The beauty and skin care shop will hit that milestone this Friday, Sept. 1, making it the town’s second oldest business to still be standing — after the Money & King Funeral Home, according to store owner Sharon Holland.

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News

Tysons cybersecurity firm makes debut on list of fastest-growing companies in U.S.

By Angela Woolsey
Fairfax County has 120 companies on the 2023 Inc. 5000 ranking of America's fastest-growing private companies (via Inc. 5000)

The fastest-growing company in Fairfax County is a Tysons-based cybersecurity firm whose stated goal is to “fundamentally change” how organizations get technical expertise.

MOXFIVE claimed the 39th spot overall and the top spot for the security industry on the latest Inc. 5000, an annual ranking of the country’s most successful privately owned companies based on their revenue growth.

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