Angela Woolsey | FFXnow

National Building Museum executive tapped to lead McLean Community Center

Published December 16, 2022 at 10:15AM

The McLean Community Center (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

The McLean Community Center has found a new executive director who will, hopefully, be a bit more permanent than its last one.

Fairfax County announced yesterday that the MCC Board of Directors appointed Betsy May-Salazar at a special meeting on Wednesday (Dec. 14) after an over four-month search for a long-term successor to Daniel Singh, who resigned on July 26 just 14 months into the job.

Around Town

MidnighTreats cookie bakery hopes to open in Vienna this weekend

By Angela Woolsey

Published December 15, 2022 at 3:00PM

The MidnighTreats team at their Reston store (courtesy MidnighTreats)

MidnighTreats and its softball-sized cookies are back in the Town of Vienna.

The business will potentially roll out its large, plant-based cookies this weekend with its new bakery at 167 Glyndon Street SE, fulfilling a dream that owner and Vienna resident Johnny Nguyen had since he started baking in his mom’s house.

Countywide

With cases on the rise, updated Covid vaccines added for kids under 5

By Angela Woolsey

Published December 15, 2022 at 2:15PM

Fairfax Health District COVID-19 cases over the past 26 weeks, as of Dec. 15, 2022 (via VDH)

Vaccines designed to combat omicron subvariants of COVID-19 are now available in Fairfax County for everyone 6 months and older.

The Fairfax County Health Department has obtained updated or bivalent vaccines for kids 6 months to 5 years old after federal health officials approved the shots to that age group last week.

News

Growing commercial law firm makes small move to bigger Tysons office

By Angela Woolsey

Published December 15, 2022 at 11:45AM

The office building at 1676 International Drive in Tysons (courtesy Brandywine Realty Trust)

A Richmond-based commercial law firm that dates back to the post-World War II era is inching closer to Tysons Galleria.

Citing a need for more space to accommodate its growth, Hirschler officially moved its Tysons office into a 12,200-square-foot suite at 1676 International Drive just before Thanksgiving, the company announced late last month.

News

Police link Lorton man charged with sexually assaulting minor to second assault

By Angela Woolsey

Published December 15, 2022 at 11:00AM | Updated December 15, 2022 at 1:14PM

Fairfax County police car with lights flashing (file photo)

(Updated at 1:15 p.m.) A Lorton man charged with alleged sexual battery of a minor may be responsible for a separate, earlier sexual assault against a woman in Mount Vernon, police say.

The Fairfax County Police Department announced today that additional charges have been filed against Louis C. Allen, 42, after they matched his DNA to evidence collected from a sexual assault at a Mount Vernon Lakes apartment on Feb. 2.

Countywide

Freezing rain possible overnight in the season’s first Winter Weather Advisory

By Angela Woolsey

Published December 14, 2022 at 3:00PM | Updated December 14, 2022 at 8:06PM

Ice on tree branches in Reston (photo by Douglas H. Errett)

Updated at 8:05 p.m. — Fairfax County Public Schools will open two hours late tomorrow in response to the anticipated inclement weather.

Earlier: Fairfax County may get its first serious taste of winter weather for the season overnight.

Around Town

Yard House sports bar has set a grand opening date at Tysons Galleria

By Angela Woolsey

Published December 14, 2022 at 1:30PM | Updated December 15, 2022 at 8:53AM

The sports bar and restaurant Yard House will open at Tysons Galleria in January (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

(Updated at 8:55 a.m. on 12/15/2022) A new sports bar is brewing at Tysons Galleria, and it will arrive just in time for the NFL playoffs.

Yard House will hold a grand opening for its location in the mall’s redeveloped Macy’s wing on Jan. 15, the team announced on the Tysons Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Instagram last week.

News

Demolition of 45-year-old Seven Corners fire station is underway

By Angela Woolsey

Published December 14, 2022 at 11:45AM

The Seven Corners fire station gets demolished (via FCFRD/Twitter)

The one-story fire station on Sleepy Hollow Road in Seven Corners is now coming down after standing for almost half a century.

Demolition work began last week on Station 28 at 2949 Sleepy Hollow Road to make way for the construction of a new, larger facility on the same site, the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department announced Monday (Dec. 12).

News

Vienna Town Council debates first potential pay raises in two decades

By Angela Woolsey

Published December 14, 2022 at 10:15AM

Vienna Town Council chambers (file photo)

Vienna is considering more than doubling the salaries for mayor and town council going forward, but the current holders of those offices suggested they will aim lower amid still-high inflation, fears of a recession, and general economic uncertainty.

At a conference session on Monday (Dec. 12), town staff proposed bumping up the pay for town council members from $5,000 per year to $12,000, and from $7,500 per year to $15,000 for the mayor. It would be the first raise for the mayor since 2014 and the first for the council since 2002.

News

Police: Driver was speeding in fatal Old Keene Mill Road crash

By Angela Woolsey

Published December 14, 2022 at 9:30AM

Eastbound Old Keene Mill Road at the Huntsman Blvd intersection in Springfield (via Google Maps)

The driver in a crash that killed a 93-year-old man in West Springfield last month has now been charged with reckless driving, Fairfax County police announced yesterday.

Jessica Bonilla Alfaro, a 41-year-old Springfield resident, “was travelling above the speed limit and in a reckless manner” when she crashed into a 2017 Toyota Camry on Old Keene Mill Road at the Huntsman Blvd intersection on Nov. 7, the police department said.