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

Confetti-farting pigs and more to fly into Tysons Corner Center with new ‘Candytopia’ exhibit

By Angela Woolsey
The sets include a Rainbow Room with "confetti-farting pigs," per a press release (courtesy Bear Silber/Candytopia)

A candy land will soon come to life at Tysons Corner Center.

The temporary, traveling exhibit Candytopia will arrive at the mall in mid-March, filling a 16,000-square-foot space across from H&M that has previously hosted installations dedicated to the Sistine Chapel and Princess Diana.

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News

Janet Howell, longtime senator for Fairfax County, won’t seek reelection

By Angela Woolsey
State Sen. Janet Howell has announced she will retire once her current term ends next January (courtesy Friends of Janet Howell)

State Sen. Janet Howell will retire from the Virginia General Assembly after representing a significant swath of northern Fairfax County for over 30 years.

Rumors that Howell wasn’t planning to pursue another term began circulating during Virginia’s 2021 redistricting process, which paired her with Sen. Jennifer Boysko — a more junior Democrat currently representing the 33rd District — in the newly created 38th Senate District.

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Around Town

Compass Coffee chooses West Falls Church for second drive-thru cafe

By Angela Woolsey
Compass Coffee has a location in Fairfax City's Point 50 shopping center (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

(Updated at 1:45 p.m. on 3/2/2023) Compass Coffee is planning to open a second drive-thru location, and it will be right in Fairfax County.

The growing regional coffee business will add a full-service, drive-thru cafe at 7393 Lee Highway, a standalone building that previously housed a BB&T bank in the Shops at West Falls Church, confirmed Joel Shetterly, the vice president of marketing.

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Countywide

Dulles Toll Road no longer accepting cash, starting today

By Angela Woolsey
The Dulles Toll Road by the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

The days of saving up loose change to pay the Dulles Toll Road’s fees are officially in the past.

Effective today (Wednesday), the 14-mile highway also known as Route 237 has converted to an all-electronic, cashless payment system, joining the network of express lanes that criss-cross Northern Virginia.

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News

Free dental clinic coming to Richard Byrd Library in Springfield

By Angela Woolsey
Richard Byrd Library (via Google Maps)

A mobile clinic will provide free dental screenings for kids and teens without insurance at Richard Byrd Library in Springfield this weekend.

Vans from the Medical Care for Children Partnership Foundation (MCCP) — a public-private nonprofit based at Northern Virginia Community College’s Springfield campus — will stop by the library at 7250 Commerce Street from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday (March 4).

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News

Bicycling advocates skeptical of lanes proposed on Merrifield’s Ellenwood Drive

By Angela Woolsey
Ellenwood Drive at the Jersey Drive intersection in Merrifield (via Google Maps)

(Updated at 3:40 p.m.) Fairfax County hopes to get a head start on its annual street paving and restriping efforts this year, thanks to the D.C. area’s warmer-than-usual winter weather.

The county and Virginia departments of transportation program will kick off next month in Merrifield with the proposed addition of bicycle lanes on Ellenwood Drive from Route 29 to Route 50, along with crosswalks at two intersections.

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News

Golf Course Plaza redevelopment in Reston put on hold, opening door for office tenants to return

By Angela Woolsey
An illustrative rendering of the planned Golf Course Overlook housing development (via DCS Design/Fairfax County)

The long-awaited redevelopment of Reston’s Golf Course Plaza office building near Isaac Newton Square is going to remain a reality only on paper for a while longer.

The project is being delayed once again due to “market changes” that have required the landowner Golf Course Plaza LLC to secure new financing, attorney Shane Murphy said in a Feb. 12 letter to Fairfax County Zoning Evaluation Division Director Suzanne Wright.

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News

Tysons gets new voting precinct in Fairfax County’s proposed polling place changes

By Angela Woolsey
An absentee ballot drop box (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

Each election cycle requires some tweaks to Fairfax County’s polling precincts, and 2023 will be no exception.

This year’s proposed revisions aren’t quite as intensive as 2022’s, which affected over half of the county’s precincts to account for redistricting changes. However, they’ll still have an impact on hundreds of voters in a year when nearly all key state and local offices will be on the ballot.

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Around Town

Masala Wok has closed in Fairfax, but a new restaurant is already on its way

By Angela Woolsey
The former Masala Wok space in Fairfax Marketplace at 10940 Fairfax Blvd (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

Masala Wok has bowed out of Virginia.

The fast-casual Indian chain closed its Fairfax restaurant at 10940 Fairfax Blvd when its lease term expired on Jan. 31, real estate broker KLNB confirmed to FFXnow.

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News

Potential GMU cricket facility has county board intrigued but cautious

By Angela Woolsey
A cricket player at bat (via michael weir on Unsplash)

Fairfax County officials are guarding their wickets carefully as they size up a recent pitch for a possible cricket and baseball facility at George Mason University.

The Board of Supervisors directed county staff last week to monitor and get involved in a feasibility study that Mason and Major League Cricket (MLC) initiated in November.

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