Angela Woolsey | FFXnow

Pedestrian killed in crash on Route 29 outside Centreville shopping centers

Published November 29, 2022 at 9:40AM | Updated December 5, 2022 at 10:42AM

Police blocked off southbound Route 29 at Centrewood Drive last night after a fatal pedestrian crash (via VDOT Northern Virginia/Twitter)

(Updated at 10:25 a.m. on 12/5/2022) A pedestrian died last night after a vehicle hit them on Route 29 (Lee Highway) in Centreville.

The crash occurred at 9:03 p.m. in the Trinity Parkway/Centrewood Drive intersection, which is outside the Centrewood Plaza and Centreville Square shopping centers.

Countywide

Virginia still reviewing feedback on policies limiting transgender student rights

By Angela Woolsey

Published November 28, 2022 at 3:00PM | Updated December 9, 2022 at 2:54PM

Students at West Potomac High School walked out today in protest over policies that threaten to violate the rights of transgender students (photo courtesy of Mara Surovell)

(Updated at 5:30 p.m.) The Virginia Department of Education has no clear timeline for when its new policies on the treatment of transgender students will take effect, leaving Fairfax County Public Schools and other local school districts waiting to see if the state makes any changes in response to vocal opposition to the proposal.

It has now been over a month since the state closed its public comment period for the draft “model” policies, which would require schools to identify students based on their sex assigned at birth and prohibit discipline for deadnaming or misgendering a student even if they get their official school records changed.

Around Town

McLean holiday crafts festival returns for 40th year this weekend

By Angela Woolsey

Published November 28, 2022 at 1:30PM

A woman holds up a piece of handmade decor at the 2021 McLean Holiday Art and Crafts Festival (courtesy MCC)

The McLean Holiday Art and Crafts Festival will hit the 40-year mark this weekend, just as gift shopping kicks into full gear.

Featuring work by 80 artisans from around the region, the annual handmade crafts fair will be held Friday through Saturday (Dec. 2-4) inside the McLean Community Center. Hours will be 11 a.m.-6 p.m. on Friday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. on Saturday, and 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday.

News

Mixed-use ‘donut’ building floated to replace Idylwood shopping center

By Angela Woolsey

Published November 28, 2022 at 10:15AM

Tenants at Fallfax Center on Route 29 include El Tio Tex-Mex Grill (via Google Maps)

A major redevelopment has been suggested for Fallfax Center, a retail strip anchored by El Tio Tex-Mex Grill on the edge of Idylwood near Jefferson District Park.

Property owner Schupp Companies has put forward a proposal to replace the existing shopping center with a residential and retail “donut” building.

News

Police make arrest in burglaries of Latino restaurants in Mount Vernon

By Angela Woolsey

Published November 28, 2022 at 9:30AM

A Fairfax County police SUV with lights on (file photo)

A 20-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly burglarizing two Latino restaurants in Mount Vernon earlier this month, Fairfax County police announced last week.

Police say surveillance footage showed the man, a resident of the county’s “Alexandria area,” breaking into Mezcalero Restaurant three times and Mana Pupuseria once from Nov. 13-18.

Around Town

Shipgarten in Tysons invites pups and pals to Thanksgiving beer festival

By Angela Woolsey

Published November 23, 2022 at 1:30PM

Shipgarten's Thanksgiving Barks & Brews Festival is coming this Saturday (via Shipgarten/Instagram)

People will be talking about Bruno at Shipgarten in Tysons this Thanksgiving weekend.

Characters from the Disney movie “Encanto” will put on a live performance on Saturday (Nov. 26) as part of the biergarten’s Thanksgiving Barks & Brews Festival, which will run from 1 to 6 p.m. that day.

News

Driver, 79, charged in Fair Oaks crash that killed motorcyclist

By Angela Woolsey

Published November 23, 2022 at 10:15AM

The northbound left turn lane from West Ox Road to Ox Hill Road in Fair Oaks (via Google Maps)

A 79-year-old driver who crashed into a motorcyclist in Fair Oaks last month, resulting in the biker’s death, is now facing criminal charges.

Detectives have determined that Fairfax resident Mazher Rajput did not yield to a 2018 Yamaha MT07 motorcycle when attempting to turn left from West Ox Road onto Ox Hill Road on Oct. 25, the Fairfax County Police Department said in a news release yesterday.

News

FCPD: 61-year-old man arrested for allegedly raping woman in 1988

By Angela Woolsey

Published November 22, 2022 at 3:40PM | Updated November 22, 2022 at 4:19PM

Retired Fairfax County Police detective Dick Kline addresses arrest for 1988 rape (via FCPD/Facebook)

(Updated at 4:15 p.m.) Police have arrested a 61-year-old man from Arlington County who allegedly abducted and raped a Fairfax County woman multiple times over three decades ago.

Fingerprint and DNA analyses suggest George Thomas Jr. and his now-deceased brother, Gregory Allen Thomas, were the offenders in the 1988 rape of a 22-year-old woman who got attacked as she was leaving work in Bailey’s Crossroads, the Fairfax County Police Department said this afternoon (Tuesday).

News

Developer seeks to turn one house into three on Wolf Trap area lot

By Angela Woolsey

Published November 22, 2022 at 2:15PM

A developer hopes to subdivide 1800 Creek Crossing Road in Wolf Trap into three single-family lots (via Fairfax County)

A single-family house in the Wolf Trap area could be razed and replaced with three smaller homes under a development plan filed earlier this month with Fairfax County.

Caliber Development is seeking to rezone the 1.14-acre site at the corner of Creek Crossing Road NE and Ridge Lane so it can be subdivided into three lots that will range from roughly 14,700 square feet to over 16,200 square feet in size, per the submitted plan.

Countywide

With 23 pedestrians dead, advocates call for action to make Fairfax County roads safer

By Angela Woolsey

Published November 22, 2022 at 11:45AM | Updated December 5, 2022 at 10:41AM

Each candle represents a pedestrian killed in a crash in Fairfax County this year (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

(Updated at 10:40 a.m. on 12/5/2022) Even with one month left, 2022 is the deadliest year for Fairfax County pedestrians in more than a decade.

Through October, vehicle crashes have killed 22 people on streets and highways in the county — the most since at least 2010, the earliest year in Virginia’s Traffic Records Electronic Data System (TREDS). The previous high came in 2018 and 2019, when there were 17 fatalities each.