Angela Woolsey | FFXnow

Fairfax City Mayor Catherine Read won’t seek reelection this year

Published January 14, 2026 at 11:45AM | Updated January 14, 2026 at 1:00PM

Fairfax City Mayor Catherine Read speaks at a groundbreaking ceremony for Wesley Housing's Beacon Landing supportive housing project (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

Fairfax City Mayor Catherine Read will not seek a third term in an office she believes is “broken.”

Read announced her decision not to pursue a reelection bid this year before adjourning the Fairfax City Council’s meeting last night (Tuesday), stating that she has been honored to serve as mayor but criticizing the city charter that governs the role as “outdated and ill-equipped to meet the demands of a modern, 21st-century community.”

Countywide

Drought warning issued for Fairfax County amid dry winter

By Angela Woolsey

Published January 14, 2026 at 9:15AM | Updated January 14, 2026 at 1:03PM

Virginia drought indicators, as of Jan. 13, 2026 (via Virginia Department of Environmental Quality)

A drought watch in place across Northern and Central Virginia since November has now escalated into a warning.

With limited rain and snowfall in recent weeks resulting in dry conditions, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) issued a drought warning advisory yesterday (Tuesday) for Northern Virginia, including Fairfax County and Fairfax City, as well as Roanoke River and the Shenandoah region.

News

JUST IN: Bulova to succeed Bulova after winning House District 11 special election

By Angela Woolsey

Published January 13, 2026 at 8:35PM

Gretchen Bulova (photo courtesy of candidate)

That’s one special election down, three more to go for Fairfax County voters.

In a low-turnout, low-suspense contest, Democratic nominee Gretchen Bulova handily defeated Republican candidate Adam Wise to become the next delegate for Virginia’s 11th House District, taking over a seat most recently filled by her husband, David Bulova.

News

New Reston Town Center offices fully leased, with retail coming

By Angela Woolsey

Published January 13, 2026 at 1:45PM

The Fannie Mae and Volkswagen office buildings in the Reston Town Center expansion (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

Reston Town Center’s newest office towers are now fully booked up, a notable feat as the office market elsewhere in Northern Virginia is still seeking to stabilize post-pandemic.

Developer BXP announced yesterday (Monday) that it has fully leased all 1.1 million square feet of new office space in the first phase of its town center expansion, known informally as RTC Next.

News

BREAKING: Protestors blockade Capital One Center in Tysons

By Angela Woolsey

Published January 13, 2026 at 10:15AM | Updated January 13, 2026 at 1:29PM

Protesters protesting Capital One on roadway in Tysons, Jan. 13, 2026 (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

A group of protestors blocked traffic at Capital One’s headquarters in Tysons this morning (Tuesday).

Organizers called for the finance giant to drop a $90 million loan to the Arlington-based weapons company Elbit Systems, which they say supplies the Israeli military and federal immigration enforcement agencies.

News

FCPD: Speed under investigation in fatal Fairfax County Parkway crash

By Angela Woolsey

Published January 13, 2026 at 9:15AM

Fairfax County Parkway at Huntsman Blvd in Burke (via Google Maps)

Fairfax County police are investigating whether speed may have contributed to a crash that killed a driver on Fairfax County Parkway this weekend.

Jane Clayton, a 48-year-old Alexandria resident, died after she appears to have “lost control” of her 2004 Chevrolet Cavalier while driving on the parkway near Huntsman Blvd in Burke around 7:45 a.m. on Saturday (Jan. 10), according to the Fairfax County Police Department.

News

Special election frenzy heats up with voting for three state races, Braddock school board seat

By Angela Woolsey

Published January 12, 2026 at 2:45PM

A sign pointing to a voting site in Fairfax County (file photo)

The blitz of special elections facing Fairfax County voters to start 2026 is ramping up this week, with the ballot for the Braddock District School Board seat now solidified and voting opening or in progress in three state-level contests.

Democratic voters in the Braddock District have chosen Tom Dannan, a local business owner and Terra Centre resident, as their preferred candidate to succeed Rachna Sizemore Heizer, who vacated the district’s Fairfax County School Board seat in December to serve as its new supervisor.

News

Trial begins against husband charged with Herndon double homicide

By Associated Press and Angela Woolsey

Published January 12, 2026 at 11:45AM

A framed photo of Brendan Banfield and Juliana Peres Magalhães on his bedside table in Herndon, provided by police as evidence in their murder case against him (courtesy Fairfax County Police Department via AP, FILE)

Jury selection began this morning (Monday) in the postponed trial against a Herndon man accused by prosecutors of concocting a scheme with his family’s au pair to frame a stranger in the fatal stabbing of his wife.

Brendan Banfield is charged with aggravated murder in the February 2023 killings of Christine Banfield and Joseph Ryan at the Banfields’ home in northern Virginia. He has pleaded not guilty in the case.

News

VDH: Child with measles visited Fort Belvoir medical center

By Angela Woolsey

Published January 12, 2026 at 11:15AM

The Augusta Military Medical Center Emergency Department at Fort Belvoir (via Alexander T. Augusta Military Medical Center/Facebook)

A preschool-aged child diagnosed with measles recently visited the medical center at Fort Belvoir, among other locations in the D.C. region, the Virginia Department of Health says.

The child, who lives in Northern Virginia, was present at the Alexander T. Augusta Military Medical Center Emergency Department and Executive Medicine Suite (9300 DeWitt Loop) at Fort Belvoir between 9:30 a.m. and 3 p.m., and from 10 p.m. to midnight last Friday (Jan. 9), potentially exposing other patients, visitors and staff.

News

Vienna residents protesting ICE’s fatal shooting of Renee Good line Maple Avenue

By Angela Woolsey

Published January 12, 2026 at 9:15AM | Updated January 13, 2026 at 5:00PM

Scenes from Jan. 11, 2026 ICE Out for Good protest on Maple Avenue in Vienna (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

A near-constant cacophony of car horns issued from the core of Maple Avenue in Vienna yesterday afternoon (Sunday), and this time, it wasn’t an expression of frustration with congestion.

Instead, passing drivers were honking in support of protestors lining both sides of the town’s main street in response to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent fatally shooting poet and mother Renee Good in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Wednesday (Jan. 7).