Angela Woolsey | FFXnow

Starbucks workers in Reston and McLean seek to unionize amid strike

Published December 29, 2025 at 10:00AM | Updated December 29, 2025 at 3:30PM

Starbucks at 1438 Chain Bridge Road in McLean (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

Workers at two more Starbucks in Fairfax County could unionize, as a labor strike continues in response to stalled contract negotiations.

Petitions for union elections were filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) last Tuesday (Dec. 23) by 14 employees at the Plaza America cafe in Reston (11610-A Plaza America Drive) and 17 at the location at 1438 Chain Bridge Road in McLean.

News

FCPD: Annandale HS employee charged with assaulting student

By Angela Woolsey

Published December 29, 2025 at 8:30AM

Annandale High School (staff photo by James Jarvis)

An instructional assistant at Annandale High School is facing criminal charges after allegedly assaulting a student earlier this month.

A school resource officer was notified on Dec. 19 that Jaime Gerardo Gallo Pacheco, a 33-year-old Annandale resident, had reportedly physically assaulted a student earlier that day, the Fairfax County Police Department says.

News

Two killed in I-495 crash near Idylwood on Christmas Day

By Angela Woolsey

Published December 26, 2025 at 5:00PM | Updated January 9, 2026 at 11:36AM

Virginia State Police vehicle (photo by John Calhoun/JC Photography)

A teenager and a 75-year-old woman have died after a crash that occurred on the Capital Beltway (I-495) on Christmas.

Virginia State Police troopers and the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department were dispatched around 10:39 p.m. yesterday (Thursday) for a crash at the 49-mile marker near the I-66 interchange in Idylwood.

News

NEW: Fairfax Democrats plan Sunday primary to select House District 17 nominee

By Angela Woolsey

Published December 26, 2025 at 1:15PM | Updated December 28, 2025 at 11:08PM

A yard sign for the Fairfax Democrats outside the Jim Scott Community Center in Oakton (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

Fairfax County Democrats are once again asking voters to select a nominee for an empty House of Delegates seat on short notice.

The 17th House of Delegates District Democratic Committee will hold a firehouse primary this Sunday (Dec. 28) after House Speaker Don Scott scheduled a Jan. 20 special election to fill a seat vacated by Del. Mark Sickles on Wednesday (Dec. 24).

News

Reston Association disbands land use advisory committee in tense vote

By Angela Woolsey

Published December 26, 2025 at 9:15AM | Updated December 30, 2025 at 10:10AM

Reston Association headquarters building sign (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

Reston Association’s Land Use Advisory Committee is no more.

After nearly two hours of sometimes heated discussion, the community association’s Board of Directors voted 5-3 with one abstention at its Dec. 11 meeting to remove the body from its list of committees tasked with studying various issues and making recommendations to the full board.

News

Man in Fairfax County Parkway median was killed in crash, police confirm

By Angela Woolsey

Published December 26, 2025 at 8:30AM

Fairfax County Police Department Capt. Jesse Katzman discusses death investigation after a man was found dead in a Fairfax County Parkway median on Dec. 24, 2025 (via FCPD/Facebook)

The Fairfax County Police Department has confirmed that the man found dead in a median on Fairfax County Parkway on Wednesday (Dec. 24) was a pedestrian killed in a crash.

Officers responded at 9:43 a.m. that day after a community member who was driving by on the parkway reported seeing a possible body in the grassy median near Old Plains Road in the Fair Oaks area.

Countywide

Fairfax County to close offices, reduce services for Christmas 2025

By Angela Woolsey

Published December 23, 2025 at 2:45PM

Christmas lights illuminate the entrance of the Vienna Community Center (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

Christmas is in the air, which means many local government services are about to wind down so their workers can take off for the holiday.

Like on Thanksgiving, municipal offices for Fairfax County and the towns of Vienna and Herndon will all be closed tomorrow and Thursday (Dec. 25) for both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Fairfax City will close its government offices starting at 12:30 p.m. tomorrow.

News

UPDATED: Body found in Fairfax County Parkway median, closing road

By Angela Woolsey

Published December 23, 2025 at 11:15AM | Updated December 23, 2025 at 12:51PM

Fairfax County Parkway shut down at Rolling Road for a police death investigation (via VDOT traffic camera)

Fairfax County police are investigating the death of an unidentified man whose body was found this morning (Tuesday) in the median of Fairfax County Parkway.

The adult man was discovered lying in the median near Old Plains Road just northwest of Inova Fair Oaks Hospital by a community member who spotted the body while driving and called 911, Fairfax County Police Department Capt. Jesse Katzman said in a briefing.

News

Tysons hotel stays still below pre-Covid levels, but outpace region

By Angela Woolsey

Published December 23, 2025 at 9:15AM

A vehicle stopped in front of Archer Hotel at Scotts Run in Tysons (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

In Tysons, hotels have made progress on recovering from the blows dealt to the hospitality industry by the pandemic, but occupancy levels are leveling out instead of continuing to rise, the Tysons Community Alliance (TCA) shared in its most recent quarterly report.

Released last Wednesday (Dec. 17), the Q3 2025 market report found that the hotels in Fairfax County’s urban center were about 70% occupied, on average, from November 2024 through this past October — the same rate recorded over that time period a year earlier.

News

Virginia offshore wind project among those halted by Trump administration

By Angela Woolsey and Associated Press

Published December 22, 2025 at 3:45PM

Wind Turbine Installation Vessel Charybdis works to install generators for the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project near Hampton Roads (via Dominion Energy)

The Trump administration on Monday suspended leases for five large-scale offshore wind projects under construction along the East Coast due to what it said were national security risks identified by the Pentagon.

Among the affected projects is Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, which has been under construction about 27 miles off of the Virginia Beach coast since 2023.