A 42-year-old man from Lorton faces criminal charges after allegedly sexually assaulting a kid at Lake Accotink Park, the Fairfax County Police Department announced today (Wednesday).
According to police, Louis C. Allen approached the victim at a playground in the park (7500 Accotink Park Road) around 6 p.m. on Saturday (May 21). He “unlawfully touched” her multiple times, first while talking to her in the play area and again after following her into the water when she left to avoid him.
Following yesterday’s mass shooting at an elementary school in Texas, Fairfax Democrats plan to host a vigil tonight (Wednesday) at the National Rifle Association’s building in Fairfax.
“Nearly ten years after Sandy Hook, little children and teachers are mass murdered in their classrooms,” the Fairfax County Democratic Committee’s event site reads. “Another young adult male with easy access to assault weapons matches the suburban teen who murdered with racist rage in Buffalo. Take action now. Join us tonight.”
As a holiday, Memorial Day is a bit of a contradiction.
Coming on Monday (May 30), the actual day is a somber occasion, tracing its origins back to the post-Civil War era as a way to honor military service members killed in war. With the weather heating up and schools winding down, however, Memorial Day has long also been treated as an unofficial kick-off for summer.
More than half of Fairfax County’s public high schools have no permanent restrooms for their outdoor athletic facilities, leaving players and spectators to endure the stench and claustrophobia of port-a-potties.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors hopes to rectify the situation, unanimously approving a board matter to consider funding for new bathrooms at 15 schools in the coming fiscal year 2023, which starts July 1.
(Updated at 1:40 p.m.) A man from Lorton has been sentenced to 22 years in prison after he gave a young woman a Xanax pill laced with fentanyl and tried to hide evidence of her death in a storage shed, court documents show.
Julian A. Velasquez, 36, was sentenced yesterday (Tuesday) following a plea deal in federal court. It came after authorities found he provided the woman with the drugs, sold heroin to a man before calling 911, and lied to emergency responders, according to court documents.
(Updated at 3:15 p.m.) A Fairfax County School Board member plans to advocate for adding security vestibules at schools in the wake of the deadliest school shooting in the U.S. in nearly a decade.
Melanie Meren, who represents Hunter Mill District on the board, will introduce a motion at a meeting tomorrow (Thursday) requesting that Fairfax County Public Schools develop a plan to fund and install vestibules at all facilities, she said in social media posts last night (Tuesday).
Updated on 6/8/2022 — Tysons Emergency is now in service after a grand opening on Friday, June 3.
Earlier: There’s nothing like a two-year-long pandemic to drive home the importance of access to quality health care services.
Fairfax County is looking for more ways to bring more people into supportive and permanent housing beyond what some consider the band-aid approach to tackling homelessness — temporary shelters.
At a meeting yesterday (Tuesday), the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors unanimously moved a board matter directing staff to complete a comprehensive evaluation of ways to boost supportive housing, the evaluation of current options, and protocol for emergency shelter in commercial and industrial districts.
What to Know About Monkeypox — “More monkeypox cases have been reported in the United States since the first illness was reported in Massachusetts last week. But there’s no need for Virginia residents to panic, health officials say as they learn more about how the viral disease is spread.” [Patch]
County to Talk About Youth Mental Health Issues and Drug Use — “As a parent, our kids’ wellbeing is my top priority. Today, the Board supported my motion to convene a roundtable with reps from [Department of Family Services], our Opioid Task Force, clinical pros, the BOS and school board to directly tackle youth mental health & substance use.” [Jeff McKay/Twitter]
A new pilot program that aims to understand community sentiment about the Fairfax County Police Department is underway.
Through a partnership with Axon, a San Francisco-based startup, the police department is deploying a nine-month program that sends text messages to people who reach out for specific services.
