Countywide | FFXnow

Morning Notes

Published April 5, 2022 at 7:30AM

Waiting at McLean Metro station (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

Defamation Trial Over Domestic Violence Op-Ed Starts Next Monday — “Johnny Depp, 58, and Amber Heard, 35, who were briefly married from 2015 to 2017, are set to begin their long-anticipated defamation trial with jury selection that day. The trial is expected to last through the end of May, and the case has drawn national and international attention.” [Inside NoVA]

D.C. Area TV News Anchor Dies — “For decades, Bruce Johnson’s voice could be heard emanating from TV sets around the Washington region, delivering the day’s news with both gravitas and humor. Johnson, who spent 44 years at local CBS affiliate WUSA9, died of heart failure Sunday morning, according to the station.” [DCist]

JUST IN: Second tornado confirmed in Centreville during last week’s storm

By Brandi Bottalico

Published April 4, 2022 at 8:00PM

Heavy rains and damage came after a storm blasted through Tysons on Thursday (via @RealPotatus)

Fairfax County was, in fact, hit by two tornados during last week’s rainstorm.

The National Weather Service determined there was a tornado in Centreville on Thursday (March 31), in addition to the one that touched down in Tysons.

After hiatus, casual carpool group for commuters restarts in Springfield

By David Taube

Published April 4, 2022 at 3:45PM

A design for the Springfield Community Business Center Community Parking Garage (via Fairfax County)

As more companies resume office work, Fairfax County commuters have started to revive habits that went dormant during the COVID-19 pandemic.

That includes the return of sluglines, a form of carpooling unique to the D.C. area where drivers pick up passengers so they can utilize high-occupancy toll lanes and ease the daily costs of commuting.

Cunningham Park art teacher and students brighten school sidewalk with rainbow mural

By Angela Woolsey

Published April 4, 2022 at 3:00PM

Cunningham Park kindergarten student Connor Pollak says the replica road is his favorite part of the mural (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

When Cunningham Park Elementary School Principal Katherine Le asked if she would paint a mural for the school, Ellen Singletary responded as any job interviewee would: she said yes.

Singletary landed the job, becoming the art teacher for the Vienna school of roughly 400 students, but thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, it took more than two years for that proposed mural to materialize.

COVID-19 cases slightly up in Fairfax County, but hospitalizations decline

By Angela Woolsey

Published April 4, 2022 at 2:15PM | Updated April 4, 2022 at 2:47PM

Based on hospitalization metrics, Fairfax County's COVID-19 community level is considered low (via CDC)

(Updated at 2:45 p.m.) Your perception of the state of the COVID-19 pandemic in Fairfax County might vary depending on which data dashboard you’re looking at.

For instance, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention classifies the county’s COVID-19 community level as “low” based on the hospitalization metrics that the federal agency has used since February.

Route 7 work affects access to Colvin Run Mill

By Fatimah Waseem

Published April 4, 2022 at 12:45PM

Accessing the 200-year-old mill may become more difficult (Photo via Fairfax County Government).

Accessing the Colvin Run Mill Historic Site may require a legendary feat until June.

As the widening of Route 7 continues, construction has started to impede easy access to the historic site, which is located at 10017 Colvin Run Road in Great Falls.

Fairfax County has already seen more car part larcenies, related thefts than in all of 2021

By David Taube

Published April 4, 2022 at 11:15AM | Updated December 9, 2022 at 2:25PM

Ring video showed a stranger rifling through a vehicle, resident Lynn Green said (courtesy photo)

Thefts of auto parts and items inside cars have surged this year.

Last year, Fairfax County police found 1,019 incidents involved larcenies of vehicle parts and theft of personal property inside autos.

Construction on Reston JW Marriott, Virginia’s first, delayed

By Fatimah Waseem

Published April 4, 2022 at 9:45AM | Updated April 4, 2022 at 4:48PM

The hotel faces one year of opening delays (Image via handout).

(Updated at 4:48 p.m. to clarify construction is currently underway)

Like other construction projects in the area, Virginia’s first JW Marriott is facing some delays.

UPDATED: Driver charged with DWI after Route 7 crash that hospitalized four

By Angela Woolsey

Published April 4, 2022 at 9:00AM | Updated April 4, 2022 at 11:26AM

Four people were hospitalized by a vehicle crash at the intersection of Leesburg Pike and Colvin Run Road in Great Falls (via Google Maps)

(Updated at 11:25 a.m.) Fairfax County police arrested a driver involved in the crash on Route 7 that sent four people to the hospital on Saturday (April 2).

Richard Asenso Donkor, 23, from Sterling has been charged with driving while intoxicated — his second DWI in five years, the Fairfax County Police Department says.

Morning Notes

By FFXnow.com

Published April 4, 2022 at 7:30AM

A guard tower on the former Lorton Prison grounds, now turned into the Workhouse Arts Center (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

Man Dies After Crash in Oakton — “A 78-year-old man has died from injuries sustained in a single-vehicle crash that occurred at 2:01 p.m. on March 30 in Oakton. Thomas Peregoy of Alexandria was driving eastbound on Lawyers Road near Kedge Drive when his 2014 Toyota Tacoma drifted off the roadway to the right, striking a tree head on.” [FCPD]

Genomic Sequencing Could Help ID “Christmas Tree Lady” — “For 25 years, the Fairfax County police have tried and failed to identify ‘the Christmas Tree Lady,’ so named because she placed an 8-inch Christmas tree with gold balls and red ribbons on the clear plastic sheet she put on the ground…She is the only person to die by suicide in Fairfax whom authorities have been unable to identify, before or since.” [The Washington Post]