With just seven weeks before the start of the 2025 General Assembly session, supporters and opponents of a proposed casino operation in Tysons are dusting off their arguments and ramping up their efforts.
In the latest round in the fight, advocates on both sides of the issue used a public hearing on the county’s draft 2025 legislative priorities and the public comment period at the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday (Nov. 19) to focus attention on the matter.
Fairfax County’s most prominent Republican policymaker is mulling a run for statewide office.
Pat Herrity, the lone conservative voice on the county’s Board of Supervisors, will announce within the next two months whether or not he will seek the office of lieutenant governor next year, he told FFXnow.
Fairfax County Public Schools will enlist an outside firm to conduct an independent investigation of all student-athlete transfers, as questions about Hayfield Secondary School’s football program continue to percolate.
Superintendent Michelle Reid announced last night (Wednesday) that the district will pursue a “comprehensive and external independent investigation” of its student transfer and eligibility practices after she met with six football coaches who reportedly planned to forfeit their scheduled games against Hayfield.
The man charged with raping a woman in Herndon on Monday (Nov. 18) had been sentenced to jail less than a week earlier, the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office says.
Denis Humberto Navarette Romero, 31, was previously arrested by Herndon Police for a separate incident and brought to the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center on Oct. 20, according to the sheriff’s office.
Input Wanted for Arts and Culture Survey — “The Fairfax County Arts Committee is seeking your views about arts and culture preferences through a survey that will help various organizations (such as ArtsFairfax) plan for and understand community needs better. The survey will take 5-8 minutes and will inform county arts policy, resourcing and marketing efforts.” [Fairfax County Government]
Arrests Made in Mosaic District Robbery — Four people have been arrested and charged with allegedly robbing a business in the 2900 block of District Avenue in Dunn Loring on Nov. 16. Police say the individuals “entered a store, stole merchandise, and threatened the employee with pepper spray before fleeing” out of the business and into a vehicle. [FCPD]
Man Charged in McDonald’s Stabbing — A 27-year-old man from Alexandria has been charged with malicious wounding in connection with the stabbing at McDonald’s in Bailey’s Crossroads on Tuesday (Nov. 19). He allegedly stabbed another man “unprovoked,” leaving the victim with life-threatening injuries, police say. [FCPD]
WMATA Leader Guides Metro Comeback — “This crowd, here for the inaugural ‘Metro Fest,’ is admittedly self-selecting … Still, the level of recognition that Clarke, WMATA’s general manager and CEO since July 2022, has attained among them is remarkable — more befitting a charismatic politician or musician than the head of a transit authority.” [Washingtonian]
Community Members Shelter Homeless Residents — A couple in Reston offered use of their temporarily vacant home to three seniors displaced by the closure of the “Hill” encampment on Sept. 10, the advocacy group RestonStrong says. Two of the individuals have now secured long-term homes, though one can’t move in until Nov. 26 due to paperwork delays. [Patch]
Home Health Care Company Expanding — “Agnes Home Health Care, a company in Centreville that helps people age in place, is opening a second location in Annandale on Nov. 25. It’s located on Columbia Pike in a renovated building formerly housing an Ethiopian church across the street from Walgreen’s.” [Annandale Today]
Paris Baguette Opening Near Lincolnia — “Paris Baguette is opening a new location in the Seminary Plaza shopping center (4616 Kenmore Avenue) sometime in the first week of December. The bakery offers a variety of cakes (either by the slice or whole cakes), pastries, bread and sandwiches, along with both hot and cold coffees and teas.” [ALXnow]
It’s Thursday — Expect clouds to increase with a high temperature of around 51, accompanied by a west wind blowing at 8 to 11 mph and gusts reaching up to 23 mph. As night rolls in, the skies will be partly cloudy with a low temperature of 36, and the west wind persists around 10 mph, gusting as high as 28 mph. [NWS]
Floyd County Circuit Court Judge Randall Lowe determined Wednesday Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin acted unlawfully by withdrawing Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a program aimed to reduce climate changing emissions that has funneled hundreds of millions to the state to deal with the impacts of extreme weather events.
In his five page opinion, Lowe wrote that “the only body with the authority to repeal the RGGI regulation would be the General Assembly. This is because a statute, the RGGI Act, requires the RGGI regulation to exist.”
Activists calling for Fairfax County leaders to take a stance on the violence currently devastating the Middle East have again found themselves met with silence.
At the Board of Supervisors meeting yesterday (Tuesday), resident Rob Bradley used the public-comment period to urge local leaders to pass a resolution calling for an unconditional ceasefire between Israel, Hamas, which governs Gaza, and Hezbollah, the paramilitary group in Lebanon.
The affordable housing market in Fairfax County got a boost this week with the addition of 240 units for seniors and families at the newly opened “One University” development.
Fairfax County officials and community leaders gathered Monday afternoon (Nov. 18) to celebrate the $250 million project, which includes 120 rent-assisted apartment units for families earning 60% or less of the area median income and 120 units for seniors.
Fairfax County supervisors want to ensure the county government isn’t caught flat-footed by public policy revisions undertaken by the incoming Trump administration and Republican Congress.
Supervisors voted 9-1 along party lines yesterday (Tuesday) to direct County Executive Bryan Hill and staff to analyze potential impacts on everything from federal government employment and commercial real estate to transportation and climate change.
All three incumbents vying for seats on Herndon’s town council this year are on track for reelection after all.
Councilmember Naila Alam secured a spot on the council based on the final tally of votes from this year’s Nov. 5 general election, pushing out Herndon Board of Zoning Appeals Vice Chair Stevan Michael Porter, who had an edge in preliminary election night results.
