Annual Homelessness Count Starts Tonight — “Fairfax County, along with the greater Washington D.C., Maryland, and Northern Virgina region, will conduct a ‘Point-In-Time’ count of individuals and families experiencing homelessness, beginning in the evening on January 24, 2024, and continuing through the morning of January 25.” [Housing and Community Development]

Region’s Economy Lagging, Forum Speaker Says — “The Vienna Department of Economic Development’s first-ever ‘State of the Economy’ event provided information, spectacle, tasty food and town-promoting swag to about 70 people who filled the Vienna Community Center’s auditorium Jan. 18.” Keynote speaker Keith Waters said the D.C. region’s “economic output has been lagging the nation’s for about 13 years.” [Gazette Leader]


The upcoming capital projects plan for Fairfax County Public Schools comes with questions and uncertainties about future planning to address overcrowding and school capacity issues throughout the school system earlier this month.

Unveiled earlier this month, the new Capital Improvements Program (CIP) covers fiscal years 2025 through 2029. It sets the location, timing and funding of new schools, renovations and other capital projects over a five-year period.


Amid a docket of new policy proposals, a Virginia Senate panel heard a familiar one Monday when Sen. Jennifer Boysko again presented legislation to require employers to list a wage or salary range in all job postings and prohibit them from asking prospective employees for a salary history.

“This is the eighth time I have introduced this legislation,” Boysko told the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee before vowing to keep reintroducing the measure until it reaches the governor’s desk.


Police recently seized over a dozen firearms and some drugs from a Maryland house in connection to an armed robbery at a hotel in Tysons.

Officers were called to the Residence Inn at 8400 Old Courthouse Road at 3:46 a.m. on Dec. 19 for the reported robbery, according to the Fairfax County Police Department.


The man believed to have killed 24-year-old Ana Jurado in West Falls Church over three decades ago had started an entirely new family by the time he got arrested, Fairfax County police say.

Jose Lazaro Cruz arrived and was taken into custody at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center last Thursday, Jan. 18 — 32 years after detectives got a warrant charging him with murdering Jurado on April 30, 1991, officials announced yesterday.


D.C. Area Restaurant Week Extended — “The Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington has decided to keep Winter Restaurant Week going from Jan. 22 to Jan. 28, doubling the amount of time visitors to participating D.C. restaurants can get multi-course meals at high-end restaurants for much cheaper prices. RAMW decided on the extension after this week’s snowstorms moved through the area.” [NBC4]

Fairfax Man Pleads Guilty to Having Machine Guns — “A 67-year-old Fairfax man pleaded guilty on Friday to one count of possessing an unlawful machine gun, according the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. [The man] admitted in court that he possessed four fully automatic machine guns” without “a valid Federal Firearms License or a Special Occupational Tax.” [Patch]


(Updated at 5:15 p.m.) Two people died in separate house fires over the weekend, the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department says.

The first fire occurred in the 3800 block of Kings Hill Court in Mount Vernon around 5:58 p.m. on Saturday (Jan. 20).


(Updated at 4:20 p.m.) A state-level push to ease restrictions on accessory residential units could put Fairfax County at odds with one of its own senators.

The proposed Senate Bill 304 from state Sen. Saddam Salim (D-37) would require localities to permit accessory dwelling units (ADUs) in residential districts and prohibit them from setting certain conditions, including the provision of dedicated parking for the unit.


(Updated at 9 a.m. on 1/23/2024) Reston will be dropped from consideration for a future casino in state legislation filed last week by state Sen. Dave Marsden (D-35).

In a letter to members, Reston Association CEO Mac Cummins confirmed that Marsden agreed to exclude Reston as a possible location for a casino. Instead, Tysons — specifically an abandoned auto dealership — is the target of the controversial project.


The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors is considering a proposal to rezone several acres near Chantilly Auto Park for a data center.

The project, however, faces strong opposition from several local stakeholder groups who are urging the board to delay approval until the effects of data center development can be further researched.


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