A Fairfax County Police Department SUV with red and blue lights flashing (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)
After issuing more than 10,000 traffic citations in early June, police are preparing to resume a traffic safety campaign targeting reckless drivers, speeding, and distracted driving later this summer.
The third phase of the “Road Shark” initiative, led by the Fairfax County Police Department in partnership with Virginia State Police, will begin Aug. 10.
A red-wing blackbird calling in a tree at Royal Lake Park in Kings Park West (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)
Va. Lawmakers Approve Budget — “Virginia lawmakers approved a two-year spending plan Monday, ending months of negotiations as the deadline to avoid a partial government shutdown approached. The Senate approved the plan with a 23-16 vote, and the House of Delegates passed it 71-22. Now it heads to Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s desk.” [WTOP]
Family Mourns KilledPedestrians — “Family and a big group of friends are mourning the sudden death of a Falls Church area man. Sean King was walking home from work on the sidewalk along a Leesburg Pike service road
when a car jumped the curb and struck him. He died a short time later at the hospital.” [NBC4]
How Drought Affects Data Centers — If drought conditions persist and trigger mandatory water restrictions, data centers would be “treated the same as all other commercial, industrial and residential customers, state and local officials revealed.” [Virginia Mercury]
Measles Case Passed Through Dulles — “A confirmed measles case has been found in a Maryland resident who traveled through Dulles Airport and went to an urgent care office in the District, area health officials said … On June 17, the person traveled through Concourse C, the International Arrivals Building and baggage claim areas of Dulles International Airport between 6 a.m. and 11 a.m.” [WTOP]
Metro Contract for Fare Station Upgrades — “The region’s largest transit agency on Monday awarded a $38.9 million base contract to Indra Group, a Spanish technology firm, to design, manufacture, install and maintain 450 new ‘state-of-the-art’ customer terminal machines across 98 stations as well as at WMATA’s testing and training facilities.” The new machines will feature touch screens and accept mobile wallets, along with credit and debit cards. [Washington Business Journal]
Developers Discuss Office Space Demand — “The availability of trophy office space in Northern Virginia is dwindling as construction remains scarce. Real estate experts say it will take the right type of tenant to change that.” Comstock Chief Marketing Officer Timothy Steffan estimates that it would take leases of $85 per square foot per year for a developer “to cover skilled labor, materials and other costs” of a new trophy office building. [Bisnow]
Town Hall on Crescent Apartments Development — “Reston residents will have a chance Thursday to weigh in on a proposed Fairfax County Comprehensive Plan amendment that could allow a larger Reston Community Center presence to be included in the future redevelopment of the Crescent Apartments property near Lake Anne.” [Patch]
Local Students Perform on Broadway — Recent Oakton High School graduate John Poncy and rising Madison High School senior Allie Blanchet performed in character medleys on Broadway last night as part of a ceremony for the National High School Musical Theatre Awards, also called the Jimmy Awards. The pair earned spots after winning best leading actor and actress at the Brandon Victor Dixon Awards for D.C. regional high school theater. [Washingtonian]
New Book Imagines Time-Traveling Metro — “A new novel is out this week that’s partly based in D.C. and reimagines the Metro as a time-traveling portal … Retro, written by D.C. journalist Jessica M. Goldstein, is out June 23. It follows Ash, an out-of-work actress who takes a job at a time travel start-up that lets wealthy clients party in the past.” [Axios DC]
It’s Tuesday — Expect a 40% chance of showers before 3 p.m., with mostly cloudy skies and a high near 80°F. Night will be mostly clear with a low around 62°F and a gentle north wind at about 6 mph. [NWS]
Want more local news? Check out our newest sister site, WSHnow, with the latest from across the region.
The front of the Fairfax County Courthouse (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)
The Fairfax County Circuit Court is now offering an online education hub for students and other Fairfax County residents interested in the local court system and its history to explore.
Officially launched last Wednesday (June 17), the Judicial Learning Center of Fairfax County is the first resource of its kind provided by any state trial court in the U.S., according to Fairfax Clerk of Court Chris Falcon.
Kids ride electric dirt bikes on the W&OD Trail in Vienna (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)
Local police and parks officials across Northern Virginia are working to raise awareness of how to safely ride and share paths with electric bicycles in response to reported upticks in complaints about reckless behavior.
Over the past month, the Vienna Police Department has been sharing information about safe and legal riding practices, while also stepping up patrols in areas where concerns have cropped up as part of an E-Bike Safety Awareness Campaign launched on May 29.
Volunteers distribute boxes of food and hygiene items during a Resource Rally at Floris United Methodist Church in Herndon on June 16 (staff photo by Mary Stachyra Lopez)
Dozens of volunteers gathered in Herndon last Thursday (June 18) to distribute thousands of pounds worth of food and hygiene items to combat food insecurity.
Mobile Flock camera placed at Hunters Woods Village Center in Reston by the Fairfax County Police Department (photo provided by reader)
Two men were injured in a stabbing earlier this month in the Hunters Woods area of Reston, police say.
Officers were dispatched to the 2200 block of Colts Neck Road on June 8 shortly after 7 p.m. for the reported stabbing, according to the Fairfax County Police Department.
Seal of Fairfax County in the Board of Supervisors' meeting room (staff photo by Jared Serre)
Fairfax County is bracing for cutbacks in federal funding for Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) as a result of the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed by Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump last July 4.
An approximately $6.7 million reduction in revenue — already reflected in the fiscal year 2027 budget adopted on May 5 — is the result of the federal government shifting more administrative costs for SNAP to the states, county staff told the Board of Supervisors during their Health and Human Services Committee meeting on June 16.
The Fairfax County Police Department is looking for a suspect involved in an alleged indecent exposure, followed by an attempted abduction of a woman in Wakefield Park in Annandale over the weekend.
A woman reported that as she was walking on a trail in the park around 1:40 p.m. Sunday (June 21), a man exposed his genitals. While officers were responding to the call about the indecent exposure, another call came in, this time regarding an attempted abduction in the park.
New shared-use path along I-495 in McLean (courtesy VDOT)
A community celebration is set for this coming Saturday, June 27 to mark the opening of a new shared-use bicycle and pedestrian trail adjacent to the Capital Beltway (I-495) in McLean.
A joint effort of the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) and Transurban, the trail is one of the final multimodal features of the 495 Express Lanes Northern Extension (495 NEXT) project, which extended the interstate’s toll lanes past the GW Parkway in McLean and updated seven bridges.