News | FFXnow - Part 563

Morning Notes

Published March 29, 2023 at 7:30AM

A man walks a dog outside the Aperture apartments in Reston (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

Flags Lowered After Nashville School Shooting — “The U.S., state and county flags are lowered to half-staff today at all county government facilities as a mark of respect for the victims of the senseless acts of violence perpetrated on March 27 in Nashville, Tenn. The flags will remain at half-staff until sunset on March 31.” [Fairfax County/Twitter]

Longtime Vienna Inn Co-Owner Has Died — “Mollie Bass Abraham, who with her late husband owned and ran the Vienna Inn for four decades, died at her home in Alexandria on March 25. She was 96. The couple bought the former Freddie’s restaurant in Vienna in 1960 and renamed it the Vienna Inn.” [Gazette Leader]

Richmond Highway barricaded for hours as police negotiate with armed woman

By Angela Woolsey

Published March 28, 2023 at 8:00PM

Police have shut down Richmond Highway for a woman with gun who has barricaded herself in a vehicle (via Google Maps)

Richmond Highway (Route 1) has been closed off to traffic in the Hybla Valley area for over eight hours now due to a woman who has barricaded herself in a vehicle with a handgun, police say.

Crisis negotiators and officers in the Fairfax County Police Department’s Special Operations Division are still working to resolve the situation in the 7400 block of Richmond Highway peacefully, the department said in a 7:33 p.m. update.

Here’s where Fairfax County ranks among the ‘Best Counties to Live’ — and the neighbor it couldn’t beat

By Angela Woolsey

Published March 28, 2023 at 3:30PM

Fairfax County is the healthiest county in Virginia, according to the data platform Niche (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

Fairfax County fared well overall in recently released rankings of the best places to live in America, but it couldn’t quite compete with neighboring Loudoun County.

Fairfax County was named the 25th best county to live in nationally and the third best in Virginia by Niche, an online data platform that reviews localities with the goal of helping families choose schools and neighborhoods.

Merrifield recommended as priority for redevelopment, but one proposal raises displacement concerns

By Angela Woolsey

Published March 28, 2023 at 2:15PM

A concept plan to redevelop the Merrifield at Dunn Loring Station apartments (via Fairfax County)

Redevelopment proposals in the Merrifield area will likely get high-priority consideration by Fairfax County planners, as the county nears the finish line of its reconfigured site-specific plan amendment (SSPA) process.

After a nearly four-hour-long workshop on Thursday (March 23), the Fairfax County Planning Commission gave its support to staff’s recommendation that the pitches for Merrifield and an AT&T office site in Oakton be designated as “Tier 1” in the SSPA work program.

Pedestrian walkway improvements and more planned at Hook Road in Reston

By Fatimah Waseem

Published March 28, 2023 at 1:30PM

Reston Association (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

A proposal for improvements to the Hook Road Recreation Area in Reston is currently under review by the county.

The plan would include new pedestrian walkways, traffic safety measures, improvements to existing pedestrian walkways, a restroom pavilion and the repositioning of a baseball field on the site.

FCPS to offer high school students free virtual mental health services starting in April

By Acacia James

Published March 28, 2023 at 11:45AM

Fairfax County Public Schools (file photo)

Fairfax County high school students will soon have access to free mental health services. Starting April 10, Hazel Health will provide students with weekly virtual therapy sessions at no cost to families.

The school system’s website says Hazel’s therapists can help students with mood or behavior changes, anxiety, social skills, bullying, family relationships, and academic stress.

Rental community for older adults opens in Herndon

By Fatimah Waseem

Published March 28, 2023 at 11:00AM

The apartment community opened this month at Dulles Corner (Photo courtesy Brightview Senior Living).

A new rental community for older adults has officially opened its doors in Herndon.

Brightview Senior Living opened its 46th community at Dulles Corner (13700 Magna Way) this month. The 196-unit apartment building is part of a project with a library, fitness studios, pub, movie theater, salon and art studio, along with an outdoor garden area with a covered porch.

Vienna among first Metro stations to get taller gate doors in crackdown on fare evasion

By Angela Woolsey

Published March 28, 2023 at 10:15AM

Metro is retrofitting its new fare gates with taller doors intended to prevent fare evasion (via WMATA)

Saloon-style doors are coming to the Vienna Metro station’s fare gates.

The Orange Line terminus is one of nine stations in the first phase of Metro’s fare gate retrofits, which will install taller, glass doors on all of the transit agency’s recently modernized gates to deter people from jumping over to avoid paying to ride the rails.

County board honors police unit that cracked down on Lorton car thefts

By Vernon Miles

Published March 28, 2023 at 9:30AM

A Fairfax County police car parked outside the Franconia District station (via Google Maps)

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors recently honored a local police district that help crack down on a string of car thefts earlier this year.

At a meeting last week, the Board of Supervisors recognized the Franconia District Police Station and the Fairfax County Police Department’s Auto Crimes Enforcement Team.

Morning Notes

By FFXnow.com

Published March 28, 2023 at 7:30AM

A woman with a stroller watches geese from the boardwalk at Huntley Meadows Park (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

Why D.C. Area Could Smell North Carolina Wildfire — “Weather models indicate that low-level winds, around or below 2,500 feet, have been generally blowing from eastern North Carolina toward D.C., Maryland and Virginia at about 20 to 45 mph since early Monday morning. That probably was strong enough to transport the smoke into the D.C. area by about midday” [Capital Weather Gang]

Route 1 Widening Already Displacing Local Businesses — “Stubbs’ angst about his shrinking business is due to the expansion of a 3.1-mile section of Richmond Highway in the Alexandria portion of Fairfax County, near Mount Vernon — a project that is already starting to displace businesses along the strip even though construction isn’t expected to start until 2027.” [DCist]