Countywide
Sunset Hills Road near the Reston Town Center Metro station (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

D.C. Area on ‘High Alert’ for Bird Flu — “Bird flu outbreaks have been detected at three poultry operations in Maryland and Delaware, impacting more than 500,000 chickens and leading to heightened alert among officials in the Washington region.” The Maryland H5N1 case was reported on Friday (Jan. 10) and detected in a chicken in Caroline County. [Washington Post]

FCPS Not Affected by Data Breach — “K-12 education vendor PowerSchool experienced a data breach. While FCPS is a customer of PowerSchool, we do not utilize their Student Information System product, which was the system impacted by the data breach.” [Fairfax County Public Schools]

Governor Highlights Priorities for Final Year — “Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin launched his priorities in his State of the Commonwealth speech Monday morning. The speech, and the start of the 2025 Virginia General Assembly, was postponed until after the water crisis in Richmond could be resolved.” [WTOP]

High School Stadium Bathrooms Expected This Summer — “The long-awaited permanent restroom facilities at several high school athletic stadiums around the Richmond Highway Corridor are expected to be ready this summer, according to leaders at Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS).” [On the MoVe]

Proposed Bill Would Make School Breakfasts Free — “Public school students across Virginia would soon be getting free breakfasts under a newly proposed bill by Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker (D-5) and Sen. Danica Roem (D-30) … The new bill only covers breakfast and costs $43 million, Bennett-Parker said.” [ALXnow]

Annandale Cancer Patient Finds Solace in Singer — “It’s been an incredibly tough year for Cassidy Rajala, an Annandale sixth-grader who’s spent months in the hospital since being diagnosed with leukemia in December 2023. One of the bright spots has been her discovery of pop singer Benson Boone.” [Annandale Today]

N. Va. Social Services Nonprofits Merge — “Northern Virginia Family Service, which offers a variety of help to those in need, last week announced its merger with Alexandria-based Stop Child Abuse Now of Northern Virginia. The entities will be combined under the Northern Virginia Family Service, or NVFS, name and will broaden services to better aid children in the region, a spokeswoman for NVFS said.” [Inside NoVA]

It’s Tuesday — Scattered flurries are expected after 4pm, accompanied by increasing clouds and a high near 32. Winds will be from the northwest at 9 to 11 mph, gusting up to 23 mph. For Tuesday night, expect scattered flurries to cease before 9pm, leading to partly cloudy skies and a low around 19. Northwest winds will be stronger, at 13 to 16 mph, and may gust as high as 30 mph. [NWS]


Around Town

Good Monday evening, Fairfax County. Let’s take a look back at today’s stories and a look forward to tomorrow’s event calendar.

🕗 News recap

The following articles were published earlier today — Jan 13, 2025.

📅 Upcoming events

Here is what’s going on Tuesday throughout the county, from our event calendar.

❄️ Tuesday’s forecast

Expect scattered flurries to begin after 3pm, with increasing cloud coverage and a high temperature near 31 degrees. The northwest wind will blow at around 11 mph, gusting up to 24 mph. In the evening, flurries will taper off before 9pm, giving way to mostly clear skies and a low temperature around 17 degrees. The northwest wind will increase slightly to 13-16 mph, with gusts reaching 31 mph. See more from Weather.gov.

🌅 Tonight’s sunset

The MonumentCam screenshot above is used with permission of the Trust for the National Mall and courtesy of EarthCam.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to discuss the day’s happenings in the comments.


Sports

Runners for the Marshall Statesmen were successful at two different track-and-field meets this past weekend, helping the girls and boys teams win titles at one of the competitions.

Marshall won championships at the high-school meet among Fairfax County teams at Thomas Jefferson Community Center in Arlington. The girls won with 86 points and the boys with 82.


Sports

She isn’t the prolific scorer like in high school, but Elizabeth Dufrane is still a significant point producer in women’s college basketball.

The McLean High School graduate is a starting senior guard for the Division III Roger Williams University team in Rhode Island. Through 13 games this season, Dufrane is the Hawks’ second-leading scorer, averaging 11 points per game and 4.4 rebounds.


Event

Dreaming about your next vacation? Join Cruise Planners Beth Borrego and Rod Rodriguez for an inspiring day devoted to ocean and river cruises, guided tours, luxury travel and unforgettable destinations!

Meet representatives from AmaWaterways, Collette, Oceania Cruises and Premier World Discovery. Hear informative presentations, ask questions, explore exciting vacation possibilities and discover which travel experience may be the perfect fit for you.


Countywide

Advocates for a referendum to allow a casino in Tysons have a formidable ally in the General Assembly this year.

State Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell (D-34) is carrying the 2025 bill to add Fairfax County to Virginia’s short list of casino-eligible localities, taking over from Sen. Dave Marsden (D-35), who introduced legislation in 2023 and 2024.


Countywide

In its 85th year of existence, Fairfax County Public Library (FCPL) saw a surge in demand for digital materials, reflecting the ongoing expansion of its services beyond traditional print books.

The library system recorded 3.8 million digital checkouts in 2024, pushing it past the all-time milestone of 25 million checkouts, FCPL shared in an overview of the last calendar year published on Jan. 2, 2025.


Around Town

A D.C.-area chain of hibachi restaurants is opening a restaurant in Burke as part of its latest expansion.

Quickway Japanese Hibachi, which currently features six locations across Fairfax County, is coming to Burke Centre Shopping Center, founder Bob Liang confirmed to FFXnow.


News

The Fairfax County Planning Commission gave its blessing last Wednesday (Jan. 8) to two proposed projects that could replace aging commercial buildings with housing on adjacent Oakton parcels.

The proposals to redevelop Redwood Plaza (10600 Arrowhead Drive) and a portion of the Flint Hill Office Park (10530 Rosehaven Street) will now go to the Board of Supervisors. A similar request for a parcel immediately to the north is in the pipeline and will be considered later this year.


Around Town

Reston Community Center (RCC) will celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day for a 40th consecutive year with a full weekend of events and community service projects.

Set for this upcoming Saturday and Sunday (Jan. 18-19), RCC’s celebration will come after the actual anniversary of the civil rights leader’s birthday, which falls on Wednesday (Jan. 15), but precede the observed federal holiday next Monday (Jan. 20).