As many Fairfax County high school students drive or walk to school this fall, they’re arriving at a building without a dedicated crossing guard — and, only a few days into the new academic year, several elected officials say that absence is already creating problems.
This past spring, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors eliminated funding for crossing guards at all public high schools, a move that was expected to save the county about $1.89 million in police staffing costs.
Hershey Super Sweet Adventure will soon kiss Tysons Corner Center goodbye.
The sweets-celebrating attraction — which consists of both a ticketed experience and a retail store — is slated to close on Labor Day (Monday, Sept. 7) after staying at the mall for more than four months.
A 31-year old man is facing a range of criminal charges in connection with multiple thefts and burglaries from vehicles in the Reston area.
According to the Fairfax County Police Department, detectives in its Criminal Investigations Division began investigating after receiving a tip from a community member who met one of them at a National Night Out event on Aug. 4.
Reserve your spot for an after-hour event with multi-disciplinary artist Sky Hopinka, Thursday, Nov. 5, 6–9 PM. Experience monumental nature-inspired artworks in the Water’s Edge exhibition, make your own artwork to take home at the National Museum of the American Indian.
Sky Hopinka’s photo and video art—including This is a mnemonic for Truman Lowe in the museum’s collection—shares Truman Lowe’s interest in Indigenous homelands, cultural knowledge, and traditional practices. Hopinka contributed to the exhibition catalog for Water’s Edge: The Art of Truman Lowe, writing on Lowe’s lasting impact on his work. Hopinka joins the museum for this special after hours event featuring a screening of three of his short video works followed by a discussion with Rebecca Head Trautmann, Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art and exhibition curator, along with art-making activities, and time to enjoy Lowe’s work currently on view. Sky Hopinka has been widely recognized for his experimental short films and photo-based works. A MacArthur Fellow, Guggenheim Fellow, and Forge Project Fellow, his work has been shown in major film festivals, museums, and international exhibitions and is in numerous prominent museum collections. Hopinka is currently an assistant professor in the department of Art, Film, and Visual Studies at Harvard University.
DOJ Raises Prospect of Kennedy Center Demolition — “The Trump administration threatened the demolition of the Kennedy Center if the center is not allowed to close for two years for renovations. The Justice Department floated the notion in a court filing Monday.” [NBC4]
Rare Tree Frog Seen in Huntley Meadows — In recent weeks, a rare blue tree frog “has drawn dozens of naturalists, wildlife enthusiasts and hobby photographers to Huntley Meadows, where visitors have tried to catch a glimpse of a frog that has become a local attraction and generated a flurry of social media attention.” [Washington Post]
Judge: Va. Still Improperly Denying Voting Rights — “A federal judge says Virginia officials incorrectly applied his order in a landmark voting rights case ruling that found the commonwealth had wrongly kept people with certain felony convictions from the ballot box for more than a century … Potentially hundreds of thousands of Virginians who should have been able to vote in the August primary were prevented from doing so.” [VPM News]
Police Chief on Great Falls Killing — “Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis says he anticipates harsher charges for the man who confessed to killing a 42-year-old mother in Great Falls,” stating that “the level of premeditation involved in the murder should bring the charges from second-degree murder to first-degree murder.” [WUSA9]
Young Workers Still Living With Parents — “About 4.9% of households in the DMV include what a new Bright MLS report terms a ‘shadow buyer’ — an employed adult between ages 25 and 39 who’s living in their parents’ home. That’s the 10th-highest share among U.S. metros,” a reflection of the region’s high housing prices and cost of living. [Axios DC]
Tysons Startup Bought for $232 Million — “Los Angeles-area manufacturer Navitas Semiconductor Corp. plans to buy Claros Inc., a McLean startup developing technologies to improve data center energy performance, for $232.8 million … The company said it expects to close the acquisition by the end of the year, which would be a rapid exit for Claros and its investors following its launch” in 2024. [Washington Business Journal]
Mount Vernon Trail Joins Hall of Fame — “Trails advocacy organization Rails to Trails Conservancy announced that the Mount Vernon Trail received 58% of public votes to win the Hall of Fame accolade. The other nominees were National Battlefield Trail in Texas and the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail in Ohio.” [ALXnow]
How Local Charity Helps Students — After buying a prom ticket for a student who couldn’t afford one, Mount Vernon High School substitute teacher Ron Fitzsimmons asked local charities “if they paid for smaller things he felt were important to a child’s self-esteem. They all said no … That reality inspired Fitzsimmons and his sister, Laura Fitzsimmons Peters, to launch Alice’s Kids in 2011.” [WTOP]
Record High Enrollment at GMU — “George Mason University undergraduate enrollment will hit a new high this semester with the arrival of more than 7,400 incoming students, thousands of whom packed into EagleBank Arena on Friday for New Student Convocation … Overall enrollment figures are not yet official but undergraduate enrollment is expected to top 29,600.” [GMU]
It’s Wednesday — Today will be mostly sunny with a high of around 88°F. Tonight, expect mostly cloudy skies with a 30% chance of showers and thunderstorms after 2 a.m.; the low will be around 71°F. [NWS]
There’s more local news to explore. Check out WSHnow, with stories from around the region.
On Sunday, November 15 at 4:00 PM, the St. Andrew the Apostle Concert Series proudly presents The Catholic University of America Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Maestro Simeone Tartaglione, for a free afternoon of orchestral masterworks at St. Andrew the Apostle Catholic Church in Clifton.
Program:
• Paul Dukas – The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, best known from Disney’s Fantasia!
• Camille Saint-Saëns – Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor
Soloist: Vasily Popov, cello
• Camille Saint-Saëns – Symphony No. 3 in C minor, “Organ Symphony”
Organist: Michael Murphy
Good Tuesday evening, Fairfax County. Let’s take a look back at today’s stories and a look forward to tomorrow’s event calendar.
The following articles were published earlier today — Aug 25, 2026.
Here is what’s going on Wednesday throughout the county, from our event calendar.
Expect increasing clouds with temperatures reaching a high of 88°F. Winds will shift to come from the south at 5 to 9 mph in the afternoon. On Wednesday night, there is a 30% chance of showers and thunderstorms after 2 a.m., with mostly cloudy skies and a low of around 71°F. South winds will be around 9 mph. See more from Weather.gov.
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.
Students attending McLean High School could find another nearby street off-limits for parking starting as soon as next month.
At its meeting today (Tuesday), the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors authorized a public hearing for Sept. 29 to consider a petition for parking restrictions by residents of a portion of Felix Street. They are seeking to have the road in front of the 13-home stretch incorporated into the McLean Residential Public Parking District.
Though a distinctive clock tower added over a decade ago to hide a cell tower still looms in the background, the northwest corner of Arlington Blvd (Route 50) and Graham Road in West Falls Church otherwise looks very different now than it did at this time last year.
In place of the old Graham Center retail strip, demolished last fall, has emerged the skeleton of VHC Health’s upcoming combined emergency and urgent care center, which officials say will be the first facility of its kind in Virginia.
Two people have been hospitalized following a crash this morning (Tuesday) on Baron Cameron Avenue in Reston that resulted in an ambulance getting entangled in electrical wires.
Fairfax County police officers and firefighters responded at 11:31 a.m. to the intersection of Baron Cameron Avenue and Bracknell Drive near the Spectrum at Reston Town Center for a two-vehicle crash that sent one car into a utility pole.
Sixty summers ago in what was then a small enclave in the wilds of western Fairfax County, a new theater troupe called the Reston Players prepared for its first production — a musical called “The Greatest Game in Town.”
The performances on July 15-17, 1966 at the South Riding Center Stables helped bring a budding sense of community to the “new town” emerging around Lake Anne and environs.
