Around Town

Good Friday 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 — Oct 4, 2024.

Since it’s Friday, we’ve also compiled a list of the most-read articles of the week, below.

  1. Raising Cane’s to open first Fairfax County restaurant this week (32087 views)
  2. Merrifield’s Pan Am Shopping Center has been renamed (19503 views)
  3. FCPS concerned by increase in ‘hoax’ threats on social media (4479 views)
  4. Construction breaks ground on Inova Franconia-Springfield Hospital (4316 views)
  5. Planning underway to redevelop former Booz Allen Hamilton office building in Herndon (3950 views)
  6. County officials toss in $500,000 to help ‘catalyst’ for McLean (3243 views)
  7. Greek restaurant Our Mom Eugenia to expand in Mosaic District (3202 views)
  8. Reston man arrested after alleged lottery ticket theft spree (2795 views)

📅 Upcoming events

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

Here are the events planned for Sunday:

🌤️ Saturday’s forecast

Fog is expected to dissipate by 10am, followed by a mostly cloudy sky that will gradually become sunny. The high temperature will be around 76 degrees, accompanied by a north wind of 6 to 8 mph. The night will be clear with a low of 53 degrees and a lighter north wind of 3 to 6 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.

We hope you have a great weekend! Feel free to discuss the most-read stories of the week, the upcoming weekend events or anything else of local interest in the comments. 👋


News

The former Fairfax County police sergeant who fatally shot Timothy McCree Johnson outside Tysons Corner Center last year has been acquitted of manslaughter following a nearly two-week trial.

However, the Fairfax County Circuit Court jury found Wesley Shifflett, 36, guilty of recklessly discharging a firearm when he fired the shot that killed 37-year-old Johnson on Feb. 22, 2023.


Sports

Few argued that Sophie Cao was the outright individual star of this week’s 6D North Region golf tournament.

The Langley Saxons’ sophomore not only shot a second-round, 4-under-par 68 to rally and win the individual championship with a two-day, 36-hole score of 72-68-140.


News

An ex-Army soldier has pleaded guilty to killing a woman at her West Springfield home in 1994, Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano announced today (Friday).

Stephan Smerk, 52, could face up to 70 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to first-degree murder for stabbing and killing Robin Lawrence, a stranger, while he was stationed at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Arlington.


News

Design work is underway on Reston’s massive $235 million Soapstone Connector, a half-mile road that will eventually link Sunrise Valley Drive to Sunset Hills Road through a bridge over the Dulles Toll Road.

The Virginia Department of Transportation is set to host a public information meeting on the project next Thursday, Oct. 10 at South Lakes High School (11400 South Lakes Drive). An open house will begin at 6:30 p.m., followed by a presentation at 7 p.m.


Around Town

Dunkin’ Donuts has arrived in Annandale.

The donuts-and-coffee chain opened the doors of its new restaurant at 7025 Columbia Pike this morning (Friday), according to a media advisory. The cafe will operate daily from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m.


News

A Reston soccer club will add fencing at Lake Fairfax Park with some financial help from Fairfax County.

During its meeting on Sept. 25, the Fairfax County Park Authority board approved $20,000 in matching funds to install fences around the rectangular fields 1 and 4 at the park (1400 Lake Fairfax Drive).


Countywide

A nuanced effort to convert vacant office buildings into residential housing could be a net fiscal positive for the Fairfax County government.

That was the conclusion of an analysis presented to county leaders on Tuesday (Oct. 1). But it arrived with some caveats and some questions from members of the Board of Supervisors.


News

Vienna leaders are warming up to the idea of a public swimming pool, a decade after throwing cold water on the idea when planning community center renovations.

Consultants hired to research possible long-term uses of the former Faith Baptist Church property at 301 Center Street South — now known as the Annex — shared their final recommendation of an indoor aquatics and fitness facility with the Vienna Town Council at a work session on Monday (Sept. 30).