Around Town

(Updated at 8:30 p.m. on 2/6/2024) Idylwood Plaza is shaking up its retail mix to start 2024.

The shopping center on Leesburg Pike in Idylwood will usher in its newest tenant, MIYU Beauty & Wellbeing, with a grand opening celebration at 4:30 p.m. tomorrow (Friday). Falls Church City Vice Mayor Letty Hardi and Councilmember Marybeth Connelly are expected to attend.


News

(Updated at 2:25 p.m.) Annandale High School’s orchestra director is on her way to Los Angeles for the upcoming Grammy Awards.

Annie Ray, who teaches music and leads the orchestra program at the school, is the winner of the 2024 Grammy Music Educator Award, CBS Mornings announced today.


News

George Mason University is poised to complete the construction of a functional cricket field at its Fairfax campus by the end of this summer and a new ballpark by 2025.

During a virtual town hall meeting on Monday (Jan. 29), GMU staff and Sanjay Govil, owner of the Washington Freedom cricket team and a founding investor in Major League Cricket (MLC), outlined the project and listened to feedback from local stakeholders.


Countywide

Fairfax County wants to consolidate the duties of its Department of Animal Sheltering (DAS) and Animal Protection Police (APP).

Under the new arrangement, DAS would oversee both animal care services and enforcement of animal protection laws, which would be carried out by animal control officers (ACO), according to the recommendation from DAS and the Fairfax County Police Department.


Around Town

Noodles & Company has closed its doors in the Town of Vienna.

The fast-casual noodle chain had anchored the Vienna Marketplace shopping center at the corner of Maple Avenue and Park Street for nearly 20 years. Now, the windows at 201 Maple Avenue East have gone dark, the linguine-ladling storefront sign stripped down.


News

(Updated at 10:30 a.m. on 2/6/2024) After more than a year of impassioned and often acrimonious public testimony, Reston Association will drop plans for pickleball courts as part of the renovation of Barton Hill’s tennis courts.

At a meeting on Jan. 25, the RA Board of Directors voted to remove pickleball courts from the scope of the renovation, which had inspired passionate testimony from both pickleball lovers and neighboring residents concerned about safety, security, parking and the noise associated with the burgeoning sport.


Countywide

Sexual Assault Lawsuit Against FCPS Moves Forward — A federal judge has rejected a request by Fairfax County Public Schools to dismiss a lawsuit filed in 2019 by a former student who says she was raped and sexually abused by classmates when she was in seventh grade. The school board said in November that it had evidence that the allegations were fabricated. The lawsuit will now go to trial in March. [Associated Press]

Reston Man Skis to South Pole for Charity — “A Reston businessman recently found himself at the polar opposite of where he hoped to be nearly a year ago — literally. Instead of standing at the North Pole, Len Forkas instead skied 60 nautical miles to the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station.” The trek was intended to raise awareness of his nonprofit Hopecam, which helps kids diagnosed with cancer. [Patch]


News

By Brian Trompeter

To protect McLean neighborhoods overrun by commuters cutting through to avoid bottlenecks on Route 7, Interstate 495 and other major roads, newly elected Fairfax Supervisor Jimmy Bierman (D-Dranesville) wants to restrict peak-hour traffic in those neighborhoods, but exempt residents living there using a vehicle-sticker program.