Countywide

The Fairfax Circuit Court has passed the gavel to a new chief judge.

Stephen Charles “Steve” Shannon officially assumed the position yesterday (Wednesday) more than a decade after he was first elected to serve as a judge on the court, the circuit court clerk’s office announced.


Countywide

Virginia is facing another lawsuit over its newly adopted but not-yet-enacted ban on future sales and manufacturing of assault firearms.

The Trump administration sued the Commonwealth of Virginia and Virginia State Police in federal court today (Wednesday), arguing that its planned restrictions on gun sales violate the Second Amendment.


Countywide

More than 1,100 bills came out of this year’s Virginia General Assembly session, and many will take effect tomorrow (Wednesday).

After Democrats gained a trifecta with last year’s election of Gov. Abigail Spanberger and control of the Virginia Senate and House of Delegates, legislators’ bills focused on priorities like immigration enforcement, gun control, housing and tenant protections, reproductive rights and more.


Countywide

A Virginia judge has hit pause on a new state law prohibiting assault weapons, preventing it from taking effect next week as planned.

The legislation, introduced by Fairfax County state Sen. Saddam Azlan Salim (D-37) and Del. Dan Helmer (D-10), was scheduled to ban the sale and manufacturing of assault-style firearms starting July 1. But yesterday (Thursday), a judge in Lancaster County issued an injunction that puts the law on hold amid a pending lawsuit and directs Virginia State Police to not enforce the ban.


News

A Springfield resident could face more than a decade in federal prison after guns and explosive devices were found in his home while he was being evicted.

A federal jury in Alexandria convicted 42-year-old Amer Taisir Zghailat Qaralleh yesterday (Thursday) of possessing an unregistered firearm and improper storage of explosive materials, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia announced.


News

A man arrested last year after allegedly speeding, fleeing from police and subsequently attempting to carjack another driver on I-95 in Lorton will serve time in federal prison for gun possession.

Jamarion Dawon Jackson, 23, was sentenced today (Tuesday) to four years in prison after pleading guilty in April to possessing a machine gun during the police chase and carjacking incident, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia announced.


News

A Senate committee and Virginia State Police have concluded their separate investigations into a Centreville High School teacher’s claims that school staff facilitated abortions without parental consent, Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Michelle Reid said this week.

“Neither investigation found any evidence of wrongdoing or any need for further action,” Reid wrote in a letter to the school’s staff and families. “This situation has had a significant impact on all of those involved, and it reminds us of the responsibility we all share to act thoughtfully, with integrity, and compassionately as a caring, connected community.”


News

A woman who was shot by the CIA Police after crashing outside the front gates of the intelligence agency’s headquarters in Langley in May 2025 has pleaded guilty to multiple federal charges.

Monia Spadaro, a 28-year-old identified in court documents as an Arlington resident, pleaded guilty yesterday (Monday) to disregarding a law enforcement signal for her to stop and driving while under the influence of alcohol, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia announced today.


News

A Herndon man was sentenced in Fairfax County Circuit Court today to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of his wife and a stranger he lured to their home through a fetish website. 

Brendan Banfield, a former IRS law enforcement officer, claimed that he shot Joseph Ryan after he came across Ryan attacking his wife on the morning of Feb. 24, 2023. But earlier this year, a jury convicted him of murder after prosecutors argued that Banfield and the family’s au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhães, set Ryan up in a scheme to murder Christine Banfield, a pediatric intensive care nurse. 


Countywide

A Muslim civil rights group is suing Fairfax County Public Schools for suspending several students after they created a “kidnapping” video for social media to promote their chapter of the Muslim Student Association (MSA) last fall.

The video was intended to depict a “playful overreaction” in response to a “specific, viral comedy skit circulating nationwide,” according to a filing submitted by the CAIR Legal Defense Fund today (June 4) in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria.


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