Over the next year, visitors can expect to see fewer invasive plant species and more native plantings along the Washington & Old Dominion Trail and other regional parks.
The NOVA Parks Board of Directors adopted a fiscal year 2027 budget at its meeting last Thursday (May 21) that includes increased funding for invasive species management throughout the system, and for tree and shrubbery plantings along the 45-mile W&OD Trail, among other priorities.
By MICHELLE CHAPMAN AP Business Writer
NextEra Energy is seeking to acquire Dominion Energy in an all-stock deal valued at about $67 billion, creating a massive power company as the energy needs of artificial intelligence drive demand higher in the U.S.
The end is within sight for Fairfax County’s nearly decade-long push to convert all streetlights to more energy efficient LED fixtures.
Dominion Energy, which owns, operates and maintains about 96% of the county’s 60,000 streetlights, has upgraded approximately 93% or 52,100 of them to LED, as of March, the county announced earlier this week.
Hunter Mill Road is temporarily closed, and hundreds of Reston residents have lost power after a fallen tree took out a power line.
“Officers are on scene at the intersection of Hunter Mill Road and Sunrise Valley Drive for a tree that fell onto a power line, causing sparking in the roadway,” the Fairfax County Police Department said.
After months of negotiations and pressure from both elected officials and community members, Dominion Energy and NOVA Parks have settled on a new path forward for managing trees near power lines along the Washington & Old Dominion (W&OD) Railroad Regional Park.
Dominion and the regional park authority, which owns and manages the 45-mile-long W&OD Trail, have reached an agreement governing vegetation management activities that, among other provisions, requires the utility to provide advanced notice of any major maintenance work and to plant native species in affected areas when possible.
Power has returned to Tysons Corner Center after an outage left the entire mall in the dark earlier this afternoon (Sunday).
It’s unclear exactly when the mall lost electricity, but Dominion Energy learned about the outage around 2:30 p.m., Aisha Khan, a Northern Virginia spokesperson for the utility, says.
A Cold Weather Advisory has been issued for Fairfax County, suggesting the icy conditions currently slowing travel across the region could continue for a while.
The advisory is set to take effect at 7 p.m. tonight (Monday) and stay in place until 11 a.m. tomorrow (Tuesday). Current forecasts indicate that temperatures could remain below freezing through the rest of this week, with highs topping out at 24 degrees on Wednesday (Jan. 28).
Fairfax County has issued a local emergency declaration for Winter Storm Fern, enabling it to mobilize additional resources and seek outside assistance.
Expected to hit the D.C. region tonight (Saturday) and linger into early Monday morning (Jan. 26), the storm could bring “catastrophic” ice accumulation and “heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain,” totaling between seven and 14 inches, according to the National Weather Service. A Winter Storm Warning has been issued, starting at 11 p.m.
The McLean Chocolate Festival has been postponed, and other events across Fairfax County are likely to follow, as a potentially major snow storm bears down on the D.C. region.
Originally set for this Sunday (Jan. 25), the McLean Chocolate Festival will instead return for its 14th year on Sunday, March 15, the Rotary Club of McLean announced yesterday. It will be held at the McLean Community Center (1234 Ingleside Avenue) from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Fairfax County supervisors on Tuesday (Jan. 13) set a pair of future public hearings on proposed revisions to zoning rules for large-scale battery storage in the county.
The proposed changes would impact what are known as Battery Energy Storage Systems, or BESS. Language in the amendments would add a new definition for BESS and add new use standards and submission requirements, including minimum setbacks and the completion of a noise study before a site plan can be approved.
