federal government | FFXnow

Published July 25, 2025 at 3:50PM | Updated July 25, 2025 at 4:06PM

A community member waves an LGBTQ pride flag at the rally protesting Virginia's model policies on transgender students (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

The U.S. Department of Education is pushing several Northern Virginia school districts, including Fairfax County Public Schools, to roll back their policies intended to support transgender students.

The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced today (Friday) that it has found FCPS and its counterparts in Arlington, Alexandria, Prince William and Loudoun in violation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, arguing that letting students use bathrooms and other facilities consistent with their gender identity constitutes discrimination on the basis of sex.

News

Trump administration increases pressure on GMU with third investigation

By Angela Woolsey

Published July 18, 2025 at 10:00AM | Updated July 18, 2025 at 2:38PM

A statue of George Mason stands at George Mason University's Fairfax campus (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

The Trump administration has opened up yet another investigation into George Mason University in what many students, faculty and lawmakers fear is an attempt to oust GMU President Gregory Washington.

The Justice Department announced yesterday (Thursday) that its Civil Rights Division is investigating Virginia’s largest public university for allegedly “discriminatory” employment practices — specifically its past commitments to increase representation and support for women and people of color.

Countywide

N. Va. business leaders report impacts from federal spending cuts in new survey

By Angela Woolsey

Published July 17, 2025 at 9:15AM

The Mitre headquarters in Tysons (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

Despite continued concerns about inflation, federal worker layoffs and other issues, business leaders in Northern Virginia are feeling more upbeat about their own economic prospects and those of the region than they were this spring, a new survey found.

The Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce (NVC) worked with the marketing firm Pinkston to survey 135 corporate executives and business owners about their experiences with the Trump administration’s efforts to downsize the federal government, their expectations for the near-future and their policy priorities.

News

Local nonprofits warn SNAP cuts could exacerbate food insecurity in Fairfax

By Vernon Miles

Published July 17, 2025 at 8:30AM

Volunteers pack donations that will go to schools at Food for Others' Merrifield warehouse (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

Food distributors operating in Fairfax County say newly approved cuts to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits could have a devastating impact on a region already struggling with food insecurity.

President Donald Trump’s recent federal tax bill includes historic cuts to safety net programs like SNAP, the Washington Post reported.

Countywide

Fairfax County leaders sound alarm on ‘staggering’ rise in unemployment

By Angela Woolsey

Published July 16, 2025 at 11:45AM | Updated July 16, 2025 at 6:07PM

Federal employment in the D.C. region from 1990 to May 1, 2025 (via Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments)

Fairfax County’s top elected officials at the state and local level united this morning (Wednesday) to urge Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration to provide more support for fired federal workers.

In a joint statement, Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Jeff McKay and Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell (D-34), who represents southeastern Fairfax, pinned the “staggering rise in unemployment” across the county on “the reckless policies of Donald Trump” and the “complicity” of Virginia’s Republican leaders.

Countywide

Walkinshaw, Fairfax Democrats blast GOP-passed ‘Big Beautiful Bill’

By Jared Serre

Published July 14, 2025 at 2:45PM

Clockwise from top left: budget anlyst Andy Pavord, Braddock Supervisor James Walkinshaw, Sen. Saddam Salim, Del. Vivian Watts

Fairfax County Democrats are going on the offensive over the Trump administration’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” calling the legislation a “betrayal” that will hurt Virginians.

Speaking last Thursday (July 10) at a virtual roundtable, three local lawmakers took aim at the nearly 1,000-page budget reconciliation bill, which was signed into law on July 4.

Countywide

Federal tax changes could make it easier to build affordable housing, Fairfax officials say

By Scott McCaffrey

Published July 9, 2025 at 10:00AM

Tom Fleetwood, director of the Department of Housing and Community Development (screenshot via Fairfax County)

Fairfax County’s efforts to support additional affordable housing may have received an unexpected boost from the recently passed federal budget reconciliation act.

County officials are working through the details, but the changes in federal law could represent “a significant step forward” in financing affordable housing, Tom Fleetwood, director of the county’s Department of Housing and Community Development, told the Board of Supervisors at a housing committee meeting yesterday (Tuesday).

News

Smithsonian committed to keeping space shuttle in Chantilly despite relocation proposal

By Angela Woolsey

Published July 3, 2025 at 8:30AM

Space Shuttle Discovery on display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum has no intention right now of shipping off a centerpiece of its Chantilly facility to Texas.

The federal budget bill that squeaked through the Republican-led U.S. Senate on Tuesday (July 1) includes a provision directing NASA to transfer the Discovery space shuttle from its longtime home at the Udvar-Hazy Center to the Johnson Space Center in Houston, allocating $85 million toward transportation and construction costs.

News

Vienna credit union no longer required to refund $80M in overdraft fees

By Associated Press

Published July 1, 2025 at 7:30PM

A sign for Navy Federal Credit Union's headquarters branch in Vienna (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

By KEN SWEET AP Banking Reporter

NEW YORK (AP) — Navy Federal Credit Union will no longer have to refund $80 million to servicemen and women for illegally charging them overdraft fees on their accounts, after the President Donald Trump-led Consumer Financial Protection Bureau moved to dismiss the case.

News

Some, but not all, 11th District GOP candidates condemn ‘theatrics’ of DOGE cuts

By Jared Serre

Published June 24, 2025 at 1:45PM | Updated June 27, 2025 at 1:36PM

GOP Congressional candidates Lucas Rand and Karina Lipsman (staff photos by Jared Serre)

Roughly half of the Republicans seeking to represent Virginia’s 11th Congressional District condemned the process — but not the result — used by the Trump administration’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to slash the federal workforce.

Speaking to voters at a forum on Sunday (June 22), three of the candidates expressed a distaste for the way in which tens of thousands of federal government workers have been fired since President Donald Trump took office in January, allegedly to reduce spending.