The weekend is almost here. Before you start working on an elaborate drag costume or head to bed for some much-needed sleep after avoiding those pranksters, let’s revisit the past week of news in Fairfax County.
Here are the 10 most-read stories on FFXnow this week:
(Updated at 5 p.m.) The Fairfax County Police Department has turned to advertising to help address vacancies.
The department has signed a contract with Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Epic Recruiting to deliver digital marketing services and materials. Operational expenses for police recruiting have already more than quadrupled this budget year.
Outdoor dining became a go-to option during the peak of the pandemic for downtown Herndon businesses, but it may not just be a thing of the past anymore.
The Herndon Town Council is considering a proposal to permit outdoor dining and seating in public areas. The move comes after temporary licenses to allow outdoor dining expired in November.
Karen Johnson commutes two hours each way to get to work in Fair Oaks, leaving at 5 a.m. from her home in Fredericksburg.
Johnson, a child care center teacher, has tried to live in Fairfax County but can’t afford it, she said on April 12 at a budget hearing with fellow union members. She called on the Board of Supervisors to fund proposed raises to the county’s 11,000-plus merit workers.
A new 25,000-square-foot fitness facility is officially opening its doors in Reston Town Center next week.
The St. James — which currently operates the region’s largest athletic facility — will open a new performance club on Saturday, April 30. The facility includes two turf areas, a sauna, cycling studio and more than 70 group fitness programs.
Some of Fairfax County’s top breweries are rolling up their sleeves and joining a global campaign to support Ukrainian refugees displaced by the ongoing Russian invasion.
The “Brew for Ukraine” movement emerged in early March in response to a call for support from Pravda Brewery, a company based in Lviv, Ukraine, that has shifted to brewing Molotov cocktails for the country’s defense efforts.
It’s Earth Day — The Fairfax County Park Authority launched a new Earth Day website this week to provide information on upcoming events, volunteer opportunities, and ways to promote environmental stewardship. The annual occasion started in 1970 “to generate awareness and support for environmental protection.” [FCPA]
Community Raises $20K for Young Reston Soccer Player — “Aaron, a player in the Great Falls-Reston Soccer Club, recently told his coach that he couldn’t come to practice because he didn’t have any cleats. The elite soccer player explained that he was one of the 15 people who’d been displaced by a fire at the Stonegate Village Apartment complex in Reston on April 10.” [Patch]
(Updated at 11:40 a.m. on 4/22/2022) Fairfax County police canceled three medical helicopter missions last week because no senior paramedics were available.
The Fairfax County Police Department operates the Medevac missions and must have a pilot and two paramedics — one of which must be a senior paramedic.
The vision for a mixed-use development — formerly known as Midline — is coming to life at Michael Faraday Drive.
Bethesda-based developer EYA plans to demolish an office building at 1840 Michael Faraday Drive within a month or so to make way for a seven-story apartment building with 229 units and around 5,000 square feet of ground-floor retail.
Cemeteries are essential guides to the past, documenting ancestries and settlement patterns, but in Fairfax County, hundreds of sites risk being lost to time themselves, with some even unmarked or abandoned.
To prevent that, the county has undertaken a massive archaeological initiative to create a map of their locations to preserve history, provide information for development and more. The county will also create a manual for how to care for cemeteries, according to an announcement on April 14 launching the survey.
