A longtime tenant of Merrifield’s Gatehouse Plaza has permanently closed its doors.
Uno Pizzeria & Grill, located at 3058 Gate House Plaza, served its final slice late last month after 25 years in business.
Tysons
Fairfax County Public Schools is facing a legal and financial dilemma after the Virginia High School League’s (VHSL) executive committee voted to ban transgender student athletes from competing in girls’ sports.
The league, which governs public school sports and other competitions across Virginia, announced the policy change on Monday (Feb. 10) after President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to withhold funding from educational and athletic institutions that let transgender girls and women to compete in female sports.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors reacted tepidly this week to a staff proposal that would shift wildlife management responsibilities from the county’s police department to the Fairfax County Park Authority.
“We need a little more time to discuss this [and] make sure we think this through, very carefully,” Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn said at a meeting of the board’s safety and security committee on Tuesday (Feb. 11).
Lawmakers deciding on a controversial bill to develop a casino and entertainment complex in Tysons Corner tabled a decision Wednesday after House leadership moved the bill between House committees for consideration.
Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell’s Senate Bill 982 would have added Fairfax County to the list of Virginia localities eligible to develop a casino that backers say would bring jobs and revenue for the county and commonwealth.
Clogged wastewater pipes will once again require a temporary shutdown of Scott’s Run Nature Preserve.
The park at 7400 Georgetown Pike is scheduled to close next Monday, Feb. 17 so a contractor’s crews can address a “critical blockage” stopping up the siphon system that carries wastewater from McLean, under the Potomac River and into Maryland, the Fairfax County Department of Public Works and Environmental Services announced yesterday (Wednesday).
FCPS Reopens After Snow Day — After earlier snow, warmer temperatures yesterday (Wednesday) “have been good for area road conditions and for the clearing of sidewalks. With that in mind, all Fairfax County public schools and offices will open on time tomorrow, Thursday, February 13, 2025. We look forward to seeing everyone at school.” [FCPS]
Metrobus Resumes Regular Service — “Metro plans to resume normal Metrobus service starting at 4 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 13. All 193 routes will operate on a regular schedule, reflecting improvements in road conditions across the region. In addition, Metrorail and MetroAccess will be running normal service.” [WMATA]
Bodies of DCA Crash Victims Illegally Filmed — “An airport dispatcher admitted to illegally recording surveillance footage showing deceased victims after last month’s fatal midair crash, police say.” The Maryland man allegedly took “photos and videos of crash victims being transferred from a first-responder boat to a staging area at Reagan National Airport,” according to a criminal complaint. [ARLnow]
Reston Man Convicted in Sex Crimes Cases — “A Reston man has been sentenced to at least seven years in prison for multiple sex crimes in Arlington. Matthew Coble’s sentencing, handed down Friday by Circuit Court Judge Daniel S. Fiore II, follows his convictions for aggravated sexual battery and indecent liberties with a minor.” [ARLnow]
Cyberattack on Va. Attorney General’s Office — “A ‘sophisticated cyberattack’ struck the offices of Virginia Attorney General Jason S. Miyares on Wednesday, forcing the agency to shut down computer systems and resort to paper court filings as Virginia State Police and the FBI investigate.” [Washington Post]
Taste of Annandale Planning to Begin — “The community is invited to a meeting on March 5 to help plan the next Taste of Annandale. The meeting will be at 6 p.m. at the Mason Government Center. The 2025 Taste of Annandale is scheduled for Sept. 20 at the Eileen Garnett Civic Space at 7200 Columbia Pike.” [Annandale Today]
Tysons Couple Celebrates 65th Anniversary — “Like something out of a romance novel, Ed, 80, and Helen Okunak, 81, have been going strong since 1960. The Tysons residents first dated as juniors at Lyndhurst High School in New Jersey.” [Northern Virginia Magazine]
It’s Thursday — Expect rain to subside before 10am, followed by increasingly sunny skies and a high of 52. A south wind will shift northwest at 6-13 mph and gusts up to 23 mph. 60% chance of precipitation. Thursday night will be mostly clear with lows around 26. [NWS]
Concerns by Fairfax County officials helped convince state lawmakers to take a deeper look at proposed changes to Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) rules intended to make decision-making at the local-government level more transparent.
The measure patroned by state Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-39) had sailed through the Virginia General Assembly’s upper chamber unanimously on Jan. 31.
Based on initial measurements, yesterday’s snowstorm didn’t quite measure up to the one that passed through in January, but combined, they’ve given the D.C. region its snowiest winter of the 2020s.
In Fairfax County, snowfall amounts ranged from 5.2 inches in the Town of Herndon, as of 7 a.m., to 8.5 inches spotted in Hybla Valley at 2:30 a.m., according to preliminary estimates reported by the National Weather Service at 10:28 a.m. today (Wednesday).
The Trump administration’s sweeping efforts to whittle down the federal workforce have found favor with at least one Fairfax County elected official.
Springfield District Supervisor Pat Herrity, the only Republican on the county board, revealed earlier this week that he “fully” agrees that the federal government’s “size and scope” needs to be reduced, claiming that there’s a “broad consensus across America” in support of a downsizing.
Go to Herrity backs federal workforce cuts, breaking from other Fairfax County supervisors
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Discussion of legislation permitting a referendum on a Tysons casino has moved to the powerful House Committee on Appropriations.
Members of the House Committee on Local Government were directed by Speaker Don Scott (D-88) yesterday afternoon (Tuesday) to send the bill to the chamber’s appropriations committee without acting on it.