Updated at 6 p.m. — The GW Parkway has reopened after closing for the snow, the National Park Service announced, though both north and southbound traffic is limited to a single lane in the construction area.
Earlier: Like the snow that triggered them, facility closures and service delays are piling up in Fairfax County.
Audit Identifies Metro Safety Issues — “Metro workers responsible for maintaining key safety systems that help prevent collisions are not following internal procedures, and the engineers who are supposed to oversee them sometimes don’t notice because they aren’t looking at the data, according to an audit by the transit agency’s independent regulator.” [Washington Post]
Bomb Threat Reported at Lake Braddock School — Security at Lake Braddock Secondary School was stepped up yesterday (Thursday) after an anonymous student made a threat to bomb the school on TikTok. Activities continued “as regularly scheduled after the building was cleared” ahead of students arriving at 7:30 a.m. [WUSA9]
The D.C. area is expected to be hit with another round of snow tomorrow (Friday), prompting Fairfax County Public Schools to call for its second snow day this week.
All schools and central offices will be closed tomorrow, FCPS announced at 5:25 p.m. today. The closure includes extracurricular activities, field trips and other events on school grounds.
Updated at 10:15 a.m. on 1/19/2024 — With the county government closed due to snow, the start of early voting has been delayed to 9 a.m.-5 p.m. tomorrow (Saturday), the Fairfax County Office of Elections announced.
Earlier: Early voting for the 2024 presidential primary election is set to begin tomorrow (Friday) Saturday (Jan. 20) in Fairfax County, with local party officials and campaign strategists projecting varied voter turnout.
(Updated at 5 p.m.) A few new tenants are making their way to Merrifield Plaza, the H Mart and Lidl-anchored shopping center at Route 29 and Gallows Road.
The newcomers will include a franchise of Shi Miao Dao, a Chinese noodle shop that can also be found in Rockville, Maryland, among other locations. The Merrifield restaurant is part of the same brand, but the operator isn’t affiliated with the one in Rockville, says a broker for TSCG, which manages and leases Merrifield Plaza.
Cards, comics, vintage memorabilia… and more!
As recently seen on the PBS show, If You Lived Here… Collector’s World, located in Annandale, is the largest specialty collectibles store in the Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia area. With more than 6,000 square feet, this retail store caters to many different types of collectors.
The proposal to permit a casino in Fairfax County has honed in on one specific site: a former Aston Martin and Bentley dealership in Tysons.
Site criteria for the potential gaming establishment emerged yesterday (Wednesday), when state Sen. Dave Marsden’s long-awaited/dreaded bill was officially published online, just two days before the Virginia General Assembly’s filing deadline for the 2024 session.
Public Hearing on Chantilly Data Center Coming — The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing next Tuesday, Jan. 23, on a proposal to build a data center or warehouse off of Route 50 in Chantilly. Residents of the nearby Pleasant Valley community told the planning commission in September that the data center would be bad for their neighborhood and the environment. [The Connection]
Grocery Store Under Construction in Hybla Valley — “Renovations have begun at the former Safeway site at Mount Vernon Square, and the projected opening date for the new Fresh World supermarket is mid- to late summer 2024, according to Joshua Kim, a property management representative for Mt. Vernon Square LLC, which purchased the shopping center last June.” [On the MoVe]
The Fairfax Symphony Orchestra and Capital One Hall in Tysons will throw back to 1964 next month — specifically to the D.C. concert that helped introduce The Beatles to America.
The Merrifield-based classical orchestra has partnered with Classical Mystery Tour, a Beatles tribute band, for a Beatles 60th Anniversary Tribute concert that will take over Capital One Hall on Feb. 10, starting at 7:30 p.m.
(Updated at 2:30 p.m.) The new, much-debated state bill to allow a casino in Fairfax County has arrived with some limited but critical changes from its previous iteration.
Though the bill doesn’t appear to be available online yet, NBC4 reports that state Sen. Dave Marsden (D-35) has filed legislation that would add Fairfax County to the small list of Virginia localities eligible for a casino.
