The Fairfax County School Board is set to require recess at the middle school level for the first time starting next school year.
Under a health and wellness policy revision to be voted on this month, middle schools would be required to have a 15-minute supervised recess break, and elementary school students will get two recess breaks per day, totaling at least 30 minutes.
Franconia Townhouse Fire Under Investigation — Fairfax County fire investigators are still working to determine the cause of a townhouse fire that occurred in the 6500 block of Gildar Street on Saturday (April 2). The blaze didn’t cause any injuries, but four people have been displaced, and there was an estimated $93,750 in damages. [FCFRD]
Fairfax City Police Search for Missing Woman — “Fairfax City Police are still searching for information Tuesday on the disappearance of Amanda Childress, 43, who may have also been the victim of an assault…Investigators said the assault may have happened in the 10400 block of Eaton Place on March 6.” [ABC7]
Safeway isn’t going anywhere, but change is coming for the rest of Merrifield’s Pan Am Shopping Center.
Citing a need to adapt to evolving retail trends, property owner Federal Realty Investment Trust wants to turn the strip mall at the corner of Route 29 and Nutley Street into a mixed-use development with three residential buildings, townhouses, and a public plaza.
Firefighters rescued two cats from a house fire in McLean last night (Monday) caused by a kerosene lamp.
One of two occupants was transported to a hospital with minor injuries, the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department wrote in a news release.
The Celebrate Fairfax! Festival, a summer highlight featuring bands, carnival rides, and more at the Fairfax County Government Center, once again won’t occur — but this time, there’s a replacement.
The nonprofit Celebrate Fairfax!, Inc. announced Friday (April 1) on Facebook that it will switch the festival from one large event to different events staged throughout the county.
The ongoing renovation of Cooper Middle School is heating up — literally.
Fairfax County Fire and Rescue units put out “a very small, smoldering fire in a construction area” next to the school at 977 Balls Hill Road around noon today (Tuesday).
The Fairfax County Police Department has adopted some new equipment to improve how quickly it can process crimes.
It includes a National Integrated Ballistic Information Network system to automate ballistics evaluations, where bullets and firearms can be matched from separate scenes, providing key links for crimes.
Mars, Inc., the company that owns both M&M’s and Pedigree Petfoods, is planning to expand its existing headquarters in McLean.
According to an application submitted to Fairfax County on March 30, the American multinational manufacturer of candy, pet food, and other food items says that its current corporate home no longer meets its needs.
Defamation Trial Over Domestic Violence Op-Ed Starts Next Monday — “Johnny Depp, 58, and Amber Heard, 35, who were briefly married from 2015 to 2017, are set to begin their long-anticipated defamation trial with jury selection that day. The trial is expected to last through the end of May, and the case has drawn national and international attention.” [Inside NoVA]
D.C. Area TV News Anchor Dies — “For decades, Bruce Johnson’s voice could be heard emanating from TV sets around the Washington region, delivering the day’s news with both gravitas and humor. Johnson, who spent 44 years at local CBS affiliate WUSA9, died of heart failure Sunday morning, according to the station.” [DCist]
When Cunningham Park Elementary School Principal Katherine Le asked if she would paint a mural for the school, Ellen Singletary responded as any job interviewee would: she said yes.
Singletary landed the job, becoming the art teacher for the Vienna school of roughly 400 students, but thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, it took more than two years for that proposed mural to materialize.
