‘Family-Friendly, Magical and Heartwarming’
Robinson presents children’s play, “The Snow Queen.”
Based on the same Hans Christian Anderson tale as the Disney movie, “Frozen,” Robinson Secondary presents the children’s play, “The Snow Queen.”
Animal Shelter Shines in 2013
Fairfax County Animal Shelter adoption initiatives resulted in the shelter having its most successful year yet, saving a record number of animals’ lives.
Churches, County Organize Blanket Drive to Aid Syrian Refugees
Blankets collected in Northern Virginia’s Blanket Drive for Syrian Refugees will soon be arriving in Turkey, where a local relief agency will distribute them to Syrian refugee families in the Adana refugee camp. More than 18,000 blankets were collected. These blankets were donated by residents of Northern Virginia through grass-roots efforts organized by local elected officials in conjunction with the Fairfax County Interfaith Council. Residents were asked to drop off clean and folded blankets at locations throughout Northern Virginia. In Fairfax County, seven meetinghouses of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) served as donation collection points, as well as two Islamic Centers, and offices of several members of the county Board of Supervisors. Chairman Sharon Bulova joined volunteers at one LDS meetinghouse and publicly thanked the church for its efforts in supporting the effort.
City of Fairfax News
News in the Fairfax area.
Into the Budget Fray
Bulova highlights accomplishments, challenges in annual address.
Despite the lingering impact of an anemic economy, and the regional ripple effects of federal sequestration, Fairfax County residents will see some concrete signs of progress this year.
Editorial: Extend Health Coverage in Virginia
Standing on what is essentially scorched earth, Republicans in the Virginia General Assembly have condemned hundreds of thousands of poor Virginians to living without health coverage even though it would be fully funded by Federal money for the next three years, and with Virginia paying 10 percent after five years.
Friends Forever
Since it had been more than a few months, today I summoned up the courage to Google my long-time friend and fellow stage IV lung cancer survivor, Suzanne. Suzanne and I had been years out of touch (for no real reason other than initiative and the geographic consideration that she lived in Barnstable, Ma. and I live in Burtonsville, Md.) and recently back in touch – due to our identical cancer diagnoses. I learned that she had succumbed to her disease back in October, 2013. We last had contact electronically back in the summer. She was extremely weak then, she said, too weak to talk, so e-mailing was best. In that e-mail, ultimately her last, she wrote that the most recent chemotherapy drug with which she was infused was no longer effective and that her oncologist had no other drugs left to recommend. Not that she said it in so many words, but at that point her prognosis was grim. She offered that her two boys were with her and from them she would gain great comfort. The news was very unsettling to me and I was afraid that this e-mail might be our last – and so it was.
Petersen Proposes Amendments, Bills
Over the next couple months, the General Assembly will be dissecting the biennial state budget proposed by the outgoing governor. Individual members may propose amendments, and state Sen. Chap Petersen did so on Jan. 10. “They are all relatively small amounts, but could have a critical role,” Peterson said.
Fairfax Home Sales: November, 2013
In December 2013, 69 Fairfax homes sold between $974,900-$164,000.
Fairfax Home Sales: November, 2013
Classified Advertising January 15, 2014
Read the latest ads here!
Fairfax Academy Hosts MCT Festival
Eight annual MCT Fest displays students’ talents, leadership.
Students enrolled in Fairfax Academy’s Music Computer Technology (MCT) class impressed parents and teachers by hosting and performing original compositions at the Eighth Annual MCT Fest on Jan. 8 in Fairfax.
Chocolate Lovers Valentine Features ‘Old’ Fairfax High
The annual Chocolate Lovers Festival valentine this year features the original Fairfax High School building, drawn by Fairfax artist Jackie Liedl.
Education, Transportation, Mental Health
Del. Bulova unveils his legislative priorities.
Greetings from Richmond! The 2014 General Assembly is now in full swing. In addition to considering nearly 2,000 bills, we will adopt Virginia’s biennial budget, which must be balanced as required by Virginia’s constitution. Thanks to everyone who has contacted me about issues throughout the year. This session I have introduced 13 bills and several budget amendments. Below is a summary of issues and initiatives I will be working on during the 2014 session.
Brooke Hardin to Lead Development and Planning Department
The City of Fairfax announces the appointment of Brooke Hardin as the city’s director of the Community Development and Planning Department. Hardin, who has served as the city’s Planning Division chief since 2011, will begin his role immediately.
Fairfax County Launches Sex Trafficking Prevention Campaign
Sex trafficking education materials also added to school curriculum.
In order to raise awareness to the fact that sex trafficking can happen anywhere, even in Fairfax County, a new prevention campaign and website raising awareness of this issue launched on Jan. 13.
Garza Proposes $2.5 Billion Budget for FY 2015
Proposed Fairfax County public schools budget would cut 731 positions, increase class size.
At the Jan. 9 School Board Meeting, Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Karen Garza released the proposed budget of $2.5 billion for FY 2015. The budget proposal requires an additional $98.1 million, or 5.7 percent increase compared to FY 2014, from Fairfax County, which the school system says is due to uncontrollable factors such as enrollment growth, retirement rate increases and the structural deficit. The FY 2015 proposed budget is an increase of $59.4 million from last year’s approved budget.
Virginia Supreme Court Opens Access to Audio Recordings of Oral Arguments
Policy change overturns blackout instituted in 2008.
Members of the Virginia Supreme Court have a New Year’s Resolution — become more transparent.
From Late Night Comedy to Your Bedroom
Why the General Assembly matters more in Virginia than most states.
The Virginia General Assembly began its annual session last week on Jan. 8. The actions of the Virginia General Assembly matter more to localities than it would in many other states. In Virginia, localities have only the power specifically granted by the General Assembly, the Dillon rule. So, for example, Montgomery County and Prince Georges County in Maryland recently voted to increase the minimum wage in those localities. They didn’t need permission from Maryland General Assembly to do so. Arlington and Alexandria might be inclined to follow suit (the District government also voted to increase the minimum wage) but do not have that power.
In Case Someone Is Wondering
I don’t mind being alive, really I don’t. Occasionally though, I receive well-intended inquiries – electronic and otherwise, from people (who know my cancer story) who are sort of wondering if perhaps I’m not. When people haven’t heard from me in a while – and this is a category of people with whom I don’t have regular/recurring interactions, but rather a group of people who reach out and attempt to touch me (figuratively speaking) every three or four months or so – there is a presumption on their part that my silence (so far as they know) is not in fact golden, but rather ominous, as in the cancer might have won and yours truly didn’t. And when I respond, their pleasure/relief at my not having succumbed to the disease is quite positive, generally speaking. Their honesty and joy in learning that I’m still alive is both rewarding and gratifying. Rewarding in that they care and gratifying in that I must be doing something right which enables me to sustain myself through a very difficult set of medical circumstances: stage IV, non-small cell lung cancer, the terminal kind (is there any other kind?).
Let Sun Shine on Virginia’s Financial Disclosure Laws
State legislators turn attention to ethics in wake of McDonnell gift scandal.
As members of the Virginia General Assembly convene for the first time since last February, legislators are stampeding to introduce ethics legislation in response to the gift scandal which engulfed then Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R). The revelations last spring about numerous undisclosed gifts and purported loans from businessman Jonnie Williams to McDonnell — including a $6,500 Rolex watch engraved to the "71st Governor of Virginia" and $35,000 in gifts and catering for his daughters’ weddings — shined a spotlight on Virginia’s porous financial disclosure laws.