Alexandria and Mount Vernon: Keeping Guns from Criminals
Focusing on private gun sales.
What are you going to do about gun safety and gun violence? These were words I heard over and over again from constituents last year when I first ran for Congress. They couldn’t understand why in the world I would want to be part of a Congress they largely viewed as dysfunctional. And the next words out of their mouth would be an impassioned plea, dysfunction be damned, to reach across party lines and find a compromise — any incremental step — that would begin to make our society safer from horrific shootings.
Editorial: Backpacks for All
Thousands of students will begin school this fall at a disadvantage; help now so they have the basics.
The first day of school each year is fraught with anticipation and anxiety. Many local students will be concerned about what they wear, who they will see, what it will be like. They’ve already had multiple shopping trips, online and otherwise, to be sure they have the supplies and extras they need.
Unscheduling Summer Play
Experts praise the benefits of free play for children.
What was once a time for catching fireflies, swimming and exploring has evolved into a period of elite day camps, academic enrichment classes and top-dollar sports clinics.
Fairfax: City of Fairfax Band Children’s Concert July 16
Each year, the City of Fairfax community band gives its youngest fans a chance to try their hand at the shiny, twisty and just plain loud instruments in the ensemble.
Q&A: MVHS Grad Balde To Play Lacrosse at Arcadia University
Majors won 10 games, reached conference final in 2015.
Q&A with Mount Vernon graduate Mouctar Balde.
Column: My Manifesto, Sort Of
Being diagnosed with a terminal form of cancer (no, they’re not all “terminal”) is “a heck of a thing,” to extrapolate a bit from Jim Valvano’s memorable 1993 ESPY Awards speech given a few months before he succumbed to his cancer.
Mount Vernon: New Citizens Celebrate First Fourth of July
100 citizens naturalized at George Washington’s Mount Vernon
Journalists Alakbar Raufoglu and his wife Tamara Grigoryeva left their native Azerbaijan because the government was repressing them and their freedom of speech.
Mount Vernon: Church Awards College Scholarships
The Aldersgate Permanent Endowment Committee has awarded 10 scholarships for the 2015-16 school year, eight for college students and two $1,500 gifts for qualified Wesley Theological Seminary students.
Letter: Suport St. Jude And Shriners Hospitals
Letter to the Editor
I encourage everyone to donate to St. Jude Children’s’ Research Hospital and Shriners Hospital for Children — two very worthy organizations that do so much for the children’s health and outlook on life.
Sending Carlos Silva Home to Brazil
Investigator Carlos Silva is going home to his sister and daughter in Brazil. He died Thursday, July 2 in an accident during a bicycling event at the World Police and Fire Games. Two other athletes were injured in the crash.
Mount Vernon: Care and Share Initiative Grows
This year Fort Hunt Elementary School started a Backpack Friday program as part of its new Care and Share initiative.
Mount Vernon: Chamber Awards Scholarships to Local Students
The Mount Vernon Lee Chamber of Commerce honored the recipients of its 2015 Education Partnership Scholarships on June 2 at a reception hosted by The Hilton in Springfield.
Letter: Working for Improvements
Letter to the Editor
Remembering can sometimes be a radical act. Choosing between opinion and fact can be of vital importance.
Mount Vernon Column: Prompt Action Needed To Clean Potomac River
Commentary
The Potomac River was once a bountiful asset and source of employment. In 1604, Captain John Smith wrote of fish so plentiful he could spear them with his sword, oysters that “lay as thick as stones” and schools of fish so plentiful that his men attempted to catch them with frying pans.
Commentary: Legislation Combats Sex Trafficking
On July 1, legislation that I sponsored, HB1964, went into effect. This new law is Virginia’s first stand-alone human trafficking statute and creates stricter penalties for traffickers, greater protections for sex trafficking victims, and provides needed tools for prosecutors and law enforcement to stop human trafficking in Virginia.
Letter: Celebrating Marriage Equality
Letter to the Editor
To the Editor: Today, we rejoice in the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court upholding the federal right of same sex partners to legal marriage in the cases of Obergefell v. Hodges, Tanco v. Haslam, DeBoer v. Snyder, Bourke v. Beshear.
Alexandria: Wine Cellar Needs a Little Help from Friends
Elizabeth and Rick Myllenbeck have a vision for 207 King St. They want to turn the historic 1810 Bartleman house in the heart of Old Town into the Sonoma Cellar, a wine-tasting room, bistro, and gift shop.
Alexandria/Mount Vernon: Beer and Barbecue at Bilbo Baggins
In the Kitchen
Ancho chili pepper, garlic and onion powder are poured into the large aluminum pot already simmering with ketchup, vinegar and leftover pork drippings.
A House by the Sea
Design ideas for beach homes.
As the sweaty days of summer slog on, many are dreaming about a home by the sea, a wistful retreat where cares flow as freely as an ocean breeze.