Firefighters Distribute 2,500 Pairs of Shoes
Seeing is believing for Nicholas Chakos and his family, who made the drive from Pittsburgh to Alexandria to help provide 2,500 pair of shoes to children in need as part of the Firefighters and Friends to the Rescue coat and shoe distribution Oct. 28 at Penn Daw Fire Station 11.
City Suspends Ticketing of ‘For Sale’ Cars
Cars displaying for “For Sale” signs on Alexandria public streets will no longer be ticketed.
Severance Trial Set for October 2015
The murder trial of Charles Severance has been set for Oct 5., 2015.
Accreditation: A Mixed Bag
Commentary
The Virginia Department of Education has issued accreditation reports on our public schools. For our area, the results are mixed.
The Never Never Bond
The British call credit card charges the “Never Never.” That is the attitude of the Fairfax Board of Supervisors (the BOS) with the current $100 million bond issue on the ballot.
A Better Tribute?
This is in response to H. Jay Spiegel’s letter in the October 23, 2014, issue of the Mount Vernon Gazette.
The Dysfunction In the Senate
(and why we need Ed Gillespie for Virginia)
The Senate Majority Leader Mister Reid is a master of the partisan deed.
Bylaw Maneuvers
Last week the MVCCA conducted a special council meeting to consider proposed changes to their bylaws.
High Schools to Start Later Next Year
School Board approves later start times.
Phyllis Payne has been fighting for more sleep for a decade. On Oct. 23, it all paid off. The co-founder of Start Later for Excellence in Education Proposal - or SLEEP - saw the Fairfax County Public School Board approve to move high school start times ahead by 30 minutes, 11-1.
Fairfax County Calendar
Your guide to entertainment in Fairfax County.
For those looking to fill their calendar with some home-brewed, Fairfax County fun stuff (read: entertainment and diversion), The Connection's Fairfax County Entertainment Calendar has many options: weekend jaunts and larks; date night inspiration; winter-to-spring fun; day-long festivals and events; art-outings; family fun-and-learning fusions; plays and shows; beyond-Small Business Saturday local shopping and bazaars; markets of handcrafted wares; music; 1Ks to marathons... the list goes on. If you know of an event not listed in our entertainment calendar, email it to south@connectionnewspapers.com for happenings in south Fairfax County or north@connectionnewspapers.com for entertainment in the northern parts of the county.
Moving Forward
Executive Steering Committee sends supervisors Route 1 multimodal alternatives plan.
The redevelopment of Route 1 is not unlike sitting in rush hour traffic on Route 1: slow, but moving gradually forward.
Mourning Hannah
Candlelight gathering planned for Saturday.
More than a month of what Charlottesville chief of police Timothy Longo described as an “unprecedented” search is finally over.
Board Approves Bicycle Master Plan
The Fairfax County Government Center has several massive parking lots. Many hundreds of spaces. But Bruce Wright and members of the Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling only needed some rack real estate in front of the building. They rode into the afternoon session of the Board of Supervisors on two wheels apiece from Reston, taking the West Ox Road Side Path.
Stage Presence
Cappies recognized among arts leaders at Arts Council awards.
After Bill Strauss first approached Judy Bowns about creating a student-driven arts awards and journalism organization 16 years ago, the ensuing creative partnership resembled a pair of cartoon characters.
Mount Vernon to Host Edison in Win-Or-Go-Home Game
Top-seeded Majors lose to TJ in Conference 13 semifinals.
The Mount Vernon field hockey team will face Edison on Friday for third place in the Conference 13 tournament.
Running Out of Efficacy
Not that I’m the least bit worried (actually, I’m the most bit worried), but surviving a terminal cancer diagnosis years beyond one’s original prognosis does present its own unique set of problems. Most notably, and most personally for me, they concern treatment options. Specifically, what drugs, targeted or otherwise, can be infused and/or swallowed (when in pill form, like Tarceva) and for how long, when signs of internal organ damage are indicated on regular lab tests?
Column: Running Out of Efficacy
Not that I’m the least bit worried (actually, I’m the most bit worried), but surviving a terminal cancer diagnosis years beyond one’s original prognosis does present its own unique set of problems.
Editorial: Change for the Better in Fairfax County Schools
Later start times, full-day Mondays; who knows, next maybe gifted-and-talented programs for poor students?
Who says big bureaucracies can’t make big changes? One year into the tenure of Karen Garza, we have two huge changes that between them impact almost every single student, every family with children in Fairfax County Public Schools.
Local Foundation Promotes Campus Safety
The VTV Family Outreach Foundation, a Centreville-based national non-profit campus safety advocacy organization, held their 2014 annual meeting last weekend at the Sheraton Reston Hotel. VTV was formed by the families of victims and survivors of the April 16, 2007 mass shooting tragedy at Virginia Tech.
Opinion: Vote ‘Yes’ on Transportation Bond
When you enter the voting booth on Nov. 4, you’ll be asked to vote Yes or No on a $100 million Fairfax County transportation bond. (Bonds are a form of long-term borrowing to finance public facilities and infrastructure and spread the costs over a long time frame. Virginia law requires that general obligation bonds be approved by voters in a referendum.)