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Tim Peterson

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Fairfax County School Board to Consider Nondiscrimination Policy Change

When the members of the School Board reconvene on May 7, they’re scheduled to act on whether or not to add “gender identity” to the list of nondiscrimination categories for all Fairfax County Public Schools students, employees or applicants for employment.

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Protest Precedes Police Meeting at Fairfax County Government Center

Themed subcommittees announced at second police review commission meeting.

Increased Fairfax County Police presence was noticeable at the rear of the room after three masked men entered the second meeting of the Ad Hoc Police Practices Review Commission.

Transurban Begins Grant Program for Express Lanes Corridor Nonprofits

Transurban, the company that operates the 95 and 495 Express lanes, announced earlier this month the launch of a community grant program for non-profit organizations working in or benefiting the Express Lanes corridor.

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South County High School Team to Compete in National Math Competition

It’s a question math students often ask their parents and teachers: When will I use this in real life? Last winter, South County High School math teacher Daniel Southard gave his students a concrete answer, attached to a financial incentive.

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No Charges in Lorton and Centreville-area CVS Robberies on Easter

Police are continuing to investigate a pair of armed robberies that occurred at CVS stores on April 5, Easter Sunday, and whether or not they are related.

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Thomas Jefferson Class of 2019: 70% Asian, 1.6% Black

Some say unbalanced admissions demographics at Northern Virginia’s top high school speaks to system-wide equity problems.

Consider: 70.2 percent Asian, 20.7 percent White, 5.1 percent Multiracial/Other, 2.4 percent Hispanic, 1.6 percent Black: This is the ethnic breakdown of the 493 students admitted to the 2019 class of the Fairfax County Public Schools magnet institution Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology.

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Fairfax County Pays $2.95 Million to Settle John Geer Wrongful Death Suit

More than seven months after the Geer family lawyer Michael Lieberman filed a $12 million wrongful death civil suit in Circuit Court against Fairfax County Police, the two sides reached a $2.95 million settlement, announced Tuesday, April 21.

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Earth Day Celebration: 2015 SpringFest Fairfax at the Workhouse Center

An Earth Day celebration wouldn’t be complete without ponies and food trucks. At least the combined Earth Day and Arbor Day event in Fairfax County, known as SpringFest Fairfax, wouldn’t.

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Missing Civil War Marker Plaques Find a Home at Fairfax Station Railroad Museum

When Fairfax Station native Lee Hubbard was stationed with the U.S. Army in Baltimore, he would come home every weekend, sometimes more often than that. On a visit in the spring of 1959, Hubbard and his brother Bob went to check out something some local children had been talking about.

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Prisoner Escapes from Fairfax Hospital, Gets Recaptured

Social media aids manhunt

Around 3 a.m. on Tuesday, March 31, Wossen Assaye overpowered the female member of his two-guard private security detail while the male was out of his hospital room. Assaye was reportedly in shackles on a hospital gurney before the struggle.

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Springfield: Getting into Marian Homes

Remodeling project to provide for residents with intellectual and or physical disabilities.

When the new residents of Marian Homes’ latest remodeling project move in to the Gresham Street house in north Springfield, Fairfax resident and Marian volunteer John Germain hopes they feel at home.

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Northern Virginia Training Center in Fairfax to Close by March 2016

From institution to community, finding homes for those hard to place.

Joseph McHugh has lived at the Northern Virginia Training Center for 35 years, moving in when he was a teenager. McHugh has cerebral palsy and colostomy and severe spasticity issues. At the training center, McHugh works with a speech pathologist, nurse, on-campus dietician and is close to an X-ray machine, dental facility and clinic on the grounds.

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Fairfax County School Board Votes Down Veterans Day School Holiday

Fairfax Station resident Steven Hunt, retired U.S. Navy, put it bluntly: “Votes count, words don’t.” That was following a vote in which all but two members of the Fairfax County School Board voted against an amendment to the 2015-2016 calendar that would have made Veterans Day a school holiday.

Del. Dave Albo to Seek Re-election

Del. Dave Albo (R-42) recently announced he had submitted paperwork on March 18 to run in the Republican primary and seek re-election for his seat.

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South County High School Closing in on Fundraising Goal for Artificial Turf

South County High School is looking for real green to transform into artificial green. The school plans to replace two natural grass fields -- the football stadium and track -- with artificial turf that can withstand increased foot traffic and play during rain or snow, and cost less to maintain.

Planning Commission to Decide on Vulcan Quarry in Lorton

The Fairfax County Water Authority has proposed increasing the land area for the Griffith Water Treatment Plant and reconfiguring the Vulcan Materials quarry in Lorton to be used for water storage.

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West Springfield High School Hosts Job and Opportunity Fair

Robinson graduate Jackson Muse was looking for some professional direction. Currently a junior political science major at Shepherd University in West Virginia, he’s worked at Barnes & Noble but is potentially interested in counseling for the Fairfax County Park Authority, or helping open the new Wegmans at Hilltop Village Center.

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League of Women Voters Hosts Forum on Firearms, Domestic Violence and Suicide in Burke

Among intimate partner homicides in Fairfax County in 2009 and 2010, firearms were the fatal weapon 60 percent of the time, nearly double the next closest implement: knives. Fairfax County domestic violence coordinator Sandra Bromley shared this and further information at an information forum on gun use in domestic violence and suicide held at Pohick Library on March 22.

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Emotional Beginning for Fairfax County Ad Hoc Police Practices Review Commission

While several other members of the recently created Ad Hoc Police Practices Review Commission stated their general intent to listen and learn and help, Salvatore Culosi had a more specific request.

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Students From Around Fairfax County Recognized for Promoting Peace

After a friend of South County High School senior Sakira Coleman was sexually assaulted while running on a local public path, Coleman decided to take action and started the “Fight for Your Right to Run at Night” program.

Lake Braddock and Robinson Update Security

According to school releases, Lake Braddock and Robinson Secondary Schools have each updated security features on their campuses.

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First Meeting Set for Fairfax County Police Commission

With endorsement, albeit non-unanimous, from the Board of Supervisors, the ad hoc commission organized by board chairman Sharon Bulova to review Fairfax County Police Department practices will hold its first meeting March 23.

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Fairfax County hosts first Inmate Resource Fair.

They’re hoping the third time will be a charm: 34-year-old Demeterius Spann of the Richmond Highway area of Alexandria and 29-year-old Nydale Sheppard of Reston have each been incarcerated three times.

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Swimmers From Around Fairfax County Raise $23,000 for Breast Cancer Research

In the last five years, young swimmers on the Shark Tank Racing Squad have seen one family lose a mother from breast cancer and another’s grandmother diagnosed.

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2015 General Assembly Session Draws to a Close

The 45-day 2015 session of the Virginia General Assembly came to a close last week, one which Del. Scott Surovell (D-44) described as “pretty calm, mainly because guys on either side have stayed away from divisive social issues they’ve pushed in the past,” and Sen. Toddy Puller (D-36) assessed, “For the most part, I think they did accomplish some good things.”

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New Packaging Brewing Company Opens in Lorton

With the capacity to churn out over 4,000 barrels annually, Fair Winds Brewing Company in Lorton can claim the title of Fairfax County’s largest packaging brewery.

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Fairfax County Swimmers Shine at States

Swimmers from 36 high schools from around Virginia competed in the Virginia High School League 6A state championship held in Richmond on Feb. 20.

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Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Sharon Bulova Bulova to Create Transparency Review Commission

Group would include citizens, legal community and other organizations.

When Alexandria resident Natasha McKenna was removed from life support and died on Feb. 8, the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office posted a release on the county website.

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Fairfax County Park Authority Passes on Commercial Proposal for Burke Lake Golf Park

Burke resident Meg Hanrahan likes Topgolf in Alexandria. “To go out on a date with my husband,” she said, “but it’s not some place I want to go when I want to mentally prepare to go out on a course and play 18 holes.”

Fairfax Station Woman Raises Support for Orphaned Ole Miss Student

At first, Fairfax Station resident Julia Ross only knew Alex Shields, a junior at the University of Mississippi, as the boy who dated her daughter Emma and friend to other students she knows.

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Fairfax County School Board Discusses New AAP Center at Poplar Tree

Board seeks more community feedback before taking action.

Greenbriar West Elementary School is far from the only Fairfax County Public School with an overcrowding problem.

Dead or Alive: Virginia General Assembly Lawmakers Pick Their Legislative Highlights at the Crossover

HB1872: Would have required the Board of Education to arrange a special training program for principals working with struggling schools.

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Virginia General Assembly Reaches Crossover

Bills live, die or fold into other legislation before review by the opposite chamber.

As the current meeting of the Virginia General Assembly neared the one-month mark, legislators in the House of Delegates and Senate had to finalize work on bills they would send to their counterparts for consideration.

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Citizens Hold Meeting on Burke Lake Golf Park

Though not typically a winter sport, talk of golf is heating up a chilly February.

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Randolph-Macon Professor presents on African-American Art at the Workhouse in Lorton

How do we articulate the challenges of our experience in life? Randolph-Macon College art history professor Dr. Evie Terrono explores this question through the eyes of African-American artists, spanning from the Civil War, the Civil Rights Movement to modern day.

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Lorton Community Action Center to Hold 8th Monopoly Tournament

Aspiring Donald Trumps and Warren Buffetts will have their chance to compete for pretend real estate stardom, all for a good cause, as the Lorton Community Action Center (LCAC) and Ron Kowalski Real Estate Group host the eighth annual Monopoly tournament in Lorton.

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Sixth Friends of Sadie Blood Drive in Burke Draws More Than 200 Donors

For the sixth year in a row, Burke resident Amy Dozier celebrated Valentine’s Day by helping manage a blood drive. Her daughter Madeline, barely a tween for the first Friends of Sadie drive in 2010, is now a 16-year-old sophomore at Robinson Secondary School. She’s old enough to drive and old enough to donate blood for the first time.

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Stuffing the Bus in Clifton and Lorton

For members of the South County High School JROTC program, Saturday’s “Stuff the Bus” food donation event was as much about community service as it was about “service learning.”

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Fairfax County Supervisors Approve Model Airplane Field at I-95 Landfill in Lorton

Robert Freas of Fairfax Station can’t fly his model aircraft in his backyard. In fact, he has to drive to a field about 50 miles away for a facility that meets Academy of Model Aeronautics standards for planes like his. The fixed-wing fliers Freas and members Northern Virginia Radio Control (NVRC) club pilot can go up to eight feet long.

First Art Steffen Scholarship Awarded to student in Centreville

For nearly three decades, Edward Arthur “Art” Steffen taught at Fairfax County Public Schools.

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Uber prominent at state Sens. Marsden and Saslaw joint town hall in Falls Church.

Though over a dozen taxicabs sat in the parking lot of Sleepy Hollow Elementary School, inside it was clear everyone drove themselves.

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Matthew Charged In West Potomac Alumna Hannah Graham Murder

Suspect faces life in prison.

Nearly five months after the disappearance of University of Virginia sophomore and West Potomac High School alumna Hannah Graham, the primary suspect in her death investigation has been indicted by a grand jury in Albemarle County.

Fairfax County Judge Orders More John Geer Materials Released

Family’s lawyer’s motions supported.

Though extensive, the thousands of pages of documents, dozens of audio files and handful of videos released last month by Fairfax County, documenting the shooting death of Springfield resident John Geer, aren’t exhaustive.

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Robinson Middle in Fairfax Takes on Rydell High in ‘Grease’

Though none of the actors are in high school, Katie Jenkins believes her cast will have no problem bringing the students of the famed, fictional Rydell High to life.

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Fairfax County Goes Public with Geer Documents

FCPD report confirms John Geer was shot while unarmed, hands raised.

Of the seven eyewitness accounts of the shooting death of John Geer, only one describes Geer quickly bringing his hands down to his waist. That was the perspective of PFC Adam Torres, the officer who shot Geer in the chest, killing him in the doorway of his home on Aug. 29, 2013.

Sixteen-year-old South County Student Battles Brain Cancer, Wins $1,000

While spending a month in Philadelphia, Catherine and Serena Lommasson of Lorton found the best cheesesteak in town. Beck’s Cajun Cafe, a vendor in the train station won their favor with andouille sausage added to the iconic sandwich.

The Changing Face of Fairfax Station, Lorton and Clifton

Land use (re)development highlights.

In largely residential areas, land use officials in the offices of Supervisor Pat Herrity (R-Springfield) and Jeff McKay (D-Lee) say to expect to see more “infill” redevelopment in the future.

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Derelict Barge Remains in Belmont Bay, South of Lorton

This ship hasn’t come in: A 50-foot, steel-hulled landing craft resting about 110 feet offshore in Belmont Bay has held its position for years. The WWII-type landing craft was used as a barge to haul materials for constructing the Fairfax Yacht Club in the 1980s.

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Eileen Filler-Corn Holds First Mid-Session Office Hours in Springfield

Though Del. Eileen Filler-Corn made headlines in the first week of the General Assembly for her proposed legislation on how sexual assault on college campuses is reported, she was game for any topic at her first mid-session office hours.

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Fairfax County Supervisors Defer Decision on Salary Adjustment

How should a county supervisor be compensated for his or her service? That question continues to be up for discussion, as the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to defer voting on a compensation adjustment that would take effect Jan. 1, 2016.