Well, I finally did it.
Fairfax County News
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Fairfax County teacher charged with possessing methamphetamine
5/9/2008
Police arrested a Fairfax County Public Schools teacher Rachel Smith on Thursday for possession of methamphetamine. Smith, 32, teaches at the Chantilly Academy. She resides at 47170 Brasswood Place in Sterling. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
Church donation box thieves arrested
5/8/2008
Thanks to a television viewer’s tip, two Herndon brothers have been charged in the April 25 theft of donation box cash from St. Leo the Great Catholic Church in Fairfax City. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
Five injured in four-car crash
5/7/2008
Five people, including a state trooper, were treated for injuries following a four-vehicle crash on Interstate 66 in Centreville. The crash closed westbound lanes of I-66 near the northbound Route 28 exit for more than an hour Wednesday. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
Cell tower proposed at pool in Annandale
5/8/2008
An application with the county to install a 140-foot-tall cell phone and broadband wireless tower on property belonging to the Holmes Run Acres community pool in Annandale has a few neighbors concerned about the impact on property values as well as on their health. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
Fairfax City voters elect new council
5/7/2008
Voters in Fairfax City on Tuesday elected three new members to the six-seat city council and returned incumbent Mayor Robert Lederer to serve for a fourth consecutive term in office. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
Running for everyone
5/8/2008
Lori Alexander believes Congress does not represent average citizens | 0 comments - ›› more ...
'I don't feel like his death was senseless'
5/8/2008
Sue Garbarino reflects on how her husband's death has changed her family | 0 comments - ›› more ...
School board to contemplate cuts
5/8/2008
Teacher pay cuts and bigger classes may be in the future for Fairfax County Public Schools. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
Playing on a 'field of dreams'
5/8/2008
Northern Virginia Senior softball gives local seniors a chance to get out and play. The league has 25 teams, which play two games every Tuesday and Thursday morning. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
Executive Committee denies Loudoun County appeals
5/7/2008
The Virginia High School League's Executive Committee denied appeals from Loudoun Valley and Heritage high schools today, upholding the Redistricting and Reclassification Committee's decision to place those schools to the Northwest Region's Cedar Run District in 2009-10. Stone Bridge will remain a member of the Liberty District. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
Falls Church murder suspect apprehended
5/7/2008
The United States Marshals Service arrested Joshua S. Puryear. 21, of 8645 Lenfant Place in Manassas, who was wanted for the stabbing death of Harbi Adam in Falls Church on April 27. Puryear was captured in Washington, D.C., where he is being detained awaiting extradition to Fairfax County. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
‘They assumed I was a spouse’ – not a senator
5/10/2008
RICHMOND – The eight women in the Virginia Senate have a story to tell of how they forged their own paths to joining the upper chamber at the state Capitol.Like many senators, Linda “Toddy” Puller first was elected to the House of Delegates. She recalled when the delegates and their spouses were taking a Capitol tour. It was 1992, and people assumed Puller was a delegate’s wife – not a legislator.“I said, ‘No, no – I’m right where I need to be,’ and they just assumed I was a spouse and not a member,” said Puller, a Mount Vernon Democrat who joined the Senate in 2000. “The place has gotten better as far as relationships between men and women. It was a lot more sexist when I first came here.”Sen. Yvonne B. Miller (D-Norfolk) also started in the House, in 1984. She won a Senate seat in 1987 and is the longest-serving woman in the Senate. She was the first African-American woman – and one of the first women – elected to the Virginia Senate. (The first female senator was Republican Eva F. Scott, in 1980.)As the oldest of 13 children, Miller said, she was not afraid to run or to serve in a predominately male workplace.“I really became interested in politics and worked very hard to get other people elected,” she said. “Part of that volunteering helped me to understand that I was at least as smart as some of the people I worked for – and a whole lot smarter than some of the others.”Jill Holtzman Vogel, a lawyer who was elected to the Senate last fall, also was accustomed to working in a mostly male environment.“When you start this process, you have no idea what to expect, and so you are genuinely nervous about being a candidate,” said Vogel (R-Winchester). “But once I got involved, I wasn’t nervous at all.”Vogel said she finds humor in the fact that she is the only female Republican in the Senate. The first Republican woman in the Senate, Jeannemarie Devolites Davis of Fairfax, was defeated in her re-election bid last year.“There was some trepidation actually coming to the General Assembly, because you have no idea what to expect, and it is a male-dominated arena,” Vogel said.Although there has been progress, women senators say, it hasn’t always been easy for them to break into a male workplace.Patricia Ticer, a Democrat from Alexandria, has served in the Senate since 1996. She said opinions concerning women as legislators have changed in Virginia over the years.“The old-boy network has dissipated quite a bit, so I don’t feel the same problem with being a woman now,” Ticer said. “It was a little more pronounced when I first came down here, but you just have to do everything a little bit harder and a little bit better.”Even as the nation and the world focus on a rise of strong female figures in government, the women in the Virginia Senate appear to be happy where they are. None expressed an immediate desire to run for higher office.Sen. Janet D. Howell (D-Reston) began working at the General Assembly as a legislative aide. She ran for the Senate in 1991, saying she thought she could do “as good a job as anybody else down here. So, why not run?”Seventeen years later, Howell said she is content to remain a senator.“I made that decision a decade ago now – I’m really happy in the Senate. Now, I’m a committee chair,” said Howell, who heads the Privileges and Elections Committee. “I have a lot on my plate – a lot of responsibility.”Although seven of Virginia’s eight female senators are Democrats, they have different opinions of presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton.According to Sen. Mary Margaret Whipple (D-Arlington) Clinton is setting a precedent for other women by running for higher office as a credible and serious presidential candidate.“No woman who is active in the political arena or any other arena has not benefited from the women that have come before us,” Whipple said. “There’s absolutely an element of women having paved the path, but she’s really breaking new ground, and – to me – it’s very exciting to have a woman running for president.”Miller said it was inevitable that a woman would run for president. She said Clinton “is the next logical step to run for the presidency of the United States, and I wish her well in pursuit of that office.”Virginia’s women senators made it clear they do not serve female interests only.“I have a number of topics I’m interested in, and I don’t think that they are specifically women’s issues – they’re people issues; they’re family issues,” Whipple said.Howell said she considers everything senators deal with as women’s issues. “Any issue that’s important, that touches people’s lives, is a women’s issue. That’s almost everything we deal with down here,” she said.Sen. Mamie E. Locke (D-Hampton) said she ran for office in 2003 because she wanted “to be a part of the decision-making process rather than an observer.”“If the voices of the constituents that I ultimately represent are primarily African-American women, then the only way that voice can be heard is if we’re at the table,” Locke said.She thinks the Senate for the most part has offered equal opportunities – especially since January, when Democrats took control of the chamber from Republicans.“It happened with the Senate being taken over by Democrats. Just last year, all 11 chairs were headed by white men. Now you have chairmanships with seven women, four African-Americans – and so, there’s a broader spectrum of leadership,” said Locke, who heads the Senate General Laws and Technology Committee.But Whipple noted that in holding eight of the Senate’s 40 seats, women have a long way to go to reach parity.“I think that women in the Senate are doing a great job,” Whipple said. “You still have to bear in mind, we’re only 20 percent of members of the Senate and over 51 percent of the population. So there certainly isn’t equal representation.” | 0 comments - ›› more ...
For Dulles Rail, VA must share Metro fare
5/7/2008
A Virginia legislature that has been so far unable to agree on a way to solve its own transportation infrastructure problems will have to find a way to pay for Metro infrastructure as well, a daunting challenge in hard financial times. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
Funding fix for Route 7 proposed
5/7/2008
Board aims to keep widening project moving while trying to address some citizen concerns | 0 comments - ›› more ...
Lawmakers rev up for session on transportation
5/7/2008
Legislators will likely return to Richmond this summer for a special session on transportation. Their prime objective will be to figure out how the state should address a growing road maintenance deficit of $388 million that is expected to more than double by 2014. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
Board patches up transportation funding
5/7/2008
In July, Fairfax County will begin charging an additional real estate tax of 12 cents per $100 of assessed value on commercial and industrial properties to fund transportation. The new tax is estimated to bring in about $52 million per year. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
County to study prescription discount card
5/7/2008
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Monday ordered the formation of a work group to study the possible use of a discount prescription card program that would be available to county staff and residents. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
Building permits merit closer look
5/7/2008
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors directed county staff to take a closer look at building permit requests from neighborhoods with a high number of complaints to the county's code enforcement strike team. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
Seismic event felt in Northern Virginia
5/6/2008
At 1:30 p.m. today, Northern Virginia residents felt the rumblings of a 1.8 magnitude earthquake. The quake originated in Annandale and was felt in Washington, D.C., Arlington, Springfield and Mount Vernon. Fairfax County Police received reports from multiple callers reporting an audible “boom” sound, followed by roughly four seconds of the earth rumbling. There are no reports of damage to property or injuries related to the incident at this time. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
Student charged with setting fire outside Fairfax High School
5/5/2008
A juvenile petition was obtained for a 16-year-old male Fairfax High School student for intentionally setting fire to some track and filed mats stored outdoors under an overhand area next to the field house at the school, 3501 Rebel Run in Fairfax City. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
Region basketball tourney moved to Robinson
5/5/2008
This afternoon, the Northern Region Council voted unanimously to move the Northern Region basketball semifinals and finals to Robinson Secondary School from George Mason University's Patriot Center, where it had been held for the past 14 years. This decision comes amid budget concerns and a low net income from this year's event. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
This Week
‘They assumed I was a spouse’ – not a senator
5/10/2008
RICHMOND – The eight women in the Virginia Senate have a story to tell of how they forged their own paths to joining the upper chamber at the state Capitol.Like many senators, Linda “Toddy” Puller first was elected to the House of Delegates. She recalled when the delegates and their spouses were taking a Capitol tour. It was 1992, and people assumed Puller was a delegate’s wife – not a legislator.“I said, ‘No, no – I’m right where I need to be,’ and they just assumed I was a spouse and not a member,” said Puller, a Mount Vernon Democrat who joined the Senate in 2000. “The place has gotten better as far as relationships between men and women. It was a lot more sexist when I first came here.”Sen. Yvonne B. Miller (D-Norfolk) also started in the House, in 1984. She won a Senate seat in 1987 and is the longest-serving woman in the Senate. She was the first African-American woman – and one of the first women – elected to the Virginia Senate. (The first female senator was Republican Eva F. Scott, in 1980.)As the oldest of 13 children, Miller said, she was not afraid to run or to serve in a predominately male workplace.“I really became interested in politics and worked very hard to get other people elected,” she said. “Part of that volunteering helped me to understand that I was at least as smart as some of the people I worked for – and a whole lot smarter than some of the others.”Jill Holtzman Vogel, a lawyer who was elected to the Senate last fall, also was accustomed to working in a mostly male environment.“When you start this process, you have no idea what to expect, and so you are genuinely nervous about being a candidate,” said Vogel (R-Winchester). “But once I got involved, I wasn’t nervous at all.”Vogel said she finds humor in the fact that she is the only female Republican in the Senate. The first Republican woman in the Senate, Jeannemarie Devolites Davis of Fairfax, was defeated in her re-election bid last year.“There was some trepidation actually coming to the General Assembly, because you have no idea what to expect, and it is a male-dominated arena,” Vogel said.Although there has been progress, women senators say, it hasn’t always been easy for them to break into a male workplace.Patricia Ticer, a Democrat from Alexandria, has served in the Senate since 1996. She said opinions concerning women as legislators have changed in Virginia over the years.“The old-boy network has dissipated quite a bit, so I don’t feel the same problem with being a woman now,” Ticer said. “It was a little more pronounced when I first came down here, but you just have to do everything a little bit harder and a little bit better.”Even as the nation and the world focus on a rise of strong female figures in government, the women in the Virginia Senate appear to be happy where they are. None expressed an immediate desire to run for higher office.Sen. Janet D. Howell (D-Reston) began working at the General Assembly as a legislative aide. She ran for the Senate in 1991, saying she thought she could do “as good a job as anybody else down here. So, why not run?”Seventeen years later, Howell said she is content to remain a senator.“I made that decision a decade ago now – I’m really happy in the Senate. Now, I’m a committee chair,” said Howell, who heads the Privileges and Elections Committee. “I have a lot on my plate – a lot of responsibility.”Although seven of Virginia’s eight female senators are Democrats, they have different opinions of presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton.According to Sen. Mary Margaret Whipple (D-Arlington) Clinton is setting a precedent for other women by running for higher office as a credible and serious presidential candidate.“No woman who is active in the political arena or any other arena has not benefited from the women that have come before us,” Whipple said. “There’s absolutely an element of women having paved the path, but she’s really breaking new ground, and – to me – it’s very exciting to have a woman running for president.”Miller said it was inevitable that a woman would run for president. She said Clinton “is the next logical step to run for the presidency of the United States, and I wish her well in pursuit of that office.”Virginia’s women senators made it clear they do not serve female interests only.“I have a number of topics I’m interested in, and I don’t think that they are specifically women’s issues – they’re people issues; they’re family issues,” Whipple said.Howell said she considers everything senators deal with as women’s issues. “Any issue that’s important, that touches people’s lives, is a women’s issue. That’s almost everything we deal with down here,” she said.Sen. Mamie E. Locke (D-Hampton) said she ran for office in 2003 because she wanted “to be a part of the decision-making process rather than an observer.”“If the voices of the constituents that I ultimately represent are primarily African-American women, then the only way that voice can be heard is if we’re at the table,” Locke said.She thinks the Senate for the most part has offered equal opportunities – especially since January, when Democrats took control of the chamber from Republicans.“It happened with the Senate being taken over by Democrats. Just last year, all 11 chairs were headed by white men. Now you have chairmanships with seven women, four African-Americans – and so, there’s a broader spectrum of leadership,” said Locke, who heads the Senate General Laws and Technology Committee.But Whipple noted that in holding eight of the Senate’s 40 seats, women have a long way to go to reach parity.“I think that women in the Senate are doing a great job,” Whipple said. “You still have to bear in mind, we’re only 20 percent of members of the Senate and over 51 percent of the population. So there certainly isn’t equal representation.” | 0 comments - ›› more ...
Funding fix for Route 7 proposed
5/7/2008
Board aims to keep widening project moving while trying to address some citizen concerns | 0 comments - ›› more ...
Lawmakers rev up for session on transportation
5/7/2008
Legislators will likely return to Richmond this summer for a special session on transportation. Their prime objective will be to figure out how the state should address a growing road maintenance deficit of $388 million that is expected to more than double by 2014. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
Board patches up transportation funding
5/7/2008
In July, Fairfax County will begin charging an additional real estate tax of 12 cents per $100 of assessed value on commercial and industrial properties to fund transportation. The new tax is estimated to bring in about $52 million per year. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
County to study prescription discount card
5/7/2008
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Monday ordered the formation of a work group to study the possible use of a discount prescription card program that would be available to county staff and residents. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
Building permits merit closer look
5/7/2008
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors directed county staff to take a closer look at building permit requests from neighborhoods with a high number of complaints to the county's code enforcement strike team. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
Mason Neck Trail gets additional funding
5/7/2008
Trail project gets $562,500 in additional funding. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
Fairfax County teacher charged with possessing methamphetamine
5/9/2008
Police arrested a Fairfax County Public Schools teacher Rachel Smith on Thursday for possession of methamphetamine. Smith, 32, teaches at the Chantilly Academy. She resides at 47170 Brasswood Place in Sterling. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
Church donation box thieves arrested
5/8/2008
Thanks to a television viewer’s tip, two Herndon brothers have been charged in the April 25 theft of donation box cash from St. Leo the Great Catholic Church in Fairfax City. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
Falls Church murder suspect apprehended
5/7/2008
The United States Marshals Service arrested Joshua S. Puryear. 21, of 8645 Lenfant Place in Manassas, who was wanted for the stabbing death of Harbi Adam in Falls Church on April 27. Puryear was captured in Washington, D.C., where he is being detained awaiting extradition to Fairfax County. | 0 comments - ›› more ...
Fairfax County teacher charged with possessing methamphetamine
5/9/2008
Police arrested a Fairfax County Public Schools teacher Rachel Smith on Thursday for possession of methamphetamine. Smith, 32, teaches at the Chantilly Academy. She resides at 47170 Brasswood Place in Sterling. | 0 comments - ›› more ...