Wednesday, May 22, 2013
See what's going on in Northern Virginia this weekend.
The long holiday weekend is upon us in Northern Virginia and it's time to start making plans for some fun. Patch has compiled a list of events that the whole family can enjoy. Have a great weekend! Do you have an upcoming event you'd like to post on Patch? Email jessie.biele@patch.com for info. ViVa!Vienna! Memorial Day Weekend Festival The ViVa!Vienna! Memorial Day weekend festival will take place in Vienna from Saturday through Monday. The festival is a major fundraiser for the local Rotary Club. Visitors can partake in games, visit food and merchandise vendors, listen to live music, and more. For more information, visit http://www.vivavienna.org/. Cranford UMC Annual Strawberry Social Strawberries galore! The Strawberry Social is …
Unlawful entry on Idylwood Road and more.
Editor’s Note: Incident information was obtained from the Activity Report provided by Fairfax County Police Department’s Public Information Office. These reports are now released daily. The incidents included are at the discretion of the PIO and are not to be considered all-inclusive. They run below unedited. Robbery 1600 block of Anderson Road, 5/18/13, 1:30 a.m. Officers were called for an assault at a business. The suspects fled in a vehicle. Following an investigation Neema Zahed, 20, of Falls Church, was charged with robbery, and Chaz Flood, 23, of Alexandria, was charged with being drunk in public. Unlawful Entry 7200 block of Idylwood Road, 5/18/13, 6:40 p.m. Security personnel reported someone entered a construction trailer but …
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Automatic Wireless Emergency Alerts system, set to launch June 1, can automatically target cell phones in the geographical area of an emergency.
Fairfax County is now part of a new system that automatically sends text messages to area phone users during the most dire of emergencies. In the event of an emergency, the Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) system will be used to send out messages of 90 characters to mobile phone users in the vicinity of the event. The text alerts will be accompanied by a loud sound similar to the beeping tone of an emergency broadcast on a television, said Sulayman Brown, manager of Fairfax County’s emergency operations center. “Let’s say we have a hazardous material incident in Western Fairfax and we want to let people know to shelter in place,” Brown said. “We can go into it and have it send the alerts to phones in certain zip codes that might be affected…
You could win a family four-pack of tickets courtesy of Six Flags America.
Memorial Day is a day to remember the men and women who died while serving in the armed forces. Originally known as Decoration Day, it originated in the United State following the Civil War and was made an official federal holiday in 1971. Many people commemorate Memorial Day by visiting cemeteries or memorials to pay tribute to those who served. At Patch, we encourage our readers to remember those serving our country this Memorial Day by sharing a memory of your favorite military service member or veteran. Enter Patch’s Memorial Day sweepstakes and you could win a Family Outing at Six Flags America in Mitchellville, MD, just 15 miles east of Washington D.C. The Family Outing is valued at $350 and includes: To enter, comment below with …
But a new poll suggests small business owners are worried about long term growth.
Virginia has been ranked the third-best state for starting a business, according to a new report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The Commonwealth came in behind only Maryland and Colorado among all states in supporting innovation and entreprenuership, as ranked by the chamber's Enterprising States report. Tell us: Are you confident local business can thrive? Are you spending? Virginia has the highest concentration of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) jobs in the nation, according to the report, and ranks second in STEM jobs growth. It also has the largest share of high-tech businesses, which helped it to the Top 3. The businesses include satellite services leader IntelSat, which plans to relocate to Tysons Corner …
Monster storm flattened Oklahoma City suburb of Moore Monday afternoon, where dozens are reported dead.
Dozens of people—including schoolchildren—were killed Monday when a massive tornado Monday afternoon ripped through the town of Moore, OK, a suburb of Oklahoma City. The tornado, initially classified as an EF-4, means wind speeds up to 200 miles per hour whipped through the town of about 56,000, flattening much in its path. Initial reports of 51 people killed in the tornado have been revised to 24 people, but the devastation is overwhelming to many. The mile-wide tornado was on the ground for 40 minutes, according to ABC News. How you can help tornado victims:
Patch blogger Anne Samit writes about a new nighttime yoga practice and finding inspiration in those around you.
There's so much to learn from practicing yoga. This week's blog of the week, "Mentor," by Patch yoga blogger Anne Samit, discusses how trying a new practice can help form a kinship with fellow yogis. That kinship can inspire you to try a new move — and succeed. Samit writes:"One day, on my way out, I couldn’t help but exclaim to this young yogi about her practice. A few days later, on my way in, she returned the compliment. Here I was admiring her, but there she was admiring me! We started to chat and moved on to more important topics, like her handstands. I want those vinyasa handstands, away from the wall, and I asked her how it is that she’s not afraid to go upside down, right in the middle of the room. I’ll help you, she offered. I’ll …
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Monday, May 20, 2013
Chesapeake pastor and attorney E.W. Jackson is the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor of Virginia.
Pastor and attorney E.W. Jackson won the Republican nomination to run for lieutenant governor of Virginia over the weekend, and a YouTube video he made last year with strong words against Planned Parenthood is getting attention. Jackson, an African-American minister, lawyer and author from Chesapeake, posted the “message to black Christians” in September 2012, chiding African-Americans for their “slavish devotion” to the Democratic Party and saying that Planned Parenthood had been more lethal to black citizens than the Ku Klux Klan. "The Democrat Party has created an unholy alliance between certain so-called civil rights leaders and Planned Parenthood, which has killed unborn black babies by the tens of millions,” Jackson said in the video…
The Commonwealth's unemployment rate fell to 5.2 percent in April 2013, the lowest since 2008. But uncertainty around sequestration could slow job growth in coming months.
Virginia’s unemployment rate dropped to 5.2 percent in April, the lowest it’s been in more than four years. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports the rate is down from 5.3 percent in March and 5.9 percent in April 2012. It is the Commonwealth’s lowest since the 4.9 percent rate in November 2008. Virginia’s rate is well below the national average of 7.5 percent in April. But in Fairfax County, residents enjoy an even lower unemployment rate: In March, Fairfax County had a jobless rate of 3.7 percent, according to the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority (FCEDA). The FCEDA has helped bring more than 1,400 new jobs from 27 different companies to the county during the first quarter of 2013. Salient Federal Solutions, which provides …
Caress Hudson
2:07 am on Wednesday, May 22, 2013
This Memorial Day... as a military spouse... I want to send a special Happy Memorial Day to the spouses that are holding down the homefront while their soldier, sailors, airmen/women, and coast guard are deployed or serving abroad!! It takes a special type of person to hold the seams of your family together, while your spouse is away serving his/her country... U too should celebrate this holiday… more ›