Locals looking to help D.C.-area hospital patients in need can donate some of their blood at Reston Town Center in the coming days.
Inova is scheduled to have a blood drive beside the RTC pavilion Tuesday, Dec. 27, from noon to 7 p.m., according to an event announcement.
Potential donors are encouraged to go online or call 866-256-6372 to register.
Photo via Reston Town Center
A Nashville band led by what the International Bluegrass Music Association called the “premiere Monroe-style mandolinist of his generation” is set to take the stage at a Fairfax County Park next month.
Chris Henry and the Hardcore Grass are scheduled to perform at Herndon’s Frying Pan Farm Park (2739 West Ox Road) on Sunday, Jan. 15. The concert venue opens at 6 p.m., with the show starting at 7 p.m.
“These musicians will be drawing from the best years of traditional bluegrass as they deliver intense and compelling tune,” according to a description of the event on the county’s website.
Tickets are $18 online and $20 at the park the day of the concert.
Photo via Fairfax County
A local nonprofit organization once again is trying to make it safer, and cheaper, to get home during the holidays after drinking a little too much eggnog in the D.C. area.
The Washington Regional Alcohol Program is covering taxi fares up to $30 as part of its annual holiday SoberRide campaign. The free cabs will run from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. every day until Jan. 1.
“Last December, nearly 1,500 (1,456) Greater Washington residents did the right thing and availed themselves of this lifesaving service rather than possibly driving home impaired,” WRAP president Kurt Gregory Erickson said in a statement. “For SoberRide’s hours of operation during just last New Year’s Eve, alone, such ridership (580) translated into the removal of a would-be drunk driver from our shared roadways every 49-seconds.”
To get a complimentary ride, call 800-200-8294.
Image via Washington Regional Alcohol Program
A couple Reston eateries are set to offer meal deals as part of the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington’s Restaurant Week this winter.
The Melting Pot (11730 Plaza America Drive) and PassionFish (11960 Democracy Drive) are scheduled to participate in the annual event from Monday, Jan. 30, to Sunday, Feb. 5.
The restaurants are slated to serve $35 dinners from prix fixe menus. The Melting Pot also is set to have a $22 multi-course brunch, while PassionFish is slated to have a $22 lunch with various courses.
Reston Now’s sibling publication, Borderstan, has details on about four dozen D.C. eateries participating in Restaurant Week.
Image via Twitter/Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington
A half dozen Metro employees are without jobs after the transit agency investigated a derailment near the East Falls Church Metro station earlier this year and found “flagrant misconduct,” general manager Paul Wiedefeld said today.
Metro fired the four inspectors and two supervisors in connection with the July 29 incident, which sent a Silver Line train with 75 riders off the rails about 100 feet from the stop. An internal investigation found that workers falsified track inspection records, according to Wiedefeld.
The transit agency also has taken or is considering taking disciplinary action against almost two dozen other employees, he said.
Metro has demoted a superintendent and an assistant general superintendent. The transit agency also is in the process of terminating another supervisor and deciding how, or if, it will discipline two other supervisors and 16 track inspectors. An assistant superintendent, who faced possible disciplinary action, left Metro, too.
The 28 employees make up almost half of Metro’s track inspection department.
“I want the Board, our employees and our customers to know that this review revealed a disturbing level of indifference, lack of accountability, and flagrant misconduct in a portion of Metro’s track department which is completely intolerable,” Wiedefeld said in a statement. “Further, it is reprehensible that any supervisor or mid-level manager would tolerate or encourage this behavior, or seek to retaliate against those who objected. It is also entirely unacceptable to me that any employee went along with this activity, rather than exercise a safety challenge, or any of the multiple avenues available to protect themselves, their coworkers, and the riding public.”
A 40-year-old woman was arrested for drunk driving after police said she hit the cruiser of Fairfax County police chief Edwin C. Roessler Jr. in Centreville last night, giving him minor injuries.
Christie A. Edgar of Centreville was taken into police custody and charged with driving while intoxicated following the collision at Lee Highway and Stone Road about 8:40 p.m. Monday.
The chief was stopped at a red light in his unmarked 2017 Ford Explorer when authorities said the woman rear-ended him with her Nissan sport utility vehicle.
Roessler was brought to a local hospital for treatment and released late last night. He was back at work this morning.
Photo via Fairfax County Police Department
If getting in shape is your New Year’s resolution, a 5K race in Reston on the first day of 2017 might help.
Potomac River Running once again is holding its New Year’s Day 5K on Jan. 1 at 10 a.m. The run begins and ends at Reston Town Center.
Runners only will use town center streets and Reston Association paths, keeping major roads open. The running store will have food and music at Reston Town Center after the race.
Online registration for the 5K is $35.
Life Time Athletic in Reston also is having a Jan. 1 Commitment Day fun run and festival that is open to non-members.
Photo via Flickr/Potomac River Running
A Reston movie theater is set to show holiday classics this month.
The Bow Tie Cinemas Reston Town Center 11 (11940 Market St.) is scheduled to screen “A Christmas Story” this Saturday and Sunday and “It’s a Wonderful Life” the following weekend. The movies start at 11 a.m.
“See the classics how they were meant to be seen — on the big screen!” according to Reston Town Center’s website.
Tickets are $5.50.
Photo via Reston Town Center
Reston Town Center is set to start collecting parking fees Jan. 3 for the first time since it opened in 1990, the retail and residential complex announced yesterday.
The paid parking system, which was beset by months of delays, will require visitors to the center to pay $2 an hour on weekdays, with a maximum of $24 a day. Parking will remain free on Saturdays and Sundays, and there will be validation and discounts from retailers that will bring costs down.
RTC owner Boston Properties is encouraging drivers to use the free ParkRTC App to make parking payments. But motorists without the app can use one of four garage pay stations or call 571.485.7790 to pay for parking.
Do you support paid parking at the center? You can weigh in through the poll and in the comments.
Image via Reston Town Center
Santa Claus is set to visit a Reston child care center for breakfast next week.
Common Ground Child Care Center (1700 Wainwright Drive) is scheduled to host the big man in red from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 17, according to the organization. Children can have some food, play games, work on crafts and take a photo with the jolly old elf.
Admission is $5. Parents also are asked to donate a new or gently used children’s book for Common Ground’s library.
Families are encouraged to RSVP at [email protected].
Founded in 1972, Common Ground provides programs for children between the ages of 6 weeks and 12 years old.
Photo via Wikimedia/Bailiwick Studios
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors will appoint a group of residents to look over police complaints and internal probes as part of a new effort to increase transparency in the area’s law enforcement, according to local officials.
In a 9-1 vote today, the board approved the creation of an independent Police Civilian Review Panel, which will receive Fairfax County Police Department misconduct allegations from the public and examine FCPD internal investigations. The panel will have nine appointees, who can serve up to two, three-year terms.
“Establishing a Police Civilian Review Panel is a historic step in the right direction toward increasing trust and transparency between police and residents,” board chairman Sharon Bulova said in a statement.
The board’s vote came after the Ad Hoc Police Practices Review Commission called for the panel in an October 2015 report to county supervisors. Although Bulova established the commission following a fatal police-involved shooting in 2013, the new panel won’t handle matters concerning potentially criminal uses of force by cops.
Supervisor Pat Herrity, who was the only board member to vote against the panel, said it creates “a lot of serious problems,” including an “uncertain fiscal impact” and police staffing issues.
“The creation of this panel will take our police off the streets at a time when they are in high demand already,” he said in a statement.
A proposal that would keep the Metro system open until 1 a.m. on weekends, but close it before midnight on other nights, cleared a key hurdle today.
A Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority panel this morning endorsed new Metro operating hours to allow for more repair and maintenance time, NBC Washington reported. The new hours, which still need the support of WMATA’s full board, would go into effect July 1, 2017, and last for two years.
Under the plan, Metro would have service on the Sliver Line and its other lines:
- Mondays to Thursdays from 5 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.
- Fridays from 5 a.m. to 1 a.m.
- Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 1 a.m.
- Sundays from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Since SafeTrack repairs began earlier this year, the system has closed at midnight every day and opened at 5 a.m. on weekdays and 7 a.m. on weekends. Trains previously operated from 5 a.m. to midnight Monday through Thursday, 5 a.m. to 3 a.m. Friday, 7 a.m. to 3 a.m. Saturday and 7 a.m. to midnight Sunday.
Do you back WMATA’s plan? You can weigh in through the poll and in the comments.
Photo courtesy of Mike Heffner
The Fairfax County Police Department is stepping up its efforts to catch drunk drivers.
FCPD tomorrow is set to debut a nine-officer team that will focus on reducing crashes by motorists who are driving while intoxicated, according to the department. The cops will work from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m., using statistics and requests from locals and police commanders to determine where they should patrol.
The officers will get additional training on spotting drunk drivers and recognizing drug use. But they already have averaged 241 DWI arrests in the past seven years.
“It is our hope that the squad’s extensive experience and passion for DWI enforcement will continue to enhance the safety of our motoring public,” an FCPD news release says.
Photo via Fairfax County Police Department
A 31-year-old man was apprehended outside the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station yesterday morning after police said he assaulted a bus driver and a security officer before biting cops who detained him.
Sameer Jaspal, of Albany, N.Y., was arrested following the attacks in the “kiss-and-ride” area near the station about 11:30 a.m. Monday.
Police officers tried to stop the assault they said Jaspal launched on the bus driver and the security officer. But he ignored their orders to cease.
The cops then got a hold of Jaspal, who bit them, according to authorities.
Jaspal was charged with two counts of assault and battery, assault on law enforcement and obstruction of justice in connection with the incident.
Photo via Fairfax County Police Department
A 45-year-old woman with a life-threatening condition was rushed to a local hospital after someone found her on a Reston street last night, Fairfax County police said.
It’s unclear whether a car hit her or she had a medical condition before somebody discovered her near Colts Neck Road and Hunters Woods Plaza about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Detectives with the police department’s Crash Reconstruction Unit are investigating the incident.
If anyone has information related to this incident, please contact detectives via the CRU witness phone line: 703-280-0543 [Call: 703-280-0543] or contact Crime Solvers by phone at 1-866-411-TIPS/8477, email at www.fairfaxcrimesolvers.org or text “TIP187” plus your message to CRIMES/274637 or call police at 703-691-2131 [Call: 703-691-2131]
