This week and weekend in Fairfax County, 8/16
News you might have missed, plus the weekend forecast and events
Happy Friday, Fairfax County.
I’m test-driving a potential new weekly feature today — it’ll round up the top local news I caught this week and offer a quick-hit guide to the weekend, too.
Think it’s useful? Think it’s not? Let me know in the comments.
The latest from The Machine
My second 10-ish Questions was a fun Q&A with Water Mine high-schooler Rebecca Griffin. Read it for such hard-hitting questions as “Philosophically, how lazy is a good lazy river?”
Local news I read this week
Business and development 📈
Criminal justice and public safety 🚓
Fairfax police arrest suspects, seek more in thefts of $170K in luxury goods (Patch)
Fairfax County police launch speeding, reckless driving enforcement effort (NBC4)
Culture ✌️
Time magazine names Fairfax student scientist Heman Bekele its kid of the year (Time)
Figure skating champion Ilia Malinin talks about his life in Vienna (Northern Virginia Mag)
ISO: “A good place to cry” in Herndon/Reston/Sterling (Reddit)
Education 🏫
Student rep to Fairfax School Board lays out priorities for year (Gazette Leader)
Environment 🌳
Stream restoration project sparks outrage over tree decimation (Fairfax County Times)
Health 🩺
Fairfax seeing increasing number of whooping-cough cases (Gazette Leader)
What’s in store this weekend
Weather (from the National Weather Service)
Friday: Mostly sunny during the day, turning to clouds and a 50% chance of rain at night. Highs in the upper 80s, lows around 70. ☀️
Saturday: Mostly cloudy, with a solid chance of showers and thunderstorms come afternoon and evening. Highs in the mid-80s, lows in the lower 70s. 🌧️
Sunday: Probable showers throughout the day, with a chance of thunderstorms. Highs in the mid-80s, lows in the upper 60s. ⛈️
[Follow The Machine on Instagram and on Twitter]
Things to do
Belt it out at a “Sound of Music” sing-along (Friday) or Boys II Men concert (Saturday and Sunday nights) at Wolf Trap 🎵
Swap plants at the City of Fairfax Regional Library (Saturday) 🌱
Throw it back with a ’90s/2000s family skate and dance night at the Franconia Rec Center (Saturday) 🕺
Attend Fairfax Comic Con at the Dulles Expo Center (Saturday and Sunday) 🦸
Take your kids to the summer reading festival at Chantilly Regional Library (Sunday)
My own plans
Bingeing more of old “Survivor” and trying, finally, to sand down and re-stain my old, beat-up dresser. Otherwise, Restaurant Week — that D.C.-area holiday that seems to come five times a year — is back. I’ll be hitting up a favorite, Ruthie’s All-Day in Arlington.