Column: Excuse Me
Early on during my indoctrination/assimilation into the cancer-patient world in which I now reside, I remember asking a fellow cancer patient/friend if I could use cancer as an excuse for whatever it was needed excusing (directly or indirectly related), and she said: absolutely, “blame the cancer.”
Neighbors Helping Neighbors
Clifton residents to hold open-house tour of newly remodeled homes for the benefit of local widow.
Neighbors help each other. That's what communities have always been about. Long-time Clifton resident Bob Gallagher is rallying his friends and peers to help his neighbor Elsa Armendaris.
Natural Treatments for Anxiety
Experts say complementary medical treatments can help relieve anxiety and other mental disorders.
When 35-year-old Andrea Evenson decided to try meditation, exercise and yoga to deal with her anxiety, she had already been on a myriad of anti-anxiety medications.
Column: November Is Adoption Month
Here’s how to help find a forever family for children and teens waiting in foster care.
If you are lucky, you don't know what it's like to live in the precarious limbo that defines foster care in this country.
Commentary: Sometimes Perception Really Isn’t Reality
Fairfax County is home to one of the wealthiest populations in the country. Unbeknownst to many, the county is also home to the second largest population of homelessness in this region. In fact, more than 1,200 residents of Fairfax County are without stable and safe homes.
Robinson’s Berman Wins Conference 5 Title
Rams girls’, boys’ teams qualify for regionals.
The Robinson boys' and girls' cross countries qualified for the regional meet.
Fear a Good Cause
Interstate Haunted Maze in Springfield collects food for ECHO.
Gabe Jacome is terrified of haunted mazes. But when the Lake Braddock eighth grader literally ran into some of his friends working at the Interstate Haunted Maze, he decided to join the scare team.
HOT Topic
Fairfax County Fire & Rescue invites the media for Hands-On Training.
Rob Schoenberger is pretty good with a 15-foot extendable camera. Its built-in microphone and powerful lights come in handy, paired with a Delsar seismic sensor device, when trying to locate people trapped under the rubble of a collapsed building.
Lake Braddock Girls’ XC Dominates Conference 7 Meet
Sophomore Murphy wins, six Bruins finish in top eight.
The Lake Braddock girls' cross country team won the Conference 7 title.
Corbett First Bruin Boy to Run Sub-15
Lake Braddock senior, Bruins win Conference 7 titles.
Lake Braddock's Alex Corbett won the Conference 7 boys' cross country championship.
Column: Dos, Don’ts and What-Ifs
Instinctively, I am not the most open-to-new-ideas/new-things kind of person. However, an unexpected diagnosis of stage IV, non small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) at age 54 and a half – along with its equally unexpected “13-month to two-year prognosis,” changes a few things.
Northern Virginia Democrats Hold Their Ground
In uneasy election, Beyer takes 8th district, but leaves Senate too close to call.
Despite the election still being too close to call, U.S. Sen. Mark Warner gave his supporters at the Doubletree Hotel in Crystal City a full smile and a victory speech. With less than 1 percent of the vote favoring Warner over his Republican challenger Ed Gillespie, the question is whether or not Gillespie will ask for a recount. But if this was troubling Warner as much as it was the Democrats gathered the night of Nov 4, he didn’t show it.
Comstock Wins 10th District Race
Comstock scores resounding 17-point victory over Democratic opponent John Foust.
Shortly after 10 p.m. Tuesday night, Republican Del. Barbara Comstock entered the Hilton ballroom in Ashburn to the tune of her favorite song - “This One’s for the Girls” sung by Martina McBride. The sassy, defiant country anthem – which tells girls to “stand your ground when everyone’s giving in” – struck the right chord with Comstock’s supporters, who chanted and clapped along with the music as Comstock took the stage to deliver her victory speech.
Gerry Gets Things Done
Democratic incumbent Connolly fends off Republican challenger Suzanne Scholte.
As Huey Lewis and the News’ “Power of Love” poppy ballad led a soundtrack infused with ’80s pop and modern country music, the mood at the DoubleTree Crystal City hotel in Arlington ebbed and flowed between elated cheers and frustrated boos.
Paper Trail
Single voting method helps streamline the process.
When it comes to voting, paper is the past, the present and the future. The assistant chief election officer at Robinson Secondary school James Emery Jr. of Fairfax said paper is too valuable as a voting record to abandon.
High Schools to Start Later Next Year
School Board approves later start times.
Phyllis Payne has been fighting for more sleep for a decade. On Oct. 23, it all paid off. The co-founder of Start Later for Excellence in Education Proposal - or SLEEP - saw the Fairfax County Public School Board approve to move high school start times ahead by 30 minutes, 11-1.
Fairfax County Calendar
Your guide to entertainment in Fairfax County.
For those looking to fill their calendar with some home-brewed, Fairfax County fun stuff (read: entertainment and diversion), The Connection's Fairfax County Entertainment Calendar has many options: weekend jaunts and larks; date night inspiration; winter-to-spring fun; day-long festivals and events; art-outings; family fun-and-learning fusions; plays and shows; beyond-Small Business Saturday local shopping and bazaars; markets of handcrafted wares; music; 1Ks to marathons... the list goes on. If you know of an event not listed in our entertainment calendar, email it to south@connectionnewspapers.com for happenings in south Fairfax County or north@connectionnewspapers.com for entertainment in the northern parts of the county.
Poll Position
Local academics following the 11th Districts race say there’s really no substitute for the strength of incumbency.
Despite low public opinion of President Obama and a minimally productive Congress, representative Gerry Connolly has plenty going for him as the incumbent seeking re-election in Virginia’s largely democratic 11th district.
Writing Their Verse
Fairfax Station couple’s ministry supports vulnerable children in South Africa.
When Alec Zacaroli and his wife Amy hosted a boyhood friend from South Africa, they didn’t expect their lives would change in one evening.
Board Approves Bicycle Master Plan
The Fairfax County Government Center has several massive parking lots. Many hundreds of spaces. But Bruce Wright and members of the Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling only needed some rack real estate in front of the building. They rode into the afternoon session of the Board of Supervisors on two wheels apiece from Reston, taking the West Ox Road Side Path.