Words, music, images and more from Jim Barnes
Forget packing for a jaunt to the beach. Kids visiting the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly are setting their sights on a much more ambitious destination: Mars.
At the Astronaut Academy, the latest offering in the TechQuest program at the Northern Virginia offshoot of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, children are using an alternate-reality game to get an idea of what it’s like to be an astronaut.
Washington Post, October 4, 2015
When Stephanie Manning decided to mark her 40th birthday by completing 40 hikes in one year, she was celebrating more than her age.
A few days earlier, Manning had begun to emerge from a deep, six-month postpartum depression. Embarking on a year of hikes, she said, helped her to overcome that and to reconnect with family members and friends in ways she had never expected.
Washington Post, September 27, 2015
Dulles area residents want more roads to ease traffic and connect neighborhoods; biking and walking trails; access to government services; and options for shopping, entertainment and recreation — all while trees, streams and open space are protected.
Those were residents’ central messages in input gathered through Loudoun County’s Dulles Community Outreach Project. The final report, which the county’s planning staff presented to the Board of Supervisors Wednesday, included a list of 28 “consensus recommendations,” many of which involved transportation improvements and community amenities.
Washington Post, September 20, 2015
When the Rev. John Ohmer was named rector of the Falls Church Episcopal in September 2012, he faced the challenge of rebuilding a historic church that had lost most of its membership in a split with conservatives, primarily over the issue of ordaining openly gay clergy.
In late 2006 and early 2007, more than 90 percent of the 2,200 members of the church — which dates to Colonial times — voted to leave the Episcopal church and form the Falls Church Anglican.
Washington Post, September 16, 2015
As part of the program, sponsored by the Northern Virginia Regional Commission and the Local Energy Alliance Program, Dumfries homeowners can use a new online mapping tool to estimate how much energy they could save by converting to solar power. The program bases savings predictions on factors such as the size of the roof and the amount of sunlight the building receives, said Robert W. Lazaro, director of regional energy planning for NVRC.
Washington Post, September 13, 2015
A group of 11 theater students from Rock Ridge High School in Ashburn took their act to the famed Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland last month.
All the students performed at the festival — including in an original one-act play written by one of the students — and they saw at least 10 other shows, their teacher, Tony Cimino-Johnson, said.
Washington Post, September 13, 2015
Exactly 40 years after the Sully Historic Site in Chantilly reopened after a major restoration, Fairfax County officials and visitors gathered to celebrate.
As children played centuries-old games on the lawn, tossing beanbags and rolling hoops, Supervisor Michael R. Frey (R-Sully) headlined a series of speakers who acknowledged those who rescued the historic house from demolition and restored it to its original appearance.
Washington Post, September 10, 2015
Candidates seeking reelection to the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors and other local offices have gotten off to a strong start raising campaign funds for the Nov. 3 election.
The board incumbents — all of whom are Republicans — had received more contributions than their opponents as of June 30, when the last reporting period ended. Some had gained an advantage by amassing sizable campaign funds during their years in office…
The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors voted last week to support a proposal to build a memorial on the county courthouse grounds in Leesburg to commemorate the slaves who were sold on the building’s steps and the soldiers who fought for the Union during the Civil War.
The board voted Wednesday to contribute $50,000 toward the memorial, which the local chapter of the NAACP has proposed as a way to present a more complete history of Loudoun’s involvement in the Civil War. The only commemoration of the war at the site is a statue of a Confederate soldier.
Washington Post, September 6, 2015
A group of 32 teenage girls from Northern Virginia received an introduction to career opportunities in law enforcement last month in a week-long program conducted by the Fairfax County Police Department.
Dozens of law enforcement personnel, most of whom were women, gave demonstrations and discussed their careers with the high school students. The program offered leadership and team-building activities, classes on defensive tactics and firearms safety, and sessions on law enforcement tasks ranging from traffic stops to homicide investigations.
Washington Post, September 3, 2015