Words, music, images and more from Jim Barnes
Breaux Vineyards opened the spring wine-tasting season this year with a supply of 2,000 high-end crystal wineglasses manufactured by Riedel. The popular winery in western Loudoun County has only about 200 of them left.
Customers are stealing them, company Vice President Jen Breaux said.
The Washington Post, Sept. 17, 2017
Two sinkholes that formed during the construction of a parking garage for the Loudoun County courts complex on the Pennington lot in downtown Leesburg have set the project back by about five months and raised the cost by more than $5 million.
The Washington Post, Sept. 10, 2017
One of the luncheon guests used to work in the White House. One taught African American children in a segregated school. One had been a fighter pilot. One grew up on a cotton farm.
Although the 15 people who gathered for lunch in Broadlands on Aug. 25 had diverse life stories, they also had a few things in common. All had volunteered their services to help others in the past year, and all were at least 90 years old.
The Washington Post, September 3, 2017
When the Hillbilly Gypsies wrapped up a spirited rendition of “Bile ’em Cabbage Down” last weekend to the applause of a small but appreciative gathering of bluegrass die-hards, announcer Bob Veatch walked in front of the Lucketts Community Center’s gazebo stage and proclaimed, “That’s it for the Lucketts Fair forever.”
With that, its run as one of the most popular country fairs in Loudoun County ended.
The Washington Post, August 27, 2017
Renée Dawson, a 16-year veteran of Loudoun County public schools, will be at the helm when the newest one, Brambleton Middle School in Ashburn, opens Thursday with 1,124 students.
The Washington Post, Aug. 20, 2017
Ridgetop Coffee & Tea is not your ordinary coffee shop.
The Washington Post, August 13, 2017
After eight years and more than $20 million in cost overruns, the trouble-plagued upgrade of Loudoun County’s aging financial management systems encountered more problems in a critical test last week.
The Washington Post, August 6, 2017
One year after the Loudoun Museum faced the possibility of having to close because of the potential loss of county funding, museum officials say they have taken the necessary first steps to straighten out the organization’s finances.
The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors directed the museum’s trustees to make fundraising a top priority, officials said. So in May, the trustees hired Leslie Mazeska, who has a professional background in fundraising and grant-writing for nonprofit organizations, as the museum’s executive director.
The Washington Post, July 30, 2017
The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors voted 5 to 4 Thursday to approve a salary increase of about 62 percent for its members, a raise that will take effect after the next election.
The Washington Post, July 23, 2017
A proposal to increase the salaries of members of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors drew little opposition at a public hearing Wednesday evening.
The three members of the public who spoke at the hearing said they supported higher pay for the board. The only objections to the raises — which would take effect when a new board is seated in January 2020 — came from supervisors who expressed concerns about the amount of the increases and the timing of the proposal.
The Washington Post, July 16, 2017