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Fallon Forbush

Stories by Fallon

McLean Citizens Urge More Changes to FCPS Pensions

McLean, Great Falls Citizens Associations discuss county teachers’ pension system.

A vocal McLean citizens group wants to see more changes to the pension system for Fairfax County Public School employees.

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Body of Missing Woman Recovered

River Rescue team finds body in river.

The body of Becky M. McCleskey, 56, of Arlington, Va., was found in the Potomac River.

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Comstock Skips Constituent-Organized Town Hall

Representative uses tele-town halls to discuss issues with voters.

A microphone reserved for U.S. Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-10) remained silent during a town hall meeting on Friday, Feb. 24, where 150 of her constituents gathered to question her.

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Great Falls Town Hall Debates $57 Million Gap in School Budget

Where to cut?

The Fairfax County Public Schools projected a $57 million shortfall in its budget for next school year, which will impact the more than 188,000 students that are projected to be educated in the system next school year.

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Astronaut Tells Elementary Students To Reach For The Stars

“Find your dream.”

Former NASA Astronaut Sandy Magnus visited Chesterbrook Elementary School in McLean for National Engineers Week on Thursday, Feb. 23.

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Longstanding Thompson Farm Demolished

The 6.89-acre Thompson Farm at 964 Walker Road has been demolished.

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Forestville Elementary School Students Bring History to Life in Great Falls

Fourth-grade students at Forestville Elementary School were up to something that had their parents flocking to their classrooms last Friday morning, Feb. 17.

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Tasting Wine for Great Falls Community Causes

The Celebrate Great Falls Foundation will host its annual Winter Wine Tasting on Saturday, March 4, from 7-10 p.m. at the River Bend Golf & Country Club on Walker Road.

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Search for Missing Woman in Great Falls National Park Called Off

The park police spent three days searching the 800-acre Great Falls National Park by land and helicopter.

The United States Park Police stopped searching for Becky M. McCleskey, 56, who was reported missing on Monday, Feb. 6.

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Great Falls Eye Doctor Taps Out At ‘Top Of Game’

Doctor Manfred von Fricken has traded in his white coat for a pair of blue jeans.

A Great Falls doctor has traded in his white coat for a pair of blue jeans.

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State Agriculture Bill’s Defeat Felt In Great Falls

Sarah Wehri of Great Falls cannot sell her goat cheese or goat milk directly to commercial consumers and her hopes of doing so died in Richmond last week.

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Great Falls' Tyler Bowman Debuts at Arena Stage

Forestville Elementary Student Tyler Bowman, 11, just made his acting debut at the Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater in Washington, D.C.

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Tex-Mex Coming Back To Great Falls Center

New Restaurant

Triny’s Tex-Mex Grill at Great Falls Center recently closed, but another will take its place. El Tio Tex-Mex Grill will open its fifth restaurant at the location.

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Great Falls: New Monthly Dinner Raises Money And Support For Police Officers

Community News

A group in Great Falls raised over $5,000 for the organization Concerns of Police Survivors (C.O.P.S.) that supports the families of officers who have been killed on the job.

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Actor Brings Julia Child to Life for Seniors

Members of the Great Falls Senior Center were transported back in time to the ’60s to witness Julia Child rehearse for her infamous cooking show, “The French Chef.”

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New Residential Development Proposed in Great Falls

Developer worked with the community to get approval for nine homes.

Supervisor John Foust (D-Dranesville) and Benjamin Wiles, his staff aide who works on land-use issues, identified some of the developments within the Dranesville District that they will be focusing on over the next couple of months.

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Share: Poverty is Not Seasonal

Donations received during the holidays enabled Share to help more people from Great Falls, McLean, Pimmit Hills and Vienna area than it has ever helped before.

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McLean: Renowned Hip-Hop Artist Challenges President-Elect’s Character

Chuck D speaks at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Celebration at the McLean Community Center.

“It is not about Trump,” he said. “This is about a polarized nation … the whole planet is watching every second of what goes down [in Washington, D.C.]. Character is at stake … That’s what’s going on right now.”

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Bids for Renovation of McLean Community Center Came in Under Budget

Community News

Bids to renovate the McLean Community Center, which was built in 1975, have been submitted and are lower than anticipated. “The process is pretty straightforward,” says Teresa Lepe, spokesperson for the Building Design and Construction Division of the Fairfax County Department of Public Works and Environmental Services.

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McLean’s ‘Meeting Place’

Gov. Terry McAuliffe praises McLean Family Restaurant for ‘the best food in all of America.’

A family-owned restaurant in the Salona Village Shopping Center on Chain Bridge Road has been serving McLean for the last 47 years and has become a meeting place for the area’s high-profile elected officials, including Virginia’s governor.

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McLean: Preparing to Prosper in 2017

Q&A: Supervisor John Foust looks into year ahead.

Q & A with Supervisor John Foust: What are you looking forward to in 2017? Do you have any personal New Year's resolutions for yourself, or major milestones you anticipate reaching?

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Great Falls Grange Revisited

Community groups coming together to take over operations of the historic building.

“Great Falls doesn’t have a gravity point,” says Jorge Adeler, owner of Adeler Jewelers in the Great Falls Village Centre. “It doesn’t have a place that unifies the community … Great Falls never has enjoyed a place that we can call ours.”

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Great Falls: Stormwater Management, Sewage Systems Discussed

Speakers Share Sewage Stats

Up to 167 homeowners in Great Falls are on the hook for following a Fairfax County Health Department regulation when it comes to monitoring their septic systems, but many are unaware.

Great Falls: Supper is Served in Support of SEALs

Service

This month’s MAM dinner on Monday, Jan. 8, was at the Old Brogue Irish Pub in the Great Falls Village Centre, where World War II Veteran Howard Jester, 90, was in attendance to support this month’s beneficiary organization: The Navy SEAL Foundation.

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McLean: Man Killed in Crash on Lewinsville Road

Car Crash

Chad Cheatham, 33 of McLean, died in a single-car collision on Thursday, Dec. 29.

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Great Falls: Holiday Light Contest Results Are In

Holiday Decor

The three winners of the Celebrate Great Falls Foundation’s Holiday Decorating Contest have been selected. Each of the three winners received $200 rewards.

Police Out to Catch Drunken Drivers in Fairfax County

Grant funds new DWI Enforcement Squad.

A new squad of police officers has started patrolling the county and they have only one mission: to combat impaired driving.

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Police Chief’s Cruiser Hit by Drunken Driver

News

Fairfax County Police Department Chief Col. Edwin Roessler Jr. was rear-ended by a drunken driver in Centreville on Monday night, Dec. 12.

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Season of Giving in Full Swing at Share in McLean

More than 275 families, or more than 800 people, attended Share’s holiday program on Saturday, Dec. 10, at the McLean Baptist Church on Chain Bridge Road.

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Quarterback Promotes ‘Phones Down. Touchdown.’ Initiative

Redskins’ quarterback urges region to put phones down while behind the wheel.

“If I get sacked in a game, I can get back up and move onto the next play — for the most part,” he said. “But when you text and drive, you might not get back up.”

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Great Falls Lights Up for Christmas

Holiday Celebration

Hundreds of people assembled in the field of the Great Falls Village Centre for the community’s annual Christmas tree lighting on Sunday.

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McLean WinterFest Parade Celebrates Eighth Run

Holiday

More than 60 groups marched down the mile-long parade route for the WinterFest Parade in McLean on Sunday, Dec. 4. “It’s been around for a long time,” says Maureen Scholz a seven-year member of the parade’s steering committee.

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McLean: Addiction Is Not 'Somewhere Else'

Former NBA player talks to McLean about countywide drug problem.

Herren believes parents “hover over [their] kids academically, apply pressure athletically and drop the ball socially and emotionally.” He urged parents to play an active role in making sure their kids don’t need substances on a Friday night.

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McLean: Langley High to Perform First Play in Renovated Performing Arts Center

Theater

Students will be performing their first stage play “Harvey” at the newly remodeled Langley High School Performing Arts Center from Thursday, Dec. 1, through Saturday, Dec. 3. “I always select a season based on the students I have,” says Karasek. “I like to challenge them as artists.”

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Great Falls: Amalthea Ridge Plans Expansion

”You can’t keep a scientist out of the lab,” says Sarah Wehri. “I was making soap for my daughter who had super sensitive skin,” she says. “Lotion would make her breakout, so I made my first lotion for her. It was a fun challenge to start with.”

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McLean: Gratitude Abounds at Lewinsville Thanksgiving Dinner

“It’s not always easy to be grateful … we get used to the comforts around us,” Spencer Deese, 25, said during a short message during the dinner’s worship service. “Gratitude takes practice, just like any other skill.”

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Great Falls Classical Ballet Performs Revamped Nutcracker This Weekend

Fifty-five dancers will be performing in the show on Saturday, Nov. 26, at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. at McLean High School.

The Margaret Haddad Studio of Classical Ballet in Great Falls has performed the Nutcracker ballet for decades. Though the studio’s founder –Margaret Haddad— retired last year, her 50-year legacy of teaching classical ballet in the community will continue through one of her students: Casey Jones. Jones started dancing under Margaret Haddad’s instruction in 1994. By 2001, Haddad inducted her into the studio’s teacher training program.

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Great Falls: House Fire Early Sunday Morning Completely Destroys Home

While driving down Route 7 in the early hours of Sunday morning, a passerby noticed flames billowing out from a two-story house at 1065 Northfalls Court in Great Falls. This person called 9-1-1 and rushed to knock on the door of the house across the street to warn neighbors.

Great Falls: Route 7 Under Construction For 6 Years

The main challenge of the project: Maintaining the traffic while VDOT widens the road.

The Virginia Department of Transportation plans to spend $234 million on improvements to nearly seven miles of Route 7, which include widening it from four to six lanes between Reston Avenue and Jarrett Valley Drive. The project will be awarded to a contractor by January 2018 with construction starting by March 2019 and finishing in late 2025—a total of six years.

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Great Falls Remembers Its Veterans

The Freedom Memorial

“It’s easy to recognize active duty military, but most veterans blend into our communities,” said Maj. Gen. Julie Bentz, vice director of the Joint Improvised-Threat Defeat Agency, who was the keynote speaker at the ceremony.

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Thousands Cast Ballots at Great Falls Library

Fairfax County expected thousands of voters to cast their ballot at the Great Falls Library off Georgetown Pike yesterday.

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Tuesday at Langley High: School is Out and Voting is In

Election 2016

Fairfax County Public Schools were closed for Election Day, but people woke up early to vote at Langley High School off of Georgetown Pike yesterday.

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