Just in time for Spring and a return to daylight saving time, the arts are blooming in Mason District. Whatever strikes your fancy – music, dance, watercolors, weaving and textiles – opportunities abound to expand your right brain creativity. The Art at the Mason District Governmental Center program features “A [...]

When Fairfax County Executive Edward L. Long, Jr., presented his first Advertised Budget Plan for Fiscal Year 2014, there was little doubt that optimism about a relatively strong recovery from the “Great Recession” had plummeted since adoption of last year’s budget. The FY13 budget had assumed that federal tax cut [...]

Do you know where you live? Of course, you know your address, and how to get home, but some residents, as well as businesses, may be unaware of the specific legal jurisdiction in which they reside or have their business. Falls Church City is an independent city, not a part [...]

The Indian Treaty Room in the Old Executive Office Building is a magnificent example of late 1800s architecture, with an English Minton tile floor, cast iron railings around the second-floor balcony, and Italian and French marble wall panels throughout. This grand old room hosts small meetings and receptions, overlooking the [...]

Happy Valentine’s Day! While many celebrate this day with heartfelt romantic events, it’s also a good time to focus on heart health. A physical checkup, regular blood pressure monitoring, and a healthy lifestyle can have positive effects on the heart, regardless of how sedentary you’ve been in the past. A [...]

We Buy Gold! We Buy Cars! Tax Help! Going Out of Business! Lose weight! Vote for (insert name of candidate here)! Temporary signs, which advertise businesses, community events, or political candidates, seem to be epidemic along some of our roadways. In an odd quirk, signage has been deemed by local [...]

News photos of a 3 a.m. blaze on Manor Road show a hillside home completely engulfed in bright orange flames. Firefighters from the nearby station arrived in record time, but the horrific blaze took two lives, Laura Snyder-Gardner, a professor at Gallaudet University, and her teen-aged daughter, Mary Ann. The [...]

Monday’s inauguration of President Barack Obama for a second term was historic for many reasons – a man of color took the oath of office for a second time; the vice presidential oath was administered by Latina Supreme Court Justice, Sonia Sotomayor, a gay poet read a narrative poem for [...]

A dinner-time telephone caller wanted to know, first, if I was a registered voter, and then if I supported President Obama, was worried about the fiscal cliff, opposed choice, or favored the Tea Party. The tagline identified the call from something nebulous with 2012 in the title. The respite from [...]

The New Year is already a week old, as the busyness of the holidays is replaced by the business of returning to our normal routines, interspersed with the occasional sports event, watching the winter weather reports (so far, so good), and finishing off the last of the holiday goodies. If you are looking for some special, and free, community activities, here are a few suggestions.