Sincere congratulations to our newspaper rival The Washington Post for the well-deserved Pulitzer Prize for Public Service it was awarded Monday for its role, along with the The Guardian U.S., in disseminating and following up on reports leaked by whistle-blower Edward Snowden concerning the staggering overreach of U.S. national security […]

The Democratic establishment was gobsmacked by the triumph of Republican-turned-independent John Vihstadt in the April 8 county board special election. His 57-41 percent victory over endorsement-rich Democrat Alan Howze – with Vihstadt taking 40 of 52 precincts – is by no means guaranteed to repeat in November when the two […]

Budget season progresses in Fairfax County, with three sessions of public hearings this week before the Board of Supervisors. More than 200 people and organizations have signed up for three-minute speaking slots. Actually, not all of the speakers make speeches. In one memorable hearing, young musicians performed, reinforcing their desire […]

Based on 20 years on the Falls Church City Council, there has never been an “easy” budget, and this year is no exception. There are several fundamental reasons why. We are a small, full-service city without the ability to grow geographically (and we begin with the smallest land area of […]

It was like old times to have Donald S. Beyer Jr. attending the annual gala of the Falls Church Chamber of Commerce last Saturday night. It harkened back to the days when he was active in the Chamber himself, serving as president and winning the coveted “Pillar of the Community” […]

On March 8, the General Assembly adjourned from the scheduled 2014 General Assembly without any consensus on the biennial budget. Within hours, Governor McAuliffe called for a Special Session of the General Assembly to convene on Monday, March 24 to address the matter of not having a spending plan for […]

Are you familiar with East Arlington? Neither were most of the nearly 100 who turned out at Central Library April 3 to hear a local historian describe this bygone African-American neighborhood torn asunder in 1942 during construction of the Pentagon. East Arlington (or, as its original 1892 subdivision was called, […]

By Juergen Tooren I applaud Susan Kearney, Chair of the Falls Church City School Board, for her guest commentary in the March 20, 2014, edition of the Falls Church News-Press. She lays out the proposed school budget in easily understood numbers and makes a case for the quality education pupils […]

Fairfax County’s budget deliberations continued on Tuesday, when the Board of Supervisors met with the county’s Human Services Council (HSC) to discuss recommendations in the FY 2015 proposed budget. Highlighting the many challenges facing the at-risk population of Fairfax County, Kevin Bell, longtime HSC chairman, noted that, since 2007-2008, public […]

The Falls Church City Council will commence its march to the adoption of new fiscal year budget at a town hall this Saturday morning, following an unofficial community meeting tonight. The volume of public discord regarding this budget has been growing steadily as unprecedented increases in the bills the City […]