Falls Church News-Press 1-12-2023

Buoyed by a strongly-worded proclamation from the Falls Church City Council adopted this Monday in support, a coalition of local non-profit and procivil rights organizations have teamed up to encourage public participation in two key events this Monday, Jan. 16, organized in recognition of Martin Luther King Jr., Day.

Calling the holiday a “Day of Action and Justice,” the event organizers will include an annual short march up South Washington St. (Route 29) from the site of the Tinner Hill Civil Rights monument, the arch in front of the Target on S. Washington to the Falls Church Episcopal.

Citizens will gather at 10 a.m. at the Civil Rights arch for some speeches by local dignitaries, and at 11 a.m. the march will commence up to the church three blocks away.

At noon inside the church, a

Health & Wellness, Camps & Schools

The Falls Church School Board moved smoothly at the beginning of its first meeting of the New Year this Tuesday to unanimously re-elect Laura Downs as its chair and Tate Gould as vice-chair, and to

commend the seven years of service on the board of soondeparting Phil Reitinger. It then gave its undivided attention for an hour to Superintendent Dr. Peter Noonan who presented his recommended Fiscal Year 2024 budget (to go into effect this summer).

The big news in Noonan’s

proposed budget is the fact that, across the board, five percent raises are projected for all the staff in a recommended budget that, for the fifth year in a row, comes in under the projected guidance it received from the City Council last month. It also proposes for the first time and unique in the entire state a paid

family leave option for either or both parents of up to six weeks.

In what he called a “responsive, responsible needs-based budget plan” in which over 1,000 people were involved the preparation of a five-year plan of which this budget proposal

Summer will be here before you know it. Check out this year’s guide for camps and schools for year-round knowledge. As we’re coming out of the holidays don’t forget your Health and Wellness; see tips for those winter blues.

DON BEYER (far left), Falls Church’s Native Son. is shown addressing the

Richmond”: event of the Fairfax County Democrats last weekend,. The enthusiasm at

event

tion victories for Democrats in two special elections this week. (Photo: News-Press)

MLK Day Service Will Include Panel Welcomed by Rev. Burl Salmon

panel discussion will include Parisa Dehghani-Tafti, the elected commonwealth attorney for Falls Church and Arlington, on the subject of “How to Be an Anti-Racist.”

Dehganti-Tafti has been a pioneer in the national movement for “restorative justice,” aimed at ending and purging records of marijuana and other “victimless crimes” convictions. She has announced that she will be seeking election to a second term this November, and will be facing a Democratic primary challenge this June..

Dehganti-Tafti will be joined on this Monday’s panel by the Rev. Dr. J. Lee Hill Jr., of the Virginia Episcopal Diocese Mission for Racial Justice and Healing. Following that panel, the public will have an opportunity to connect with local organizations to find volunteer opportunities.

Among the organizations present will be the event sponsors the Tinner Hill Foundation, the Social Justice

Committee of Falls Church and Vicinity, Homestretch, Inc. the Bailey’s Crossroads Shelter, the Arlington Food Assistance Center and the Arlington-based Offender Aid and Restoration (OAR). Other sponsors of the events Monday include the Bolay Kitchen, recently opened in Falls Church, and the Falls Church News-Press.

Welcoming the panel discussion will be the Rev Burl Salmon, senior rector at the Falls Church, and Assistant Rector Matthew Dumont-Machowski.

The F.C. City Council proclamation, passed by voice vote of the Council unanimously and signed by Mayor David Tarter, affirmed that “the City of Falls Church is a welcoming and respectful place for people of all faiths, all races, all cultures, all sexual orientations and all backgrounds.”

It adds, “The City Council wishes to reaffirm the longstanding community values of equality, inclusion and diversity and amplify efforts to support those values in a year that marks the City’s 75th anniver-

sary,” noting that “in numerous proclamations in support of fair housing, disability rights, immigrant rights, and the rights of the LGBTQ.community, the City Council has always taken a strong stand in opposition to discrimination against anyone.”

It recognizes Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “for leading the civil rights movement in this country, until his death by assassination in 1968, to advance civil rights for people of color in the U.S. through nonviolence and civil disobedience,” adding that Dr. King said, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is ‘What are you doing for others?’”

It concludes, “Service to others is a hallmark of the American character, and central to how Falls Church meets the challenges faced by the City, the commonwealth and the nation and the Falls Church City council believes that ordinary citizens, armed with compassion and the willingness to serve, can come together to change the world and pursue the nation’s highest ideals.”

Budget Goal: Give Students a Sense of ‘Belonging’

is a part, Noonan hailed the swiftness, he said, by which the Falls Church City Public School (FCCPS) system has rebounded from the Covid-19 Pandemic challenges.

He noted that the FCCPS is once again rated the No. 1 system in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and now has the greatest percentage of students receiving the highly-esteemed International Baccalaureate diploma.

The FCCPS is one of only seven in the entire nation whose system from preschool through 12th grade is officially based on the IB curriculum, he remanded the board, such that priorities in the budget are based on a student-centered set of policies that make the system competitive in the region even as a compensation study on just that will not be presented to the board until April.

The goals of the budget are to provide students with an environment and teaching skills that make students feel they “belong, are included and empowered,” achieving academic success in a system that is “inclusive and supportive of diversity and connected to the community.”

The current system-wide enrollment is 2,534, 32 above projections and evenly spread through the grades. He said that those students classified as economically disadvantaged is up by 15.4 percent (from 195 to 225 students and there is an increase in home schooled students of only two.

Trends to address going forward are the fact that the birth rate in the region is dropping sharply, and that shifts to remote work are challenges that will impact the schools. The anticipated enrollment this coming fall is 2,552, or 18 net new students.

The City’s guidance issued last month called for limiting revenue growth to 4.2 percent, or $1,950,000. With revenues from the state expected to increase by 15.9 percent, federal revenues expected to be up by only $43,000, but $270,000 expected to be coming in from school bus stop-arm violations, a total of $2,955,000 in new money is projected to be deployed in the new budget.

With this comes the resources for five percent increases to all system employees this year. In addition, the paid family leave program will be provided not only for full time but also for less than full-time employees.

There is money in Noonan’s proposed budget for a Meridian High Sustainability Academy, lighting on the tennis courts, baseball field improvements, net yields from switching banks, new environmentally friendly buses and solar panels at the high school.

A large contingent of parents appealed during the public comment period for an additional teacher to be added to the system’s “advanced academics” program at Oak Street Elementary, and the response came from Noonan that his proposed budget actually adds to the resources for that program.

Some teachers also spoke out in support of fair elections to

establish collective bargaining, an issue also being pursued in other regional systems.

They argued that there should be no requirements for thresholds or outcomes that are based on supermajorities.

The School Board will deliberate on Noonan’s proposed budget and make final decisions by Feb. 28, to be forwarded with the City Manager’s proposed budget by March 27, and due for final adoption by May 9.

The budget addresses a key action in the FCCPS Strategic Plan, “’Investing in Our People’ and my personal commitment to ensuring that FCCPS has the best compensation and working conditions in the Commonwealth of Virginia,” Noonan said.

Compensation and benefits that impact staff the most are: A Step increase for all eligible employees, a two percent cost of living adjustment (COLA) for all employees, a $1,000 longevity bonus for those who are at the end of the salary scale and not eligible for the Step, six weeks of paid parental leave for employees that have a new child, increased payout of sick leave upon separation from FCCPS from under $3.50 per hour to $15 per hour, and health benefits extended to all employees who are benefits eligible — fulltime and part-time.

Three budget work sessions are scheduled before the Board adopts its Advertised Budget late next month. The first is next Tuesday, Jan. 17, at 7 p.m. at the system’s central office, 150 S Washington St., 4th Floor.

FALLS CHURCH

RE-ELECTED

CHAIR AND CHAIR of the Falls Church School Board (above left) are joined by Student Representative Michael Kasher (foreground). (Photo: News-Press)

No Moral or Other Equivalences

Nicholas F. Benton

FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS

Perhaps one of the most contentious and challenging seasons in our history stands before us now. The unsavory forces of rule by the privileged classes, also known as the Republican Party, stand at the ready, with a tiny majority in but one of the three houses that determine U.S. policy, to unleash an offensive of dissembling and chaos upon our government they hope will wipe out the impact of one of the most productive two years, in terms of meaningful progress for the American people, in the nation’s history.

It is ever more important now that we, the people, refuse myriad temptations to take our eyes off the ball, so to speak, and with laser like attention and precision set about to reject this “party of privilege and nihilism” at every move to boldly stand for what is right, and crush this menace on every front in local, state and national venues to press ahead to the next election round.

Look at the shameful behavior of this once-proud GOP since Congress reconvened just a week ago. It is bad enough that they took 15 rounds of voting to finally secure the House chairmanship for their man, yet another among them who to this day has refused to acknowledge the outcome of the 2020 election in which President Biden prevailed by over seven million votes.

But in the days since that fiasco, they have focused on nothing, not a single thing for the American people, except to set up “investigations” of the Biden administration.

The mainstream media is so far a willing accomplice, too. They’ve taken the bait once again buying into the GOP’s howlings about a (non-existent) “moral equivalency” between the hundreds of classified documents gathered and hidden by Trump and the handful of documents found in taped-shut boxes in a Biden office that were discovered by pro-Biden people and immediately offered over to the National Archives.

To see how the major networks have, despite occasionally affirming the non-equal nature of the two cases, made a

cause celebre of the Biden-held documents, is only too familiar to us, reminders of how, without their turning the Trump campaign into a celebrity feast that resulted in his shady victory in 2016 (despite losing the popular vote by two million).

Despite whatever words, it is how the issue has been so heavily covered by this media machine that the matter of “moral equivalency” has been pitched to the American consciousness.

The nation’s privileged classes recognize that they simply cannot get their way with anything smacking of actual democracy, fairness or even truth, itself, because they insist on maintaining their hold on policy making while being an increasing minority of the electorate.

But for their many minions, supporting them in elected offices, and with a boundless cache of “influencers” in the media and elsewhere, they deploy the latest in dissembling tricks and “divide and conquer” tactics to rule through those means and not by honest popular voting.

The percentage of the U.S. population that actually supports them on policy issues, per se, is a marked minority, approaching a third or less of the population. Folks are in that camp because of a variety of personal issues, not the least of which are racist, sexist, homophobic and xenophobic. There used to be a strong element in the GOP with an alternative assessment of public policy options, but that is the smallest contingent of Republicans today.

Back in the day, to the period of my youth following the conclusion of the Second World War, Republicans were often considered “progressive,” as many of the speeches of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, for example, revealed. They were the vast majority even as paranoid McCarthyism arose in the wake of the pro-fascist Father Coughlin movement from before the war.

That openly racist, sexist, homophobic and xenophobic class of folks were held on the margins even of their own party until the period following the anti-Vietnam War and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.-led civil rights movements of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Over the 1970s and the rise of the so-called “silent majority” led by the entry into politics for the first time of the “evangelical religious right,” that fringe element was socially-engineered into the mainstream.

Our Man in Arlington

By Charlie Clark

The tacked-up signs in the Courthouse neighborhood near the Innovation School displayed slogans: “No School Overcrowding,” “Don’t Displace Our Seniors,” “More Trees, Less Flooding.”

The Jan. 8 “Realty Check” rally, organized by Arlingtonians for Our Sustainable Future and Arlingtonians for Upzoning Transparency, drew several hundred to the school multipurpose room to derail Missing Middle housing. The speakers’ message: “Stop the rush” into a “bait and switch” county proposal to rezone for more housing types, which they portrayed as ill-conceived by incompetent, dishonest, self-contradictory planners to benefit only developers and county coffers. A few pro-Missing Middle activists held countering signs: “If you care about social justice, you must care about exclusionary zoning.”

The rally came after the Planning Commission, having listened to 90 impassioned speakers, voted 7-2 on Dec. 15 to recommend that the county board advertise the framework, a decision set for Jan. 21. That means a final vote in March. The scathing speeches also came days after all five county board members on opening day 2023 expressed intentions to enact some form of the plan to allow more duplexes, triplexes and more.

New Chair Christian Dorsey invoked the county’s equity agenda, saying “barriers to entry” in current single-family neighborhoods “should be identified and dismantled.” Vice chair Libby Garvey stressed the need to improve communication among parties talking past one another: One group thinks of “leafy neighborhoods with houses far apart” while the other

thinks of “lively, vibrant, noisy urban corridors.” Recent chair Katie Cristol said the Missing Middle plan of “conceiving something other than one house on one lot” has been “a long time coming. Change is not really about 2023 but what Arlington will be 30 years from now.” Takis Karontonis called for “reasonable safeguards” to “manage potential adverse effects.” And re elected member Matt de Ferranti said, “Details matter.” He promised to seek consensus, not unanimity, to arrive at “a greater good.”

Former board member and host John Vihstadt cited 5,300 signatures in opposition, and 70-80 percent against at hearings and in surveys. He dismissed the recent 20 community conversations as “orchestrated to divide and conquer.” He mocked Dorsey and Cristol, who will not seek reelection, because they “won’t be around to reap what they sow.”

The rally consensus was that Missing Middle is “a gift to developers” by politicians who don’t understand land values or the demand for parking, and which won’t produce affordable units, but will incentivize gentrification and reduce diversity. The rhetoric appears to blame the county government for coming demographic and economic changes, accusing it of doing no planning.

Michael O’Grady, a former Arlington Economic Development research economist now at Virginia Commonwealth University, said the framework used “strawman concepts” and “data sets I’d expect in 1982.”

Molly McKay, a real estate specialist with Willdan Economic and Financial Consulting, said it “doesn’t take into account the character and quality of our neighborhoods.”

Attorney David Gerk, stressing crowded schools, called Missing Middle a “fairy tale” policy expected to fail. The true motivation is revenue and a “bumper sticker, a good political winner.”

Organizer Peter Rousselot told me he’s confident that further public exposure by March will prompt a pause. He confirmed there are rumors of lawsuits.

I asked the uncomfortable question of why the prospect of a duplex built nearby is upsetting—some react even before studying the proposal.

“You must consider all impacts of increased density,” he replied.

Former Civic Association leader Duke Banks told me the main objection is the “broken promise” of the 1960s “social contract” to confine development to the Ballston-Rosslyn corridor. Single-family homeowners “are looking for a sameness,” he acknowledged. “They’re not so much against duplexes as against density.”

***

Submitters on Nextdoor echoed an experience I had Nov. 1, when I got a call from a frantic weeping female claiming to be my daughter injured in a car accident. She passed the phone to a “state trooper” who said she was too hurt to continue. After phoning my real daughter (unharmed), I reported it to Arlington Police. Their probe led nowhere. Beware the scam.

***

Last week’s column on high school alumni fundraising should have mentioned the W-L Education Foundation, a nonprofit that has been raising scholarship money for Generals for decades. It cooperates with the alumni association but abbreviates it to avoid the dilemma of the name-change to WashingtonLiberty.

(Published by Benton Communications, Inc.)

FOUNDED IN 1991

Vol. XXXII, No. 48 January 12 - 18, 2023

MLK Day in Falls Church

Once again this Monday, compassionate pro-civil rights citizen activists will respond to a call for a “day of service” in honor of the annual celebration of the nation’s most powerful civil rights advocate, the martyred Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., As the lead story in this week’s News-Press reports, that opportunity presents itself for all citizens great and small in the City of Falls Church.

It is not lost on us, most emphatically, that a centerpiece of these events (see Page 1 this edition) is the historic Falls Church Episcopal around which the village, town and now independent city of Falls Church was organized from the time George Washington was a vestryman in the 1730s. That venerable property was held hostage for almost a decade by a renegade element that sought to defect from the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia and align itself with a Nigerian Anglican bishop on the basis of his virulent opposition to gay rights and anything but a subservient role for women in the hierarchy of the church. But now, the diocese having reclaimed the property, including its historic box church which served numerous roles for both North and South in the Civil War, including as a hospital, the local church is growing its important role this community as a center for progressive religious values that the whole community can, and should, embrace, including the fact that the senior rector is an openly gay person. This newspaper has been proud of its role in encouraging the efforts of “continuing Episcopalians” to keep up the effort to reclaim this church property and the denomination’s commitment to progressive values throughout the entire ordeal.This church now even goes so far as to include an 11:15 a.m. worship hour on Sundays, the latest start time of any house of worship in the region that we are aware of. Now, that’s compassion!

While the church was from its inception less than perfect, as the hands of slaves were used to build it (for which a plaque seeking forgiveness was lovingly added to the walkway to the historic church in recent years), at the other end of Monday’s events is the influence of the City’s Tinner Hill Foundation, with its co-founding leadership of Ed and Nicki Henderson, Ed being grandson of the founder of the first rural chapter of the NAACP being right here. They and their allies locally have been responsible for the inclusion of vital civil rights history and values in this community.

So, when we celebrate this special day of service here, it is not just any day of service, as we sit on a critical piece of real estate and history, including on paths over which our owner-editor’s great great grandfather, John Avery Benton, strode as a valiant Union soldier 160 years ago and at the same time also where the poet Walt Whitman walked chronicling the sacrifices Union soldiers made to put an end to slavery in the nation.

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Little City Gift Cards are a ‘Win-Win’

Editor,

Kudos to all those involved in The Little City Gift Card program. The program is a win-win-win – great for local businesses, consumers, and the city. Shopping local not only supports local jobs and local taxes, but fosters a more walkable and bikeable community, reduces environmental impact, and much more. As an added bonus, consumers can get extra funds (while supplies last) using resources from the American Rescue Plan Act. To the businesses who are participating, the city staff who organized the program, and the patrons who are choosing to shop local, thank you!

Focus Needed to Meet City Climate Goals

Editor, I commend City Council for affirming goals to reduce community-wide greenhouse gas emissions and FCCPS for leading by example with the extremely efficient Meridian H.S. and its planned solar arrays. In 2023, the City will be developing its first Climate & Energy Plan. Recent reports that the City exceeded its interim 2020 goal of 20 percent reduction vs. 2005 should not lead to complacency en route to its 2030 goal of 50 percent. As recently as 2018, our emissions had only dropped 3.2 percent vs. 2005; during 2020, emissions from business activity and vehicle travel were slashed by Covid shutdowns. They likely rebounded significantly by 2022. I encourage residents and business owners to keep an eye out in 2023 for ways to (a) take advantage of newly-expanded financial incentives for efficiency and electrification and (b) participate in the development and implementation of the Climate & Energy Plan.

Jon Ward City of Falls Church

Beef?

or drop off

Erik Pelton City of Falls Church

Health and Wellness

HEALTH & WELLNESS

SAD During

How Seasonal Depression Affects

BY KYLEE TOLAND FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS

When Daylight saving time ends in November and the days seem to become shorter and slower, it also seems to slow down some people’s serotonin levels as well.

For those wondering why they may feel down as fall season comes to a close and winter begins, they may be suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) — also referred to as “seasonal depression.” Common symptoms include feeling sadness most of the days, anxiety, trouble concentrating and more.

For those who have never heard about SAD, it might be hard to differentiate seasonal affective disorder with the more well-known “winter blues.” According to the Cleveland Clinic, about 5 percent of adults in the U.S. experience the disorder, and it tends to start in young adulthood — between the ages 18 and 30 — and affect women more than men, though researchers are still trying to find out why. The “winter blues” affects about 10 percent to 20 percent of Americans and has milder symptoms compared to SAD.

Michael Repie, the senior director of clinical services at Dominion Hospital in Falls Church, said SAD is “a form of depression” that can have symptoms that last four to five months or longer. Describing it as having a “recurrent, seasonal pattern,” Repie stated SAD is mostly winter-related, with many common symptoms “not too dissimilar to hibernation in some species.”

“While hibernation is an essential mechanism for animals to conserve energy when sufficient food isn’t readily available,” Repie said, “[SAD] symptoms may match those of Major Depression.

Along with anxiety and depression, Repie said SAD can also cause social withdrawal, oversleeping, overeating and weight gain.

According to Repie, SAD by itself is “not common,” affecting less than 3 percent of the general population. However, if an individual has pre-existing mental health issues, such as depression, anxiety or substance abuse, then it may place them at greater risk for SAD, with as much as “25 percent prevalence” across some conditions.

As for ways SAD can be treated and handled by the people affected by it, Repie stated mood changes and temporarily “feeling down” can be “normal responses” to stress around the shortest day of the year, “just before Christmas.” While SAD may be related to the holidays “and all that’s associated,” Repie said things can be “more serious.”

If an individual is down for many days and cannot get motivated to do activities that they normally enjoy, it may be more than the “winter blues.”

“If sleep patterns, or appetite has changed, or if one feels hopeless, thinks about suicide, or uses drugs or alcohol to cope, then it is time to seek support,” Repie said. “Help is available!”

Treatment for SAD can include medications — such as antidepressants —, psychotherapy and, most commonly, light therapy — sometimes called “phototherapy” — that can include light boxes to increase one’s serotonin levels.

As for what people should know about SAD to either help themselves or others, Repie said the Seasonal Pattern Assessment Questionnaire (SPAQ) is a clinical tool that can be used in primary care settings where clients are “accustomed to coming for treatment” and health professionals can help identify those who may be affected.

“It is a free instrument in the public domain and it is a retrospective, self-administered tool for which no training is required” Repie said. “It may be used as part of a more complete assessment to ascertain if further treatment is required.”

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& WELLNESS

The 7-Day Happiness Challenge Quiz J����� D���

These questions were designed with Dr. Robert Waldinger, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, to help you take stock of the range and strength of your social ties.

1. Do you feel satisfied with the number of close friends you have?

A. Yes B. No

2. Are you comfortable striking up casual conversations with people?

A. Yes B. No

3. How many family members do you have close relationships with?

A. None B. One to three C. Four or more

4. How many people could you call in the middle of the night if you needed help?

A. None B. One C. Two or three D. Four or more

5. When was the last time you expressed gratitude to someone important in your life?

A. Can’t remember B. More than a month ago C. Within the past month D. Within the past week

6. Do you participate in any group activities, either in person or virtually?

A. No B. Yes, a couple of times a year C. Yes, monthly D. Yes, weekly

7. Think of your closest friend (someone who does not live with you). How many hours did you have contact with each other last month?

A. None B. One hour or less C. Two to four hours D. Five hours or more

8. Do you have a partner? If so, how much of your social activity includes that person?

A. I don’t have a partner B. Almost all of my social activity C. A moderate amount D. Very little to none

9. Picture your closest family member.

If you could never talk to each other again, would that person know how you felt about him or her?

A. No B. Yes

10. How often do you talk to acquaintances in your neighborhood, on your commute or in your workplace or school?

A. Never B. Rarely C. Sometimes D. Often E. Daily

11. Do you feel satisfied with the connections you have with people at work?

A. No B. Yes

12. When was the last time you initiated a social plan with someone?

A. Can’t remember B. In the past month

C. In the past week

13. When was the last time you said “yes” when someone initiated a social plan with you?

A. Can’t remember B. In the past month C. In the past week

Points Per Answer

A. zero B. one C. two D. three E. four

What

the Scores Mean

0-12: You are self-sufficient, maybe more than is beneficial for your health and happiness. You have some meaningful social ties, but your score suggests that you may not have many people to turn to for emotional support and a sense of belonging. You may simply be more introverted or have lost touch with some of the people you care about. You may feel intimidated by the idea of making more friends. This challenge will help you begin.

13-21: You have the outline of a healthy social network. You have a number of people in your life who make you feel connected — a good balance of friends and family, close ties and those in your community whose faces you might know, if not their names. You have people who will show up for you and lend a hand if you need it, and you will do the same for them.

22 or more: You are in tiptop social shape. You thrive being around others and are comfortable in most social environments. You have found community in different realms of your life, whether it’s at work, with old or new friends, or around your neighborhood. Your strong ties help you cope with life’s ups and downs.

By JANCEE DUNN © 2022 The New York Times

I didn’t have to wait until my ninth decade to appreciate how annoying dry eyes can be. And I was flummoxed by the plethora of products on pharmacy shelves that promise relief for a problem that affects about 1 in 5 adults. Perhaps you, like me, are among the many who have tried various over-thecounter remedies that did not help or sometimes made matters worse.

Dry eye problems become increasingly prevalent with age. But since my mid-30s, I have been coping with a mild form of this condition and, despite intermittent visits to health professionals, have gotten only limited relief. With all the “extra” time I had to read for pleasure during the pandemic, the gritty feeling in my chronically dry eyes rendered this diversion anything but pleasant. Other common complaints linked to dry eyes include itching and undue sensitivity to sun and bright lights, all of which I suffer from.

In an online survey published in January, two-thirds of respondents reported having symptoms of dry eye, and of those, more than onequarter said their symptoms were made worse by wearing a face mask.

But Dr. Ira Udell, a professor of ophthalmology at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, said that while masks may indeed cause ocular discomfort, an association between mask-wearing and dry eye per se is unlikely, given that exhaled moisture when wearing a mask fogs glasses and, if anything, the increased humidity would raise moisture levels around the eyes.

A more likely explanation of those findings is an association between dry eyes and pandemicrelated stress. In two studies of veterans, researchers found strong links between dry eye syndrome, post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.

What causes dry eyes?

I have recently learned just how complicated it can be to keep my eyes moist and free of irritating dryness, a need made more challenging by an ever-greater reliance on

screens for work and play. When people stare at computer screens for hours on end, they blink less often, resulting in tired, distressed and dry eyes.

Inadequate lubrication of the ocular surface can also result in blurry vision, a symptom that has repeatedly prompted me to get my vision checked, only to find that my current prescription hasn’t changed even though words on a page are less clear.

Although dry eye problems are most common in people older than 50, they are also increasing among young adults, which experts attribute to the ubiquity of smartphones and computers. Younger people are also more likely to wear contact lenses, the prolonged wearing of which may also cause dry eyes.

Dry eye is a hallmark symptom of Sjögren’s syndrome and other autoimmune disorders that impair the body’s lubricating tissues. Dry eye also commonly occurs temporarily following cataract surgery; Lasik eye surgery, which reshapes the cornea to improve vision; and blepharoplasty, an operation to correct drooping eyelids.

Some people develop chronically dry eyes because their lids don’t close completely during sleep. If you suspect this may be your problem and you live alone, you might invite a visitor to check your eyes when you are asleep, Udell suggested. A cell phone photo would be useful to show to your doctor.

How does the eye stay lubricated?

Think of the tear film that coats and lubricates the eye as a threelayer sandwich, with each layer produced by different glands. The meibomian glands in the upper and lower eyelids create an oily outer layer that stabilizes the film. If the film breaks up too quickly, blurry vision is the likely result. Next are two sets of lacrimal glands that supply the watery tears. Innermost is the mucin layer that attracts water and helps to spread the tear film over the surface of the cornea. Even if the tear supply is adequate, a mucin deficiency can impede wetting of the cornea and damage its surface.

Both the meibomian and lacrimal glands have receptors for

the sex hormones, androgen and estrogen, and a decrease in hormone levels likely explains why dry eye problems increase in women at menopause and in men who are treated with anti-androgen therapy for prostate cancer. Indeed, the most common cause of dry eye is evaporation of moisture from the eyes from dysfunction of the meibomian glands that results in instability of the tear film.

Sometimes the attempted solution, like using multiple-use eye drops that contain preservatives, can actually make eye irritation worse. I ended up with chronically red eyes after using such drops, and the problem soon resolved when I switched to single-use lubricants that were preservative-free. While single-dose eye drops are only approved for a one-time use, Udell said that it’s usually safe to use them for up to two days if you want to cut down on cost and waste, as long as the tip isn’t touched and is covered after each use.

Medications that treat other conditions can interfere with adequate

Drs. Love & Miller, PC Melanie R. Love, DDS, Mark A. Miller, DDS FAMILY AND COSMETIC DENTISTRY

Drs. Love and Miller provide a family practice with special emphasis on healthy and beautiful smiles for adults and children. We have created a warm, caring environment that allows our patients to feel comfortable and safe. We take time to listen to our patients so that we can truly understand their individual needs and goals for their dental health.

Both doctors graduated from the Medical College of Virginia and have been practicing together in Falls Church for over 25 years. We are proud to have served the community in ways beyond dental care.

New patients are warmly welcomed in our practice. Dr. Love and Dr. Miller along with our amazing staff are grateful for the trust and support shown by the Falls Church community.

We are appreciative of our patients’ continued con dence in our ability to maintain proper safety measures, allowing us to care for their dental health.

Nearly three years into the pandemic, Covid-19 remains stubbornly persistent. So, too, does misinformation about the virus.

As Covid cases, hospitalizations and deaths rise in parts of the country, myths and misleading narratives continue to evolve and spread, exasperating overburdened doctors and evading content moderators.

What began in 2020 as rumors that cast doubt on the existence or seriousness of COVID quickly evolved into often outlandish claims about dangerous technology lurking in masks and the supposed miracle cures from unproven drugs, like ivermectin. 2020’s vaccine rollout fueled another wave of unfounded alarm. Now, in addition to all the claims still being bandied about, there are conspiracy theories about the long-term effects of the treatments, researchers say.

The ideas still thrive on social media platforms, and the constant barrage, now a years long accumulation, has made it increasingly difficult for accurate advice to break through, misinformation researchers say. That leaves people already suffering from pandemic fatigue to become further injured to Covid’s continuing dangers and susceptible to other harmful medical content.

“It’s easy to forget that health misinformation, including about Covid, can still contribute to people not getting vaccinated or creating stigmas,” said Megan Marrelli, editorial director of Meedan, a nonprofit focused on digital literacy and information access. “We know for a fact that health misinformation contributes to the spread of real-world disease.”

Twitter is of particular concern for researchers. The company recently gutted the teams responsible for keeping dangerous or inaccurate material in check on the platform, stopped enforcing its Covid misinfor-

mation policy and began basing some content moderation decisions on public polls posted by its new owner and chief executive, billionaire Elon Musk.

From Nov. 1 to Dec. 5, Australian researchers collected more than half a million conspiratorial and misleading English-language tweets about Covid, using terms such as “deep state,” “hoax” and “bioweapon.” The tweets drew more than 1.6 million likes and 580,000 retweets.

The researchers said the volume of toxic material surged in late November with the release of a film that included baseless claims that Covid vaccines set off “the greatest orchestrated die-off in the history of the world.”

Naomi Smith, a sociologist at Federation University Australia who helped conduct the research with Timothy Graham, a digital media expert at Queensland University of Technology, said Twitter’s misinformation policies helped tamp down antivaccination content that had

been common on the platform in 2015 and 2016. From January 2020 to September 2022, Twitter suspended more than 11,000 accounts over violations of its Covid misinformation policy.

Now, Smith said, the protective barriers are “falling over in real time, which is both interesting as an academic and absolutely terrifying.”

“Pre-Covid, people who believed in medical misinformation were generally just talking to each other, contained within their own little bubble, and you had to go and do a bit of work to find that bubble,” she said. “But now, you don’t have to do any work to find that information — it is presented in your feed with any other types of information.”

Several prominent Twitter accounts that had been suspended for spreading unfounded claims about Covid were reinstated in recent weeks, including those of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Robert Malone, a vaccine skeptic.

Musk himself has used

Twitter to weigh in on the pandemic, predicting in March 2020 that the United States was likely to have “close to zero new cases” by the end of that April. (More than 100,000 positive tests were reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the last week of the month.) In December, he took aim at Dr. Anthony Fauci, who stepped down Saturday as President Joe Biden’s top medical adviser and the longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Musk said Fauci should be prosecuted.

Twitter did not respond to a request for comment. Other major social platforms, including TikTok and YouTube, said in recent weeks that they remained committed to combating Covid misinformation.

YouTube prohibits content — including videos, comments and links — about vaccines and Covid-19 that contradicts

from

FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM

by Brian Reach Falls Church News-Press

The New Year often comes paired with myriad resolutions to improve ourselves: quitting smoking, losing a few pounds, learning a language, etc. Whether one believes in resolutions or not, a new year typically brings with it feelings of a fresh start, and is often a time of self-reflection and self-improvement.

For LGBTQ+ individuals, navigating the health care system in search of competent care can be daunting. “We want to see everyone in our community taking care of their physical and mental health.” says Dr. Jorge Ramallo, lead physician at the Inova Pride Clinic, “That means seeing providers you trust, taking advantage of prevention resources like PrEP to prevent illness, and getting tested for HIV, STDs, and other health conditions.” The Inova Pride Clinic opened in June 2022 on N. Washington St. in Falls Church and serves patients age 12 and over.

NovaSalud (2946 Sleepy Hollow Rd., Falls Church) is an organization that provides free, confidential, and rapid HIV testing, sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing, prevention and education services, and free condoms, with a particular focus on Latinx men and trans women. Ignacio Aguirre, Senior Manager of Prevention Programs at NovaSalud, says the most important thing LGBTQ+ folks can do to be healthy in 2023 is to “have safe sex — including taking PrEP.”

Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis, or PrEP, is a once-daily pill that prevents HIV transmission by up to 99 percent when taken regularly. There are two primary versions of PrEP; Truvada and Descovy, both of which are manufactured by Gilead. Though not typically covered by insurance and extremely expensive (a one-month supply can cost over $1,000, even with health insurance),

HEALTH & WELLNESS

a co-pay card making either medication entirely free is offered by Gilead online at gileadadvancingaccess.com.

While sexual health is often the primary focus when discussing LGBTQ+ health, Aguirre stressed the need to be proactive about one’s overall health, get insurance, find a primary care doctor, and ask questions. “Ask about your overall health” Aguirre said, “from digestive system to heart and lung function to testing for chronic disease,”

When it comes to requesting STI testing, it is important that patients be assertive, and request the tests they need. “Some STIs present no symptoms, but can be affecting our system without [us] even knowing it.” mentioned Aguirre. When it comes to getting tested, “swab what you use,” because a blood test won’t provide comprehensive screening for many STIs, so be persistent, specific, and detailed. When discussing one’s health with a provider, modesty can be dangerous.

Asked about the monkeypox (MPX) vaccine, Aguirre advised people to take advantage even with the urgency having subsided. “We should sheild our immune system against anything that might cause deterioration of our health.” NovaSalud provides MPX vaccine clinics the second Thursday of every month.

For trans individuals, both Inova Pride Clinic and NovaSalud offer a variety of care. “Gender-affirming care is also a key part of LGBTQ+ health care for gender-diverse patients.” said Ramallo, “The Pride Clinic is able to provide comprehensive gender evaluations and treatment tailored to each patient’s needs.”

NovaSalud also provides a number of mental health support services to Northern Virginia’s LGBTQ+ community. The organization’s RISE retreat helps queer men of color explore their experiences of homophobia, distrimination, and overcome the impact those experiences can have on their utilization of health care resources. TSISTA is their life skills group for Latinx transgender women based on gender- and culturallyrelevant discussions aimed at reducing risky sexual behavior, increasing condom use, and other training. CLEAR is their program offering one-on-one, evidence-based counseling for adults living with HIV/AIDS.

Readers are encouraged to visit NovaSaludInc.org, Inova.org/PrideClinic, or schedule an appointment with their primary care provider to discuss their 2023 wellness goals.

tear production. Common culprits include antihistamines, beta blockers, oral contraceptives, diuretics and drugs used to treat Parkinson’s disease, anxiety disorders, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and abnormal heart rhythms.

What can you do to relieve dry eyes?

Environmental conditions that can exacerbate dry eye problems include smoky or excessively dry air, which can result from indoor heating and air conditioning. Long before the pandemic, I began wearing eyeglasses when outdoors, especially on windy days and always when riding my bicycle, to protect my eyes from dryness and grit. A variety of glasses are available to block out wind, glare and airborne irritants.

If you swim, be sure to wear goggles to prevent salty or chemically treated water from irritating your eyes.

Another practical measure that Udell emphasized is applying warm compresses to the eyelids

morning and night to assist meibomian gland function. I gently wash my eyelids from the nose outward with a warm washcloth every night. Repeat the washcloth cleanse if you wake up in the morning with “sleep in your eyes,” then apply artificial tears.

Use of artificial tears several times a day is essential for most cases of dry eye. Although no product precisely mimics the composition of natural tears, many are helpful if used regularly, Udell said. He suggested trying various products one at a time to find one that is most effective for you. You could start with a low-cost generic product and, if that doesn’t help, try the brand name version, he said.

However, if over-the-counter remedies and the practical measures described above fail to bring adequate relief, consult an eye specialist. There are prescription products and special glasses that create a high-humidity moisture chamber around the eyes, among other remedies, for severe cases of dry eye.

By Jane e. Brody

LOCAL

Special Elections Deliver Democrats Early Victories in Busy Year

by Brian Reach Falls Church News-Press

On the eve of special elections that delivered Democrats two early victories in what will be a remarkably busy year in Virginia politics, the Fairfax County Democratic Committee (FCDC) held its Road to Richmond Legislative Brunch, an event held annually on the eve of the legislative session in Richmond.

Democrat Holly Seibold won her special election Tuesday night, defeating Republican Monique Baroudi with over 67 percent of the vote, and will replace Democrat Mark Keam as Virginia’s Delegate for House District 35, which spans from Fair Oaks Mall to Tysons Corner Center. In the Norfolk-Virginia Beach area, Democrat Aaron Rouse narrowly edged out Republican Kevin Adams in a race to replace the state Senate seat vacated by Jen Kiggins (R-VA) after her election to the U.S. House of Representatives, in a surprise pick-up for Democrats.

“It’s great to be back in the same room for this event after three years,” welcomed FCDC Chair Bryan Graham, who recognized the entirely Democratic delegation being sent to Richmond from the region, including an impressive number in attendance. Graham also noted that 2023 promises to be an eventful year in local politics, with fifty races in Fairfax County alone. “2023 is the year.” said Graham, “We have a lot to do,” noting that after the event many in attendance planned to immediately go out to knock on doors for Seibold.

Common througout the program’s speaker remarks were stark contrasts between Democrats and their Republican colleagues on a broad range of subjects including

gun safety, voting rights, abortion, public education, the January 6th, 2022 terrorist attacks, and the recent Speaker standoff within the House GOP Caucus. “We just witnessed chaos in Congress” noted Graham, “from the party that continues to show it does not know how, nor does it have any real desire, to govern.”

The event comes after two years of hard-fought elections has resulted in narrow losses of the Democratic majorities in both the Virginia House of Delegates and the United States House of Representatives, a political shift that most feared would be much worse for the Democrats, but instead left them with tenuous corresponding majorities in both the Virginia and United States Senate chambers.

“Virginia in 2023 is a bellweather for 2024.” cautioned U.S. Congressman Don Beyer (D-VA), noting that many will be watching the results of the elections in the Commonwealth this fall and warning not to lose focus, “We need you.”

Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw (D-VA) drew focus to the recent shooting in Newport News, in which a 6-year old child deliberately shot his teacher, accusing Republicans of focusing on how to punish the child instead of increasing school funding, and noted the Youngkin administration “regularly denigrates public education.”

Virginia House Democratic Minority Leader Don Scott provided a scathing rebuke of Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin (R-VA), accusing his administration of engaging in pandering to culture war narratives on the national stage. “The Governor is going out to campaign for extremists and racists,” Scott said, “then coming back to Virginia and claims to be a moderate.”

Scott recalled a recent conversation with his teenage daughter in which she responded to news of the school shooting. “She said, ‘Daddy, if this happens at my school, I’m gonna fight, not hide.’” Noting that he represents a district adjacent to the shooting in Newport News, Scott claimed Virginia Republicans of are “hell-beng on turning us into Texas,” noting that Lieutenant Governor Winsome Sears (R-VA) posed with assault rifles for campaign posters.

“They’re counting on good people doing nothing...” continued Scott, claiming that the ‘Parents Matter’ refrain often heard by conservatives is code “that ‘you don’t.’” He accusing the Youngkin administration of victim-blaming. “They’re bullies.”

FCDC volunteers presented U.S. Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA) with a variety of “back to Richmond” gifts, including a Constitution for Dummies book, jokingly destined for Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-FL), a key player in the recent House Speaker drama. “That would require reading,” Connolly laughed. Connolly, who is in his fourth term representing Virginia’s 10th District, warned that the recent activity on the house floor was just the beginning.

“It’s gonna be a rough ride,” Connolly said, saying gridlock in the U.S. Congress was unlikely to allow much progress in the upcoming session, “please do better in Richmond.”

Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay started his remarks by crediting the return to an in-person event “with the empathy, belief in science, and infrastructure” in place throughout the local community and govern ment to “get through Covid” McKay, who is finishing his first

term as Chairman and fourth as Franconia District Supervisor, provided some basic guiding principles for economic success.

“First, invest in people,” McKay began, highlighting public education and empathy in particular, “second, be wildly inclusive, proudly international, and welcome all without exception.” McKay mentioned being proud of Fairfax County’s youth , recalling their recent walk-out in support of trans classmates, but also expressed worry for how Republican rhetoric regarding diverse populations may affect them. He claimed a different approach from Fairfax County — “don’t badmouth any group, because we want the diversity.” he continued, ending be echoing the end to a now-famous political ad for Hillary Clinton’s failed Presidential campaign: “our kids are listening.”

Rachna Sizemore Heizer, Fairfax County Public School Board Chair, concluded the program with a call for funding from the state to address

staffing needs of public school districts. “This is a crisis,” Heizer proclaimed, adding that many teachers are leaving the field permanently, and that any plan to address this would need to include increased teacher pay, increased teacher respect, and a pipeline of new talent entering the education field. “60 percent of future jobs do not exist today,” highlighting the need for the profession to be desirable for those in emerging fields.

Heizer concluded by asking lawmakers to fight against harmful narratives in an effort to make schools “safe from guns and bullying.”

Overall, Democratic lawmakers expressed cautious optimism that, despite gridlock, they were entering a new legislative session with discipline and unity that would set them apart from their Republican colleagues. “Our task is large — almost daunting — but we are the Fairfax Democrats,” concluded Graham, “...we are up to the task.”

Meridian Girls Basketball Dominates Annandale, Improves to 10-1

by Ryan McCafferty

With a 9-1 record in their first ten games, the Meridian girls’ basketball team hosted Annandale High School on Monday night as they looked to keep up their winning ways.

Elizabeth Creed opened the scoring with a midrange jump shot, the start of what would eventually become a 16-0 run to begin the evening. The home team thoroughly dominated in every facet of the game coming out of the gates, getting offensive rebounds on a number of their missed shots while Annandale could barely get

across halfcourt without turning the ball over. It wasn’t until late in the first quarter that the visitors finally got on the board by way of a free throw, and the Mustangs convincingly led 17-1 after one.

The Meridian lead expanded to 31-5 by halftime, with Annandale still yet to score a single field goal as all five of their first half points came at the foul line. That changed on the very first possession of the second half as the visitors immediately made a layup, but they remained in a massive hole and the Mustangs cruised the rest of the way, leading

44-11 after three quarters and 47-15 at the final buzzer as the backups came in for the closing frame. However, the win came at a price as senior Peyton Jones injured her ankle during the third quarter and did not return to the game, so here’s hoping for a speedy recovery for one of Meridian’s primary contributors.

Elizabeth Creed led all scorers with 14 points, while Maureen Tremblay had 13 and Jones had 10 before leaving the game. The Mustangs will be back in action on Friday, once again at home as they play host to Alexandria City.

speaks at the

MERIDIAN MUSTANGS shoot a foul shot during their win over Annandale. (Photo: News-Press)

COMMENT

A Penny for Your Thoughts News of Greater Falls Church

By Supervisor Penny Gross

They say that you never want to see how laws or sausage are made. The final product may be tasty, but the process can be messy and ugly. That process was on full display, live and in color, in the U.S. House of Representatives last week, culminating in selection of a Speaker after 15 ballots across more than four days. Sausage it was, as Kevin McCarthy of California, was figuratively run through a grinder, over and over, in full view of the nation via C-SPAN. Because there was no Speaker selected, there were no rules, so the C-SPAN cameras, usually stationary and narrowly directed at the Speaker’s chair and the podium, freely roamed the chamber, capturing tête-à-têtes between dissenting Members, yawns, and obvious frustrations on both sides of the aisle. Finally, at 12:30 a.m., the 15th ballot finally cemented the selection of Mr. McCarthy as Speaker, but still without support from a majority of House members, missing the magic number of 218 because several Republican holdouts voted present. Outgoing Speaker Nancy Pelosi was famous for knowing every vote she had nailed down before going to the floor; the incoming Speaker’s count fell short 14 times, and nearly failed on the 15th. As messy as it was to watch,

the battle for Speaker demonstrated some of the basics of parliamentary procedure, which is crucial to governance and law-making. In a way, parliamentary procedure is a recipe: it provides the ingredients and the directions for a successful product. Motions, seconds, discussion, amendments, points of order, calling the question, and eventually voting, are the bread and butter of governing bodies at all levels of government. Parliamentary procedure ensures that all opinions can be heard before proceeding to a vote of the governing body. In Congress, debate can be lengthy, going on for days, since 435 Members may want their say. At the Board of Supervisors, debates among the 10 members are shorter, but the local public hearing process on land use issues or the budget, for example, can add hours to the agenda. And the public can view it as it occurs, on C-SPAN for Congress; Channel 16 or livestreaming for the Board meetings.

As Congress reconvenes, a lot of the discussion has centered on governance, or the ability to do the business of the body to which people are elected. As a long-time elected official, I often note that campaigning is fun; it’s governance that’s hard. Sadly, in today’s politi -

cal arenas, campaigning seems to be constant, even after the election and, in the zeal to get one’s face on television or raise more money, or garner more press clippings and Facebook followers, governance gets left behind. Good governance is serious business, not show business. Good governance can bring together disparate points of view to agree on a common goal, and achieve that goal. Good governance doesn’t mean that you always get your way, but it should mean that, at the end of the debate and decision, most can come away with something positive, or at least a better understanding of what goes into, and what comes out of, that sausage grinder!

A quick correction to last week’s column about the second anniversary of the January 6th assault on the Capitol. My reference to the Republican chairman from Maricopa County should have been to the Republican Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives, who was defeated in a primary after he defended the integrity of the 2020 election process in his state.

 Penny Gross is the Mason District Supervisor, in the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. She may be emailed at mason@fairfaxcounty.gov.

Richmond Report

This column serves as an announcement of my establishment of the Accessibility and disAbility Legislative Caucus. This Caucus will meet weekly during the General Assembly session to follow the path of current legislation affecting people with disabilities and their families, and to discuss advocacy or opposition positions and/or activities. Both advocacy groups and legislators are invited to participate.

I have started and staffed other successful caucuses, particularly the Joint Women’s Health Care Caucus and the Animal Welfare Caucus. I am fortunate to have college student interns enthusiastic about these subjects who will accomplish the hard work of bill-tracking and staffing the meetings. I look forward to building partnerships between advocates and legislators to accomplish awareness and real change.

Over my years of public service, both as a School Board Member and as a Member of the House of Delegates, I have advocated for the rights of people with disabilities and their families.

Supported Decision-Making is a legal step between a guardianship status for an individual with disabilities and complete independence. SD-M creates a contract between a person with disabilities and a courtapproved advisor who will literally and legally assist that person in making important, often life-altering, decisions. Several pieces of legislation were initiated by that study-all geared toward increasing the legal independence of a person with disabilities. I was honored to be appointed to the Disability Commission and was elected Chair.

Larceny of Vehicle Parts, Rolling Trace, between 8 PM, January 4 and 7 AM, January 5, unknown suspect(s) shattered the driver’s side window of a Honda Civic and removed the steering wheel airbag

Aggravated Assault, Wilson Blvd, January 5, 11:51 AM, victim attempted to break up a

fight between two subjects and was stabbed in the back by one of them. Victim was transported with non-life threatening injuries. Suspect described as an Asian male, possibly in his 40`s, wearing a grey and black hoodie. Suspect left in a black SUV. Detectives are working to identify

Drunk in Public, Wilson Blvd, January 8, 2:06 AM, a white male, 36, of Alexandria, was arrested for Drunk in Public.

I began my legislative advocacy efforts in 2015, when I worked with the ARC of NOVA to develop a bill which would establish Virginia 529A ABLE Savings Accounts. The successful bill allowed the establishment of a savings account with the goal of assisting individuals with disabilities and their families to save private funds to be dispersed to maintain the health, independence and quality of life with such an account used to apply distributions for qualified disability expenses (including higher education expenses) for an eligible individual. These accounts are a key asset for parents wishing to provide for a disabled child in the event of the parents’ death. In succeeding terms of office, I was appointed to the Joint Committee on Health Care and successfully convinced that body to undertake a two year study of the concept of Supported Decision-Making.

It was during my term as Chair of the Disability that I worked with the Virginia Board for People with Disabilities. The VBPD is charged with annually assessing Virginia’s Disability Services System, and submitting annual reports to the Governor through the Secretary of Health and Human Services “that provide an in-depth assessment of at least two major service areas for people with disabilities in the Commonwealth. The Board is also charged with completing a similar analysis as it develops and amends its federal State Plan goals and objectives. The published assessment reports contain policy recommendations that were reviewed, discussed and finalized by an ad hoc committee of the Board and approved by the Board’s Executive Committee. I have based several of the bills that I plan to file for this session on those recommendations. It is important for me to stress that neither the VBPD, nor the Accessibility and disAbility Caucus are politically partisan in any way. These bodies are both designed to further awareness of the issues facing people with disabilities and their families and to work toward building a more supportive and inclusive Commonwealth.

 Delegate Kory represents the 38th District in the Virginia House of Delegates. She may be emailed at DelKKory@house.virginia.gov.

Delegate Kaye Korys

Falls Church

F.C. Police Issue Warrant For Arrest of

Stabbing Suspect

City of Falls Church Police have issued a warrant for the arrest of Gian Vi Nguyen, age 44, in connection with a non-fatal stabbing on January 5, 2023, in the 6700 block of Wilson Blvd. A Photo of Nguyen is below. He is believed to be a resident of Maryland.

Anyone with information about the suspect’s whereabouts or the stabbing incident should contact Detective Gandionko at 703-248-5284 (TTY 711) or cgandionko@ fallschurchva.gov.

2 Planning Commissioners Reappointed to 4 Year Terms

Robert Puentes and Cory Weiss were voted by the F.C. City Council to new four year terms, running through Dec. 31, 2026 on the City’s Planning Commission Monday night.

In addition, Steve Hicks was appointed to the Historical Commission and Mathann Jackson to the Retirement Board.

Council Mulls Making Some Outdoor Dining Permanent

As a work session following Monday’s F.C. City Council meeting, the Council mulled an ordinance that would make the 13 existing outdoor dining options approved on an emergency basis during the Covid-19 Pandemic and would allow for others to be approved.

In conjunction, the Council will also consider reductions in minimum parking requirements for some businesses that Planning Chief Jim Snyder said “could be inhibiting economic growth.”

F.C.

Council Extends Agreement

For ‘Teacher Workforce Units’

By a unanimous vote, the Falls Church City Council authorized City Manager Wyatt Shields to execute an agreement to extend the City’s deal with the Read Building (402 W. Broad) owners, Jefferson 402 LLC, to offer nine of the building’s 25 rental units as affordable “teacher workforce units” for another 10 years, at a cost of $350,000, with funds from a Virginia Housing Amazon REACH grant. With 35 percent of the units offered as “affordable,” the Read Building has the highest percentage of affordable units in Falls Church.

Affordability restrictions on the nine units range for qualified applicants with those having 60 to 80 percent average median income (AMI).

City Retirement Fund in 95th Percentile of Results

The annual report of the Falls Church City’s retirement fund investments, reported by Retirement Board chair Connie Rydberg at the F.C. City Council meeting Monday, shows that over the five year period from 2018 to current, the average rate of return for the basic and police plans both was 8.2 percent, placing it in the 95th percentile in comparison to other plans with similar investment strategies.

The value for funds invested as a portion of the sale of the City Water System has grown by 5.6 percent.

Council member Letty Hardi said, “Clearly, we’ve proven we operate with less parking,” and Mayor David Tarter said such moves “are on the right track.”

The Council will consider both matters in the next month.

Planned Parenthood Advocates Assail New Richmond Plans

“Today, on the first day of the 2023 Virginia Legislative Session, Del. Kathy Byron introduced HB2278, which would ban abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Planned Parenthood advocates reported. “This bill would strip Virginians of their bodily autonomy, undermine health care providers, and prevent patients from making their own deeply personal medical decisions.”

A statement by Jamie Lockhart, executive director of Planned Parent Advocates of Virginia, stated, “Delegate Kathy Byron made good on Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s promise to try to ban abortion in Virginia by introducing this proposed legislation, which would hurt Virginians and put politicians where they don’t belong: in control of people’s private medical decisions.

“Let’s be clear: a ban is a ban, plain and simple. Like all bans, Del. Byron’s proposed bill would deny Virginians the fundamental right to control their own bodies, lives, and futures.”

SCHOOLS

Falls Church School News & Notes

MHS Robotics Team Looking for Sponsors

Ever want to build a robot? Or help pay for one? The Meridian High School Vae Victis 1418 Robotics Team is looking for sponsors and mentors for their 2023 build season (January-April).Visit https://1418.team/ for more information.

Support GIVE Day for FCCPS

Take a day off from cooking and support Oak Street Elementary GIVE Day Club in their fundraising efforts for GIVE Day by ordering food at Bolay. Be sure to mention FCC Public Schools and a portion of their sales for the day will be donated to support the Elementary GIVE Day goal of packing over 1,500+ Power Packs for Food For Others. Meals all day will go toward the fundraising efforts, so plan to eat lunch and dinner at Bolay! Note: you must order in person as online orders will not count for the GIVE Day promotion.

Nominate FCCPS Staff for Recognition Awards

The 2023 FCCPS Employee Awards program is open for nominations. Everyone is invited to recognize a teacher, specialist, or support staff employee for their dedica-

tion to students and schools. There are three awards: Falls Church Education Foundation Teacher of the Year Award, Professional Specialist of the Year Award, Support Staff Employee of the Year Award. For more information, visit https://www.fccps.org/o/fccps/page/ employee-recognition-awards.

Congratulations to IB Diploma Recipients

On Thursday, graduates from the class of 2022 who earned the IB Diploma were welcomed back to Meridian. Overall, 47 students in the class of 2022 were successful in their pursuit of the IB Diploma. To earn the diploma, the students passed examinations in six courses. They completed the IB DP core requirements of Theory of Knowledge, Creativity, Activity and Service Hours, and the Extended Essay over the last two years of their high school experience. Congratulations once more to these young people on their tremendous individual and collective accomplishments.

Meridian Offers MYP Certificate to Students

The Meridian Middle Years Programme (MYP) certificate is a new opportunity to recognize outstanding efforts and achievements by 9th and 10th-grade students. The Meridian MYP certificate will be offered for the first time to current 9th-grade students (class of 2026).

The current 9th graders were introduced to the certificate during a recent Stable class.

All current 9th graders are eligible for this certificate because of the structure and support that occurs through their course completion, including Stable (advisory time) to complete the 10th-grade Personal Project and participate in some service opportunities during school. The certificate is an opportunity to engage in active and reflective work, much of what students are already doing to support and prepare for selected 11th and 12thgrade pathways. MYP Certificate participation is encouraged but not required and does not impact participation in the 11th and 12thgrade Diploma Programme (DP) or Careers-related Programme (CP) courses.

If one has questions, please get in touch with Dr. Dippold (dippoldr@fccps.org).

Local Preschool Waitlist Window Open Soon

Falls Church City residents interested in enrolling preschoolers in Jessie Thackrey Preschool for the 2023-24 school year are invited to enter students in the Lottery Waitlist Window to qualify for enrollment. The Lottery Waitlist window will be open January 9 -13, 2023. Families will be notified by the end of February if the student is selected to enroll. Families must currently

reside in the City of Falls Church. Students must be age 3 or 4 by Sept 30, 2023. Students who are age five by September 30 are not eligible to attend Jessie Thackrey Preschool. The sign-up link will be publicized on FCCPS websites and in the Morning Announcements on Monday, January 9, 2023.

MHS Softball Hosts Fundraiser

Meridian Softball will be having a fundraiser at Claire and Don’s Beach Shack (130 N. Washington St.) on Tuesday, January 17th from 5:00 p.m. — 8:00 p.m. 10 percent of sales support the softball program.

Inclusivity and Equity Retreat Held for MHS

On Friday, January 6, student leaders across Meridian High School met off-campus at Temple Rodef Shalom for a retreat. The day’s goal was for students to educate themselves and build their capacity to educate others about addressing antisemitism at school. Members of student council (Chloe Calabrese, Jay Humphries, and Stella Turner) facilitated the day. The students were led by guest speaker Rabbi Bruce Aft, who led the students in a workshop around identity, Jewish symbolism, racism, and antisemitism. Rabbi Aft is a visiting scholar at George Mason University in the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution.

ON FRIDAY, JANUARY 6, student leaders across MHS met off-campus at Temple Rodef Shalom. The day’s goal was for students to educate themselves and build their capacity to educate others about addressing antisemitism at school. (Photo: Kish Rafique)

OVER WINTER BREAK on December 26th , over 30 boys basketball alums reunited to play pick-up hoops in the new school gym. There were players dating from 2008 to current students. (Photo: FCCPS)

CAMPS & SCHOOLS

Summer Smarts: How Camps Influence Fun and the Future

BY KYLEE TOLAND FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS

When a parent sends their child to a summer camp, they may think it’s a way for the child to enjoy a week or two of sun, fun and friends. However, these camps can also benefit their pupils in an academic and professional way.

In recent years, summer camps have grown from woods-centered, bonfiresinging sleepaway vacations to focusing more on specific interests; some that may lead into a young adult’s future career or academic goals. These camps can be centered on cooking, STEM, theater/dance, sports and much more.

Although a child may be initially hesitant about taking part in a summer camp, what they and their guardians might not know is that these camps can foster growth. These summer camps can take a child out of their comfort zone and blossom an interest they might have not had before.

Tom Rosenberg is the president and CEO of the American Camp Association, a national nonprofit organization that accredits all organized camps across the United States. Rosenberg stated the Covid-19 pandemic has “really highlighted and underscored” why summer camp/programs are important for the enrichment of children.

Learning at a summer camp or program is different from year-long learning at a school, according to Rosenburg, due to its “kinetic” and “experiential” hands-on learning. These camps can influence a child to take “positive risks,” such as joining a camp/program that introduces them to a possible new interest.

“There’s all kinds of things that you do at camp that are new, different and hard,” Rosenberg said. “At camp, you learn to try hard things and not worry about making mistakes because it’s a place that’s set up to be emotionally and physically safe.”

If a child does have an interest in science, the arts or athletics, camps can allow them to explore further what they can do with their interests in the future. These camps can also help a young one to acquire lifelong skills, such as communicating with others and developing independence.

In the City of Falls Church, camps are offered for both residents and nonresidents. According to the city’s website, the Falls Church Recreation and Parks Department is “committed to offering safe, high-quality and enjoyable in-person camp programming.”

In past years, the city has provided summer camps focusing on cooking, dance and gymnastics, art, music and theater, media, STEM and more.

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These camps allow a child to enjoy a camp experience based on their specific interests or explore something that can become a future school or career appeal.

Kristofer Titus is the association director of school age child care and camp at the YMCA Alexandria. He said it’s important for children of all ages to “explore, learn and grow in their confidence and skills.”

The summer programs offered at the YMCA Alexandria include health/ nutrition camps and sports/ wellness camps. Speciality programs are also offered throughout the summer, including a crime investigation and an engineering camp. Titus said the YMCA sees about 1,000 children take part in these programs each year, with many former participants coming back when they get older to help out as staff through the company’s leadership program.

Titus further stated that if children aren’t given the opportunity to experience summer camps or programs, they are “less likely” to explore the different interests offered when entering middle school or high school.

“We want to give [children] an allaround experience so that they have the opportunity to see what they like and then dig deeper into that,” Titus said.

Rosenberg went on to state that summer camps/programs are often the first place a child does something all by themselves, such as cooking, painting/ drawing or playing a certain sport. Describing it as a “huge, project-based learning community,” Rosenberg said camp allows a child to work with their peers and create/succeed at something together, a skill “relevant” from a workforce development perspective today.

“This is a generation of kids who are going to grow up and be inventors, design thinkers and learn how to engineer technology,” Rosenberg said, “so that it can create better things for society and the greater community.”

CAMPS & SCHOOLS

FCCPS Students GIVE Back on Upcoming Annual Day of Service

by Kylee Toland Falls Church News-Press

Seven years ago, a group of fifth grade students and their families created a community service project that people of all ages can participate in.

GIVE Day — “Get Involved, Value Everyone” — has since evolved into a “significant” community service project for all Falls Church City Public Schools. The event allows students in preschool through twelfth grade to “take action” by hosting various community projects throughout the school year, culminating on a Day of Service on Monday, January 16th.

During the 2022-23 school year, the GIVE day ambassadors supported five different areas: food insecurity, animal welfare, refugee assistance, sports gear to Africa and sustainable art. Various events from December through January have helped support these areas, including a bake sale, pet food drive and dine-out fundraiser.

The very first GIVE Day took place in 2016, with 12 fifth-grade ambassadors leading a group of 300 volunteers. Christine Lee Buchholz, the co-founder of GIVE Day said the idea to have the event was inspired

by the International Baccalaureate learner profile trait of “caring” and Harvard’s Making Caring Common project. The Falls Church PTA wanted to “provide a tangible way for children of all ages to participate in community service.

“Every year the students adapt GIVE Day with their creativity, passions and interests,” Buchholz said.

Suzanne Hladky and her three children have been involved with GIVE Day since its start seven years ago, with her oldest son Henry being one of the 12 kids that were the first ambassadors. Hladcky has been one of the parent coordinators for GIVE Day throughout her children’s elementary, middle and high school years.

“It’s really blossomed,” Hladky said when talking about GIVE Day. “We’ve looked at local and international charities, and are doing our best to support what the kids want to support.”

To be an ambassador, Hladky said the process varies between grades.

For fifth grade students in elementary school, they must fill out an application that explains why they want to be an ambassador and what matters to them when it comes to service.

For middle schoolers, there is a GIVE Day club students can sign up for and fill out a form as to why they want to be a part of the service event/ ambassador. High school ambassadors do more outreach activities on an executive board, including setting up panels for nonprofit leaders to speak to younger ambassadors as well as going to the elementary schools themselves to speak about GIVE Day.

This year’s GIVE Day is “pretty sentimental” as it will be the last one for this year’s graduating seniors — including Hladky’s son — who started the idea when they were fifth graders. Hladky said the involvement in the service event has grown since its creation and most people in the community now know what GIVE Day is.

“Kids really shine and have the opportunity to lead and step up,” Hladky said.

Connell Henderson, one of the 42 fifth grade ambassadors at Oak Street Elementary School, said his position is “pretty cool” as he and others get to help those in need. Henderson also said he likes working with high schoolers who help out with GIVE Day, and is looking forward to going

to the Food for Others warehouse.

This year, FCCPS is partnering with Food for Others for its Day of Service by organizing ‘Power Packs’ for children in the region who may not have enough food to eat. The packets will be distributed to local schools by Food for Others.

“When the representative from Food for Others came to talk at our meeting, I learned there are so many

He said locals can get involved with GIVE Day by coming to Meridian High School on January 16th to help the young GIVE Day club members assemble their Power Packs. There will also be other activities for families to help with — including making enrichment toys for animals in shelters and decorating reusable tote bags, as well as making donations on GIVE Day’s

GIVE DAY allows FCCPS students of all ages and grades to participate in a large community-wide service event since its start seven years ago. (Photo: Chrissy Henderson)

CAMPS & SCHOOLS

Summer Camp For All

Mara Gay

For some lucky American children, summer means campfires with new friends, long hikes in the woods, hot days swimming in cool lakes, magical nights under starry skies.

Summer camp is a cherished experience for millions of children, an American tradition with deep roots in the country’s enduring romance with the great outdoors. As much of the United States reels from the pandemic, gun violence and threats to its democracy, the summer camps many have enjoyed for generations may offer something else: healing for America’s young people.

By nearly every measure, American youths are in distress.

A surgeon general’s report last year noted a 51 percent increase in emergency room visits for suspected suicide attempts by adolescent girls in early 2021 compared with the same period two years earlier.

Among high school students, 44 percent reported feeling persistently sad or hopeless in the past year, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey released in March.

More than 200,000 American children are estimated to have lost a parent or caregiver to Covid-19. Native American children lost parents or caregivers at more than three and a half times the rate for white children, according to a December report from Covid Collaborative, a national group of experts dedicated to helping children dealing with such losses. The report found that Black and Hispanic children lost parents or caregivers at more than two times the rate that white children did.

The kids are not OK, and why should they be? America is a country where large numbers of adults barely blink at the death of 1 million Americans from Covid-19, stand idly by as 19 children are shot dead in their classrooms in a single day and shrug as guns kill or maim thousands of children and teenagers every year. Those are our American traditions now.

The best gift America’s leaders could give young people is a healthy, functioning democracy. One small step the country could take to invest in their future, though, would be to come together around a new promise: to make summer camp available to every child in America.

Every year, about 26 million children attend roughly 15,000 day and overnight summer camps across the United States, said Tom Rosenberg, who leads the American Camp Association. There are roughly 57 million school-age children in the United States, according to recent U.S. census and homeschooling data.

It’s hard to imagine a more ideal escape for young people living through an extraordinary time of grief, loneliness and upheaval. At its best, camp can offer children a chance to learn outside the classroom, drawing them from their computer screens and helping them build stronger relationships with other children, themselves and nature. Especially for children living in poverty, summer camp can

be a great equalizer, giving them a chance to pick up essential life skills — such as swimming — often not taught in their communities. At many camps, children from diverse backgrounds forge lifelong friendships, develop a deep connection with and respect for nature, and learn to work as teams to overcome big challenges. These are values our democracy desperately needs.

Not every child will thrive at summer camp, and there are plenty of other ways to enjoy the outdoors and gain the benefits that come with socialization and play.

But if America wanted to, it could make summer camp accessible to every child who wanted to go.

There are camps that can serve nearly every child with every interest: camps for children who love to play sports or want to learn how to sail or ride horses, camps that offer weeks of backpacking along the Appalachian Trail or through the Utah desert, camps for children who have disabilities or are battling cancer or are experiencing homelessness.

Rosenberg said day camps range in cost from free to more than $200 per day and overnight camp prices range from free to more than $500 per day. Although scholarships and reduced fees are available at most camps, the experience remains out of reach for many, many families. To scale up, summer camp operators say they need a dedicated funding stream, more philanthropic aid and help with staffing.

No one is suggesting that a few weeks of summer camp is a cure-all. But researchers, educators and parents say the kind of experiences that summer camp can provide — a safe, healthy space to play with children who are different from them and to build confidence in the great outdoors — can change children’s lives.

Like so much of American life, access to safe and healthy spaces to play is unequal and especially disadvantageous to Black and Latino children. One study, commissioned by Hispanic Access Foundation and the Center for American Progress, found that nearly three-quarters of minorities in the contiguous United States live in communities that lack access to nature that includes clean air and water and a diversity of wildlife. Some funding for summer enrichment and after-school programs — at least $1.2 billion — was included in the $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief package last year.

Many large cities offer at least some summer programming for young people. New York City’s Summer Rising program is expected to serve 110,000 children in kindergarten through eighth grade this year. Programs such as this one serve a critical need, including by providing free meals. But while it does offer some recreation and field trips, the program largely focuses on academics. The city’s summer jobs program, which serves children as young as 14, is often sold to the public as a way to reduce crime.

There’s a better way. America’s children deserve to have some fun.

By Mara Gay © 2022 The New York Times

Temple Rodef Shalom Early Childhood Center

Prospective Parent Night

January 23, 2023 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. RSVP at trsecc.org

Classes for children 2years-old through Kindergarten Parent-child classes available for children under 2 Reggio-inspired community school Reform Jewish traditions and values trsecc.org 703.532.2227

Community News & Notes

VA DMV Connect Coming to American Legion Building

The Falls Church City DMV Connect visit is held twice a month, usually for 10 days, on 5 consecutive days of one week, and then 5 days of the next week (frequently it’s the 2nd and 3rd weeks of the month) at the American Legion Building, Post 130, located next to the W & OD Bike Trail, at 400 N. Oak St, Falls Church, VA 22046. The Connect’s hours are from 9:30 a.m. — 3:30 p.m. They close for lunch for one hour from 12:30 to 1:30. It is mostly by appointment, through the DMV’s website under “DMV2Go or DMV Connect” and then under “Falls Church American Legion,” but the DMV Connect staff can usually accommodate walk-ins, so please do come by. Walk-in opportunities can occur when there are cancellations, noshows, and overbookings.

Tysons Corner & ArtsFairfax

Announce Afghan Public Art

Tysons Corner Center, in partnership with nonprofit ArtsFairfax, launched a call for local artists last year to showcase area talents in the region’s most prestigious shopping destination. ArtsFairfax, the designated local agency supporting arts activities and opportunities

in Fairfax County, accepted and reviewed applications for artists, teams, or organizations to activate several spaces throughout the center in 2023.

Tysons Corner Center and ArtsFairfax selected ArtLords to be the first art group to debut its exhibition in the center. A global collective of self-styled “artivists,” ArtLords is dedicated to promoting peace through exhibiting artwork to exemplify culture, social, and political issues through street art. The artwork located on level 2 by Macy’s consists of 30 original pieces to be on display through February 2023 and was kicked off with an opening reception on Thursday, January 5.

ArtLords Curator and President Omaid Sharifi has selected thirty artworks representing the wide range of paintings from ArtLords artists. The artworks are in varied sizes, styles, media, and each one tells a different and fascinating story. The artworks range from paintings 36 by 24 inches oil on canvas to 16 by 12 inches acrylic on wood and rare miniature paintings.

The paintings were rescued from Afghanistan when the Taliban took over in August 2021. The artworks have travelled from Afghanistan to Uzbekistan to Turkey to France to the United States.

Additionally, some of the paintings are painted by the recently evacuated artists of ArtLords from Afghanistan who are settled in North America.

“ColorLove”

F.C. Arts

On View at

Forty artists’ boldest, brightest works of art are featured in the multimedia exhibition, ColorLove, on view at Falls Church Arts gallery from January 14 to February 26. The all-media show will open at 7:30 on Saturday, January 14, with an artists’ reception. The Juror’s Choice Award will be presented at that time. Participating artists will be on hand to answer questions about their process or inspiration. Members of the public are invited.

A Juror’s Choice Award and People’s Choice Award were made possible by a donation from DuBro Architects + Builders, 429 S. Maple Avenue, Falls Church, VA 22046. The People’s Choice Award will be announced on February 4, based on votes from visitors to the gallery.

Juror Sharon Malley described the forty-one–piece show as a “a feast for the eyes, representing a range of subjects, media, and design elements used by local artists. The works include abstract expression,

representational, and graphic design, in oils, acrylics, mixed media, fabrics, glass sculpture, and photography.” The two- and three-dimensional works include everyday scenes, florals, landscapes, abstracts and otherworldly depictions in intense colors from a wide range of media.

F.C. Offers Christmas Tree Disposal Info

In the City of Falls Church, Christmas trees are collected for free on Wednesdays in January and February. Plastic bags, rope, tinsel and other decorations should be removed.

For Fairfax County collection customers outside towns like Vienna, Christmas trees will be collected from Jan. 2 to 13. Lights, decorations and stands must be removed to ensure trees will be collected. After Jan. 13, schedule a brush special collection for Christmas tree removal.

If one doesn’t receive curbside collection services from the City of Falls Church or Fairfax County, check collection policies with a private hauler. The City of Falls Church says residents of apartments and condominiums with private trash and recycling services should take Christmas trees to the I-66 Transfer Station, 4618 W. Ox Road, Fairfax, VA.

City Surpasses Greenhouse Gas Emissions Goal

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the City of Falls Church have reduced by 22 percent since 2005, according to the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments’ (COG) Community-Wide Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory Summaries. This achievement surpasses a goal set in the City’s 2017 Community Energy Plan. Despite an estimated 34 percent population growth between 2005 — 2020, the City reduced emissions through a cleaner electrical grid and better efficiency on several fronts.

New Vehicle Charging Fees Coming Soon

Starting February 1, 2023, the City will implement a new fee structure for its electric vehicle (EV) charging stations. This new fee structure is intended to encourage EV use (first hour free), recoup costs to the City (per kWh charge after the first hour), and increase turnover to make stations available to other users (move vehicle fee after charging is complete).

Access to the charging stations will require the SemaConnect app, which can be downloaded to your smartphone (iOS or Google).

MEMBERS OF CITY Council and the Library Board of Trustees tour the Mary Riley Styles Public Library, which opened after extensive renovation last Fall. Pictured (left to right): Library Board Member Molly Novotny, Library Director Jennifer Carroll, Mayor David Tarter, Library Board Member Jessie Labukas, Councilmember and Library Board Liaison Marybeth Connolly, Library Board Chair Jeff Peterson, Vice Mayor Letty Hardi, and Councilmembers David Snyder and Caroline Lian. (Photo: Brian Reach)

TYSONS CORNER CENTER and ArtsFairfax selected ArtLords to be the first art group to debut its exhibition in the center. ArtLords creates street art in Afghanistan and around the world. The artwork located on level 2 by Macy’s consists of 30 original pieces to be on display through February 2023. (Photo: Maurisa Potts)

LOCAL

Signature Theatre Announces 3 Plays for New Series

Signature Theatre is thrilled to announce that works by local playwrights Audrey Cefaly, Jennifer Barclay and Nayna Agrawal have been selected for the 2023 season of SigWorks: Monday Night New Play Readings. Their plays, “Trouble (at the Vista View Mobile Home Estates)” (Audrey Cefaly), “Behave Yourself” (Jennifer Barclay) and “Dharma” (Nayna Agrawal) will be read on February 6, March 27 and June 5, respectively. Free tickets are required for attending either inperson at Ali’s Bar or streaming online, and can be reserved at SigTheatre.org starting 2 weeks

prior to each reading.

“SigWorks: Monday Night New Play Readings” is an initiative which highlights and supports the work of DMV playwrights. This series is an opportunity for playwrights, actors, directors, and patrons to explore new plays in a fun and informal environment. Each reading will include a post-show Q&A with Anika Chapin, the playwright and director. Over the last six years, four plays developed as part of the SigWorks program have gone on to full productions at Signature Theatre including “The Gulf” by Audrey Cefaly, “4,380 Nights” by Annalisa Dias, “Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity” by Heather McDonald and “Easy Women

Smoking Loose Cigarettes” by Dani Stoller. “The Gulf” has gone on to major international productions and was the winner of the 2018 Lammy Award for LGBTQ Drama and a recipient of the Edgerton New American Play Award.

Recipients Announced for F.C. Arts and Humanities Grants

City Council recently approved the recommendations from the Arts and Humanities Grant committee to allocat e $44,000 in funding for Arts and Humanities grants for Fiscal Year 2022-2023. The City will apply for an additional $4,500 of funding through a grant from the Virginia Commission for the Arts.

Four proposals were received for Project Grants for a total of $17,300. Four proposals were received for Operational Grants for a total of $29,829.

Recipients include Creative Cauldron, Falls Church Arts, Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation, The CATCH Foundation and Washington Sinfonietta.

Mosaic Elects F.C. Resident to Its Board of Directors

Mosaic–a nonprofit, wholeperson healthcare network that serves people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in 13 states in more than 700 communities–has elected Falls Church resident Sarah Meek to serve a three-year term on its Mosaic Board of Directors.

Meek, an accomplished government relations professional, is the Director of Federal Affairs for CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield in Washington D.C. Meek has represented Mosaic as a federal lobbyist, first through Lutheran Services in America, a national disability network representing faith-based disability services and then through ANCOR, a leading trade association of disability service providers.

“I still wanted to be connected to disability work and longterm services and supports,” said Meek. “When the Mosaic Board vacancies became available, I was motivated to apply, because the organization is rooted in what people with disabilities want and how they can be achieved.”

FORTY ARTISTS’ BOLDEST, brightest works of art, such as the one pictured above by Joanne Burke, are featured in the multi-media exhibition, ColorLove, on view at Falls Church Arts gallery from January 14 to February 26. An opening reception will take place on Saturday, January 14th. (Photo Courtesy: Joanne Burke)

AT MONDAY’S F.C. City Council meeting, a final “closeout”report on the completion of the $8 million renovation and expansion of the Mary Riley Styles Public Library was given by project manager Lionel Millard (front now, right), shown here posing with members of the City Council (rear, Chief Librarian Jenny Carroll (second from left) and two members of the library’s board of trustees, Jeff Peterson and Molly Novatni (front row left and second from right). (News-Press Photo)

PAGE 26 | JANUARY 12 - 18, 2023

THIS WEEK AROUND FALLS CHURCH

THURSDAY JANUARY 12

Networking Breakfast

Get to know fellow business leaders in an informal setting for Networking Breakfast Tuesday. Bring a friend to learn the latest business and community news. No registration required or attendance fee; food orders placed separately. Original Pancake House (7395 Langston Blvd, Falls Church), 8:30 a.m. — 9:30 a.m.

FCCPS Fundraiser

Join the Chamber of Commerce to support Falls Church City Public Schools. Mention

FCCPS at checkout to donate 20% of the sale to FCCPS. Bolay Fresh Bold Kitchen (1208D W. Broad St, Falls Church), 11:00 a.m. — 8:00 p.m.

SOL Roots

SOL Roots performs with special guest Mike Ault. JV's Restaurant (6666 Arlington Blvd, Falls Church), 8:30 p.m.

Holly Montgomery

Holly Montgomery performs. Settle Down Easy Brewing (2822 Fallfax Dr, Falls Church), 6:00 p.m. — 8:00 p.m

FRIDAY JANUARY 13

No Excuses, No Limits

Be inspired by ILLABILITIES™, the all-star breakdance crew of seven of the world’s best disabled dancers. The Ken -

nedy Center (2700 F Street NW, Washington, DC), 7:00 p.m.

David Thong

David Thong performs. Dogwood Tavern (132 W. Broad St, Falls Church), 9:30 p.m. — 11:30 p.m.

Deep State

Deep State performs. Clare and Don's Beach Shack (130 N. Washington St, Falls Church), 6:00 p.m. — 9:00 p.m.

Mike Dash, Mary Shaver, and Bob Show

Mike Dash, Mary Shaver, and Bob Show perform. JV's Restaurant (6666 Arlington Blvd, Falls Church), 4:00 p.m. — 6:00 p.m.

Smylin' Jack - Steve Birth-Bray Bash

Smylin' Jack performs. JV's Restaurant (6666 Arlington Blvd, Falls Church), 8:00 p.m.

SATURDAY

JANUARY

14

Mosaic Plunge

Break out your swimsuit for a chilly pool plunge with several hundred of the coolest Special Olympics supporters in NoVA! Mosaic District (2905 District Ave, Fairfax), 12:00 p.m. — 2:00 p.m.

Astronomy Festival

Enjoy stargazing, stories by campfire and more. Weather permitting. Turner Farm Park (925 Springvale Rd, Great Falls), 5:00 p.m. — 7:30 p.m.

JMM

JMM performs. Dogwood Tavern (132 W. Broad St, Falls Church), 9:30 p.m. — 11:30 p.m.

Ray Apollo Show Band

Ray Apollo Show Band performs. JV's Restaurant (6666 Arlington Blvd, Falls Church), 4:00 p.m. — 7:00 p.m.

A MOSAIC POLAR PLUNGE PARTICIPANT captured in their last dry moment before hitting the water. (Photo: Special Olympics Virginia)

A STARGAZER PEERS THROUGH A TELESCOPE at last year's Astronomy Festival, which returns this Saturday at Turner Farm Park in Great Falls, VA. (Photo: Fairfax County Park Authority)

EVENTS, MUSIC, THEATRE & ART

Shot Thru The Heart - A Tribute to Bon Jovi

Shot Thru the Heart performs. The State Theatre (220 N. Washington St, Falls Church), 8:30 p.m. — 11:30 p.m.

Ice Skating at Cameron Run

Ice Skating at Cameron Run returns for the 2023 Season. Tickets only available online on Eventbrite.com. Cameron Run Regional Park (4001 Eisenhower Ave, Alexandria, VA), 11:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., $12.50pp.

Vintage #18 and Robin Kapsalis

Vintage #18, Robin Kapsalis perform. JV's Restaurant (6666 Arlington Blvd, Falls Church), 8:30 p.m. — 11:30 p.m.

The Honey Larks

The Honey Larks perform. Creative Cauldron (410 S Maple Ave, Falls Church), 7:30 p.m.

SUNDAY JANUARY 15

Flower Power Happy Hour Band

Remembering MLK & Unconditional Love. JV's Restaurant (6666 Arlington Blvd, Falls Church), 4:00 p.m. — 7:00 p.m.

Drag Bingo

Join host Evita Peroxide for a night filled with Bingo, Drinks, and Fun! Clare and Don's Beach Shack (130 N. Washington St, Falls Church), 6:00 p.m. — 8:30 p.m.

Wolf's Blues Jam

Wolf's Blues Jam performs. JV's Restaurant (6666 Arlington Blvd, Falls Church), 8:30 p.m. — 11:30 p.m.

Local Cream South

The Songwriters: Local Cream South performs. Creative Cauldron (410 S Maple Ave, Falls Church), 2:00 p.m.

Swing Sisters

Swing Sisters perform. Creative Cauldron (410 S Maple Ave, Falls Church), 7:00 p.m.

MONDAY JANUARY 16

3rd Annual MLK Day March

This free event is a peaceful march through downtown Falls Church, followed by a program at Falls Church Episcopal. Marchers should meet at Tinner Hill Monument (510 S Washington St, Falls Church), 12:30 p.m. — 2:00 p.m.

Daytime Art Critique Group

Join creative artists in a Falls Church Arts monthly discussion and critique group. Bring a piece of art for feedback if interested — something new or old, something in progress or complete—and

a community of artists will share their thoughts. This meeting is open to all, so readers are encouraged to invite artist friends; all are welcome even without a piece to share. Email questions to facilitator Pamela Huffman at info@fallschurcharts.org.

TUESDAY JANUARY 17

Watercolor Painting

Instructor Rajendra KC. Learn to capture the transparent quality of watercolor, including still life and landscapes. Individualized instruction accommodates students from beginners to the very experienced. Falls Church Arts Gallery (700-B W. Broad St, Falls Church), 3:00 p.m. — 5:00 p.m

Into The Woods

Escape into a fantastical fairytale adventure where wishes come true, but not free. A trove of storybook characters’ paths intertwine as they chase their deepest desires through an enchanted forest. However, once they receive their happily ever after, the unintended

consequences of granted wishes unravel their worlds. Signature Theatre (3200 Campbell Ave, Arlington, VA), 7:30 p.m.

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 18

Teen Movie Night

Bring the coziest accessories and settle down to watch a 90s classic about Jamaica's first bobsled team. Free to attend. Mary Riley Styles Public Library (120 N. Virginia Ave, Falls Church), 6:00 p.m. — 8:00 p.m.

Tim Harmon

Tim Harmon performs while solo looping. Clare and Don's Beach Shack (130 N. Washington St, Falls Church), 6:00 p.m. — 9:00 p.m.

City Planning Commission Meeting

Open to the public. Community members may join or watch the live feed at fallschurchva.gov, on YouTube, or on FCCTV. City Council Chambers (300 Park Ave, Falls Church), 7:30 p.m. — 9:00 p.m.

Calendar Submissions

Email to calendar@fcnp.com by Monday at noon each week. Include time, location, cost of admission, contact person, and other pertinent information. Placement not guaranteed; listings edited for content and space limitations; for guaranteed placement, contact our ad team at ads@fcnp.com. Submit all images with artist or photographer acknowledgement.

U.S. SENATOR MARK WARNER (D-VA) POSES with marchers at the 2022 MLK Day March. Readers can expect partly sunny and mild weather for the Third Annual MLK Day March this Monday. (Photo: Gary Mester)

CITY OF FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA FALLS CHURCH CITY SCHOOL BOARD PUBLIC HEARING

The Falls Church City School Board will hold a Public Hearing on Tuesday, January 17, 2023, at 7:00 p.m. to consider the following: The appointment of an individual to fulfill the remaining term of former School Board member Phil Reitinger.

Any member of the public who would like to comment during the Public Hearing may attend the meeting, which will be held at 150 S. Washington Street, Suite 400, Falls Church, VA 22046. Speaker slips will be available to sign up for public comment. The meeting will be streamed live on the FCCPS YouTube Channel: www.YouTube.com/fccpsorg

PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE PLANNING COMMISSION

NOTICE: On Wednesday, January 18, 2023, at 7:30 p.m., the City of Falls Church Planning Commission will hold a public hearing and meeting. Public comments can be submitted ahead of time to jtrainor@ fallschurchva.gov and pstoddard@fallschurchva.gov. The Planning Commission will consider the following item and recommendation to City Council: (TR22-34) RESOLUTION AMENDING SPECIAL EXCEPTIONS SE03-0136 AND SE03-0137, FOR 513 WEST BROAD STREET (THE BYRON) AND AS AMENDED THROUGH RESOLUTION 2011-25, TO ALLOW FOR ADDITIONAL PERMITTED SERVICE AND OFFICE USES FOR THE FIRST FLOOR COMMERCIAL SPACES CURRENTLY RESTRICTED UNDER THE VOLUNTARY CONCESSIONS, COMMUNITY BENEFITS, TERMS AND CONDITIONS (VCs)

The Planning Commission will consider action on an application to amend the previously submitted and accepted Voluntary Concessions for The Byron building (513 West Broad Street). The scope of the amendments applies only to the ground floor commercial spaces and parking spaces. The Applicant is proposing to relax the commercial use restrictions to allow all by-right uses allowed in the B-1 Limited Business District except those listed in the Applicant’s Proposed Revisions to Approved Voluntary Concessions, dated November 3, 2022 (available at the Planning Commission’s December 21, 2022 meeting agenda online). The proposed expanded uses would apply only to the western most ground floor spaces (closest to Howard E Herman Stream Valley Park), while maintaining restaurant and/or retail sales uses in the eastern most spaces, currently occupied by Harvey’s and Penzeys Spices.

Meeting agenda and materials will be available prior to the public meeting on the Planning Commission webpage: http:// www.fallschurchva.gov/PC. More information about the proposed amendments to The Byron’s Voluntary Concessions, Community Benefits, Terms and Conditions are available within the Planning Commission’s December 21, 2022 meeting agenda, also accessible on the Planning Commission webpage.

This location is fully accessible to persons with physical disabilities and special services or assistance may be requested in advance. (TTY 711)

AUCTIONS

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Making America the Opposite of Great Paul

Krugman

I admit it: Like many liberals, I’m feeling a fair bit of MAGAfreude — taking some pleasure in the selfdestruction of the American right.

There has, after all, never been a spectacle like the chaos we’ve seen in the House of Representatives last week. It had been a century since a speaker wasn’t chosen on the first ballot — and the last time that happened, there was an actual substantive dispute: Republican progressives (yes, they existed back then) demanded, and eventually received, procedural reforms that they hoped would favor their agenda.

This time, there has been no significant dispute about policy — Kevin McCarthy and his opponents agree on key policy issues like investigating Hunter Biden’s laptop and depriving the Internal Revenue Service of the resources it needs to go after wealthy tax cheats. Long after he tried to appease his opponents by surrendering his dignity, the

voting went on.

But while the spectacle has been amazing and, yes, entertaining, neither I nor, I believe, many other liberals are experiencing the kind of glee Republicans would be feeling if the parties’ roles were reversed.

For one thing, liberals want the U.S. government to function, which among other things means that we need a duly constituted House of Representatives, even if it’s run by people we don’t like. For another, I don’t think there are many on the U.S. left (such as it is) who define themselves the way so many on the right do: by their resentments.

And yes, I mean “resentments” rather than “grievances.” Grievances are about things you believe you deserve, and might be diminished if you get some of what you want. Resentment is about feeling that you’re being looked down on, and can only be assuaged by hurting the people you, at some level, envy.

Consider the phrase (and associated sentiment), popular on the right, “owning the libs.” In context, “owning” doesn’t mean defeating progressive policies, say by repealing the Affordable Care Act. It means,

instead, humiliating liberals personally — making them look weak and foolish.

I won’t claim that liberals are immune to such sentiments. As I said, MAGAfreude is a real thing, and I’m feeling a bit of it myself. But liberals have never seemed remotely as interested in humiliating conservatives as conservatives are in humiliating liberals. And a substantial part of what has been going on in the House seems to be that some Republicans who expected to own the libs after a red wave election have acted out their disappointment by owning Kevin McCarthy instead.

And does anyone doubt that resentment on the part of those who felt disrespected was central to the rise of Donald Trump? Are there any pundits left who still believe that it was largely about “economic anxiety”?

I’m not saying that the decline of manufacturing jobs in the heartland was a myth: It really did happen, and it hurt millions of Americans. But the failure of Trump’s trade wars to deliver a manufacturing revival doesn’t seem to have turned off his base. Why?

The likely answer is that Trump’s anti-globalism, his promise to Make America Great Again, had less to do with trade balances and job creation than with a sense that snooty foreigners considered us chumps. “The world is laughing at us” was a consistent theme of Trump speeches, and his supporters surely imagined that the same was true of domestic globalist elites.

And I have a theory that Trump’s own underlying ludicrousness, his manifest lack of the intellectual capacity and emotional maturity to be president, was part of what endeared him to his base. You fancy liberals think you’re so smart? Well, we’ll show you, by electing someone you consider a clown!

The irony is that the MAGA movement has succeeded beyond the wildest dreams of sinister globalists (if any exist) in making America the opposite of great. Right now the world really is laughing at us, although it’s terrified, too. America is still the essential nation, on multiple fronts. When the world’s greatest economic and military power seemingly can’t even get a functioning

The Burn-It-All-Down Republican Caucus

Washington elite, then some in the media consider a candidate unqualified for that reason alone.”

Republicans keep reaping what they’ve sown.

The party’s thoroughly embarrassing inability to choose a speaker of the House after multiple attempts is a crisis of its own creation. Since at least the Barack Obama years, the Republican Party has seen a strengthening of its right flanks, one whose mission was not to produce policy but to prevent progress, one whose tactic was destruction rather than diplomacy.

You could see the beginnings of the current iteration of this political extremism when John McCain picked the woefully unqualified Sarah Palin as his running mate in 2008. She wasn’t highbrow, but she was headstrong. She was the anti-Obama.

During her speech at the Republican National Convention in 2008, she said that she had learned that if “you’re not a member in good standing of the

But, she continued, “here’s a little news flash for all those reporters and commentators: I’m not going to Washington to seek their good opinion; I’m going to Washington to serve the people of this country.”

Palin exposed a dangerous reality about the Republican base: that it was starving for disruption and spectacle, that it would cheer for anyone who annoyed liberals, that performance was far more important than competence.

Like a virus evolving variants, the Palin fervor channeled itself into the Tea Party movement, which evolved into the Freedom Caucus and manifested among voters as Trumpism.

The party establishment chose to ignore those on the fringe, figuring that the energy they generated could be beneficial, and any damage they did could be mitigated. In any event, they were only a fraction of the members and could always be outvoted.

The problem was that their influence and profiles contin -

ued to grow. They learned a lesson born during the Palin years: Spectacle produced fame, which produced power, which produced influence and possibly control.

They began to exert that power. The Freedom Caucus essentially forced the Republican speaker of the House, John Boehner, to resign in 2015 because its members felt he wasn’t forceful enough against Obama. Rep. Peter King reportedly said, “To me, this is a victory for the crazies.”

But those “crazies” were far from finished. They refused to support Kevin McCarthy for the speakership then because he was Boehner’s No. 2 and because Republicans were fuming that he slipped and told the truth about the Benghazi investigation: that it was a political witch hunt designed to hurt Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential prospects.

Some of that old disdain for McCarthy has no doubt lingered and is being manifested in this week’s failed votes to make him speaker.

Donald Trump became

Exhibit A for the synergy of fame, power and influence the Republican base craves when he broke through the establishment firewall in 2016 and gave his supporters what they wanted: an unbridled political anarchist, an unapologetic white nationalist.

During the Trump era, the Marjorie Taylor Greenes of the party became rock stars among the base, even if they were jokes among their colleagues. Their success has made the term “fringe” a poor way to describe them. In many ways, they are the Republican Party.

All the while, too few mainstream Republicans objected to their antics and offenses. Paul Ryan, who became speaker in 2015 when the Freedom Caucus made it clear that its members wouldn’t support McCarthy, knew Trump was a problem but said little to push back against him until Ryan left office.

As Tim Alberta reported in Politico Magazine in 2019, Ryan made the conscious decision when he was speaker not to “scold” Trump but to “help the institutions survive,” to “build up the country’s antibodies”

government up and running, the risks are global.

I mean, even with a speaker in place, how likely is it that the people we’ve been watching the past few days will agree to raise the debt ceiling, even if failing to do so creates a huge financial crisis? And there may be many other risks requiring emergency congressional action even before we get to that point.

Of course, the world is laughing even harder at Republicans, both the ultra right refuseniks and the spineless careerists like McCarthy who helped empower the crazies. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall lose his own soul, and still not gain enough votes to become speaker of the House?

I’m not sure what we are in store for, nor is anyone else. One thing is sure, however: America is already less great than it was when Nancy Pelosi ran the House, and it’s shrinking by the day.

By Paul Krugman © 2022 The New York Times

and put “the guardrails up.” He wanted, he said, “to drive the car down the middle of the road” without letting it “go off into the ditch.”

Ryan, like many other mainstream Republicans, thought that by biting his tongue, putting his head down, and doing his best to work with Trump and do his job, he was protecting the country.

But that silence read as acceptance, not only of Trump but also of the burn-it-alldown members of the party in Congress. Now, that group has grown strong enough to prevent a House speaker from being elected on the first ballot for the first time in 100 years.

And they are getting precisely what they want: more headlines, more airtime, more spectacle and therefore more power.

They aren’t interested in governing, but rather in teasing the growing urge among the Republican base to throw a wrench in the gears.

By Charles M. Blow © 2022 The New York Times

Charles M. Blow

BACK IN THE DAY

Falls Church News-Press Vol. VII, No. 43 • January 8, 1998

Holmes Named to Direct Economic Development Body

Choosing a big man for a big job, the City of Falls Church’s new Economic Development Authority has chosen David L. Holmes to be its first-ever executive director, effective January 20th.

Falls Church News-Press Vol. XXII, No. 46 • January 10, 2013

New F.C. Stormwater Fund May Cost $4.5 Million More Annually

The Falls Church City Council wasted no time in its first public work session taking up the challenging task of figuring out the best way to sock its citizens and businesses with a new $4.2 million annual bill.

What’s the Truth About Covid? How Lies Can Affect Us?

“crazy” claims on social media that Covid vaccines will insert robots into their arms.

the local health authorities or the World Health Organization. Facebook’s policy on Covid content is more than 4,500 words long. TikTok said it had removed more than 250,000 videos for Covid misinformation and worked with partners such as its content advisory council to develop its policies and enforcement strategies. (Musk disbanded Twitter’s advisory council last month.)

But the platforms have struggled to enforce their Covid rules.

Newsguard, an organization that tracks online misinformation, found this fall that typing “covid vaccine” into TikTok caused it to suggest searches for “covid vaccine injury” and “covid vaccine warning,” while the same query on Google led to recommendations for “walkin covid vaccine” and “types of covid vaccines.” One search on TikTok for “mRNA vaccine” brought up five videos containing false claims within the first 10 results, according to researchers. TikTok said in a statement that its community guidelines “make clear that we do not allow harmful misinformation, including medical misinformation, and we will remove it from the platform.”

In years past, people would get medical advice from neighbors, or try to self-diagnose via Google search, said Dr. Anish Agarwal, an emergency physician in Philadelphia. Now, years into the pandemic, he still gets patients who believe

“We battle that every single day,” said Agarwal, who teaches at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine and serves as deputy director of Penn Medicine’s Center for Digital Health.

Online and offline discussions of the coronavirus are constantly shifting, with patients bringing him questions lately about booster shots and long Covid, Agarwal said. He has a grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the Covid-related social media habits of different populations.

“Moving forward, understanding our behaviors and thoughts around COVID will probably also shine light on how individuals interact with other health information on social media, how we can actually use social media to combat misinformation,” he said.

Years of lies and rumors about Covid have had a contagion effect, damaging public acceptance of all vaccines, said Heidi J. Larson, director of the Vaccine Confidence Project at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

“The Covid rumors are not going to go away — they’re going to get repurposed, and they’re going to adapt,” she said. “We can’t delete this. No one company can fix this.”

Some efforts to slow the spread of misinformation about the virus have bumped up against First Amendment concerns.

A law that California passed several months ago, and that is set to take effect this month, would punish doctors for spreading false information about Covid vaccines. It already faces legal challenges from plaintiffs who describe the regulation as an unconstitutional infringement of free speech. Tech companies including Meta, Google and Twitter have faced lawsuits this year from people who were barred over Covid misinformation and claim that the companies overreached in their content moderation efforts, while other suits have accused the platforms of not doing enough to rein in misleading narratives about the pandemic.

Dr. Graham Walker, an emergency physician in San Francisco, said the rumors spreading online about the pandemic drove him and many of his colleagues to social media to try to correct inaccuracies. He has posted several Twitter threads with more than a hundred evidence-packed tweets trying to debunk misinformation about the coronavirus.

But this year, he said he felt increasingly defeated by the onslaught of toxic content about a variety of medical issues. He left Twitter after the company abandoned its Covid misinformation policy.

“I began to think that this was not a winning battle,” he said. “It d oesn’t feel like a fair fight.”

By TIFFANY HSU © 2022 The New York Times

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Falls Church Business News & Notes

Little City Gift Cards a Success

Falls Church City launched the Little City Gift Card utilizing ARPA funds to further support local businesses. The program was launched on Small Business Saturday with a bonus amount added to up to three gift card purchases. Over 70 city businesses are participating and to date, $164,626 has been redeemed, including the bonus amount. Gift cards are still available, and the bonus card program will end on January 31. Bonus cards must be redeemed within 90 days after their purchase date so please make sure you use those before they expire.

Public Listening Session with the Planning Commission

The Planning Commission will be hosting a Public Listening Session for the East End Small Area Plan on Wednesday, January 18, 2023, at 7:30 p.m. This is open to the public and anyone interested is welcomed to attend. There will be a presentation from Staff, a public comment period (3 minutes per speaker), and a Planning Commission work session that follows the presentation and comment period. Please see the this flyer on the city website for further time and location details. (http://www.fallschurchva.gov/DocumentCenter/View/17415/Public-Listening-Session-011823-Flyer)

Government Contracting 101

Timm Johnson, director of the Mason SBDC, is hosting a webinar for those interested in government contracting. Topics covered include readiness to be a government contractor, marketing to the customer, government jargon, steps to get started, small business set-asides, targeting the government customer, and the capability statement. The webinar is free and runs Thursday, January 19, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. The link to the webinar will be sent upon registration at https://clients.virginiasbdc.org/ workshop.aspx?ekey=110430002.

Lynk Launches 2 Cell Towers in Space

Falls Church-based Lynk has announced the launching and deployment of two more satellites in the company’s commercial cell-towers-in-space. They are the world’s first and only commercial satellite-directto-standard-phone licensed by the FCC. The technology was patented in 2017 with testing in space in 2019. This brings the total commercial satellite-cell-towers-in-space to three. Lynk currently has commercial agreements with 25 MNOs covering 41 countries to expand access and enable access to emergency aid and services globally. It is actively testing connections in 17 countries on all seven continents.

Kastle Names Chief Technology Officer

Kastle announced that Al Valvano has joined the executive team as Chief Technology Officer. He brings over 25 years of business and technology innovation including leadership roles at Amazon, Apple, Google, IKEA, and most recently Sonos. Mohammed Soleimani previously held the position for fourteen years and has been named as Kastle’s first Chief Innovation Officer. Kastle is a leader in property technology and a cloud-based smart access security technology provider nation-wide.

 Business News & Notes is compiled by Elise Neil Bengtson, Executive Director of the Greater Falls Church Chamber of Commerce. She may be emailed at elise@fallschurchchamber.org.

Meet the Volvo

We have a well-qualified family looking to purchase a home in the Falls Hill Neighborhood, would prefer a home that needs some updating. Please call Karin if you think your home would meet their needs, 703-636-3257.

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