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Burke: Funeral Held for Lake Braddock Teenager
A funeral service for 16-year-old Brenda Soto of Burke was held Friday April 29 at Fairfax Memorial Funeral Home. Soto was a student at Lake Braddock Secondary School, where she was found unresponsive in a bathroom just before 6 p.m. on April 20. The Office of the Medical Examiner hasn’t released the cause and manner of her death.
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Burke: April 2016 Neighborhood Development Outlook Update
Burke Junction: Guinea Road and Zion Drive area. The site plan for a development of 17 single-family homes has been approved and the developer expects to start clear land at the end of April.
Fairfax County: Chief Investigating Cyberbullying of Dead Female Firefighter
Search for Nicole Mittendorff called off after police “preliminarily identify” female remains, find suicide note found in her abandoned vehicle.
The search for Nicole Mittendorff, a paramedic-firefighter based at Fire Station 32 in Fairfax Station, has been suspended, a release from Virginia State Police said on Thursday, April 21.
Burke: Lake Braddock Student Dies after Being Found Unresponsive in Bathroom
Sixteen-year-old Brenda Carina Soto of Burke was found unresponsive in a bathroom at Lake Braddock Secondary School on Wednesday, April 20, just before 6 p.m.
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Fairfax County: Torres Pleads Guilty to Involuntary Manslaughter of John Geer
Former Police officer faced murder charges for 2013 shooting
It was over before it began. Neither prosecution nor defense gave opening statements in former Fairfax County Police Officer Adam Torres’ trial for the August 2013 murder of Springfield resident John Geer. Instead on Monday, April 18, Torres pleaded guilty to felony involuntary manslaughter for the August 2013 incident.
Springfield: Summer STEM Academy at NOVA
High school juniors and seniors are invited to apply for a weeklong summer STEM academy at Northern Virginia Community College. Selected students will unravel a forensics mystery by conducting various STEM experiments in a college setting.
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New Fairfax Location of Hooters Opens on Lee Highway.
A collection of multicolored lights dangling casually above the hostess station is an homage to one of few interior similarities between the old Christmas light-laden Hooters at 10334 Lee Highway and the gleaming new location down the road at 10060, which opened March 21.
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Lawmakers Wrap-up Richmond Legislative Session
Unspent TANF grant money, prisoner rights among social issues discussed.
On average, low income families in Virginia who are eligible and sign up for funds from the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) Block Grant receive $269 monthly and are cut off after five years. But lawmakers say there’s a lot more unexpended money available in the federal grant that, if it remains unused, could one day be taken back.
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Suspicious Noises Reported in Area of March 11 Mason Neck Homicide
The Department of Public Safety and Communications received several calls of “suspicious noises” around the 6000 block of River Drive in Mason Neck, early in the morning on March 20, a Fairfax County Police release said.
Fairfax and Mount Vernon: Matthew Takes on Four More Life Sentences with Guilty Plea for Murders
Jesse L. Matthew, Jr., now 34, will never leave prison. Matthew was already beginning to serve three consecutive life sentences after he entered an Alford Plea for charges of abduction, sexual assault and attempted murder in Fairfax in 2005.
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Boutique fitness studio WheelHouse Clifton caters to mind and body, men, women and children
Michele Achterberg is a winner. When the Clifton resident was diagnosed with stage II breast cancer in 2015 despite having no family history with it, she underwent 20 weeks of chemotherapy and won. She went through a double mastectomy in June 2015, and won.
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Mount Vernon: Arrest Follows Public’s Help in Identifying Suspect
Police credit community involvement.
Community members in Mount Vernon saw something and said something, working with patrol officers and detectives from the Fairfax County Police Department.
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Police Arrest 20 for Heroin Use in One Day
Operation Save-a-Life offered low-level offenders the chance at recovery treatment rather than jail time.
On Wednesday, Feb. 24, Fairfax County Police served 20 arrest warrants, all for possession and or distribution of heroin.
Springfield Man Charged with Murder in Feb. 10 Stabbing
Though the investigation is ongoing, Fairfax County Police said they have arrested and charged 20-year-old Dilshad Dosky of Springfield with murdering Shaki E. Phillip.
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Mount Vernon: Clinton, Kaine Win Straw Poll
Fresh off her victory in the Iowa caucuses, Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton scored another win for the party’s nomination at the first northern Virginia Democratic Straw Poll of 2016, held Feb. 6 at Don Beyer Volvo on Richmond Highway.
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Snow Place Like Home in Burke, Fairfax Station, Mount Vernon and Springfield
Residents, volunteers come together to dig out after Jonas drops over 20 inches.
Compared to Wednesday night’s sneak-attack dusting that caught Virginia Department of Transportation crews unprepared and commuters stuck in hours of slick rush hour gridlock, Fairfax County Supervisors think the full force of Winter Storm Jonas was weathered about as well as possible.
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Lorton Brewer’s Wife Dies from Cancer
One week after a special ale was brewed to support her medical and other related costs, Kerri Rose of Alexandria died from cancer.
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Former Springfield Supervisor Elaine N. McConnell Dies at 88
When the aquatic plant Hydrilla was invading Burke Lake in the mid-1980s, there was an attempt to introduce a population of grass carp to eat it. Michael Frey, former Sully District Supervisor, convinced then-Springfield District Supervisor Elaine N. McConnell to put the first fish into the lake at a press event.
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Burke, Fairfax Station, Springfield and Mount Vernon: Suds That Save
20 local breweries craft a beer to support one of their own.
Lawrence “Lance” Rose was born in September 2015, two months premature, to parents Matt and Kerri Rose of Alexandria. Just one month before, Kerri had been diagnosed with stage-four adenocarcinoma: stomach cancer.
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Mount Vernon: Gearing Up for 2016 Challenges
Looking at the year ahead.
With winter vacation, unseasonably warm weather and 2015 in their rearview mirrors, community leaders and elected officials from the Fairfax County School Board, Board of Supervisors, General Assembly turn their attention to some of the most significant issues, developments or decisions in 2016: