Town Council Approves Downtown Guidelines
Pattern book lays out principles for downtown design principles.
The Herndon Town Council unanimously passed a vision for principles of downtown redevelopment at their Tuesday, Jan. 29, meeting. The “pattern book,” as it’s known, lays out guidelines for building design and frontage for downtown.
Family Raises Support Fighting Son's Rare Disease
Two hundred plus friends and family will descend on Santinis Restaurant in Herndon to raise support and awareness for Congenital Muscular Dystrophy on Thursday, Feb. 7, from 5-9 p.m. One in 10 Americans is affected by a rare disease. John Gluck, of Herndon, is that one in 10 with a rare form of muscular dystrophy called congenital muscular dystrophy (CMD). As a rare group of diseases causing muscle weakness at birth, CMD is under-recognized and under-diagnosed by physicians. Several defined genetic mutations cause muscles to break down faster than they can repair or grow. A child with CMD may have various neurological or physical impairments. Some children never gain the ability to walk, while others lose the ability as they grow older. There is no cure and no treatment to slow disease progression.
Herndon Reston Youth Softball Takes on New Commissioner
Veteran fastpitch softball player and coach Jordan Foster says she’s ready for the challenge of leading the Herndon Reston Youth Softball League as Commissioner Bob Thomas retires and a new slate of officers takes the helm. The growing girls' fastpitch softball league, serving players ages 6 to 18 in the greater Herndon-Reston area, will take on Foster to take the baton from Bob Thomas, who helped build a good name for the league.
Call for Nominations—2013 Helios Apollo Awards
Recognizing forward-thinking employers for outstanding employee development programs.
Helios HR, a human resources firm in Reston, announced a call for nominations for the 2013 Helios Apollo Awards. The deadline for nominations is Friday, Feb. 15. Winners and finalists will be honored at the Helios Apollo Awards Ceremony at the McLean Hilton on May 29. This breakfast ceremony will recognize organizations for their outstanding commitment to employee development and engagement, specifically highlighting innovative, collaborative and agile programs.
Viewpoints: Winter Fun in Reston, Herndon
Area residents discuss “the best ways to have fun.”
“I like to go and watch basketball and hockey games. I like to see the Wizards and the Capitals; stay active and have fun. I also like to go to the Reston town center for ice skating and sledding when it snows.” -Justin Britt, marketer at Oracle, Herndon
Floris UMC to Hold Chocolate Festival
Floris United Methodist Church, 13600 Frying Pan Road, Herndon, will hold the annual Chocolate Festival on Saturday, Feb. 9, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Bring family and friends and enjoy a day of great food and fun.
Week in Herndon
A Black History Month event will be held on Saturday, Feb. 9, from 1 to 2 p.m. This year marks the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Student-athletes from Herndon HS will present readings on the document, its history and importance. The event is free and open to the public, at ArtSpace Herndon, 750 Center Street, Herndon.
Northwest Federal Credit Union Foundation Supports Breast Cancer Awareness
Northwest Federal Credit Union (NWFCU) was recently ablaze in pink as employees, for a $5 donation to Northwest Federal Credit Union Foundation (NWFCU Foundation), wore pink clothing in support of Susan G Komen Passionately Pink for the Cure®.
Letter: Taking Exception on Medicaid Expansion
Your recent editorial ["Expanding Medicaid Good For Virginia," The Connection, January 23-29, 2013] is noble in its desire to "extend health coverage to more than 400,000 residents who currently have no health insurance." If public policy making were just that easy. The editorial then goes on to indifferently say, "the Federal government picks up the tab.
Editorial: Extreme, But Brief, Volunteering
More than 150 volunteers needed to survey chronic homeless for three days in February.
The real solution to homelessness is housing. This week in Northern Virginia, a point-in-time survey will record all of the “literally homeless” individuals and families in the region. Last year, on Jan. 25, 2012, there were 1,534 people who were literally homeless in the Fairfax-Falls Church Community; 697 of them were single individuals and 837 were people in families. A third of the total number of homeless were children. Nearly 60 percent of the adult members of the homeless families were employed.
Classified Advertising Jan. 30, 2013
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A Chorus of Praise
Fairfax County mentors celebrated during National Mentor Month.
Can we get an “amen?” The joyful noise coming from the David R. Pinn Center in Fairfax on Saturday wasn’t a gospel revival, but it was just as inspiring and enlightening.
Column: A Simple Question
I don’t quite know how to start this column so I’ll begin with its ending: “I’m fine.”
Nazi Commonwealth
Bipartisan team seeks compensation for victims of forced sterilization.
Nobody knows how many people are survivors of Virginia’s forced sterilization program, which targeted people with mental illness, mental retardation or epilepsy. But a bipartisan effort now under consideration in Richmond would hand each and every one of them a $50,000 check from the people of Virginia. According to one calculation, that could mean as much as $73 million.
Indoor Winter Fun with Children
Ideas for entertainment when Jack Frost appears.
Winter weather often means limited open air playtime for some children. “It is very important for children to get as much outdoor activity as possible, but there are times when it is not safe for them to be outside for an extended length of time, or any time at all, because it is too cold. ” said Shannon Melideo, chair of the Education Department at Marymount University in Arlington. “There are many other things that children can do besides sledding and ice skating.”
Winter Fun with Food
Easy and tasty ideas for winter meals.
The stove is fired-up, a sauté pan is sizzling and the thud of a steel knife blade hitting a wooden chopping block fills the air along with the woodsy aroma of fresh thyme. The temperature outside is frigid, but the kitchen feels like an inferno as Chef Kristen Robinson drives a knife though a fennel bulb, kale leaves and a tough-skinned butternut squash with staccato succession.
MLK Foundation Celebrates Diversity
Organization welcomes member of Tuskeegee Airmen.
The Martin Luther King Cultural Foundaion hosted a celebration of cultural diversity Saturday, Jan. 26, at ArtSpace in Herndon. The Reston-based organization provides thousands of dollars per year to send local students to college.
Classified Advertising Jan. 23, 2013
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Editorial: Expanding Medicaid Good for Virginia
Real health coverage for an additional 400,000 people is in reach.
Virginia has an opportunity to expand Medicaid in a way that could extend health coverage to more than 400,000 residents who currently have no health insurance while the Federal government picks up the tab; Virginia would pay 10 percent of the additional cost after 2020.
News Briefs
As Democratic delegates fight to keep firearms further from school property, Republican Bob Marshall (D-13) is pushing legislation to bring more guns in. Marshall is the chief patron of HB 1557, which would require every school board in the state to designate one volunteer to carry a concealed weapon on school property. Training for selected volunteers would be provided by either the Virginia Center for School Safety or the NRA, of which he is a member.