Beyer Announces Plans to Run for Another Term
U.S. Rep. Donald S. Beyer Jr. told the News-Press Tuesday that he was slated to announce his plans to run for another term in the U.S. Congress at a meeting of the Arlington Democratic Committee last night. Beyer is currently serving his fifth term as the U.S. congressman from the 8th District of Virginia that includes Falls Church.
News-Press Holiday Party Is “Cash Bar’ Next Thursday
The annual holiday party hosted by the News-Press will be a “cash bar” and dining event at the newly renovated Falls restaurant at 370 W. Broad starting at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 15. All friends of the News-Press are invited to share some holiday cheer with fellow FCNP friends and the News-Press staff.
Arrest Made in Rape Case At Quarry Inn
A Falls Church man has been arrested in connection to a sexual assault at the Quarry Inn Motel (7179 Lee Highway) in September.
Erick Vladamir Chacon Martinez, 23, was taken into custody this Tuesday after detectives obtained warrants charging him with raping a woman at the motel adjacent Falls Church on Sept. 16, the Fairfax County Police Department announced yesterday.
Police say that Chacon Martinez arranged to meet the victim in a motel room at 6:40 p.m.
“When she opened the door, the suspect displayed a knife and threatened the victim,” the FCPD said. “The suspect then sexually assaulted her. The victim was able to escape the room and call 911.”
Fatal Overdose Rates Remain Elevated in Virginia
Fatal overdose rates remain high in Virginia, even as the state begins to spread opioid settlement money to state and local agencies to help tackle the epidemic. Death from drug overdoses, opioids and fentanyl in particular, has remained dominant as the main method of unnatural death in Virginia since 2013. (Capital News Service)
$4 Billion in New Rails In Virginia Coming in 2024
Virginia will break ground on several long-awaited rail construction projects next year, at an estimated cost near $4 billion. Virginia’s investment in its passenger rail infrastructure aims to reduce chronic traffic, decrease its carbon footprint and catch up to states with a competitive state-run passenger rail service, such as New York and Illinois. The new focus on investment comes after decades of neglect. (Capital News Service)
Google Launches New Human Mimic AI Tool
Google took its next leap in artificial intelligence Wednesday with the launch of project Gemini, an AI model trained to behave in human-like ways that’s likely to intensify the debate about the technology’s potential promise and perils.
The rollout will unfold in phases, with less sophisticated versions of Gemini called “Nano” and “Pro” being immediately incorporated into Google’s AI-powered chatbot Bard and its Pixel 8 Pro smartphone.
Feds Unseal 8 Indictments For Drug trafficking
Eight indictments were unsealed in the District of Columbia, Southern District of California, Central District of California, and Northern District of Illinois charging 60 Mexican and foreign nationals with international heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, fentanyl, and marijuana trafficking.
The unsealing of the indictments comes at the same time that the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions against 12 of the defendants linked to the Beltran Leyva Organization (BLO).
“The eight indictments unsealed Tuesday charging 60 defendants are the latest installments in the Justice Department’s relentless pursuit of drug trafficking organizations that smuggle illicit narcotics into the United States,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco. “Together with our partners — across the U.S. government and around the world — we will use every tool at our disposal and target every link in the supply chain to dismantle the organizations that flood our communities with deadly narcotics.”
