Falls Church and Northern Virginia's Premier Weekly Newspaper
Tuesday, December 28, 2021
The warmth of this special holiday season (special because it is a recovery from a year of pandemic lack) combined with this year’s milestone of the 30th anniversary of the Falls Church News-Press’ unbroken weekly publication, has compelled the News-Press to use this occasion to publicly announce and salute its first ever Lifetime Honoree, long-time Falls Church resident, local realtor par excellence and generous community leader Merelyn Kaye.
The News-Press is happy to announce that its annual Holiday Party free to all its friends in the Falls Church community is on for this season, scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 16, at 6 p.m. at the American Legion Hall, 400 N. Oak Street.
Our delightful pop astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson used uncommon superlatives in his post on social media this week, “So,” he wrote, “possibly one of the biggest events to happen during our lifetime is about to happen on Dec. 18 of this year, yet I’m surprised to see that no one in the press seems to be talking about it.”
As we enter into another holiday season, we recommend to our readers that they don’t become so caught up in the endless festivities and the tolls they take and step back even for only a few minutes to reflect.
Falls Church Chief of Police Mary Gavin did her best to keep her cool while presenting to the Falls Church City Council Monday a stark picture of what she called “a staffing crisis” facing her department.
It has been disputed whether the comments attributed to the world’s foremost theoretical physicist Albert Einstein and quoted in this space a couple weeks ago are actually his, or the work of an imposter. Suffice it to say that if it’s the latter, we are genuinely sorry for contributing to the spread of misleading information. However, the quotes, which were reported as addressed to his daughter after many years’ being out of touch, bear an imprint of universality that, if Einstein did not actually make them, nonetheless qualify for profound words on the origins and purpose of the universe.
In what could be called a veritable “embarrassment of riches,” the Falls Church City Council will make some important decisions at its meeting this Monday on how to deploy what’s a whopping sum for a city Falls Church’s size, some $14 million in surplus funds, with another $8 million or so still to come.
The best part of last week’s elections in the U.S. had a lot less to do with who actually won than with the very notion that they were normal. America went back to doing elections in the traditional manner, a great breath of fresh air in the aftermath of the suffocating atmosphere created by the relentless outrageous lying and coup designs of the repulsive orange one that came before.
The lead headline in yesterday’s Washington Post read, “U.S. School Officials Face Dark New Reality,” with the subhead, “Board Members Resign, Or Consider It, Amid Wave of Threats and Abuse.” The lengthy article by Hannah Natanson citing the patterns of intimidation and threats against school board members in Northern Virginia jurisdictions adjacent Falls Church and nationwide notes in conclusion that, “They’re not going to stop.”
Two key unanimous votes by the Falls Church City Council at its meeting Monday night are opening up the City for a more diverse population makeup. The unanimous 7-0 votes will now allow a wider participation of residents, removing language that requires applicants seeking to serve on City boards and commissions and to qualify for affordable housing to be “qualified voters of the City” and at least 18 instead of 21 years of age.
