Editor’s Note: This letter to the Fairfax County School Board was written July 23 by Reese Glassman, the new editor of The Blue View, on Black Lives Matter and the name change from Robert E. Lee High School in Springfield, Va. to John R. Lewis High School. Dear esteemed members of the School Board of Fairfax County, I see black…
By Grace Aspinall: July marked the distribution of grants funded and overseen by Fairfax County to assist as many small businesses as possible that have been deflated by the Covid-19 pandemic and the grant administrator has been processing approximately 100 applications a day. On July 14, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted a $46 million addition to the original…
By Susan Laume: Virginia law has been enacted to protect and monitor treatment of dogs and cats in pet shops with regulations and inspections. During the 2020 Virginia General Assembly, Sen. Dave Marsden (D-37th) sponsored SB 891 which was passed the Senate by a vote of 38-2, in the House by 64-35, and signed by Gov. Ralph Northam. Most provisions go…
By Abby Block: Racial bias in interactions of Fairfax County Police with the community and racial disparities within the Fairfax County Schools was discussed during the July meeting of the Mason District Democratic Committee (MDDC). Terry Adams, Chief Deputy in the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Office, mentioned anecdotes from his own personal experience to illustrate the negative attitude of white…
By Marcus Motta: The Fairfax County School Board voted unanimously on Thursday July 23, to change the name of Robert E. Lee High School to John R. Lewis High School in honor of Civil Rights icon and Georgia Congressman John R. Lewis who passed away on July 17. At a hearing on July 22, the public was allowed to give…
By Ray Marin: No facet of human activity, it seems, has been spared the ravages of SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. Not least of these has been the Fairfax County Democratic Committee’s fundraising for the all-important 2020 Presidential campaign. Faced in late Winter with having to abort several planned in-person fundraisers because of CDC guidelines, the members…
By Bob Leggett: Dr. Bandy X. Lee – a noted Yale professor and psychiatrist — presented a sobering and alarming assessment of the current president’s mental health and his fitness to hold office in a virtual discussion with Fairfax County Democrats on July 8. She warned that his conduct is almost certain to get more egregious and dangerous during the…
Historic Artifact Comes to NOVA Park By Susan Laume: Last month, the National Park Service (NPS) announced that a historic section of the White House iron fence will be loaned to NOVA Parks for placement in the Turning Point Suffragists Memorial, currently under construction at Occoquan Regional Park, in Lorton, Virginia. The artifact is a section of the fence in…
By Brad Swanson and Karen Kirk: After more than two years and almost 400 articles, this is the last story that we will post as editors of The Blue View. We’ve reached almost 80,000 of you in northern Virginia, and covered topics as diverse as you are — immigration, education, labor, environment, criminal justice, culture, history… Oh, and a bit…
By Bob Leggett: It is well documented that the current Republican administration is more corrupt and incompetent than any administration in our lifetime. What is harder to understand is why. What are the reasons that high-ranking members of the Republican party betray the ideals they once stood for? In a recent article in the Atlantic magazine, titled “History Will Judge…
By Diane Burkley Alejandro: Starting July 1, Fairfax Sheriff Stacey Kincaid is taking another step toward non-cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). As permitted by a new Virginia law, she says she will no longer collect citizenship and immigration status information for persons booked for misdemeanors.
Many of us have asked ourselves if there is something wrong with Donald Trump’s mental state, seeing his behavior stray so far from the norms set by his predecessors in the White House. Now we have a chance to discuss that important issue with an expert, literally the person who wrote the book on the subject: “The Dangerous Case of…
The Black Lives Matter movement touches Americans of all ages, including the residents of Greenspring, a senior living community in Springfield, who held their own memorial event on the day George Floyd was laid to rest. Approximately 155 residents, together with an estimated 20 staff members, gathered outside the Erickson Living facility on Tue., June 23, at 4 pm to…
By Marcus R. Motta: Last Tuesday evening, June 23, the Fairfax County School Board voted unanimously in a virtual meeting to change the name of Robert E. Lee High School in Springfield, ending a long campaign to remove the Confederate general’s name from a public school. The vote followed a lengthy, and often emotional, virtual public hearing the day before,…