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Police & Fire
Target Targeted By Crafty Gift Card Fraudsters Busted In VA For Roles In Theft Ring: Police Target Targeted By Crafty Gift Card Fraudsters Busted In VA For Roles In Theft Ring: Police
Target Targeted By Crafty Gift Card Fraudsters Busted In VA For Roles In Theft Ring: Police Two men from California who were part of a complex fraud ring involving altered gift cards at Target in Fairfax County are behind bars, officials say. Rongjie He, 32, and Kaiua Chen, 27, are both facing a host of felony charges after being caught with hundreds of altered gift cards that included evidence to show this crime ring extended beyond the region and possibly across the country. Rongjie He (left) and Kaihua Chen Fairfax County Police Last week Fairfax County Police officers assigned to the Springfield Town Center were flagged by security about two men who were altering gift card…

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by Zak Failla
Politics
And Just Like That: Lock Changed, Website Scrubbed Following George Santos’ Historic Ouster And Just Like That: Lock Changed, Website Scrubbed Following George Santos’ Historic Ouster
And Just Like That: Lock Changed, Website Scrubbed Following George Santos’ Historic Ouster Well, that didn’t take long. Now-former New York Rep. George Santos has been all but erased from the halls of Congress following his historic expulsion from office on Friday, Dec. 1. The disgraced Long Island Republican – whose former 3rd District includes parts of Nassau County and Queens – made a hasty exit from the House chamber once it was clear that the required two-thirds majority had been secured to seal his ouster. Earlier Report: US House Expels NY Rep. George Santos In Historic Vote He did not address the throng of reporters who followed him to a waiting car, though CNN …

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by Michael Mashburn
News
Newly-Minted Millionaire: Alexandria Powerball Player Wins $1M Newly-Minted Millionaire: Alexandria Powerball Player Wins $1M
Newly-Minted Millionaire: Alexandria Powerball Player Wins $1M Someone in Alexandria is about $1 million richer, and someone is Arlington is pocketing $50,000 after playing the Powerball. According to the Virginia Lottery, an Alexandria resident won the million-dollar prize in the Wednesday, Oct. 11 drawing. A ticket good for $50,000 was sold at the 7-Eleven on South Wakefield Street, in Arlington. The winning numbers were 22-24-40-52-64, and the Powerball number was 10. One ticket nationwide matched all six numbers to win the jackpot. That ticket was bought in California. The jackpot is now $20 million for Saturday’s drawing.

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by Cecilia Levine
Business
Cantaloupes Shipped To DMV Region Being Recalled For Salmonella Concerns Cantaloupes Shipped To DMV Region Being Recalled For Salmonella Concerns
Cantaloupes Shipped To DMV Region Being Recalled For Salmonella Concerns Thousands of cases of whole cantaloupes - many of which were shipped to the DMV region - are subject to a new recall, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced. Arizona-based Eagle Produce is voluntarily recalling 6,456 cases of cantaloupe that may be contaminated with Salmonella following a test at an FDA distribution center. Specifically, the recall includes Kandy whole cantaloupes with the UPC number code of 4050 on the package and lot codes of:  797901; 797900; 804918. The recalled cantaloupes were distributed between Tuesday, Sept. 5 and Saturday, Sept. 16 and sold in sup…

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by Zak Failla
Lifestyle
Meet The Fairfax County Attorney On 'Jeopardy!' Meet The Fairfax County Attorney On 'Jeopardy!'
Meet The Fairfax County Attorney On 'Jeopardy!' A Fairfax County attorney will be competing on the Wednesday, June 28 episode of "Jeopardy!" Vic Goel, a corporate and immigration lawyer from Vienna, is a managing partner at Reston's Goel & Anderson, LLC, according to the firm's website. "Vic is an active speaker and writer on immigration law and appears as a featured and keynote speaker on immigration issues at national and international industry meetings and trade association conferences," his bio reads.  "He has been interviewed on immigration issues by the NBC Nightly News, and his articles and quotes have appeared in print …

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by Cecilia Levine
News
Drug Dealer Who Sold Deadly Dose To Teen Soldier Being Held Behind Bars In DC Drug Dealer Who Sold Deadly Dose To Teen Soldier Being Held Behind Bars In DC
Drug Dealer Who Sold Deadly Dose To Teen Soldier Being Held Behind Bars In DC The DC drug dealer who sold a lethal dose of fentanyl to a private in the US Army is in custody after being busted with more than 33 pounds of marijuana at an area airport as he returned home. Jaron Johnson, 22, was detained this week pending his upcoming trial for the drug distribution case that led to the death of an 18-year-old soldier last year, federal authorities announced. Court documents state that in May last year, Johnson distributed what he knew to contain fentanyl to the US Army private, which killed him within hours. Officials say that the cause of death was determined to be …

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by Zak Failla
Obituaries
VA Mom, Tenacious Traffic Safety Advocate Allison Kennedy Dies VA Mom, Tenacious Traffic Safety Advocate Allison Kennedy Dies
VA Mom, Tenacious Traffic Safety Advocate Allison Kennedy Dies Support is surging for the family of a Fairfax County mom who died of a brain brain aneurysm. Allison Kennedy, of Burke, died on May 10, according to her obituary. She is survived by her two sons, Kit, 2 years old, Cal, 3 months, and loving husband, Brian. More than $73,000 had been raised on a GoFundMe for the family as of Thursday, May 25. Born in California and raised in Washington, Allison graduated from Washington State University in 2010 and earned her master's degree from American University in 2014. There, she fell in love with Washington DC and her would-be husband, her …

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by Cecilia Levine
Politics
John Legend Endorses Fairfax County's Steve Descano John Legend Endorses Fairfax County's Steve Descano
John Legend Endorses Fairfax County's Steve Descano Fairfax County's Commonwealth's Attorney Steve Descano got an unlikely but much welcomed endorsement from none other than John Legend. The California-based EGOT recorded a 46-second clip that Descano, who is running against Edward J. "Ed" Nuttall on the Democratic bill, tweeted out last week. You might be thinking, what does John Legend know about Fairfax County politics? To Descano, that doesn't matter. He's just happy to have the "All of Me" singer's support. I'm excited to announce the endorsement of singer, songwriter, and philanthropist, John Legend. John's activism has led him t…

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by Cecilia Levine
News
Turtle Trafficker In VA Admits To Role In International Smuggling Scheme: Feds Turtle Trafficker In VA Admits To Role In International Smuggling Scheme: Feds
Turtle Trafficker In VA Admits To Role In International Smuggling Scheme: Feds An elaborate turtle smuggling and trafficking ring orchestrated by a Virginia man has been broken up, federal officials announced this week. Louisa resident Stanlee Fazi, 41, pleaded guilty in federal court in Alexandria to trafficking turtles out of Fredericksburg in violation of the Lacey Act, according to the Department of Justice. As part of his guilty plea, Fazi admitted that between July 2017 and June 2020, he illegally collected eastern box turtles from the wild and sold them on at least 27 occasions to buyers across the country. The scheme involved Fazi collecting payments using Fa…

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by Zak Failla
Police & Fire
Thousands Of Fentanyl Pills Off DMV Region Streets Following Charles County Drug Bust: Sheriff Thousands Of Fentanyl Pills Off DMV Region Streets Following Charles County Drug Bust: Sheriff
Thousands Of Fentanyl Pills Off DMV Region Streets Following Charles County Drug Bust: Sheriff Thousands of fentanyl pills didn’t make it to the streets in the DMV region following a massive drug bust of narcotics being shipped from California into Maryland, authorities announced. Quecealla Turner, 22, of Waldorf, and Oxon Hill resident Marvin Anthony Bussie, 20, are facing charges for their roles in a wide-ranging fentanyl distribution conspiracy after recently being indicted by a grand jury in Charles County, the sheriff’s office announced on Friday, April 14. A multi-agency investigation was launched in November 2022 into the coordination of the shipment of thousands of pills, whi…

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by Zak Failla
News
COVID-19: Highly-Infectious 'Arcturus' Variant Detected In VA COVID-19: Highly-Infectious 'Arcturus' Variant Detected In VA
Covid-19: Highly-Infectious 'Arcturus' Variant Detected In VA A new COVID-19 variant first detected in New York in January has now been identified in 27 states, including Virginia. The so-called Arcturus strain — officially known as XBB.1.16 — is believed to be one of the most infectious versions of Omicron to date.  Shortly after the World Health Organization began monitoring the variant in late March, cases had been reported in about two dozen countries. The WHO says Arcturus is a "recombinant" of COVID subvariants BA.2.10.1 and BA.2.75. In addition to New York, XBB.1.16 has also been confirmed in California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Penns…

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by Joe Lombardi
News
Virginian Among Those Sickened By Eating Raw Flour Amid Nationwide Salmonella Outbreak Virginian Among Those Sickened By Eating Raw Flour Amid Nationwide Salmonella Outbreak
Virginian Among Those Sickened By Eating Raw Flour Amid Nationwide Salmonella Outbreak Federal investigators are working to identify a specific brand of flour that is linked to a salmonella outbreak that sickened at least one person in Virginia. A salmonella outbreak connected to raw flour has infected 12 people in 11 different states, with three forced to be hospitalized due to their illness, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Aside from Virginia, illnesses have also been reported in: New York; Ohio; Tennessee; Illinois (two); Missouri; Iowa; Minnesota; Nebraska; Oregon; California. The breakdown of illnesses reported amid the salmonell…

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by Zak Failla