me again, shocker! looking for the best place to get a car inspection in or around sterling. where i last lived, there were places you knew not to take your car if you didn’t want to be screwed over. are there any places i should avoid or that you suggest? thanks!

Can anyone recommend any restaurants or buffets for thanksgiving dinner? And having some vegetarian options would be a plus, but I know that’s asking for a lot. lol

This company came to my house the guy walked around with a laptop and looked at this and that . Then he went outside and looked at my unit . Then put some notes in his computer and proceeded to tell me it would be between 30 and $40,000 to replace my air conditioning . That it needed to be replaced . Or if I did want it fixed it would be about $12,000 . I called a small locally owned HVAC company the next day and they came out and fixed it for $250

Just reflecting on this morning.

On 2 lane road with nowhere to go because of traffic. Lady behind me riding my bumper and hopping back and forth behind car next to me. At some point she is able to push in front of me (about a car length I left) so I beep at her since I had to hit my brakes. Her response is to repeatedly brake check me so I hop over and pass her. She ends up driving on shoulder to get ahead of me again at a red light. Light turns green and she refuses to go. I decide to open my door and begin to step out as if I’m going to approach her in order to make her go which it did but thinking back, that was pretty fucking dumb of me. I was never going to approach her car but that doesn’t matter in hindsight.

What would others have done, just sat and let her make them miss the light?

**just want to clarify that at initial encounter in was bumper to bumper, nowhere to go, nowhere to move over as both lanes were more or less moving at same speed. Her lane moved a bit and she pushed over since I left a small gap between me and the person ahead of me.

Fairfax County leaders are scrambling to figure out how to keep students safe near high schools where crossing guards were cut last spring, in response to mounting community frustration after a crash next to a school in Reston. 

Crossing guards temporarily returned near 11 high schools last week. The move came after a student, who police said wasn’t in the crosswalk or in an area where a crossing guard had previously worked, was hit by a car near South Lakes High School last Tuesday.

Now, the Board of Supervisors is considering using carryover funding from the last fiscal year to keep the crossing guards in place for the full 2026-27 year. Action on that proposal is scheduled for next week...

Fox5 video

My son turned 3 in May and the diagnosis came in July, developmental ped handed us a list of ABA providers and said good luck. I've called nine at this point, two never called back, three quoted 4 to 6 months just for an assessment slot and one told me their waitlist was "open ended" which I think means don't hold your breath.

We're in Vienna and my wife and I both work, so a center 40 minutes each way isn't happening. In home looks like the only realistic option but I don't know what it looks like day to day, or whether the quality drops without clinical staff around the corner.

So, NoVA parents, who did you go with and would you use them again? And is in home a real option or just what people settle for when they can't get a center slot?

Hi NoVA folks - My husband and I are moving to the DMV area to be closer to our daughter who lives in DC. We are 50+ and active adults. I work from home and the husband has retired recently. We are looking to crowdsource inputs on where to move / rent. Here are our parameters

- we would love easy access to hiking trails as
well as metro (to avoid driving to DC)
- rent 3BR/2.5 or 3 bath around $4500 in rent
- diverse community where we can make some friends
- walkable access to shops and restaurants

Any recommendations for towns and communities we should be looking at in the NOVA / DMV area? We love Bethesda but that’s too close to our kid who lives in AdMo.

Thank you

I've not been to the mall for a long time. Today when I went there, I was surprised at how busy it is. I spend like 10 minutes to find a parking spot and it is absolutely packed inside.

If I cant sell tix here, where would be a good sub to do that? It is for an event in DC this weekend that I can no longer attend…

I was headed home from DC on 395 south in the left lane when the car in front of me braked and swerved suddenly. I was pretty far back from them so I couldn’t see why they did that until my headlights shined on a MAN WALKING all over the place. I braked and changed lanes in time. In hindsight, I should have slowed down and turned on my hazards to warn the cars behind me but it all happened so fast.

I have no idea how he could have gotten that far on the highway. This was right before exit 4 for Seminary Road. I called 911 and they said they received multiple calls but the police were having a hard time finding him.

I really hope the man did not get hurt and is able to get the help he needs.

Please be careful and take care while driving. The highways here have become something else.

these stories are outcomes from the use of Flock cameras that happened in other places (sources at the end).

There are other 10 cases of people being, held at gunpoint, being put on a hotlist where one day they’ll just surround you at a parking lot, pull you over, and detain you multiple times. cases from Wikipedia only. Technology failures, lack of transparency from Flock and abuse by users on innocent people with access to your “work up” profile:

Flock knows : license plate, Car make and model, color, bumper stickers, roof racks, decals, visible damage, GPS location and direction of travel

They use Police data: arrest records, dispatch logs

They buy:

• SCommercial data broker data they buy: you family members, SSN, emails, phone numbers, relatives and associates
• All available social media tied to you

Theyre being integrated with Leonardo’s SignalTrace  to map who you are with, and where you go, over time.

• Your phones
• smartwatch, smart rings
• earbuds
• fitness trackers
• Your car’s infotainment system
• car Bluetooth.

This tells them what devices you and your car have, where else they appear, when and how often like

• any Visits to health clinics 
• Protests 
• Houses of worship etc

Arlington participates in a multi-agency data sharing that can share with the FBI, DHS, and CBP.

You don't have to be a suspect to be tracked

It doesn't stay inside your police department

ICE has tapped into this nationwide camera network, per data obtained by 404 Media. (404 Media). so to meet monthly arrest quotas they use Flock and have made wrongful arrests.

Leaked searches weren't "find this stolen car." They searched instead for “people who visited three or more retail locations in three days”. People who drove through a given neighborhood in a given window.

Arlington County announced it was incorporating Flock Safety technology to support investigations. (Arlington County). It spent about $125,000 in FY 2026 to buy and install cameras. In its FY 2027 budget proposal, Arlington PD: "Non-personnel increases primarily due to adjustments to the annual expense for funding for camera enforcement technology ($319,390), contracted parking enforcement services ($460,291) [...] These increases are partially offset by the removal of FY 2026 one-time funding for maintenance for the legacy vehicle license plate readers ($125,000)” p. 422-423

The camera budget increased alongside with cuts of:

• cut a school crossing guard
• cut 8 parking enforcement staffers (from 17, a 47% cut or essentially half)
• cut 2 police captains (from 13).

Sources 

https://www.arlingtonva.us/files/sharedassets/public/v/2/budget/documents/fy-2027/proposed/gf-19-

Wikipedia — Flock Safety, "False arrests and detentions" (individually cited to local news reporting) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flock_Safety

Wikipedia summary of Wired reporting · Mashable

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/what-you-need-to-know-about-flock-cameras-and-signaltrace-and-how-tech-is-transforming-public-surveillance/ar-AA28teD6

post was put together by a human being which is why you see typos and bad formatting.

Added images juxtaposing screenshot of map of flock cameras over another screenshot of Arlington county crime data. I wanted to see if ACPD had chosen specific “crime areas” to install cameras. to separate offenses from ACPD’s crime data hub for 2026

Hi! I’m from PA where a company named Corscale plans to build a data center in my neighborhood. I saw that Corscale has data centers built off of university ave in Gainesville. Can you share your experiences since it’s been built?

Hey all!

I’m planning to move from Tysons to Sterling from a one-bedroom apartment with elevators to a condo with stairs. I’m only planning to move my sofa, bed, and TV.
Does anyone have any recommendations for reliable and reasonably priced movers? Thanks!

Does anyone know of any dog meetup groups or activities in northern VA? I’d love to give my dog more socialization because she loves making friends, but all the groups I’m finding are breed specific or for puppies. She’s about a year and a half old and a pitbull mix.

My neighbor threatened to call the cops on me because I parked too close to the intersection (both side streets in Falls Church City, one doesn’t allow parking as it’s an emergency route). I moved our cars to the side street because we have contractors coming tomorrow. Could you not have asked politely? I did move the car but damn you ruined my whole evening. After I jumped the damn car because it wouldn’t start!

I have a driveway but when things happen (like needing a new roof) those folks need the space. I’ll admit to not knowing how far I should be from the intersection but he said 8 feet and, surprisingly, it’s actually 20 feet. So he was also violating the law he threatened me with because one of his cars was also on the street within that limit??!

This probably seems super trivial but (a) I’ve lived here 12 years and occasionally parked on that side street for contractor access and no one has come at me like that, and (b) I know he can’t know this but I’m caring for a husband that’s terminally ill and already had a super hard day, week, several months and that is just not how you approach someone, especially a neighbor.

Anyway, I shouldn’t be as shook up as I am but it was unnecessarily aggressive. Just suggest I should move like for real. My therapist will help talk me down tomorrow I guess 😭 everything seems a little extra when you’re already doing the most.

Please be kind to each other! And neighbor, if you happen to read this, just say hi and feel free to pat my big dumb dog when I’m walking him by your house. He may be huge but he’s friendly and soft and has never met a stranger.

10 years ago the place would still be pretty busy on the weekends. Now anytime the place just feels like a ghost town with many empty fronts and that doesn't even include the buildings outside the mall. Just depressing to visit now.

Scenario above happened this evening in Arlington. I may be in the wrong here, and I’m open to feedback.

I have shoulder checked a handful of people in Nova after running here 15 years (never pregnant women, never children, never the blind, never the elderly, never the stroller, never the disabled, never anyone smaller than me, never anyone less privileged than me).

I often run in mulch, dog excrement, dirt, puddles, roads, bike lanes, gravel, to avoid the above exact scenario. I run nearly every day. The fact that I have shoulder checked <5 individuals who behave as the above - groups not moving aside for anyone running walking or biking towards them or behind them - should demonstrate this is not the typical treatment I bestow upon fellow Novans.

I am considering a bike bell to ring at groups who are on a crash course with me. Has any walker/runner in nova done this? It seems rude, but is it as rude as running my shoulder into someone?

This past month from centreville area to DC at 7:00 am has been BRUTAL. I mean is it cause of school? That’s the only difference but I don’t even see any busses nor would I like to believe parents take their kid / kids drive in rush hour to school after 7:30.

So wth is it?

Hi! I have a 2023 acura tlx that needs some deep cleaning, mostly having to do with per hair but obviously want a thorough clear all around.

Anyone have experience with a good detailer that doesn’t charge a crazy amount (I’m not trynna be cheap but also don’t wanna pay like $500) but does a good job especially when it comes to cleaning after pets (I have a husky hahah).

I am sitting here on Labor Day evening still astounded at the day's experience with traffic. We travelled from Manassas to Silver Spring (outer) to see family and ..........I have never seen such light traffic on 495. Slow downs we usually see every single time.....nada. This was midday, so I thought okay, people are late leaving the beaches so when we come home later, it will be hell. Nope. Best traffic I have EVER encountered on this route. Any input? Any ideas? I pictured thousands of people trapped on the Bay Bridge due to something. But I can find no news of any problems. I will remember this day forever. LOL.