Voters in the City of Alexandria are not just casting their ballots for Virginia’s redistricting referendum, they’re also electing a new member of their city council.

Three candidates are running for the seat vacated by R. Kirk McPike, who resigned in January to run for the House of Delegates for District 5 鈥� part of special elections in the commonwealth triggered by Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s appointments to her new administration.

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Sandy Marks is the Democratic candidate for at-large member of the council. Marks served two terms as the Alexandria Committee chair. Virginia Public Access Project, a nonprofit that reports the “financial aspects of politics,” showed that Marks has raised a little more than $53,000.

As of 8:30 p.m. the City of Alexandria reported Marks receiving over 53% of the vote.

By 9 p.m., unofficial results showing all 32 precincts have been tallied and election night was complete with Marks taking the win.

Marks claimed victory at an election night watch party in Del Ray, according to

Frank Fannon ran as an independent and was the Republican member of the city council from 2009 to 2012. Fannon raised almost $85,000 for his campaign, VPAP reported.

Alison O’Connell was the other independent candidate. She served on the city鈥檚 Commission on Persons with Disabilities and the Alexandria Housing Affordability Advisory Committee. O’Connell raised about $4,500, according to VPAP.

The winner will serve on the council through Dec. 31, 2027.

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The ground stop originally came into effect around 5:30 p.m. at Reagan National, Dulles International and BWI Marshall airports, as well as the Charlottesville-Albemarle and Richmond International airports. The airports continued to face ground delays after the order was lifted.

In a statement to WTOP, the FAA said the ground stops were due to a “strong chemical smell” at the Potomac Consolidated Terminal RADAR Approach Control in Virginia, affecting some air traffic controllers. No injuries were reported.

The site provides air traffic control services to the Baltimore-Washington and Richmond-Charlottesville areas.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in that the strong odor was caused by a circuit board that overheated. He said it’s been replaced and air traffic controllers have been cleared to return to the building.

Between 25% and one-third of all flights departing from the affected airports were delayed after the ground stop.

鈥淭here’s going to be ripple effects all night long because the delays were growing by the second, it looked like,鈥� said Tom Roussey, a transportation reporter with WTOP news partner 7太子探花.

The TRACON facility is an FAA site that works with the regional airports. Roussey said with the way flights are scheduled, “if anything throws them off, it creates a ripple effect, and I’m sure they’ll be dealing with this the rest of the night, maybe even into tomorrow.”

Fauquier County Fire Rescue System said in a release Friday night that crews were alerted to a “potential hazardous materials incident” after personnel reported a strong smell of chemicals inside the facility. Prince William County’s hazardous materials team also responded to the incident.

Chief Kalvyn Smith said in the release that some employees had “mild symptoms” when they were evaluated by EMS, with none requiring transport to a local hospital.

WTOP anchor Mark Lewis was caught at Reagan National, where his flight was meant to depart at 5 p.m. It wasn’t until 7 p.m. that he reported the plane’s engine turned on and the pilot began taxiing. He said the whole flight applauded when they heard the good news.

WTOP listeners have reported sitting on tarmacs for long periods of time or deboarding altogether.

One listener told WTOP they were in line to takeoff when their pilot came on the overhead radio to inform passengers of the ground stop. They sat on the tarmac for 45 minutes until the plane returned to its departure gate where passengers deplaned. A Southwest flight had originally been scheduled to takeoff at 4:35 p.m., only starting reboarding procedures around 7:30 p.m.

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LET’S GO! Small green buds are appearing on the Yoshino cherry trees, marking the 1st of 6 stages on the way to peak bloom.
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Learn more:

鈥� National Mall NPS (@NationalMallNPS)

The National Park Service has projected the Yoshino cherry trees along the Tidal Basin will likely reach peak bloom from March 29 to April 1.

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The three-day music festival from Sept. 25 to Sept. 27 includes headliners, such as the Dave Matthews Band and Hootie and the Blowfish on Sept. 25; Twenty-One Pilots and Gwen Stefani on Sept. 26; and Mumford and Sons and Matchbox Twenty on Sept. 27.

Other performers include Ludacris, Shaggy, Liz Phair, Goo Goo Dolls, Third Eye Blind, Corinne Bailey Rae, Violent Femmes, The Head and the Heart and Hanson, among many others.

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Thursday at 10 a.m. The public sale follows at 11 a.m. if there are tickets still available.

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Police arrived to the 10000 block of Maple Leaf Drive in Montgomery Village around 2:45 p.m. for reports of an unresponsive person.

Officers and fire department personnel found the boy with an “apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the face,” Montgomery County police said in an update.

They performed CPR on the boy, who was not responsive when they arrived. The child died on the scene.

Montgomery County police spokesperson Shiera Goff said during a news conference that there is no foul play suspected and that it is being investigated as an accidental shooting. She added that there was one adult inside the house when the shooting happened.听

“There’s really nothing that I can say that would, right now, bring comfort to anyone,” Goff said. “This is a child. This was an isolated incident. No one was targeted. This child unfortunately gained access to this firearm.”

On Wednesday, a Montgomery County police spokeswoman said the child gained access to the gun in the house, but did not specify details on how. She said the firearm was registered.

The Montgomery County State’s Attorney will decide whether there will be charges, the spokeswoman said.

Below is a map of the area where the shooting happened:

Neighbor Ameer remembered the boy a charming and energetic child.

“He was quite an energetic kid, he was always giggling and smiling,” he said.

Another neighbor, Keith Bower, said the loss is devastating for the tight-knit neighborhood.

“Any loss of a child is devastating, but certainly it just hits home with a neighborhood that are pretty close together,” he said.

WTOP’s Mike Murillo and Jessica Kronzer contributed to this report.听

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D.C. police issued an Amber Alert for the 3-year-old boy following a shooting that killed his mother and injured a 12-year-old girl.

The boy was found in Prince George’s County, Maryland, Interim D.C. Police Chief Jeffery Carroll confirmed Wednesday evening.

The shooting happened around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday in the 4100 block of W Street NW.

There, police found a woman shot several times and pronounced her dead on the scene. A 12-year-old girl was also found suffering from a gunshot wound to the arm and transported to a hospital.

An 8-year-old boy was also found, uninjured, in the home. Police said he’s been reunited with his father and is safe.

During their investigation, Carroll said the “domestic” dispute inside the apartment “spilled out from the apartment into the hallway.”

Police said the suspect in the shooting was identified as Stephon Jeter, 35.

Jeter apparently fled the scene in a pickup truck that police posted on social media alongside his mugshot.

on social media for a 3-year-old boy Wednesday evening, asking the public for help locating him.

Carroll said at a news conference after the shooting that Prince George’s County Police saw Jeter’s pickup truck and chased it into D.C. The vehicle crashed around 30th and Nash Place, Carroll said.

Police found Jeter inside the vehicle with a self-inflicted gunshot wound and no sign of the 3-year-old.

Carroll said that Jeter was the father of the 3-year-old boy. The two other children inside the Glover Park home were children of the woman who was killed.

“This is one of the most tragic circumstances I’ve ever seen. An entire family is destroyed through the acts of an individual,” Carroll said. “Our hearts go out the entire family that’s involved in this.”

The 3-year-old was found safe with a relative in Prince George’s County, Carroll said.

Below is the area where the shooting happened:

An investigation is ongoing.

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Eashan John Stefanski, 34, of Pasadena, Maryland, was charged with leaving a loaded firearm accessible to a minor, .

The charge follows an incident聽Wednesday morning at Freetown Elementary School in Glen Burnie, during which the boy accidentally discharged a firearm, injuring his hand. The child was taken to Baltimore Shock Trauma for treatment of injuries that authorities said were not life-threatening.

Detectives found that the gun was obtained from the child’s residence.听Stefanski is the boyfriend of the child’s mother, .

A teacher took possession of the firearm and rendered aid to the student, a police spokesperson said. None of the other children in the classroom were injured.

Freetown students were dismissed early Wednesday and returned to school Thursday morning.

Anne Arundel County Public Schools Superintendent Mark Bedell said crisis counselors would be available Wednesday and Thursday to handle any trauma in the school community.

鈥淲hen we hear calls like this, especially involving children or elderly, it鈥檚 very unsettling for all of us, because there鈥檚 so many unknowns,鈥� Anne Arundel County police Chief Amal Awad said during a news conference after the shooting.

WTOP’s Ciara Wells contributed to this report.

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James Trotta was out with his wife, son and sled in tow. This is the first time there was enough snow on the ground that son Ethan was able to make a fort.

Another family nearby had the same idea, building a fort that’s also a tunnel. Inside was 12-year-old Eli Riedel, who built the fort with help from another kid out enjoying the day.

There’s no school on Monday for these Montgomery County kids, and Quinn Chan Lugay and her family are making snow memories as she careens down the steep hill outside the Geico building on her bright orange sled.

“This is the largest amount of snow that I’ve ever experienced,” Chan Lugay said.

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Christopher Young, 34, was crossing Little River Turnpike at Shelley Lane in Annandale when the driver of a sedan traveling westbound struck him.

Police responded around 7 a.m. and took Young to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. He later died.

Police are looking for the driver of the car seen below, and are asking anyone with information about what happened to call them at 703-280-0543.

Below is the area where it happened.

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The sound of clinking glasses pierced over the din at Lucky Danger in D.C.鈥檚 Chinatown. Past the tables filled with diners and happy hour patrons on a Wednesday night, toward the back and beyond another bar in the restaurant鈥檚 inner sanctum, the washing is taking place.

The “dishwasher,” however, is an automatic mahjong table; and the “dishes” in this case, are mahjong tiles. 鈥淲ashing鈥� is the term used to shuffle them.

Overseeing the is Tim Ma, resplendent in red, a kindly presence giving hints to new players who picked up the game quickly, and telling those who needed a few more tries what tiles to discard and which ones to keep.

Mahjong is a game that originated in China. It’s usually played with four players, who pick up and discard tiles until they have the combination they need to win

Beside the elder Ma is his son, also called Tim, an acclaimed chef and the owner of Lucky Danger.

鈥淢y dad has always been the teacher,鈥� the younger Ma said. 鈥淗e also was teaching mahjong classes on the rooftop of Any Day Now鈥� 鈥� another of the chef’s restaurants located up the street from Nationals Park in Southeast.

The mahjong room at Lucky Danger was added as a way to introduce and show off this 鈥渋mportant piece鈥� of Chinese culture.

Chef Ma said that in movies, such as 鈥淭he Joy Luck Club鈥� and even 鈥淩ush Hour 2,鈥� mahjong is often in the background.

鈥淵ou just know it鈥檚 there,鈥� Ma said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a game that鈥檚 very specific to us.鈥�

Mahjong鈥檚 exposure gained a significant boost with the 2018 film 鈥淐razy Rich Asians.鈥� During one of Lucky Danger鈥檚 Wednesday mahjong classes in September, a student said she wanted to learn how to play after seeing the movie.

But even before the current 鈥渕ahjong fad resurgence鈥� some 100 years after it started in the U.S., University of Oregon professor Annelise Heinz said the game remained a big part of Chinese American and Asian cultures, and it became popular with Jewish American women and wives of U.S. Air Force officers.

How a game from China became part of American culture

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Heinz wrote 鈥溾�婱ahjong: A Chinese Game and the Making of Modern American Culture鈥� and has studied the game and its cultural impact during her career. She said the game was a national fad in the 1920s.

鈥淚t has a remarkable ability to adapt and to evolve in different cultural contexts,鈥� Heinz said. 鈥淚n American society, different groups have kind of put their own particular stamp on the game.鈥�

Its social aspect, Heinz added, is a way to get to know people in new communities 鈥渙r repeatedly uprooted communities, like Air Force spaces.鈥�

While the social benefits are a constant, the rules of the game change depending on the variant being played.

The NOVA Mah Jongg group met at an Italian restaurant in August. Typically, the group, organized by Melissa Flavell, plays American mahjong at Wegmans locations in Northern Virginia. August marked one of its big get-togethers, and after ordering appetizers and drinks, it was time to wash the tiles 鈥� this time by hand rather than the mesmerizing automatic mahjong table 鈥� and let the games begin.

The mahjong taught at Lucky Danger is a 13-tile Chinese style game, while Flavell鈥檚 group played聽 American style mahjong.

One of the key differences between the two, and there are many, is in American mahjong, players do 鈥淭he Charleston,” which involves passing unwanted tiles between players several times in the beginning. Another big difference is American mahjong uses a yearly card that lists winning combinations of tiles or hands.

There are more variants of mahjong than those two, with different regions in China and in other countries putting their own spin on the game.

Heinz said a rising generation of younger and millennial-aged Asian Americans starting businesses in places such as the Bay Area have also put a spotlight on mahjong, claiming it and using it to connect to their heritage in the context of rising xenophobia.

鈥淔or me, it’s just the culture,鈥� chef Ma said. 鈥淭he culture of introducing a game that’s so important within the Chinese community, and introducing it to a different audience and a different community that just wants to learn something that is so close to our hearts.鈥�

In fact, it鈥檚 a family affair.

鈥淭his is what we do. When we get together, after a meal, we play mahjong,鈥� Ma鈥檚 father said.

From millennial moms to retirees: ‘Everybody’s playing’

At NOVA聽 Mah Jongg’s get-together in August, a friendly game among strangers was taking place at a table with 鈥渢he queen鈥� holding court. One of the women at the table called Victoria Hansard, of Alexandria, by the wrong name. She said an easy way to remember it was to think of Queen Victoria. Soon, Hansard, Jennifer Resio and Nannette Henderson were sharing stories and laughing like old friends.

Mahjong is a frequent activity in retirement and community centers. Retiring baby boomers moving into new communities are among the groups most often discovering the game in an effort to meet new people, Heinz said.

Restaurant owner Ma said that he has seen some young groups in their 20s and 30s that play every week because they learned the game during the pandemic.

It was during the COVID-19 pandemic that Flavell鈥檚 NOVA Mah Jongg group had a surge of interest from people who wanted to play. From a small meetup group some eight years ago, an active Facebook community of more than 120, newsletters, get-togethers and instruction offerings.

鈥淲e bring people together that typically wouldn’t probably get together unless it was this game,鈥� Flavell said, adding there鈥檚 no one type of player these days. 鈥淓verybody鈥檚 playing.鈥�

Flavell said it used to be a lot of retirees, but now, 鈥淚t鈥檚 the millennial moms, husbands are playing. Everybody鈥檚 coming together to play.鈥�

The new pickleball

Samantha Perez is playing her first live American mahjong game with two women she just met during Flavell’s get-together in August. Perez said mahjong is a good game for getting to know people and for hanging out with friends.

鈥淚t鈥檚 very interactive. You have to set the board up and you have to share your tiles with each other and you鈥檙e building a wall of tiles together. It’s a good flow to an evening 鈥� there鈥檚 natural breaks, there鈥檚 natural times of activity. It makes for a very good social night,鈥� Perez said.

Dianne Fogarty, who was caregiving for her parents, said she was looking for 鈥渂rain stimulation.鈥� The former flight attendant said she missed being part of a group and socializing. Since starting a year and half ago with Flavell, she has met many people and made new friends through playing the game.

Part of the fun for Fogarty is sharing the game with others, including her husband, Bob, and her 24-year-old granddaughter.

After reading that mahjong was one of the 鈥渉ottest games in Northern Virginia right now,鈥� Paulina Orlikowski came to Flavell’s group to relearn how to play.

鈥淚t is the new pickleball, seriously,鈥� Orlikowski said. 鈥淎ll ages are really learning this, and that鈥檚 another great thing because no matter what your age, who you are, no matter what your skill level is 鈥� come together and have fun playing.鈥�

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FBI agents arrested 35-year-old John Aaron Gass at his Maryland home on Thursday. He faces charges related to the production of child pornography and enticement of a minor, according to

Gass is a teacher at the D.C. International School. Charging documents said he began sexually abusing a student at the school in the spring.

The FBI received a tip from D.C. police in November that Gass had met with a 16-year-old girl several times for the purposes of sex. At least twice, prosecutors said, Gass used the girl’s phone to record “explicit videos.”

In a statement to WTOP, the D.C. International School said Gass no longer works at the school, and as soon as they found out the news, they took the “appropriate steps” to provide support with law enforcement and school staff. They noted the “safety and welfare of our students is and will always be our highest priority.”

“We have been cooperating fully with law enforcement, and will continue to support their investigation as needed. We recognize the profound impact this has on our DCI community, and are actively working to support those affected. To protect the privacy of those involved and to avoid interfering with the investigation, we will not provide additional information at this time,” a spokesperson with the school wrote.

The case is being investigated by the FBI’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force.

Anyone with information should call the FBI at 800-CALL-FBI.

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they recovered a vehicle in the Occoquan River in the 10700 block of Old Colchester Road in Lorton.

Quang Hang, 78, was last seen Dec. 1 near the George Washington Parkway at Slaters Lane in the City of Alexandria. said Hang was possibly driving a red sedan with Virginia tags, and that his disappearance posed a “credible threat to their health and safety.”

Fairfax County police said Hang’s disappearance was upgraded to “critically missing” on Wednesday.

that his father had memory loss and missed doses of his blood pressure medicine when he went missing. She said he took “a wrong turn” while going to get his car inspected by a “trusted mechanic” in Leesburg.

Fairfax County police said they conducted extensive investigative efforts, including deploying a helicopter and drones.

Police are investigating the death but said they do not suspect foul play.

Below is the area where police found the vehicle:

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The new Ikea is scheduled to open in spring 2026. It will be the third store in Virginia.

Ikea said the 110,000-square-foot space will offer “local living solutions” that reflect the everyday needs of the Chantilly community.

And of course, no Ikea experience is complete without a selection of Swedish foods and treats, such as Swedish meatballs and cinnamon buns, as well as other Scandinavian fares.

鈥淲e are meeting the many people where they are, and I鈥檓 thrilled that we are continuing to grow our presence across the DMV,” Scott Reid, market manager at Ikea Woodbridge, said in a statement.

Washington Business Journal, which first reported that the Swedish company will open in Fairfax County, said .

The expo center’s remaining shows and festivals include the 32nd Annual Northern Virginia Christmas Market, The Nation’s Gun Show, Exxxotica 2025 and Greenberg’s Train and Toy Show.

Organizers of the DMV Chocolate Festival, which takes place Nov. 15 and Nov. 16, said that center’s closure is a “big loss for the local small business community.”

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