There are currently major delays on Washington Boulevard due to an incident between Route 50 and Columbia Pike. Numerous police cars and fire/EMS units are on the scene of a pedestrian who is experiencing some sort of medical emergency.
Traffic is backed up to I-395 heading north, and to North Garfield Street heading south. Police will soon start diverting southbound traffic onto Route 50.
Matthew Pickens was seriously injured after a moving van struck his county work truck at the intersection of Columbia Pike and South Wakefield Street on April 5. Pickens, who was working on a traffic light in the truck’s hydraulic basket, fell hard to the street below.
At the time, it was thought that Pickens’ injuries were not life-threatening.
At a press conference at Northrop Grumman’s Rosslyn government affairs office, Governor Bob McDonnell and Northrop president and CEO Wes Bush formally announced the decision.
Bush said the company is in “final negotiations” with building owners in Arlington and Falls Church — both within Rep. Jim Moran’s eighth congressional district — and will announce a location within a month. The new headquarters will open by the summer of 2011.
On Thursday, the board will vote on the school system’s FY2011 budget, which would include any planetarium funding or lack thereof. Leaders of the “Friends of the Planetarium” group, who are actively representing more than 3,200 Facebook “fans” and 900 petition signers, say they are not sure which way the board will vote.
At this point, it’s also not clear which of three possible “scenarios” the board would be voting on. The scenarios range from retaining one full-time planetarium teacher for K-5 students and hiring hourly staff as needed on weekends, to using the planetarium as classroom space during the week and only hiring for weekend shows (while also funding K-2 field trips to the Einstein Planetarium at the National Air and Space Museum).
Governor Bob McDonnell’s office has confirmed that Northrop Grumman will be moving its headquarters from Los Angeles to Northern Virginia. Just where in Northern Virginia is another question.
The Associated Press is reporting that the site will either be in Fairfax County near Dulles Airport or in Crystal City.
