News

Nearly 80 speakers came to the podium during the three hour public hearing. County residents and employees spoke out against proposed cuts to public safety agencies, substance abuse programs, senior centers, and libraries, as well as environmental, educational and recreational programs and facilities.

Resident Andrea Walker started the night off on a humorous note, saying board members should consider “self-preservation” before cutting funding to the Aurora Hills Senior Center, which regularly serves about 100 “cranky seniors.”


News

The family of the late astronaut David Brown, for whom the David M. Brown Planetarium is named, has written a letter opposing Arlington Public Schools’ plan to close the 40-year-old facility, according to the Washington Post.

Brown was killed in the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. Brown’s brother, Douglas Brown, asked school officials why it’s necessary to close the only public planetarium in the country’s 10th-richest county.


News

Del. David Englin (D), who represents part of Arlington in the Virginia House of Delegates, released a statement today about the proposed elimination of the Virginia Commission for the Arts. Englin called the Republican-backed measure a “shortsighted, high-risk scheme.”

Del. Englin’s full statement, after the jump.


Schools

Dr. Murphy says the school system, facing a $12.8 million budget deficit, cannot afford the nearly half million dollars worth of mechanical upgrades needed to keep the 40-year-old planetarium open.

The planetarium is named after David Brown, a Yorktown High School graduate who perished in the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. Dr. Murphy says the science wing at Yorktown High will be named in Mr. Brown’s honor after the planetarium closes.