Virginia
How Fairfax Co. residents feel about potentially hosting a casino – WTOP News
A proposal to allow Northern Virginia voters to weigh in on whether to build a casino in Fairfax County has advanced to the state’s House of Delegates.
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How Fairfax Co. residents feel about a casino possibility getting built there
A proposal to allow Northern Virginia voters to weigh in on whether to build a casino in Fairfax County has advanced to the state’s House of Delegates.
And even though the latest plan doesn’t specify Tysons as the location for the project, some community members there are still skeptical.
“It’s already congested enough,” Kristin Harrig said. “There’s enough to do here. We don’t need to gamble here. You can go across the river to the National Harbor.”
Previous attempts to advance the casino project focused on the Tysons area. The new legislation, though, would allow the casino to be built anywhere in Fairfax County.
Virginia’s state Senate approved the plan Friday, 23-14, though several lawmakers representing Northern Virginia opposed it.
Some elected officials in the suburb have spoken out against the project, and with a 5-4 vote, the Board of Supervisors opted to keep it out of its legislative priorities.
“Maybe somewhere out in Loudoun County or something like that, but not in Fairfax County,” resident Jamaal French told WTOP. “But in Northern Virginia, definitely.”
Kevin Ejtemai, who owns a business in the Tysons Corner Center mall, said he has “three small children, and we don’t want this area to become inundated with gamblers and drunk people walking around the casino, around town.”
But Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell said many similar concerns are overblown. There isn’t any organized opposition to the project outside of McLean, he said, adding that he lives “closer to the MGM Casino than most of these people in McLean complaining, and it hasn’t changed my quality of life.”
“A lot of people, I think, are sort of saying the sky is going to fall, but I don’t think it’s consistent with reality,” Surovell said.
Dipen Patel said he’d support a casino project in Tysons, and “I don’t see a reason why Fairfax should not have a casino.”
“As much money is flowing from Virginia to Maryland, we’re better off doing one here,” Patel said, “because we see a lot of population coming to MGM for gambling purposes.”
Surovell said that last year, the House of Delegates didn’t really speak about the proposal: “But I’m confident that this year, the House is interested in figuring out a way to proceed on this, and I think we will get something on the governor’s desk.”
But for French, “as a resident of Fairfax County, it’s already hard enough to get around out here. I’m not for it, not right here, but somewhere close that I can still get to it.”
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RICHMOND, Va. — Friday will be sunny and seasonably warm, with highs in the upper 70s and low 80s.
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PITTSYLVANIA COUNTY, Va. (WSET) — Ressie Keen, a 107-year-old Pittsylvania County woman, is safe after escaping a house fire that destroyed her more than 100-year-old home, leaving behind a yard filled with charred debris and scattered belongings.
Keen said she has no special secret to her longevity.
“I ain’t got no secret, just thanking the Lord to let me stay here to see 107,” she said.
Keen said she moved to the home decades ago and built a life there.
“I’ve moved there in 1969, our first crop was made in 1970, and I been living there ever since,” she said.
The fire broke out in Keen’s bedroom on Thursday afternoon. Keen said she and her sitter got out as the fire grew.
“I don’t know what happened, only thing I knew to do was to get out of there. So me and my sitter we got out. She tried to put it out but she couldn’t,” Keen said.
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Pittsylvania County Fire Marshal Scott Hutcherson said investigators believe the fire started with an electrical issue.
“We think we had an electric outlet failure, more or less; an adaptor on the outlet probably failed,” Hutcherson said. He said the fire spread quickly once it ignited nearby items. “It set the bed on fire and the clothes that was on top of it, the material on top of it, what’s pretty much what got the fire going. And then it easily spread to the second story.”
Keen’s son, Ronnie Keen, said the loss has been painful for the family.
“It was devastating real devastating, lot of memories lost. But I know those memories and emotions the things that were sentimental were still right here,” he said.
A family photo album was among the few items recovered. Pointing to one image, Ronnie Keen said, “That’s a picture of the house.”
He added that the album was badly damaged. “It’s so charred it’s kinda hard to open,” he said.
Keen also held onto her favorite cast-iron pan.
“I knew this wasn’t going to get burnt up,” she said.
The home was considered a total loss, but the family said the most important thing is that Ressie Keen survived. She is now living with her son.
“I’m overjoyed that she’s here with us and she’s safe,” Ronnie Keen said.
Hutcherson said to prevent this, make sure that there is a smoke alarm in your home. He says you can reach out to the Pittsylvania County Public Safety office for a free installation of a smoke alarm.
WISE COUNTY, VA (WCYB) — Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger has requested the Virginia Attorney General’s Office investigate the 2025 homicide of a Wallens Ridge State Prison inmate.
The Attorney General’s Office confirmed the development to News 5 on Tuesday, May 27.
“The circumstances around the death of Aubrey McKay are of a very serious and troubling nature. Governor Spanberger has requested that the Office of the Attorney General conduct an investigation and initiate any criminal prosecutions that arise. This office will continue its thorough, complete, and timely investigation into these consequential matters,” Attorney General Jay Jones said in an emailed statement.
McKay died on June 4, 2025, while inside the Wise County correctional facility.
The Virginia Department of Corrections confirmed his death is being investigated as a homicide and said at least one officer was either reprimanded or placed on leave.
The Virginia medical examiner’s office listed McKay’s cause of death as multifactorial asphyxia. Virginia State Police also confirmed it is investigating the case.
The Smyth County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office also confirmed it will no longer be involved in the case.
A spokesperson for the Wise County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office told News 5 on May 25 that Smyth County would oversee the prosecution because of the nature of the investigation.
Smyth County Commonwealth’s Attorney Phillip Blevins later confirmed he has recused himself from the case.
In a court order provided to News 5 dated May 22, Blevins wrote that he has an association with at least one potential witness involved in the investigation. He was excused from the case.
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