Loudoun

Called the Ignite Institute for Individualized Health, the nonprofit will soon set up shop in Fairfax County and employ as many as 415 scientists and health professionals specializing in personalized medicine, or where a patient’s genetic makeup is studied so doctors can tailor treatments for conditions like cancer and Alzheimer’s.

Personalized medicine pioneer Dietrich Stephan, a scientist from California, is behind the project, as he is partnering with Inova Health Systems to build a 300,000-square-foot headquarters at a yet-to-be-determined spot in Fairfax.

Sheriff’s deputies responded to Ned Devines at around 1:30 a.m. on Saturday morning. The stabbing occurred shortly before—apparently initiated when the victim confronted the suspect for allegedly making advances towards his girlfriend and touching her inappropriately on the dance floor. A fight broke out between the two and the victim was stabbed.

The suspect in the assault is described as a black male, 5 feet 7 inches with a thin build.

The unidentified victim was taken to Inova Fairfax Hospital. He is expected to fully recover from his injuries.

That’s a joke, of course. As was Chairman Scott York’s insistence that the maneuver isn’t some kind of a power grab.

ASSAULT
Nov. 12, 8:23 p.m.
A 30-year old female reported that she was assaulted while walking her dog on a path near the 260 block of West Meadowland Ln. The victim reported that there were 3 attackers: a white male, a white female and a black male.

DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY
Nov. 12-13, 11 p.m. – 2:21 a.m.

The Loudoun County School Board received the Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) staff recommendations at the board’s Nov. 10 meeting and heard from several Ashburn and Lansdowne families and students affected by the long awaited and much debated boundary change.

Both scenarios recommend students from the Lansdowne community relocate from Stone Bridge High School to the new Tuscarora High School in Leesburg beginning with the opening of Tuscarora High School in the fall of 2010.

Many more residents are struggling to get by in ways they had not imagined just a short time ago.

The citizens of Loudoun County have shown many times before that we can come together as a united community, willing to step forward in times of national emergency and to assist with disaster relief. After September 11th, Hurricane Katrina and the Indian Ocean tsunami our citizens made it clear that we are a community that cares.

In June, about 104,000 home loans, or 8 percent of all mortgages in the Washington, D.C., region, were delinquent, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Urban Institute's newly released Housing in the Nation's Capital 2009 report. Of those loans, 51,500 were at least 90 days late.

Mortgages in this state of delinquency are likely go into foreclosure, the report stated, meaning tens of thousands of more area homes will soon be up for auction.

While the concerns may hold true, they are also generalities. Even broke, doing business with Loudoun is mixed with roadblocks, red tape, and a skewed sense of power, possibly from homegrown traditionalists, a sense of elitism, or too many cooks in the kitchen. Unending challenges for those seeking to build have been met with a new strategy: appeal to everyone, leave nothing to chance, and damn the applicant’s cost.

The diversity of Loudoun residents is critical to the county, but so are commonalities. Loudoun is in great need of a common interest; something with meaning but without controversy -a focal point that would welcome all ages, races and religions, and allow even the most combative and critical of our residents an occasional smile. 

At a farmers' market this weekend, I saw about seven lined up to taste. But that's just a small drop in the bucket of the varieties of apples that once grew in America. In 1876, one agriculturalist estimated over 1100 varieties.