I was glad to see so many residents attend the Oak Hill Community Meeting with the Fairfax County Police Department.  Police provided details of the recent burglaries, burglary statistics, and took feedback from the public.  They encourage residents to be alert and report anything suspicious to the authorities.  If you would like a summary of the meeting, please email me and I will be happy to send it to you.
 
Beginning today and ending on Sunday, August 9th, many school supplies costing $20 or less each, and clothing & footwear items costing $100 or less each will be exempt from Virginia's 5 percent sales tax.  This sales tax holiday is for anyone, not just those with children going back to school.  You can find a complete list of items at http://www.tax.virginia.gov/.
 
VA Education Association
 
The Virginia Education Association, the Fairfax Education Association, and the Loudoun Education Association have announced that they will be endorsing me for re-election to the Virginia House of Delegates.  As a state Delegate and graduate of our public school and university system, I want to keep our schools top-notch.  I'm happy to continue working with the VEA to keep improving our public schools so all Virginia's children can have the education they need to compete for the best jobs when they grow up.
 
Governor Kaine has called a Special Session of the General Assembly for Wednesday, August 19th.  We will be discussing the U. S. Supreme Court ruling (Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts), which states that the burden is on the prosecution to present a witness, rather than simply introducing a certificate of laboratory analysis into evidence in criminal trials.  

This ruling will require forensic professionals to testify in more trials than had previously been required.  This ruling has put many cases on hold awaiting those professionals to testify.  We cannot allow criminals to go free based on this ruling, and I agree with the Governor and the Attorney General that Virginia must act quickly to resolve this matter.
 
It is my understanding that the only other issue to be discussed at the Special Session will involve that of Arthur Whitfield, who served 22 years in prison but was released in 2004 by the parole board after DNA testing.  He was granted an absolute pardon earlier this year by Governor Kaine.  Legislation would provide immediate compensation for Mr. Whitfield.
 
More than $1 billion in American Restoration and Recovery Act (also known as the Stimulus) funding has been allocated for infrastructure project in Virginia.  Here is a breakdown of those projects in Fairfax and Loudoun Counties:
Fairfax County Parkway/Fair Lakes Interchange ($13 million)
Routes 7/9/287 Pavement restoration ($4.4 million)
VRT - Loudoun County ($2.7 million)
Water Reuse Line to National Rural Utilities ($1.2 million)
Water Reuse Line to One Loudoun ($580,000)
Potomac-Rappahannock Transportation Comm ($3.9 million)
Virginia Railway Express ($9.8 million)
Northern Virginia Transportation Authority ($51 million)
Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Auth ($184 million)
To learn more about Virginia's Stimulus, please visit http://www.stimulus.virginia.gov/.  

This past Tuesday, I had the opportunity to meet many of you as we celebrated National Night Out in Herndon.  I also attended the 4-H Fair at Frying Pan Park as well as the Asian Festival this past weekend; and this week I attended the Fairfax County Public Schools Leadership Conference where the plans for the '09-'10 academic year were discussed.
 
Please continue to share your views with me on matters of interest to you.
 
Warm regards,