News Briefs: July 4-10, 2024 - Falls Church News-Press Online (2024)

• FCNP.com
• July 3, 2024
• 9:35 am
• Around F.C., News

Tiff Over Pride Display At Vienna Pub Erupts

A man was arrested last week after reportedly harassing customers and staff at a Vienna pub over its Pride Month displays. On Friday (June 28) night, a man walked off the street and began accosting patrons in Hawk & Griffin’s outdoor beer garden “because of our flags displayed for pride month,” the pub’s owners said the following day in a Facebook post, as reported by the Gazette.

“He then spit on our windows and came inside to confront our staff and patrons with hom*ophobic rants,” the post said. “Our manager and staff handled the situation very professionally and police were called to investigate.” Hawk & Griffin says the man was later arrested “a couple of blocks away.”

The Vienna Police Department says its officers responded to Hawk & Griffin around 9:28 p.m. on Friday after getting “reports of an intoxicated individual threatening customers.” The man was gone by the time officers arrived, but they “promptly” found him nearby.

“Subsequently, the individual was arrested and charged with several offenses, including Drunk in Public, providing false identification to a police officer, assault on a police officer, and serving an outstanding warrant from another jurisdiction,” the VPD said. “The individual is currently being held at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center without bond.”

Sen. Warner Applauds New DOE Student Loan Guidance

Yesterday, Virginia U.S. Senator Mark Warner issued a statement in response to new Department of Education guidance for individuals affected by joint consolidated student loans. This guidance follows longtime efforts by Sen. Warner to provide relief for individuals who previously consolidated their federal student loan debt with a spouse under a program that was created by Congress and subsequently eliminated without providing a way for spouses to sever existing loans — even in the event of domestic violence, economic abuse, or an unresponsive partner.

In 2022, in culmination of these efforts, Sen. Warner secured the passage of the Joint Consolidation Loan Separation Act of 2021 in order to help borrowers who remain liable for their abusive or uncommunicative spouse’s portion of their consolidated debts.

“For years, borrowers in joint consolidated loans have faced frustrating bureaucratic hurdles and dismal prospects for severing their loans, keeping them trapped in financial agreements with unresponsive or abusive ex-spouses and preventing them from accessing loan forgiveness programs. I’m proud to have written the law that finally made separation a possibility, and I’m glad to see the Department of Education take another important step towards finally freeing borrowers from these burdensome loans. I look forward to working with the Department to ensure that it is meeting its established deadlines so all borrowers can finally separate their loans and move on with their lives,” said Sen. Warner.

Biden Moves to Increase Affordable Housing Options

The Biden administration is unveiling steps to increase affordable housing as home and rent costs continue to rise.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen announced new initiatives Monday to address the supply of housing, saying new steps will “strengthen” programs and policies, such as tax incentives and fiscal recovery programs, that address affordable housing.

“We face a very significant housing supply shortfall that has been building for a long time,” Yellen said in prepared remarks set for Monday afternoon, according to The Associated Press. “This supply crunch has led to an affordability crunch.”

The initiatives will include establishing a new program that will give an additional $100 million over the next three years to support funding affordable housing and urging Federal Home Loan Banks to boost their spending on housing programs, among other measures.

Report: Housing Woes Continue Across Nation

Starts for buildings with five or more units dropped 51.7 percent year over year to a seasonally adjusted rate of 278,000 in May, according to a report from HUD and the U.S. Census Bureau.

Developers pulled permits for a seasonally adjusted rate of 382,000 apartments in buildings with five units or more in May, a 31.4 percent year-over-year drop. At the end of the month, 898,000 units were under construction, an 8.6 percent year over year decrease.

Overall, housing starts came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.3 million in May — a 19.3 percent decline year-over-year. Single-family builders broke ground on 982,000 million homes — a 1.7 percent year-over-year decrease.

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