Penny Gross

Annandale

Local Contributor, Vice Chairman of Fairfax County Board of Supervisors at Falls Church News-Press

Representing the residents of the Mason District as Vice Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors

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Articles

Our Man In Arlington 4-17-2025

1 week ago | fcnp.com | Bill Fogarty |Nicholas F. Benton |Penny Gross

National Volunteer Week runs from April 20 to April 26 this year, which provides an opportunity to celebrate the importance of the role of volunteers in our community. Let me highlight one story, which seems simple on its face: it starts with a high school student who volunteered with a reading program for children, but it reveals a thread of connections over many decades, within the local community, and beyond.
Beyer Warns of Trump Policy Impacts on Region, U.S. & World

1 week ago | fcnp.com | Nicholas F. Benton |Bill Fogarty |Penny Gross

U.S. Rep. Donald S. Beyer Jr., came before the group that he was president of 45 years ago as a Falls Church businessman this Tuesday, cautioning the monthly meeting of the Falls Church Chamber of Commerce about the dire consequences of the Trump administration’s current tariff policy.
A Penny for Your Thoughts 4-17-2025

1 week ago | fcnp.com | Penny Gross |Bill Fogarty |Nicholas F. Benton

Donald Trump finally told the truth! In one of his rambling “lectures” – you know, the kind where he starts out focused on the topic and ends up terming Joe Biden as the “worst president in the history of the United States” and repeating his contention that other countries have emptied their prisons and asylums to send the worst people to “invade” our country – Trump bragged that “No other president would have done it.” “It” was his decree that imposed exorbitant tariffs on every other...
Together, We Will Prevail

1 week ago | fcnp.com | Nicholas F. Benton |Bill Fogarty |Penny Gross

The Falls Church City Council’s action to adopt a reasonable plan to allow and even incentivize affordable dwelling units, so-called “granny flats,” in the City by a unanimous 7-0 vote was a commendable and hopeful development. The process took almost a year, but with some singular exceptions, it was not as contentious and hostile as the years’ long tortured process that led to a transitional zone modifications which, as we are discovering, has not yet led to an armageddon.
Did DOGE Help Moscow Hack Into NLRB Files?

1 week ago | fcnp.com | Nicholas F. Benton |Bill Fogarty |Penny Gross

Tuesday’s whistleblower revelations are stunning concerning the raid by Elon Musk’s DOGE phalanx into sensitive files of the National Labor Relations Board, the evidence of a massive theft of data and the acknowledged attempt from a Russian IP address to extract it at the same time. Two Virginia lawmakers, U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly of Fairfax County and U.S. Senator Mark Warner, are in the forefront of efforts to address the issue.
Trumpism Calculus: Less Freedom, More Babies

2 weeks ago | fcnp.com | Nicholas F. Benton |Penny Gross

The Trump cult’s wholesale assault on women that has been an ongoing feature of America’s turbulent domestic life since the overturning of Roe Vs. Wade in 2022 has as its objective a falsely-perceived national security need to increase the birth rate. This can be concluded from the April 6 Washington Post article by Kelsey Ables under the headline, “Governments Want More Babies. Are Reproductive Freedoms At Risk?” and more, especially from sources related to the “manosphere” male reboot movement.
Penny Gross 4-10-2025

2 weeks ago | fcnp.com | Penny Gross |Mark Dreisonstok |Bill Fogarty |Ryan McCafferty

Discussion and debate have been the hallmarks of American college and university campuses for more than a couple of centuries, until now. Where different philosophies and points of view could be examined and expounded, usually safely despite raised voices in sometimes tense surroundings, today’s public and private institutions of higher learning are under attack by the Trump Administration.
Can “Abundance” Beat Trumpism?

3 weeks ago | fcnp.com | Nicholas F. Benton |Penny Gross

We are proud of Mayor Letty Hardi and Councilmember Justine Underhill for their whirlwind trip to San Francisco last week to participate as elected officials in an event hosted by what we believe is called the “Abundance Alliance.” Readers can check out our Page One article about this to get the drift of what it was all about, and, from our point of view, what is definitely promising and necessary about it.
A Penny for Your Thoughts 4-3-2025

3 weeks ago | fcnp.com | Penny Gross |Nicholas F. Benton

Hypocrisy. Duplicity. Stupidity. Incompetence. Words that barely begin to describe the actions of so many appointees in the Trump Administration in recent days. Add chutzpah, gall, nerve, insolence, and effrontery to the list and you have a vocabulary of behaviors that every parent fears for their children.
Painter Heads Panel Mulling ‘Exploring Arlington’s Next Chapter’

3 weeks ago | fcnp.com | Nicholas F. Benton |Penny Gross

Falls Church Chamber of Commerce leader Andrew Painter moderated one of three panels on the economic prospects of Arlington County going forward held in Crystal City Tuesday. Panelists at the conference produced by Bisnow, a New York-based business to business platform that generates scores of such events across the U.S. annually, generally engaged in painting lipstick on the calamity pig of Trump layoffs that are hitting the county with its 25,000 federal workers.