March 7 - 13, 2024
Falls Church, Virginia • w w w . fc n p . c o m • Free
Founded 1991 • Vol. XXXIV No. 4
The City of Falls Church’s Independent, Locally-Owned Newspaper of Record, Serving N. Virginia
F.C. GOP Voters Clobber Trump
Onward to Carnegie Hall
Around Here, Haley Won Primary By a Landslide
by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
Nikki Haley crushed Donald Trump, 876 to 267, among voters who cast GOP ballots in the City of Falls Church during Super Tuesday primary voting this Tuesday. That amounted to 75 percent for Haley to 22.8 percent for Trump, a stunning blowout majority. On the Democratic side, President Joe Biden ran away with over 90 percent of the votes cast, reflecting a statewide and national pattern. While Trump easily won the GOP primary statewide in Virginia, in Northern Virginia among Falls Church’s jurisdictional neighbors, the result was the exact opposite. Trump’s lone challenger, former South Carolina Governor Haley, who has since dropped out after winning only one of 12 state primaries Tuesday, overwhelmed Trump by wide margins not unlike the one in Falls Church. The GOP voting in this region produced results comparable to Falls Church’s. In Arlington and Alexandria, for example, Haley ran away with 73.7 and 71,4 percent of the votes to 23.8 and 25.7 percent for Trump. In Fairfax County, the margin was closer, but still went for Haley by 56 to 41.5 percent. In Fairfax City, it was 56.6 percent for Haley and 39.45 percent for Trump. All the other candidates on the GOP ballot, Ron DeSantis, Chris Christie, Ryan Binkley
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THE 55-MEMBER MERIDIAN WIND Ensemble achieved consecutive superior ratings at the District X Assessment for stage performance and sight reading. Their next performance will be at Carnegie Hall in New York City April 1. (Photo: FCCPS)
Meridian Girls Head to Title Game in Richmond
by Nicholas F. Benton & Ryan McCafferty
Having made it to the Virginia High School League’s Class 3 Final in Richmond, the girls basketball team from Falls Church’s Meridian High School will tip off Friday night against the Liberty Christian Academy from Lynchburg at the Siegel Center at 6 p.m. Liberty Christian comes in as a powerhouse, the only private school that participates in the VHSL coming as the result of a lawsuit in 2015 by which they were granted entry. The private school, founded by the late Rev. Jerry Falwell who later founded Liberty University in the same city, had sought $1.5 million damages in
its antitrust lawsuit against the VHSL It was settled when an emergency meeting of representatives from almost 300 of the VHSL’s 314 member schools was held in May 2015 at the Piedmont Community College and agreed to terms of the settlement. The agreement also allowed other private schools to apply for membership in the VHSL. Liberty Christian’s website states that the school “has not adopted either the Virginia Standards of Learning or Common Core standards,” but is “committed to strong academic standards through a Biblical framework.” After beating Lafayette on the road on Tuesday, the Meridian High School girls’ basketball
team earned a semi-home game in the State Semifinals as they faced the Lake Taylor Titans in Alexandria. Taylor had just defeated Brentsville, who beat Meridian in the Regional Finals last week, but they also lost to the same Lafayette squad that the Mustangs up-ended, so this one was set to be a dogfight. That it was, and it would be evident right from the opening tip. Meridian gave up the first two points before Ellie Friesen made a three, and then she hit another one moments later to put the Mustangs ahead 8-5. Taylor would go ahead 17-12 after a quarter, though, and stayed ahead 27-22 at the end of the half, as Friesen all but singlehandedly kept Meridian in the game with her 13 points at the
intermission. But the Mustangs had been in this situation before, having also trailed Lafayette at halftime on Tuesday before taking over down the stretch, and head coach Chris Carrico was sure to adjust his team back into it. Sure enough, the tide began to turn after the break as some other Mustangs got involved, with Nora Stufft hitting a few big shots at the rim and Charlotte Lieu making two free throws to tie the game at 32. Lieu then made a three-pointer to give Meridian the lead late in the third quarter, but a 7-0 Taylor run – highlighted by some unpopular officiating – put the Titans back ahead by
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