This and That: A Random Pegleg Through Reston News

• Residents raised school budget concerns at a public hearing at the Reston Regional Library on Saturday, as described in a highly perceptive article called "Residents Raise School Budget Concerns." Said article did not discuss the plans to cut language immersion programs like the one at Lake Anne Elementary, full-day kindergarten, and other programs, but that's what's on the table. Another public hearing is being held tonight at 7pm in the South Lakes High School cafeteria; visit fairfaxcounty.gov/budget for details.
  
  
• Reston-Herndon is one of five sites where Fairfax County health officials are giving the swine flu vaccine, but supplies are limited. Check the Twitters all the kids are talking about for updates on availability.
  
  
• Speaking of which, you may think we have problems with the swine flu, but in the Philippines, our very own hometown pathogen, Ebola Reston, has jumped from pigs to fruit bats. PANIC
  
  
• Ten fancy low-power LED streetlights will be installed in Reston as part of a pilot project, thereby solving the energy crisis forever. As a result, part of Bluemont Street will forever be known as the Reston Demonstration Lighting Area, and future generations of school children will be forced to visit it on field trips, assuming enough oil still exists to power school buses.
  
  
• Don't get too excited about recent progress on Metro's awesome Silver Line, as some grassroots organizers developers are still trying to derail it (get it?) in court.
  
  
• The ice skating rink at Reston Town Center opens this weekend, just in time for that famous winter holiday, Halloween. Or you could celebrate All Hallow's Eve by attending another seasonally appropriate event -- the Reston Association's public hearing on its proposed 2010-11 budget at 10am this Saturday. Spills and chills promised for all!
  
  
• The Reston Community Players debut their new fully clothed play, Curtains, one of them fancy "play within a plays" that make our heads hurt. Whatever happened to crowd-pleasers like dancing cats?