Terror, Tolls, and Politics As (Un)usual: A Random Sprint Through Reston News

• Farooque Ahmed, the Ashburn man accused of plotting to bomb a number of Virginia Metro stations, worked as a contractor at Ericsson in Reston. What's more, he was taken into custody in Herndon. That's what those of us (not) in the news business would call a "local angle two-fer."
  
  
• Here's what those of us (not) in the news business would call a "real shocker:" Dulles Toll Road tolls are going up by a quarter at the main toll booth outside of Tysons on Jan. 1. The "good" news is that ramp tolls will remain the same through 2012. Feeling ripped off? Apparently, it's still a bargain, at least to hear the airports authority explain it:

  According to the MWAA, the Dulles Toll Road still has one of the cheapest toll-per-mile rates, currently at 13 cents per mile, and it will go up to 15 and 17 cents per mile in 2011 and 2012, respectively. To compare, the Dulles Greenway is 32 cents per mile during off-peak hours, and the Beltway HOT lanes will be 43 cents per mile, according to estimates from project sponsors.

  Maybe it's just us, but comparing anything to the Greenway strikes us as an odd way to make the case that we're not getting shafted.
  
  
• Hunter Mill Road's Toll Road underpass will be closed again overnight from Nov. 1-5 as construction crews do something involving "bridge decking," or maybe just preparing to have a money fight with all those shiny new quarters they'll be getting. The same helpful detour is in place as last time.
  
  
• After reading those last two items, you're probably getting excited about someday forgetting about the whole Toll Road experience and just stone cold hopping on the Silver Line. Well, the good news is that the fancy tunnel taking the Metro under one of Tysons' most prestigious hillocks is now completed, though trains will return to the surface just in time to see the endless sea of car lots along Rt. 7. The bad news? The project is behind schedule. Blame "utility lines," whatever that means.
  
  
• So maybe riding your bike is a good idea then, right? Remember that time that Reston was in line for federal funds to build a vaguely socialist bike sharing system? Well, not so much anymore.
  
  
• Yay Reston's Fake Downtown, which just turned 20! The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors recently honored the real estate development "world-class urban model," along with James Cleveland, Hunter Richardson, and Jeffrey Kovach, who all played key roles in its development. Robert E. Simon and Cathy Hudgins were among the people who planted a fancy time capsule to be opened on Oct. 18, 2030. We're guessing the future denizens of the RestonWiehleTargetvilleMetroplex will be quite impressed by the cupcakes, cryogenically frozen yogurt and, whaazitcalled, "iPods."
  
  
• Nineteen-year-old Lee Wiggins was sentenced to 40 years in prison for the Easter 2009 murder of Siobhan Russell in Fox Mill.
  
  
• Following the traditional "preference poll," Beverly Cosham, William Keefe and Roger Lowen were named the selected appointees to the Reston Community Center Board of Governors. In Small Tax District #5, polls prefer you!
  
  
• Reston resident Richard Allen Beyer, currently a corporate vice president and member of the executive committee at Trimble Navigation Ltd., was named the first non-Jesuit president of Wheeling Jesuit University.
  
  
• Rockwell Collins, which is involved in, we don't know, strapping aviation electronics to dolphins, is consolidating operations in Sterling, including Reston employees who joined the company when it bought Information Technology and Applications Corp.
  
  
• TerreStar, which is involved in, we don't know, strapping dolphins to satellites, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
  
  
• We've said it before, and we'll say it again: People love puppies.
  
  
• With the elections on Tuesday, we've been remiss in covering much in terms of politics. But here, through the magic of the Twitters, are two exciting photos that capture the zeitgeist of Campaign 2010: Reston Style.
  
  
  
  Thanks to a Confidential Restonian Operative, here is an exciting cellular telephone photo of Republican Congressional candidate Patrick Murray's bus at North Point Shopping Center. We're not sure if he was there campaigning, just stopping by for ice cream, or if the bus had plowed into the red car in the foreground.
  
  And then there's the Rally to Restore Sanity And/Or Fear, which seems like something that would be up many Restonians' alley. Is anyone going?
  
  
  
  Apparently so.