2025 is coming to a close, and it has certainly been a year to remember. As we prepare to ring in 2026, we look back at some of the pivotal events that shaped the region in 2025.
January 20: President Donald Trump is inaugurated
January 28: With input from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, Trump offers federal worker buyouts
January 29: Sixty-seven people are killed when a plane and military helicopter collide near DCA
February 28: Grand opening of Virginia Tech and UVA Northern Virginia campuses
March 28: Cherry blossoms hit peak bloom
March 29: Vienna’s Ilia Malinin wins his second World Figure Skating title
April 6: Washington Capitals player Alex Ovechkin scores a history-making 895 career goals
April 10: Texas lawmakers announce their intent to move the Space Shuttle Discovery from the Smithsonian’s Udvar-Hazy Center
May 21: U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly dies
June 12: FCPS buys King Abdullah Academy and plans to open it as a new high school
June 30: Virginia’s first Buc-ee’s opens
July 8: ICE arrests spike in NoVA
July 17: Spotted lanternflies hit adulthood and descend on the region
July 24: Flavor Hive opens its first brick-and-mortar restaurant in Annandale
July 25: Department of Education issues Title IX violations against all five NoVA school districts
August 1: George Mason University’s Board of Visitors votes to keep Gregory Washington as the school’s president
August 18: NoVA school districts begin the academic year with new cellphone policies; FCPS middle and high schools have also added metal detectors to their lobbies
August 31: The Restaurant at Patowmack Farm closes
September 9: The Udvar-Hazy Center announces plans for expansion
September 10: James Walkinshaw wins Connolly’s 11th District House seat
September 11: NoVA leaders speak out about Charlie Kirk’s assassination
October 1: Government shutdown begins
October 16: Merrifield Garden Center sells Gainesville land to data center developer
October 18: Thousands turn out for No Kings protests across the region
November 4: Abigail Spanberger is elected Virginia’s first female governor
November 12: The Inn at Little Washington loses a Michelin star
November 13: The longest government shutdown in U.S. history ends
Feature image of Donald Trump, public domain
