1.
Alexandria, Virginia
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Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is coterminous with the U. S. Census Bureau-census-designated place of Arlington, as a result, the county is often referred to in the region simply as Arlington or Arlington, Virginia. In 2015, the population was estimated at 229,164. The land that became Arlington was originally donated by Virginia to the United States government to form part of the new federal district of Columbia. In 1846, Congress returned the land southwest of the Potomac River donated by Virginia due to issues involving Congressional representation, the General Assembly of Virginia changed the countys name to Arlington in 1920 to avoid confusion with the adjacent City of Alexandria. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the bank of the Potomac River directly across from Washington. Arlington is also bordered by Fairfax County and City of Falls Church to the northwest, west and southwest, as of the 2010 census, the population was 207,627. Due to the proximity to downtown Washington, D. C. It is also home to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, the many federal agencies, government contractors, and service industries contribute to Arlingtons stable economy. It is the county in the United States by median family income. According to a 2016 study by Bankrate. com, Arlington is the best place to retire, the area that now constitutes Arlington County was originally part of Fairfax County in the Colony of Virginia. Land grants from the British monarch were awarded to prominent Englishmen in exchange for political favors, one of the grantees was Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron, who lends his name to both Fairfax County and the City of Fairfax. George Washington Parke Custis, grandson of First Lady Martha Washington, the estate was eventually passed down to Mary Anna Custis Lee, wife of General Robert E. Lee. The property later became Arlington National Cemetery during the American Civil War, the area that now contains Arlington County was ceded to the new United States federal government by the Commonwealth of Virginia. With the passage of the Residence Act in 1790, Congress approved a new permanent capital to be located on the Potomac River, the Residence Act originally only allowed the President to select a location within Maryland as far east as what is now the Anacostia River. However, President Washington shifted the federal territorys borders to the southeast in order to include the city of Alexandria at the Districts southern tip. In 1791, Congress amended the Residence Act to approve the new site, however, this amendment to the Residence Act specifically prohibited the erection of the public buildings otherwise than on the Maryland side of the River Potomac. As permitted by the U. S. Constitution, the shape of the federal district was a square, measuring 10 miles on each side
2.
Virginia
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Virginia is a state located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, as well as in the historic Southeast. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay, the capital of the Commonwealth is Richmond, Virginia Beach is the most populous city, and Fairfax County is the most populous political subdivision. The Commonwealths estimated population as of 2014 is over 8.3 million, the areas history begins with several indigenous groups, including the Powhatan. In 1607 the London Company established the Colony of Virginia as the first permanent New World English colony, slave labor and the land acquired from displaced Native American tribes each played a significant role in the colonys early politics and plantation economy. Although the Commonwealth was under one-party rule for nearly a century following Reconstruction, the Virginia General Assembly is the oldest continuous law-making body in the New World. The state government was ranked most effective by the Pew Center on the States in both 2005 and 2008 and it is unique in how it treats cities and counties equally, manages local roads, and prohibits its governors from serving consecutive terms. Virginias economy changed from agricultural to industrial during the 1960s and 1970s. Virginia has an area of 42,774.2 square miles, including 3,180.13 square miles of water. Virginias boundary with Maryland and Washington, D. C. extends to the mark of the south shore of the Potomac River. The southern border is defined as the 36° 30′ parallel north, the border with Tennessee was not settled until 1893, when their dispute was brought to the U. S. Supreme Court. The Chesapeake Bay separates the portion of the Commonwealth from the two-county peninsula of Virginias Eastern Shore. The bay was formed from the river valleys of the Susquehanna River. Many of Virginias rivers flow into the Chesapeake Bay, including the Potomac, Rappahannock, York, and James, the Tidewater is a coastal plain between the Atlantic coast and the fall line. It includes the Eastern Shore and major estuaries of Chesapeake Bay, the Piedmont is a series of sedimentary and igneous rock-based foothills east of the mountains which were formed in the Mesozoic era. The region, known for its clay soil, includes the Southwest Mountains around Charlottesville. The Blue Ridge Mountains are a province of the Appalachian Mountains with the highest points in the state. The Ridge and Valley region is west of the mountains and includes the Great Appalachian Valley, the region is carbonate rock based and includes Massanutten Mountain. The Cumberland Plateau and the Cumberland Mountains are in the southwest corner of Virginia, in this region, rivers flow northwest, with a dendritic drainage system, into the Ohio River basin
3.
Fairfax County Public Schools
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The Fairfax County Public Schools system is a school division in the U. S. commonwealth of Virginia. It is a branch of the Fairfax County government which administers public schools in Fairfax County, all Fairfax County Public Schools are accredited through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School Improvement. With over 180,000 students enrolled, FCPS is the largest public school system in Virginia, the school division is led by interim division superintendent Steve Lockard. The school division is the 10th largest school system in the nation, the first Superintendent of Schools for Fairfax County was Thomas M. Moore, who was sworn in on September 26,1870. At the time of its creation, the Fairfax County Public Schools system consisted of 41 schools,28 white and 13 colored schools, in 1886, Milton D. Hall was appointed superintendent. He would serve for 44 years until his retirement in 1929, Fairfax County Schools like most Southern Schools were under De jure segregation. There were local elementary schools for students but not high schools. Although Fairfax was a populated area there were proportionately few Negro high school students. Fairfax, Prince William and Fauquier Counties shared the high school for black students, the school was centrally located between the counties in Manassas. Others attended high schools in Washington D. C. where many had relatives and those schools were Armstrong High School, Cardozo High School, Dunbar High School, and Phelps Vocational Center in Washington DC. In 1951 Fairfax County, at the request of residents for a high school. The opening coincided with the Brown decision passed in 1954, in 1954 Supreme court ruling prevailed to end racial segregation. When Arlington County announced an early attempt at a desegregation plan, richmond removed any possibility of local option. It was recognized in cases that it was the state who was running the show. The ruling from the court stated Prior to the Brown decision1 Fairfax County maintained a school system, one for Negro students. Shortly thereafter the placement of all children in the Fairfax County schools was taken from the local School Board, the assignment of students remained with the state Board until the 1961-62 school year, at which time placement responsibilities were reinvested in the local School Board. Fairfax County began their desegregation efforts shortly thereafter, as early as 1955 it was noted that in the Virginia General Assembly, Delegates from Northern Virginia openly opposed the Stanley plans as well as calls for even more radical legislation. Virginias 10th district was the congressional district to vote against the Gray Plan
4.
Stephen Foster
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Stephen Collins Foster, known as the father of American music, was an American songwriter primarily known for his parlor and minstrel music. Foster wrote over 200 songs, among his best-known are Oh, Susanna, Hard Times Come Again No More, Camptown Races, Old Folks at Home, My Old Kentucky Home, Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair, Old Black Joe, and Beautiful Dreamer. Many of his compositions remain popular more than 150 years after he wrote them and his compositions are thought to be autobiographical. He has been identified as the most famous songwriter of the nineteenth century and his compositions are sometimes referred to as childhood songs because they have been included in the music curriculum of early education. Most of his music manuscripts are lost, but copies printed by publishers of his day can be found in various collections. There are many biographers who have published works on the life of Stephen Collins Foster, in addition, Foster wrote very little biographical information himself. His brother Morrison Foster destroyed much of the information about Stephen that he judged to reflect negatively upon the family, Stephen Foster was born on July 4,1826. His parents were William Barclay Foster and Eliza Clayland Tomlinson and he was the youngest of three sisters and six brothers. Foster attended private academies in Allegheny, Athens, and Towanda and he received an education in English grammar, diction, the classics, penmanship, Latin, Greek, and mathematics. Though they lived in a northern city, his family did not support the abolition of slavery. His older brother Morrison was an influence throughout Stephens life. Foster was able to teach himself to play the clarinet, violin, guitar, flute and he did not have formal instruction in composition but he was helped by Henry Kleber, a German-born music dealer in Pittsburgh. Kleber was a songwriter, impresario, accompanist, and conductor, in 1839, his elder brother William was serving his apprenticeship as an engineer at nearby Towanda and thought Stephen would benefit from being under his supervision. The site of the Camptown Races is 30 miles from Athens, PA, Stephen attended Athens Academy from 1839 to 1841. He wrote his first composition, Tioga Waltz while attending Athens Academy and performed it during the 1841 commencement exercises and it was not published during the composers lifetime, but it is included in the collection of published works by Morrison Foster. Fosters education included a period at Jefferson College in Washington. His tuition was paid, but he had little spending money and he left Canonsburg to visit Pittsburgh with another student and did not return. During his teenage years, Foster was influenced by two men, Henry Kleber, one of Fosters few formal music instructors, was a classically trained musician who emigrated from Darmstadt, Germany, to Pittsburgh and opened a music store. Dan Rice was an entertainer, a clown, and blackface singer, in 1846, Foster moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, and became a bookkeeper with his brothers steamship company
5.
Kentucky's 7th congressional district
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United States House of Representatives, Kentucky District 7 was a district of the United States Congress in Kentucky. It was eliminated in 1993 when reapportionment reduced Kentuckys House representation from seven seats to six, the eastern Kentucky region formerly in the 7th District is now largely in the 5th District. The last Congressman to represent the 7th District was Carl C, Perkins, who succeeded his father, Carl D. Perkins. The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress, the Historical Atlas of United States Congressional Districts. Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present
6.
Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
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The Vice Chairman outranks all respective heads of each service branch, with the exception of the Chairman, but does not have operational command authority over their service branches. The Goldwater–Nichols Act of 1986 created the position of VJCS to assist the Chairman in exercising his duties, the chain of command runs from the President to the Secretary of Defense directly to the commanders of the Unified Combatant Commands. The Vice Chairman is nominated by the President for appointment and must be confirmed via majority vote by the Senate, the Chairman and Vice Chairman may not be members of the same armed force service branch. However, the President may waive that restriction for a period of time in order to provide for the orderly transition of officers appointed to serve in those positions. The Vice Chairman serves a term of office at the pleasure of the President. In case of times of war or national emergency, there is no limit to how many times an officer can be reappointed to serve as Vice Chairman, historically, the Vice Chairman has served two terms. By statute, the Vice Chairman is appointed as a general or admiral. Centered on the flag is an American bald eagle with wings spread horizontally, the talons grasp three crossed arrows. A shield with blue chief and thirteen red and white stripes is on the eagle’s breast, diagonally, from upper fly to lower hoist are four five-pointed stars, medium blue on the white, two above the eagle, and two below. The fringe is yellow, the cord and tassels are medium blue, the design was approved by Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger on 20 January 1987. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Defense Acquisition Board Deputys Advisory Working Group, Joint Requirements Oversight Council Official site
