Fairfax City|News|
Op-Ed by Sen. Tim Kaine: Obama Should Block the Keystone Pipeline

Jennifer van der Kleut (formerly Jennifer McBride) was born and raised in the southern San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California. She graduated from the School of Journalism and Mass Communications at San Jose State University. She was a full-time writer for Silicon Valley Community Newsgroup from 2004 to 2006, writing for newspapers such as the Los Gatos Weekly and Saratoga News, among others. She wrote the weekly history column Los Gatos: Now and Then for the Los Gatos Daily News throughout 2007, and was a contributing editor at South Bay Accent Magazine from 2008 to 2009. She has also lent her voice to many other publications such as the Los Gatos Weekender and the online Brizzly Guide.
Jennifer was one of the very first freelance writers to contribute to many of the first Bay Patch sites in the Bay Area when they first launched in the fall of 2010. After contributing for more than a year and a half, Jennifer was hired on as an official Patch employee in May of 2012. She is very excited to be a full-fledged member of the Patch family.
In California, Jennifer served as the interim editor for Milpitas Patch in the South Bay, an associate editor for the San Mateo and Foster City Patch sites on the Peninsula, and then served as the head local editor for RedwoodCity-Woodside Patch, before transferring to the east coast in April of 2013.
Jennifer is now the local editor for both Herndon Patch and Fairfax City Patch. She loves being a part of these two communities and getting to know her new home in Northern Virginia.
Jennifer currently lives in the Clifton/Centreville with her husband, Alex and her two sons, Connor, born in Sept. 2007, and Oliver, or Ollie, born in May 2010.

Rust invites local women to join him for brunch at his Herndon campaign headquarters on Wednesday.
Plus, another 630 or so throughout Fairfax County are reporting outages.
The Virginia DMV will be showing off its new 'DMV 2 Go' mobile office at locations in Fairfax City this coming week.
Great titles for grades 6-12 to keep your child's brain active during the summer vacation, courtesy of Fairfax County Schools.
Monsters University is a new release by the magicians over at Pixar who seem able, metaphorically speaking, to pull a cute cartoon rabbit from what seems like a very empty hat.
Monsters University is a new release by the magicians over at Pixar who seem able, metaphorically speaking, to pull a cute cartoon rabbit from what seems like a very empty hat.
Plus, a cab driver tapes a former Redskins cheerleader dropping the F bomb...and living the sweet life at a retirement community.
Plus, a cab driver tapes a former Redskins cheerleader dropping the F bomb...and living the sweet life at a retirement community.
A new exhibit opens this Saturday night, and each Saturday night for the next several weeks.
Residents of the Town's Presidents Court development take offense to claims in former councilman Jasbinder Singh's recent blog post.
The Democratic candidates for governor and attorney general call project "an example of what happens when people work together," take Republican opponents to task for not supporting project in the past.
See what's in theaters in and around Fairfax City this weekend.
Fairfax City Mayor Scott Silverthorne to participate.
A robbery on Tovito Drive escalated when a victim, 17, allegedly pulled out a handgun and fired.
Bennett Rill, 14, died on Tuesday.
Bennett Rill, 14, died on Tuesday.
A robbery on the street escalated when a victim pulled out a handgun and fired.
Bennett Rill, 14, died on Tuesday.
The City's 'Our Parks, Our Future' initiative aims to solicit feedback from the community on exactly what City residents want out of their parks and recreation opportunities.