News

In this week’s Arlington County crime report, we find two similar cases of sexual battery. In each case, the suspect is alleged to have committed the crime while riding a bicycle.

SEXUAL BATTERY 12/04/10, 2800 block of N. 11th Street. On December 4 at 2 am, a woman was walking when an unknown male rode past her on a bicycle and grabbed her buttocks. After the woman walked further, the same suspect rode by her again, and assaulted her a second time. The suspect was wearing a dark knit cap and a dark jacket. He also had long dark hair.


News

County Attorney Stephen MacIsaac says the county has a number of arguments to counter the lawsuit’s claims. The suit argues that regulators are infringing on a small business owner’s free speech by deeming a large mural painted on the side of her building a commercial sign and not artwork.

“I think it should be fairly apparent under the sign ordinance that this is a sign,” MacIsaac said. The mural is “clearly an effort to promote this woman’s business… to depict it as public art, I think, is a bit of a stretch.”


Around Town

With nearly 60 cats and kittens awaiting adoption, the shelter has reached capacity. Yet for every cat that’s adopted, two more come in, according to a staffer. And other shelters in the area are at or near capacity as well.

To help spur more adoptions, the AWLA is waiving the adoption fees for all cats at least three years old through the end of the year. See the cats currently up for adoption here.


Events

It’s a plot straight from a Tom Clancy novel — except it’s real.

In 1974, the CIA embarked on an outlandish, secret $350 million project to salvage a sunken Soviet ballistic missile submarine from three miles below the North Pacific. Under the cover of an undersea mining operation sponsored by the eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes, some of the country’s best and brightest were given the task of figuring out how to raise millions of pounds of steel from a nearly unreachable depth.


Traffic

It’s a slow go for commuters on Route 50 and Columbia Pike this morning. And it’s an even slower commute for those on I-395.

Nearly the entire length of northbound I-395 is slow, from the Beltway to the 14th Street Bridge. HOV commuters, however, have it relatively easy.


News

Read My Lips, No New Taxis — County staff is taking a hard line on taxi cabs, recommending that the board reject a request to add 75 taxis to Arlington’s current licensed fleet of 765 cabs. More from the Sun Gazette.

Long Bridge Park Construction Continues — Despite the budgetary challenges, the county board has reaffirmed its commitment to complete all phases of the Long Bridge Park project near Crystal City. More from TBD.