Alison Beth Drucker, an environmental consultant with Falls Church-based JDM Associates, was walking her dog on the Quincy Street bridge on Monday, April 11, when police say a pickup truck traveling northbound on the bridge struck her and the dog.
The dog died on the scene. Drucker was taken to the hospital with critical injuries, including a head injury. She was eventually placed in a medically-induced coma by doctors and earlier today she passed away.
Stay here for live updates as storms make their way through our area tonight.
12:55 p.m. — With the exception of some isolated storminess in North Arlington, it looks like we’ve been spared from the latest batch of severe weather.
“A lot of people, they don’t really think about it, they just go out and grill,” said Arlington County Fire Department spokesman Lt. Gregg Karl. The end result, often times, looks like the video above, or like this news report from Spokane, Wash.
According to the U.S. Fire Administration, there are some 5,700 grill fires annually, causing 10 deaths, 100 injuries and tens of million of dollars worth of property damage. Many of those fires start in multifamily dwellings.
Over the past four weeks, we’ve asked photographers to head out with a camera and snap some photos of the action for our Crystal City ‘Flickr Flash’ Photo Contest. Ignoring rain and hunger pains (the races start at 6:30 p.m. on Fridays), photographers were able to capture more that 50 great shots.
We’ve now narrowed the submissions down to 10 finalists. Take a look below and vote for your three favorites. Voting will end at 3:00 p.m. on Friday. We’re offering the following prizes to the top three vote-getters:
The National Weather Service has issued a tornado watch for the region.
Arlington is among the counties placed under the tornado watch until 8:00 p.m. Storms are approaching the area from the southwest.
If you’re used to seeing the ugly, dangerous Route 50/Courthouse Road interchange, get ready for a big change. VDOT has released some sketches of what the interchange will look like by 2014.
Next month VDOT will begin work on a $39 million project to revamp the aging, confusing mess of on-ramps and off-ramps. The interchange’s bridges will be rebuilt and dedicated acceleration/deceleration lanes will be added.
There have been two minor but noteworthy developments in the Democratic primary battle for Mary Margaret Whipple’s state Senate seat.
Liz Chadderdon, a consultant who had been working with Barbara Favola’s campaign, has left the campaign. Political chatter suggests she may have quit.
In a report released this morning, the association said the Washington region has the 14th highest ozone (smog) levels in the country. Arlington itself was slightly less polluted than the District, with an average of 9.8 ‘high ozone’ days compared to 10.7 days in the District.
The average number of high ozone days in Arlington has been been falling steadily since reaching a high of 32 from 1997 to 1999 (see chart, left).
Board Approves Higher Towing Fees — It’s going to cost you an additional $10 if your car gets towed in Arlington. The County Board last night voted 3-2 to increase the maximum towing fee from $115 to $125, five dollars higher than the maximum rate in the District. The board rejected a recommendation that would have added $25 to tows performed on nights, weekends and holidays. [Sun Gazette]
‘British Goodies’ For Royal Wedding — Want to go all-out for the royal wedding Friday morning? Pick up some Yorkshire Gold tea and some Branston Pickle from the Classic Cigars & British Goodies store (2907 Wilson Blvd) in Arlington. [Patch]
