December 13, 2011 | ARLnow.com

LeoNora Bakery Now Open in Clarendon

Published December 13, 2011 at 4:12PM

It’s the first brick-and-mortar storefront for LeoNora and its Colombian-born, French-trained owner, Carolina Garcia. Garcia started LeoNora as a baked good delivery service out of her home. She started renting out the kitchen of a local restaurant after the business grew too big for her home — and now she has a place to call her own after outgrowing the shared kitchen.

With the shop open, Garcia says she’s now going to focus on growing in-store sales — though she’s still offering delivery service for baked good orders over $50.

Traffic

Traffic Signals Installed at Wilson Blvd Intersection

By ARLnow.com

Published December 13, 2011 at 3:04PM | Updated December 14, 2011 at 3:58PM

New traffic signals were being installed today at the busy intersection of Wilson Boulevard and N. Pollard Street in Ballston, near the Gold’s Gym and the Wiinky’s burger restaurant.

The installation comes about three months after the Sun Gazette reported, in an article entitled “Residents Find Developer Payments Don’t Translate Into Traffic-Signal Installation,” that a developer had agreed to contribute $150,000 toward the addition of traffic signals at the intersection back in 2004. At the time of the article, the County Manager Barbara Donnellan promised to investigate why the traffic signal had not yet been installed.

Around Town

Parks and Rec Class Registration Crashes, Again

By ARLnow.com

Published December 13, 2011 at 1:39PM

Registration for winter parks and recreation classes, popular with school-aged children, opened at 8:00 a.m. The registration website was beset by technical problems within 5 minutes of the opening, but was back up and working by 8:15 a.m., according to Arlington Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources spokeswoman Susan Kalish.

Even though the problems lasted less than 15 minutes, some parents — who rushed to register their children for classes before the classes filled up — weren’t pleased. Similar technical problems have plagued the class registration system in the past.

News

Fire at Berkeley Apartments

By ARLnow.com

Published December 13, 2011 at 12:13PM | Updated December 13, 2011 at 1:46PM

(Updated at 1:45 p.m.) A fire broke out at the Berkeley Apartments building at 2900 S. Glebe Road this morning.

Flames and heavy smoke were spotted coming from a second-floor apartment just after 11:30 a.m. Firefighters from Arlington, Alexandria and Fairfax responded and were able to extinguish the flames within minutes, said Arlington County Fire Department spokesman Lt. Gregg Karl.

Around Town

H-B Woodlawn Grad Selected for Sundance Film Fest

By ARLnow.com

Published December 13, 2011 at 10:53AM | Updated January 5, 2012 at 1:45AM

When Cutter Hodierne got the call, at 11:00 p.m. on the day before Thanksgiving, he assumed it was a prank.

News

Fmr. Top Soldier Given Jail Time for Slugging Incident

By ARLnow.com

Published December 13, 2011 at 9:30AM

Last fall, McKinney was accused of hitting a man with his car along S. Eads Street in Pentagon City, following an argument. Police say the man, whom McKinney had picked up in a slug line, demanded to be let out of the car after McKinney started speeding and driving erratically on the highway. McKinney pulled off at Pentagon City and let the man out, but then struck him with his car, police said.

WTOP reports that an Arlington County Circuit Court judge sentenced McKinney to a year in prison on each charge, but suspended most of the sentence and credited McKinney for time served.

News

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Published December 13, 2011 at 8:30AM

Rehabbed Bridge to Be More Ped-Friendly — Arlington County is preparing to rehabilitate the Carlin Springs Road bridge over George Mason Drive, and the bridge’s chosen design will make it much more pedestrian-friendly. Currently, the bridge only has a pair of 5 foot sidewalks. The new bridge will have 8 foot sidewalks and 5 foot bike lanes on either side, but with narrower lanes for cars and no center divider. [Greater Greater Washington]

Arlington HQ’d Firm Gets New Name — The security contractor formerly known as Blackwater — now headquartered in Arlington — has a new name. The company’s name was changed to ‘Xe’ about three years ago, amid controversy over Blackwater’s role in civilian deaths in Iraq. On Monday the name was changed again, to ‘Academi.’ [Washington Post]