Around Town

Army Chief Apologizes for Mismanagement at Arlington National Cemetery — Poor record-keeping and inept management has resulted in hundreds of misidentified or unmarked graves at Arlington National Cemetery, the military revealed. At a press conference, Secretary of the Army John McHugh apologized to families whose loved one’s final resting place was affected by the mix-ups. He also promised to reform the “dysfunctional” management culture at the cemetery. Two of the top cemetery administrators are being forced out as a result of the Army probe. More from the Washington Post.

Battle Lines Drawn for East Falls Church Redevelopment Fight — A plan to redevelop the area around the East Falls Church Metro Station has many East Falls Church residents up in arms. Michael Perkins of the blog Greater Greater Washington, however, is singing the plan’s praises, saying it would “transform the East Falls Church Metro area into a mixed-use, pedestrian, bicycle and transit-oriented community.” More from Greater Greater Washington.


Around Town

The closing left clients and customers holding worthless gift cards and unpaid bills.

The owners of the Shirlington building that housed the store had to hold a cash liquidation sale earlier this year, telling ARLnow.com that the company had stopped paying its rent in October and had not even bothered to declare bankruptcy. The company simply walked away from the lease, the landlords said, forcing them to sell the remaining merchandise themselves in order to recover some of their losses.


News

In this week’s Arlington County Crime Report, we find two cases of young women assaulting police officers.

ASSAULT ON POLICE-ARREST 06/02/10, 1000 block of S. Hayes Street. On June 2 at 8:30 pm, a woman was caught shoplifting at a mall. She then spit on a security guard and assaulted a police officer. Shanta Watson, 18, of Washington D.C., was charged with Assault on Law Enforcement, Assault and Battery, Identity Theft and Petit Larceny. She was held on a $7,500 bond.


Events

The two-hour live broadcast will focus exclusively on Arlington and how it’s “a county of contradictions — a blue county in a red state; home to the Pentagon and communities of people from around the globe.”

The discussion will take place at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Parish (3304 Washington Blvd) from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 15. The public is encouraged to attend and participate.


Around Town

Lessons we learned while gathering information about local bars and their World Cup specials:

Soccer is a game meant to be watched with a large group of loud and inebriated fans, so go ahead, summon your old middle school soccer ambitions and yell out those rare soccer-related phrases you remember from the matches (“CORNER KICK!” and “STRIKER!”).


Around Town

Columbia Pike Blues Festival Nine Days Away — The annual Columbia Pike Blues Festival is just over a week away, but now’s the time to get excited. We Love DC has come out with their top five reasons to check out the festivities. Number 4: the performance by 16-year-old jazz wunderkind Matt Wigler, dubbed “the blues version of Stephen Strasburg.”

Bike Sharing System Named, Minor Controversy Ensues — It’s like the 2000 election all over again. After asking the public to vote on a new name for the recently-announced Arlington-D.C. bike sharing system, Arlington County and DDOT decided to ignore the name that got the most first place votes — “George” — and go with the name that got the most first, second and third place votes — “Capital Bikeshare.” Some blog commenters have been bemoaning the choice of a generic, non-interesting name, but hey, at least officials took the time to explain why Capital Bikeshare is a better name than George, right?


Around Town

The sandwich features a beef patty, a hot dog (for Strasburg’s pro debut with the Phoenix Desert Dogs), “Syracuse orange” cheddar cheese (for his promotion to the Triple-A Syracus Chiefs) and 14 pickle slices (for his 14 strikeouts last night).

In what could be described as a tribute to Strasburg’s record-breaking $15.1 million contract, the Strasburger costs a whopping $10.99. But what you get is pretty tasty.


News

Despite a lopsided fundraising disadvantage, retired Army colonel Patrick Murray managed to narrowly defeat his organized and well-connected opponent, government attorney Matthew Berry, in a contest to see who will face ten-term Democratic congressman Jim Moran in the fall.

Berry called Murray to concede the race just before 9:00 last night. Murray won with 7,133 votes, or 51.75 percent of the vote, to Berry’s 6651 vote, or 48.25 percent.


News

Every afternoon for the past week — and quite possibly for longer than that — this Loudoun County Transit bus has parked itself on the right shoulder of the busy ramp from Route 110 to Route 1 in Pentagon City, forcing cars to veer to the left as they drive by.

Other commuter buses in the area like to idle on the side of bumpy, narrow Old Jefferson Davis Highway while waiting to pick up passengers in Crystal City, but for some reason this bus likes the on-ramp.


Events

Hear screenplays written by budding (and brave) local screenwriters — then offer gratuitous praise or withering (constructive) criticism.

The colorful list of screenplays to be read include “Plus One,” about a retired couple who “attempt” to have a threesome, and “BETA VHS R.I.P.” about a Betamax salesman whose world is turned upside down in 1982 when a Japanese salesman comes into town with a VHS player.


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