According to its Facebook page, the store will offer “over 35 olive oils and aged balsamic vinegars… bottled on the premises for you.” The oils will be imported from around the world and dispensed from air-tight tanks, which will “[ensure] the best flavor intensity.” Each purchase will include recipes and mixing ideas.
The store will also offer olive oil-based soaps, skin and hair care products and a limited selection of foods to accompany the oils and vinegars.
APS High Schools Ranked in Top One Percent — Arlington’s public high schools each ranked in the top one percent of the Washington Post’s national Challenge Index rankings. H-B Woodlawn ranked the highest at #46, and was #1 among Washington area high schools. Wakefield was at the bottom of the pack at #367 nationally and #50 locally. The Challenge Index measures the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and Cambridge tests taken by all students at a high school in 2010. [Arlington Public Schools]
Lopez Attracts Local Political Support — House of Delegates 49th District candidate Alfonso Lopez has named County Board Chairman Chris Zimmerman and County Sheriff Beth Arthur as co-chairs of his campaign. Lopez will face Stephanie Dix Clifford in the August 23 Democratic primary. [Sun Gazette]
A suspected gas explosion rocked a high-rise senior living community near Ballston this morning.
One person was flown to a burn center after the explosion, inside The Carlin apartments at 4300 N. Carlin Springs Road, according to Arlington Fire Department spokesman Lt. Gregg Karl. No other injuries were reported.
A number of road closures are planned for the annual Bike DC ride through the District and Arlington. The route, which starts at the Capitol, will take cyclists across the Roosevelt Bridge, up the GW Parkway and down to the Air Force Memorial, before returning to the District.
As a result, the following streets will be closed to vehicular traffic from about 7:00 to 11:00 a.m.
The Renaissance Arlington Capital View Hotel (2800 S. Potomac Avenue) in Crystal City held a swank grand opening celebration last night.
The NYC-based musical duo of electric violinist Caitlin Moe and DJ Mia Moretti performed for a stylishly-attired crowd. Waiters and waitresses dressed as fashionable flight attendants served signature cocktails and international hors d’oeuvres, in keeping with the party’s “jet set” theme.
If so, indulge the kid’s obsession at Arlington Central Library’s “truck petting zoo.”
From 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, various types of work vehicles will be on display at the library’s (1015 N. Quincy Street) east parking lot, near the tennis courts. Kids of all ages are invited to touch and explore the vehicles up close.
(Updated at 12:20 p.m.) The basement of a home in Alcova Heights caught fire this morning.
Firefighters were able to quickly extinguish the smoky blaze, which broke out just before 11:00 a.m. on the 3700 block of 8th Street S.
The agency says construction on the new bridge will begin this summer and will wrap up in fall 2012 — a bit later than originally anticipated. The entire 100-foot-long bridge deck will be replaced with pre-cast concrete panels, and will be 27 feet wider than the existing bridge. The extra width will be used to install a 10-foot wide sidewalk, a 17-foot wide shared-use path and a new northbound turn lane. There will also be new traffic signals, “decorative wrought-iron picket fencing” and LED lighting.
On Thursday, June 2, at 7:00 p.m., VDOT will hold a ‘pardon our dust’ meeting for community members at Thomas Jefferson Middle School (125 S. Old Glebe Road).
South Block Smoothie & Burrito Co. is telling fans on Facebook that it hopes to open at the corner of 11th and Garfield Streets “around the 4th of July.” The store will offer real fruit smoothies, whole wheat burritos, salad wraps, acai bowls and Pleasant Pops, according to its web site.
South Block is located in a 714-square-foot storefront on the ground floor of the Clarendon Center project’s ‘south block’ building. It’s being launched by Amir Mostafavi, who owns the Campus Fresh store in George Washington University’s Lerner Health & Wellness Center.
A group dedicated to legalizing backyard chicken keeping in Arlington met in Fairlington last night to discuss their strategy for winning the support of fellow residents and, in turn, the county government.
An unscientific poll conducted on ARLnow.com last week found that most respondents were amenable to the idea of urban chicken ownership.
APS Names New Williamsburg Principal — The Arlington School Board has appointed Dr. Ann McCarty as the new principal of Williamsburg Middle School. McCarty, who has been a middle school principal in Falls Church, replaces Kathleen Francis, who was shown the door in February after sending a lengthy resignation letter to parents. The letter was harshly critical of Superintendent Dr. Patrick Murphy. [Arlington Public Schools]
Remembering Desegregation in Arlington — A town hall was held earlier this week to discuss the legacy of desegregation in Arlington. Stratford Junior High — now H-B Woodlawn — became the first school to integrate in Virginia in 1959. [WAMU]
(Updated at 4:15 p.m.) An Arlington man has been arrested and accused of running an international drug ring.
Federal prosecutors say Yonis M. Ishak of Arlington was the leader of a criminal conspiracy that imported millions of grams of the illegal African drug Khat into the United States from England, Holland and Canada. Public records show that Ishak lived in an apartment on the 2000 block of N. Vermont Street in Waverly Hills.
