Top 20 Arlington Stories of 2019: No. 6-10

Our annual countdown of the most-read stories of the year is continuing today as we enter the top 10.

Here are top stories #6-10:

10. Trees, Wires Down and Power Out After Tornado Warning (35,114 views)

A brief but powerful storm produced damaging winds that knocked down trees and power lines across a wide swath of Arlington. Shortly after the storm, Arlington’s 911 system was said to be “slammed” with calls and more than 35,000 Dominion customers were reported to be without power. N. Glebe Road was blocked near Ballston due to multiple large trees and utility poles down.

9. Amazon Holding ‘Career Day’ in Crystal City (36,241 views)

There was significant interest in our article about Amazon’s big “career day” in Crystal City, presumably due to significant interest in high-paying jobs with one of the world’s biggest tech companies. Arlington’s Amazon Career Day was one of six the company held, in an effort to fill some 30,000 open positions worldwide. As of the end of 2019, Amazon had only hired about 400 people for its growing HQ2 presence in Arlington.

8. Shooting Outside Pentagon City Mall (38,289 views)

A masked, would-be robber was shot and killed in the Pentagon City mall parking garage, according to police. Early reports of a shooting outside the perpetually-crowded mall might have initially prompted fears of an active shooter-type incident just days before the Fourth of July, but that was not the case as the shooting turned out to be an isolated incident.

7. Clarendon Ballroom Is Closing (39,717 views)

There is perhaps no closer sentimental attachment to a local business than that of one’s favorite watering hole from their young-and-single days. For thousands of people, that’s Clarendon Ballroom, which is closing after one last New Year’s Eve bash tomorrow. While we would have liked to do a retrospective about the Ballroom and its two decade run, a co-owner declined to share a reason for the closing and declined ARLnow’s request for interviews about the history of the venue.

6. Arlington Police, FBI Arrest 9 After Prostitution Bust (40,678 views)

There are still some questions around this story about nine people being arrested in a sex trafficking sting. For instance, why did a joint ACPD-FBI child sex trafficking investigation not turn up any children who were being sex trafficked? Why most were most of the people arrested from at least an hour away? Why did the police department decide to put out a press release when it doesn’t include misdemeanor prostitution charges in its normal crime reports? And why did this story get more than 40,000 views?

ARLnow’s countdown will continue tomorrow with No. 1-5.