School Board Caucus Kicking Off — “It’s almost show time for the Arlington County Democratic Committee’s School Board endorsement caucus… Voting is slated for: Sunday, May 7 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Dr. Charles Drew Elementary School, 3500 23rd St. South. Wednesday, May 10 from 7 to 9 p.m. at Campbell Elementary School, 737 South Carlin Springs Road. Saturday, May 13 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Washington-Liberty High School, 1301 North Stafford St.” [Gazette Leader]
First Day of Early Primary Voting — “Arlington County will be implementing ranked choice voting for the first time in the June 20, 2023 Democratic Primary Election for the office of County Board (2 seats)… First day of Early Voting for the June 20, 2023, Primary Election: May 5, 2023.” [Arlington County]
Sierra Club Candidate Endorsements — “The Sierra Club’s Virginia chapter has endorsed Maureen Coffey and J.D. Spain Sr. in the June 20 Democratic primary for Arlington County Board. ‘In their answers to our candidate questionnaire and our interviews with the candidates, J.D. and Maureen demonstrated a solid grasp of climate change as the defining challenge of our time,’ said John Bloom, chair of the Potomac River Group of the Sierra Club, which includes Arlington.” [Gazette Leader]
Prosecutor Fires Back at GOP — From Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti, in response to the Arlington GOP accusing her campaign event’s special guest of being a communist: “Dear @goparlington, wrong Angela Davis. Thanks for the racism, tho. (PS. I’m an American citizen who was born in Iran).” [Twitter]
Dehghani-Tafti Says Challenger Took GOP $ — “Dehghani-Tafti told the News-Press ‘It is very concerning that over a third of my opponent’s identifiable funding comes from Republican donors, including those with contributions to Donald Trump, Glenn Youngkin, Jason Miyares, Amanda Chase, Josh Hawley, and the Republican National Committee.'” [Falls Church News-Press]
County Still Has Lowest Unemployment — “Arlington retained the pole position, recording the lowest jobless rate among Virginia’s 133 cities and counties in the latest data. With 159,040 county residents employed in the civilian workforce and 3,374 looking for jobs, Arlington’s unemployment rate stood at 2.1 percent in March, according to figures reported May 3 by the Virginia Employment Commission.” [Gazette Leader]
‘Joy Luck Club’ at Aurora Hills Library — “Join us for tea and a movie! Fun fact: Following Flower Drum Song in 1961, The Joy Luck Club was only the 2nd Hollywood film featuring a mostly Asian cast, and would not be repeated again until Crazy Rich Asians in 2018. This event is part of the Library’s celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.” [Arlington Public Library]
YHS Football Coach Honored — “Bruce Hanson thought he was attending a simple and brief recognition ceremony when his name would be called and he’d receive a handshake. He was surprised when the event became much more, making him a bit emotional… Hanson was one of multiple Arlington Public School employees on hand in front of the School Board April 27 to be recognized for reaching a milestone of 30 or more years of service. The longtime teacher and coach was the only one saluted for a half-century of service.” [Gazette Leader]
It’s Friday — Sun, plus some clouds. Mild. High of 69 and low of 51. Sunrise at 6:06 am and sunset at 8:04 pm. [Weather.gov]