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Morning Notes

A Southwest Airlines jet disappears into the clouds after taking off from DCA (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

HQ2 Construction Wrapping Up — “The Met Park piece of Amazon’s HQ2 has been under construction for 40 months on a 6.2-acre site fronting South Eads Street, north of 15th Street South. Since then, upward of 9,400 workers from roughly 40 trades have excavated 440,000 cubic yards of dirt, constructed a pair of 22-story concrete and steel office towers over a massive underground garage, installed nearly 1,000 door frames, laid the sod for the 8,800-square-foot central, public green, and sent more than 100 community updates.” [Washington Business Journal, Clark Construction]

Arlington Brunch Spots in Top 100 List — “Two Arlington restaurants made a new list of 100 Most Popular Brunch Spots for 2023. The list, compiled by online reservation website OpenTable just ahead of Mother’s Day, is based on the analysis of more than 13 million diner reviews… Here are the two Arlington restaurants that made the top 100 brunch spots list: Ambar [and] Ruthie’s All-Day.” [Patch]

GOP Chair Eyes District Seats — “It probably won’t happen soon, but the new chairman of the Arlington County Republican Committee says he’s amenable to launching a petition drive that would change Arlington County Board seats from at-large to district-based… Because all political power in Virginia flows from the state level down to localities, a General Assembly and governor working in tandem likely could impose any changes they saw fit to Arlington’s governance structure, without necessarily needing buy-in from county leaders.” [Gazette Leader]

Ballston Office Lease Renewed — “Nixon & Vanderhye — a law firm with global reach and specializing in intellectual property — has signed a new, long-term lease for 26,000 square feet of office space at Arlington Gateway, a Piedmont Office Realty Trust building in Arlington, Va. The new agreement will lead to a reduction in the firm’s footprint at the property, as well as trim its associated costs.” [CommercialCafe]

Crash Caught on Camera — From Dave Statter: “#caughtoncamera: This is from a four car crash on I-395N last Wednesday at 1:45 p.m. One of the cars didn’t stop & headed across the 14th St. Bridge instead. Minor injuries reported. @VSPPIO & @ArlingtonVaFD handled.” [Twitter]

‘Coffee With a Cop’ Returns — “All those who live, work and visit Arlington are encouraged to attend Coffee with a Cop events as they provide a space to develop and maintain important community relationships… Coffee with a Cop events will be held on Wednesday, May 31, 2023, at the following locations: La Coop Coffee (4807 1st Street N.) from 9:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Compass Coffee (4710 Langston Boulevard) from 1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.” [ACPD]

DJO Softball Undefeated — “The Bishop O’Connell Knights finished the regular season with a 15-0 record in girls softball. In its final three games, the state’s No. 1- routed Bishop McNamara, 13-1, then downed St. John’s, 13-4, in Washington Catholic Athletic Conference games. O’Connell is the top seed in this week’s WCAC tournament.” [Gazette Leader]

Yorktown Baseball First in District — “The same winning formula for five-straight games helped the Yorktown Patriots clinch first place in the Liberty District regular season baseball standings with a 10-1 record and one game to play when the week began. By finishing first, Yorktown will be the top seed in the upcoming district tournament and has earned an automatic berth to play in the 6D North Region tourney.” [Gazette Leader]

It’s Tuesday — Today: Showers and possibly a thunderstorm before 2pm, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly between 2pm and 5pm. High near 60. Northeast wind 7 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. Tonight: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 48. North wind 6 to 8 mph. [Weather.gov]