It’s Local News Day. Here’s what that looks like in Arlington.
Yesterday, Dan Egitto reported on the Virginia Supreme Court hearing arguments over Arlington’s Missing Middle housing policy. Katie Taranto found out which local restaurants are RAMMY Award finalists and profiled the new owner giving a Falls Church pottery studio a fresh start. Dave Facinoli caught up with Yorktown’s undefeated girls soccer team.
And Dan broke the news about a new microtransit program launching in northwest Arlington.
That was a Wednesday.
Today is the inaugural Local News Day — a national day of action connecting people with trusted local journalism. Led by Montana Free Press, more than 1,000 newsrooms across all 50 states are participating, along with businesses, nonprofits, universities, and civic organizations. The goal is simple: help people find, follow, and support the local news outlets that keep their communities informed. ARLnow is proud to be one of them.
The occasion is worth marking because the national picture for local news is stark. Thousands of local newspapers have closed over the past two decades. Communities across the country have lost their primary source of information about school boards, zoning decisions, public safety, and the everyday happenings that shape life in a place. When that coverage disappears, accountability goes with it.
In Arlington, things look different. We’ve been covering this community since 2010 — the County Board votes, the development fights, the restaurant openings, the school news, and everything in between. More than 650,000 readers visit ARLnow each month, and 20,000 people receive our daily newsletter. That’s not an algorithm deciding what you should see. It’s a newsroom staffed by reporters who live here, writing about the place you live too.
We don’t take that for granted.
If you value having a dedicated source of Arlington news — delivered directly, without a social media feed standing in between — here are two things you can do today:
Sign up for our free daily newsletter. The Afternoon Update lands in your inbox at 4 p.m. every weekday — the day’s top headlines, delivered straight to you. No algorithm required.
Join the ARLnow Press Club. Press Club members directly support the reporting you just read about — and get an upgraded newsletter experience in return.
Local news is common ground — it’s what’s happening right here, and what it means for your community. Start local.
