County Board Organization Meeting Tonight — “The County Board of Arlington Co., Va., will meet on Tuesday, January 3, 2023, at 6:00 p.m., or as soon thereafter as matters may be heard, at 2100 Clarendon Boulevard… for its Annual Organizational Meeting.” [Arlington County]
Covid Outbreak at Homeless Shelter — “Each night, as the temperature plummets and dozens seek refuge inside Arlington County’s largest homeless shelter, the staff runs through the same drill it has for the past three years: Before anyone is given a bed, they are tested for the coronavirus. On Wednesday, the shelter’s usual one or two coronavirus cases landed early. As more people arrived, more cases followed. By the end of the night, the staff said, a dozen people had tested positive. All needed to be isolated. The shelter had an outbreak.” [Washington Post]
Overturned Vehicle Near Pentagon — From the Arlington County Fire Department on Friday: “At 3:13p this afternoon crews were dispatched for a reported vehicle crash with entrapment in the area of Boundary Channel and 395. Units quickly arrived on scene and extricated the trapped occupant. A total of 3 patients were transported from the incident, all with NLT injuries.” [Twitter]
CivFed to Take on Controversial Proposal — “The contentious internal battle over an Arlington County Civic Federation resolution will play out at the organization’s Feb. 21 meeting… The measure in question, proposed several months ago by five former presidents of the Civic Federation, demands more accountability of the county government, and a return to a more bottom-up style of decision-making. But the measure itself has run into criticisms from some quarters, both for its tone and for some of the assertions made in the resolution itself and in its hundreds and hundreds of appendix footnotes.” [Sun Gazette]
AWS Skills Center Now Open — “Opened in October 2022 near parent company Amazon.com Inc.’s HQ2 East Coast headquarters, the 10,000-square-foot AWS Skills Center includes classrooms and interactive exhibits that demonstrate cloud computing in real time, including a miniature smart home. The Arlington location is the second AWS Skills Center; its first opened in Seattle in November 2021.” [Virginia Business]
Grocery Bills Now a Bit Lower — “For Virginians, bills at the grocery store will soon be a little less expensive. That’s because the state has repealed its 1.5% sales tax on groceries and certain essential personal hygiene items, effective Jan. 1, 2023. Among personal hygiene items, bed sheets, diapers and feminine hygiene products, such as period underwear and tampons, will qualify for the tax reduction.” [WTOP]
Nearby: Fairfax Co. Sewage Plant Saves Xmas — “Fairfax County homes were able to keep their holiday lights blazing Christmas Eve after staff at the Noman M. Cole Jr. Pollution Control Plant in Lorton turned on the facility’s generators to help avoid an electrical blackout.. Noman Cole staff switched on the plant’s five large diesel-powered electricity generators, which took the plant off the electric-power grid. The plant was able remove 5,700 kilowatts of electricity from the grid for more than 14 hours, which equates to that consumed by 4,500 households, officials said.” [Sun Gazette]
It’s Tuesday — Fog in the morning, then mostly cloudy throughout the day. High of 65 and low of 50. Sunrise at 7:28 am and sunset at 4:59 pm. [Weather.gov]