Launched in January 2010, ARLnow.com is the place for the latest news, views and things to do around Arlington, Virginia. The ARLnow staff byline is used for the Morning Notes and reporting done by an editor or other member of our full-time staff.
Good Wednesday evening, Arlington. Let’s take a look back at today’s stories and a look forward to tomorrow’s event calendar.
The following articles were published earlier today — Aug 9, 2023.
You might have noticed that it’s a bit quieter around Arlington in recent days.
Based on traffic volumes and out-of-office email responses it’s pretty clear that a lot of people are on vacation (including, at least in theory, the person writing this poll).
APS Evaluating Free Office Space — “School Board member Reid Goldstein… drilled Superintendent Francisco Durán on why the school system wasn’t looking at instead taking back space it for years had provided for free to Encore Learning and Edu-Futuro, two non-profit groups. ‘There are a lot of non-profits serving our schools, and somehow we’ve decided these two are worthy of free rent, free services,’ the senior School Board member said. ‘That needs to be re-thought.'” [Gazette Leader]
Civ Fed Forum Date Set — “It’s either the unofficially official, or the officially unofficial, start to Arlington’s fall election season, but either way, the Arlington County Civic Federation will hold its annual candidates’ forum on Tuesday, Sept. 5. The event will be held in person beginning at 7 p.m. at Hazel Auditorium on the North George Mason Drive campus of VHC Health (Virginia Hospital Center). An online option also will be available.” [Gazette Leader]
Good Tuesday evening, Arlington. Let’s take a look back at today’s stories and a look forward to tomorrow’s event calendar.
The following articles were published earlier today — Aug 8, 2023.
Police K9 Graduations — “On Friday, August 4, the Arlington County Police Department (ACPD) and Loudon County Sheriff’s Office celebrated the graduation of four K9 teams from Basic Patrol K9 School. The 16-week Basic Patrol K9 School, which was hosted by ACPD, focused on training in obedience, agility, article search, tracking and criminal apprehension.” [ACPD]
FCPS Trying to Poach Bus Drivers? — “On Aug. 4, signage on South Four Mile Run Drive in Arlington – directly across from the Arlington Trades Center where county school buses are garaged – was a sign recruiting school-bus drivers. Seems reasonable, except it was a sign recruiting school-bus drivers for Fairfax County Public Schools, which like all jurisdictions across the region seems perpetually in search of drivers to keep the school buses running.” [Gazette Leader]
Good Monday evening, Arlington. Let’s take a look back at today’s stories and a look forward to tomorrow’s event calendar.
The following articles were published earlier today — Aug 7, 2023.
Update at 6:20 p.m. — It appears that Arlington has been spared significant damage, at least from the first wave of storms. While rain and lightning are continuing, few power outages have been reported here so far. Fairfax County saw some bigger impacts, however, with Dominion reporting nearly 15,000 customers without power there. Additional storms are possible later tonight and a Tornado Watch remains in effect until 9 p.m.
Earlier: The storms that you’ve been hearing about all day are almost here.
(Updated at 3 p.m.) A widespread outbreak of severe weather is expected this evening, prompting a Tornado Watch for Arlington and much of the region.
Forecasters say the threats include “damaging and locally destructive hurricane-force winds, along with the potential for large hail and tornadoes, even strong tornadoes.”
Yet another armed carjacking has been reported in Arlington, this time in the Columbia Forest neighborhood.
The carjacking happened in the early morning hours of Saturday, on the 1000 block of S. Frederick Street just south of Columbia Pike.
An ARLnow tweet that went viral locally on Friday has quite the twist ending.
The post, on the social network now known as X, went out shortly before 2 p.m., following an unusual Arlington police dispatch.
ARLnow has added to its full-time news staff.
James Jarvis, previously of InsideNoVa and FauquierNow, has joined as assistant editor, becoming the tenth full-time employee of Ballston-based Local News Now, the publisher of ARLnow.
Answer Man Tackles Trail Tag — “A short, informal dirt trail has long been worn from the paved W&OD trail, just east of Carlin Springs Road, up to the road itself. Lately, it’s been labeled the ‘Jay Fisette Memorial Trail.’ Googling the biography of the former Arlington County Board member gives no indication that he’s died. Is the designation a joke?” [Washington Post]
APS Teacher Hiring Nearly Complete — “Arlington Public Schools has “fewer than 68″ full-time teacher openings to fill before the new school year starts on Aug. 28, putting the school system ahead of where it typically is at this time of the year, according to Superintendent Francisco Durán. At Thursday’s Arlington School Board meeting, Duran said the school system is about 97.5-percent staffed with licensed teachers and that its human resources department is working to fill the remaining vacancies through recruitment events.” [Patch]
