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Morning Notes

Published October 6, 2020 at 6:00AM

Ballston Movie Theater to Close Again — “Cineworld Group, the owner of Regal Cinemas, will suspend operations at all of its theaters in the United States and the United Kingdom beginning on Thursday. The closures will affect 45,000 employees.” [CNN, Axios]

N. Va. Trending in Right Direction — “The health department’s new pandemic metrics, updated Monday based on data through Saturday, show that the disease is currently at a ‘low burden’ level in Northern Virginia, is trending downward, and has low levels of community transmission. All other region’s of the state either have moderate or high levels of burden of the virus and community transmission.” [InsideNova]

Traffic

TRAFFIC ALERT: Overturned Vehicle Snarls I-395 Traffic

By ARLnow.com

Published October 5, 2020 at 4:25PM

I-395 crash with overturned vehicle

Rush hour isn’t what it used to be, but a crash has caused a big backup on southbound I-395 in Arlington.

A vehicle flipped on its side in the main outbound lanes of I-395 between Washington Blvd and S. Glebe Road around 4:15 p.m. The driver suffered minor injuries and is out of the vehicle, according to scanner traffic.

News

ARLnow Parent Company Announces Three New Hires

By ARLnow.com

Published October 5, 2020 at 3:30PM | Updated October 5, 2020 at 4:03PM

ARLnow’s parent company, Local News Now, is proud to announce three new full-time hires.

These hires, two of which are for newly-created positions, are made possible by a strong recovery in LNN’s advertising business since the depths of the pandemic-induced recession. We were further emboldened to add to our team, despite uncertainty about the economy and the pandemic, by our ARLnow Patreon community and the support provided by readers.

News

Ballston-Based Cybersecurity Firm Rolls Out Election Protection Service

By ARLnow.com

Published October 5, 2020 at 3:00PM

Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow, Startup Monday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups, founders, and other local technology news. Monday Properties is proudly featuring Shirlington Gateway. The new 2800 Shirlington recently delivered a brand-new lobby and upgraded fitness center. Experience a prime location and enjoy being steps from Shirlington Village. Spec suites with bright open plans and modern finishes are under construction and will deliver soon!

Election day is less than a month away, and the nation is facing a variety of cyber threats aimed at disrupting the democratic process.

News

Knife-Wielding Suspects Rob North Arlington 7-Eleven

By ARLnow.com

Published October 5, 2020 at 1:30PM

A pair of men, each armed with a knife, held up the 7-Eleven store on the 4500 block of Lee Highway last night.

Police were dispatched to the store just after 11:15 p.m. Sunday after the suspects pointed knives at the store clerk and stole cash and cigarettes, according to a police crime report and scanner traffic at the time.

News

Arlington Dems Decry Campaign Sign Vandalism

By ARLnow.com

Published October 5, 2020 at 11:55AM

Destroyed election signs (photo courtesy Arlington County Democratic Committee)

(Updated at 12:10 p.m.) Arlington Democrats are decrying what the local party describes as a wave of vandalism of Democratic election signs.

Almost every election cycle in Arlington there are reports of small-scale vandalism and mischief involving campaign signs. Rarely do those reports, on message boards and community listservs, rise to the level of county-wide news.

News

Teen Girl Touched Inappropriately in Buckingham

By ARLnow.com

Published October 5, 2020 at 10:55AM | Updated October 5, 2020 at 1:29PM

File photo

(Updated at 1:15 p.m.) A teen girl was allegedly touched inappropriately by a man in the Buckingham neighborhood, near Ballston, late last night.

The incident happened just before midnight on N. Pershing Drive.

News

Arlington NAACP Calls for Independent Investigation into Inmate Death

By ARLnow.com

Published October 5, 2020 at 9:45AM | Updated October 5, 2020 at 10:03AM

Jail entrance at the Arlington County Detention Facility

The Arlington branch of the NAACP is calling for an independent investigation into an inmate’s death inside the county jail last week.

The incident happened on the afternoon of Thursday, Oct. 1 at the Arlington County Detention Facility in Courthouse. Darryl Becton, 46, was found unconscious in his cell and later declared dead on scene by paramedics after resuscitation efforts failed.

News

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Published October 5, 2020 at 6:00AM | Updated October 5, 2020 at 9:30AM

Girl’s Study Shed Featured on NBC — With the help of a local Facebook group called “Buy Nothing,” an Arlington dad built a study shed for his daughter using materials donated by neighbors. The project was featured on Saturday’s national NBC Nightly News broadcast. [YouTube, Washington Post]

APS Graduation Rate Improves — “Arlington’s public-school students posted a 93.4-percent on-time graduation rate up from 92.5 percent a year before, according to new data from the Virginia Department of Education. Rates rose among both genders and in major racial/ethnic groups compared to the Class of 2019, while the school system’s dropout rate showed improvement, declining from 5.6 percent in 2019 to 4.9 percent in 2020.” [InsideNova]

Opinion

ARLnow Weekend Discussion

By ARLnow.com

Published October 2, 2020 at 3:45PM

It was, to be honest, a relatively light news week in Arlington.

Most of the local news revolved around restaurants, at a time when much of the population is still not even considering dining out at a restaurant. The restaurant stories did well, readership-wise, but not as well as we would expect during normal times.

News

Ruthie’s All-Day Now Open in Arlington Heights

By ARLnow.com

Published October 2, 2020 at 1:45PM | Updated October 2, 2020 at 2:34PM

Ruthie’s All Day is now open (Staff Photo by Jay Westcott)

(Updated at 2:15 p.m.) The newest entrant into Arlington’s restaurant scene has opened its doors.

Ruthie’s All-Day, located in the Arlington Heights neighborhood and owned by a pair of fine dining vets, is now accepting dinner reservations and takeout orders.

News

Arlington Crosses 4,000 Total Coronavirus Cases

By ARLnow.com

Published October 2, 2020 at 10:55AM | Updated October 2, 2020 at 11:20AM

(Updated at 11:20 a.m.) As of this morning, the cumulative total of coronavirus cases in Arlington is now above 4,000.

The cases rose from 3,997 to 4,009 overnight, according to Virginia Dept. of Health data. The trailing seven-day total of new cases in Arlington continues to fluctuate and is now down to 100, after reaching 130 on Tuesday.