Author: Dan Egitto

Dan Egitto is an editor and reporter at ARLnow. Originally from Central Florida, he graduated from Duke University and previously reported at the Palatka Daily News in Florida and the Vallejo Times-Herald in California. Dan joined ARLnow in January 2024.

Schools

School Board passes $826 million budget, falling short of some officials’ ambitions

By Dan Egitto
Arlington School Board Chair Cristina Diaz-Torres discusses the Arlington Public Schools budget (via Arlington Public Schools)

The Arlington School Board has unanimously passed an $826 million budget that, in the view of several board members, fails to accomplish key goals.

“This is a budget of status quos,” Chair Cristina Diaz-Torres said prior to a Thursday vote. “I said this the day that [Superintendent Francisco Durán] announced the budget. This is a budget of maintaining the status quo at a bare minimum.”

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News

BREAKING: Man killed in Arlington house explosion likely caused the blast himself, authorities say

By Dan Egitto and Jared Serre
Dashcam video of house explosion (via Arlington County/YouTube)

An Arlington man likely caused the explosion that killed him and leveled his house during a standoff with police in December, authorities have concluded.

James Yoo, 56, appears to have poured gasoline throughout the basement where the blast — which engulfed the house in a fireball, hurled debris for three blocks and could be heard and felt for miles around — originated. Investigators concluded that Yoo himself likely sparked the blast by striking an ignition source such as a match, lighter, flare or gun.

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News

Invasive, parachuting Joro spiders have not come to Arlington (yet)

By Dan Egitto
A Joro spider (via FNRClemson/YouTube)

Though media reports are buzzing with tales of an invasive, parachuting arachnid with four-inch legs, the Joro spider doesn’t appear to have landed yet in Arlington.

The bug, a native of East Asia introduced to Georgia in the 2010s, has generated headlines across the Eastern seaboard this week. Though of minimal threat to humans, the creature’s size and its spiderlings’ habit of gliding for miles on strands of web have raised cries of disgust and alarm.

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News

Company managing former WeLive space in Crystal City files for bankruptcy

By Dan Egitto
WeWork / WeLive in Crystal City, in 2016 (file photo)

The company managing a residential space in a Crystal City office building has filed for bankruptcy.

Common Living — the company in charge of the Common co-living space at 2221 S. Clark Street — filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on Friday, indicating plans to liquidate its assets. All company operations have been suspended, according to a news release.

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News

Planned HQ2 expansion gets more utility work, but no updates on construction timeline

By Dan Egitto
Utility work at the planned site of PenPlace, the next phase of HQ2, in June 2024 (staff photo by Dan Egitto)

Utility work for HQ2’s stalled second phase is continuing this month, but Amazon is still keeping mum about a construction timeline.

Several sidewalk and crosswalk closures are scheduled for the next few weeks in the area of the planned PenPlace site in Pentagon City, contractor Clark Construction said in an update to neighbors.

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News

One Missing Middle lawsuit dismissed, but the county’s legal fees are still mounting

By Dan Egitto
Attendees at the Arlington County Board meeting Wednesday, March 22 on Missing Middle Housing (staff photo)

The first Missing Middle case to be heard in Arlington Circuit Court was dismissed last week, but legal fees in another lawsuit against the county continue to balloon.

The dismissed lawsuit related to a pair of planned six-plexes in Alcova Heights, approved after the Expanded Housing Option changes. A judge struck the suit down on Friday “due to technical defects,” Zachary Williams, an attorney for developer Classic Cottages, told ARLnow.

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Around Town

Autographs and Nationals tickets offered as Arlington summer reading program kicks off

By Dan Egitto
Former Washington Nationals pitcher Sean Doolittle (courtesy of Arlington Public Library)

Young Arlington readers can meet a Nats notable this weekend and earn tickets to games later this summer through free library programs.

Pitching strategist (and former reliever) Sean Doolittle will be signing autographs for children on Saturday morning after reading a story at Arlington Central Library. Doors open at 9:30 a.m. and the event lasts until 11 a.m.

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Events

Indie rock concert coming to Met Park tomorrow as HQ2 anniversary celebration approaches

By Dan Egitto
Zach Person (courtesy of Amazon)

A free concert is coming to Metropolitan Park tomorrow (Wednesday) as Amazon prepares to celebrate HQ2’s one-year anniversary later this month.

Indie rock artist Zach Person will be performing his sophomore album, “Let’s Get Loud,” from 5-5:45 p.m. on the park’s Central Green at 525 14th Street S. A “loud and raw” blend of “high-energy rock anthems and head-bobbing funk rhythms” is promised, along with free picnic blankets.

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Traffic

Weeks-long lane closure on bridge north of Courthouse starts today

By Dan Egitto
The 21st Street N. bridge over I-66 (staff photo by Dan Egitto)

One lane on the 21st Street N. bridge over I-66 is closing for two months starting today (Monday).

Until early August, only northbound traffic may pass over the bridge near the MOM’s Organic Market north of Courthouse. Then the opposite lane will closed as construction crews complete deck work on the other side, the Virginia Department of Transportation said in a press release.

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News

Peterson maintains lead in local endorsements as Democratic primary approaches

By Dan Egitto
Election Day in Arlington (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

With the Democratic primary vote weeks away, one Arlington County Board candidate maintains a clear lead in endorsements from local officials.

Dozens of current and former county leaders have thrown their hat in the ring for Tenley Peterson ahead of the June 18 vote. Additions in recent weeks include outgoing County Board Chair Libby Garvey, former Arlington Sheriff Beth Arthur, former County Board member Christian Dorsey and outgoing Arlington School Board Chair Cristina Diaz-Torres.

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News

Boundary Channel Drive roundabouts and trail upgrades are officially complete

By Dan Egitto
Ribbon cutting for the Boundary Channel Drive Interchange Project (staff photo by Dan Egitto)

A set of upgrades to an I-395 interchange and trails near Long Bridge Park are officially complete.

Officials from Arlington County, the Virginia Department of Transportation and the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority hosted a ribbon cutting today (Thursday) for the Boundary Channel Drive Interchange project.

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News

Arlington has failed to collect over $1M in alarm registration fees over the past few years

By Dan Egitto and Jared Serre
A Ring alarm keypad (photo via Ring)

Arlington has failed to collect more than $1 million in security alarm registration fees over the past four years, according to county data.

The Arlington County Board passed an ordinance in 2020 requiring all alarm owners to pay a $25 annual registration fee for every alarm system. Based on the estimated 13,492 systems in the county at the time, the county was expected to generate an additional $337,000 in revenue every year.

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