News

Median apartment rents in Arlington ended 2025 about 1% lower than they started the year, the first annual decrease in five years.

But according to one analysis, rents in the county remain among the priciest in the nation, about 19% higher than the D.C. area as a whole and 86% more expensive than the national median.


News

Controversy over the removal of an iconic tree in Lyon Park is prompting an in-person conversation between neighborhood civic leaders and county leadership.

An aide for County Board Chair Takis Karantonis acknowledged some community members’ frustration in a Dec. 29 follow-up with Natalie Roy, who leads the Lyon Park Citizens Association. Karantonis “would like to offer a meeting to discuss this matter,” Sandra Calixto-Mendoza said in the letter to Roy.


News

The Arlington real estate market is expected to see a modest rise in sales and prices in 2026, despite economic challenges that may hamper growth.

In the single-family sector, Arlington’s projected 3.8% rate of price growth is on the higher end for jurisdictions in a new 2026 market forecast, released Dec. 29 by the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors (NVAR) and Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason University.


News

A mayoral candidate in the city of Reims, France is promoting a stronger Sister City relationship with Arlington in his campaign.

Éric Quénard is the Socialist Party candidate who will lead a center-left coalition in the 2026 mayor’s race in Reims, one of Arlington’s five sister cities. His campaign reached out to ARLnow to uplift his desire for tighter ties between the two locales.


News

The unexpected departure of a major pro-transit voice in the Virginia General Assembly has created a void that an Arlington legislator appears primed to fill.

Del. Adele McClure (D-2), who sits on the House Committee on Transportation, has provided a key voice in various recent discussions on transit. In the 2026 General Assembly session, she could step into the shoes left behind by former Del. Mark Sickles (D-17), who is leaving his elected post to become Virginia’s next Secretary of Finance.


News

A Democrat is taking over for a Republican on the Arlington Electoral Board in the new year.

David Leichtman, a veteran political activist, will succeed electoral board vice chair Richard Samp, a Republican whose term expires Dec. 31.


News

For nearly 65 years, Arlington County Board members rang in the new year with a Jan. 1 organization meeting.

Often drawing large crowds and extensive media coverage, the event was a chance for county leaders to lay out their priorities for the coming year after first voting in a chair to serve for the 365 — sometimes 366 — days ahead.


Schools

An unusual set of administrative circumstances has led to confusion over how many students are allowed at a private school in Lyon Park.

The Arlington County Board earlier this month extended an existing use permit allowing Tyndale Christian School to operate with a maximum of 40 students. It did so even though the school at 716 N. Barton Street currently has an enrollment of 80 students.


News

Arlington’s summertime experiment using high tech to evaluate the state of sidewalks delivered mixed results.

The county used Kiwibots — laser-equipped robots — to roll up and down the sidewalks of the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor for two weeks in July, assessing conditions.


Schools

The School Board’s policy subcommittee will open 2026 with consideration of new policies to combat waste, fraud and abuse while protecting those on staff who report it.

At its Wednesday, Jan. 7 meeting, subcommittee members will consider two separate but interconnected draft policy documents:


News

The closure of a nearly 200-year-old book wholesaler will impact how soon new materials turn up on the shelves at Falls Church’s Mary Riley Styles Public Library.

Like many library systems nationally, the Falls Church library dealt with Baker & Taylor for many of its materials purchases. But the North Carolina-based company, founded in 1828, is wrapping up operations after announcing earlier in the year that its planned acquisition by another firm would not materialize.


News

Do Falls Church’s new trio of HAWK pedestrian signals have minds of their own?

The signals went live in late spring along Broad Street, and on rare but multiple occasions, ARLnow staff have observed them turn on without any pedestrians nearby seeking their activation.


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