Author: Scott McCaffrey

A Northern Virginia native, Scott McCaffrey has four decades of reporting, editing and newsroom experience in the local area plus Florida, South Carolina and the eastern panhandle of West Virginia. He spent 26 years as editor of the Sun Gazette newspaper chain. For Local News Now, he covers government and civic issues in Arlington, Fairfax County and Falls Church.

Schools

Freeze on federal education funds cast doubt on $1.5M at APS

By Scott McCaffrey
Superintendent Francisco Durán (screenshot via Arlington Public Schools)

A freeze on federal education dollars cast $1.5 million in Arlington Public Schools funding into doubt.

This was the amount of funding at APS that the U.S. Department of Education withheld for weeks as part of a review to ensure that spending aligned with the White House’s priorities.

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News

Arlington’s unpaid planning commissioners might someday collect a paycheck

By Scott McCaffrey
Planning Commission chair Tenley Peterson speaks with County Board members (screenshot via Arlington County)

Members of the Arlington Planning Commission, who currently work without financial compensation, could eventually start getting paid.

Although posts on the commission are unpaid by longstanding tradition, given the time and effort the job requires, that might change someday.

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News

Falls Church leaders consider merging or eliminating some advisory panels

By Scott McCaffrey
Falls Church Mayor Letty Hardi and Vice Mayor Debora Schantz-Hiscott (screenshot via City of Falls Church)

The next Falls Church City Council will be the one to decide whether some City advisory panels need to be merged or disbanded.

“This would be a big effort. Even getting rid of one is going to have all kinds of psychological weight associated with it,” City Manager Wyatt Shields acknowledged when the proposal to consider changes to advisory boards and commissions came up at meeting last week.

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News

County Board approves lower speed limits and names interim county attorney

By Scott McCaffrey
25 mph speed limit (via Joshua Hoehne/Unsplash)

The Arlington County Board approved five lower speed limits and delivered salutes to an outgoing county attorney and organizations promoting disability awareness this week.

This is in addition to actions related to new development and office-building conversions. Barring something unexpected, the July 22 meeting represents the last public gathering for the Board until mid-September.

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News

Karantonis: Critics of county’s public-comment rules should offer alternatives

By Scott McCaffrey
Sam Laveson speaks during the July 19, 2025, County Board public comment (screenshot via Arlington County)

If you don’t like the way the County Board conducts public-comment sessions, come up with an alternative proposal.

That was the message from Board Chair Takis Karantonis on July 19, as the governing body again received criticism for limiting speakers at public-comment sessions to one per topic.

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News

Auditor plans to dive into Arlington flood mitigation efforts

By Scott McCaffrey
Flooding along 14th Street N. near Westover in July 2019 (courtesy of Nicole Bender)

Arlington County’s auditor will spend part of the coming year evaluating whether local flood resilience plans and expenditures are achieving the desired effect.

A look at the Department of Environmental Services’ efforts to safeguard against flooding has been included in auditor Wayne Scott’s fiscal year 2026 work plan. County Board members adopted the plan at their Tuesday meeting.

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News

County Board approves 1,246 units of new housing in Rosslyn, Ballston and Shirlington

By Scott McCaffrey
Renderings of the proposed One Rosslyn project at 1901 and 1911 Fort Myer Drive (via Arlington County)

The Arlington County Board has approved three major development projects in Rosslyn, Ballston and Shirlington with nearly 1,250 units of housing.

Before heading into summer break on Tuesday, Board members unanimously approved zoning changes to permit the Penzance’s One Rosslyn and Ballston One redevelopment projects along with new apartments and townhouse units on the Shirlington House site.

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News

County Board adopts new transportation vision, falling short of some advocates’ transit goals

By Scott McCaffrey
An Arlington Transit (ART) bus in Ballston (file photo)

A newly adopted vision statement affirms Arlington County’s commitment to supporting modes of transportation other than cars, but falls short of some advocates’ ambitions.

County Board members, who adopted the statement and associated goals at a Saturday meeting, defended the new language as aspirational while also being realistic about the current state of transit in Arlington.

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News

NOVA Parks director offers warnings about possible creation of Arlington parks foundation

By Scott McCaffrey
Douglas Park (via Arlington County)

There’s a new wrinkle in the quest for a foundation to support Arlington County’s parks.

As Arlington’s Park and Recreation Commission considers the possibility of creating a nonprofit foundation for Arlington parks, Paul Gilbert, executive director of NOVA Parks, urged members to consider his organization’s experiences.

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News

Arlington County jail connects detainees and the public in new program

By Scott McCaffrey
Marc Howard, standing, discusses the Frederick Douglass Project (photo by Amy Meehan, Arlington County Sheriff's Office)

A new program at the Arlington County jail is attempting to bridge divides between people in custody and the general public.

An event hosted through the Frederick Douglass Project for Justice last week was the first of its kind in Virginia, attempting to give community members a glimpse of “the common humanity of incarcerated people” at the Arlington County Detention Facility.

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News

Virginia jobs picture becomes ammunition for local Democrats as races heat up

By Scott McCaffrey
U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) speaks at a press conference in April 2023 (courtesy photo)

New data showing a continued increase in Virginia’s unemployment claims is providing ammunition to Arlington’s Democratic leaders at both the state and national level.

Rep. Don Beyer (D-8) pounced on figures that the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics released on Friday, which showed that Virginia was the only state to record a statistically significant increase in its jobless rate from May to June.

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