Author: Vernon Miles

Vernon Miles is the ALXnow cofounder and editor. He's covered Alexandria since 2014 and has been with Local News Now since 2018. When he's not reporting, he can usually be found playing video games or Dungeons and Dragons with friends.

Around Town

Arlington Gyms Prepare for Reopening With New Precautions

By Vernon Miles

(Updated 6/11) As Arlington prepares to move in to Phase 2 of reopening, some local gyms have started laying out their plans to start serving customers again.

At F45 at Pentagon Row (1101 S. Joyce Street), the gym is preparing to pivot from indoor sessions to outdoor classes.

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News

Sixty Years Ago, A Two-Week Civil Rights Battle Raged Across Arlington Eateries

By Vernon Miles

(Updated at 4:30 p.m.) Arlingtonians are marching in the streets protesting for racial justice, but 60 years ago that fight took the form of sit-ins at Arlington lunch counters.

This day in 1960 marked the start of a series of demonstrations that remained peaceful despite harassment by local white students, police, and Neo-Nazis. The sit-ins went on for 13 days and were a pivotal moment in local civil rights history.

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News

Arlington Police Talk Review Panels and Body Cameras

By Vernon Miles

(Updated 6/8/20) Arlington County police leaders defended the department’s record in an interview with local Black Lives Matter organizer Yolande Kwinana‎ Thursday evening.

The ACPD brass discussed ways the department can make progress towards reform and some areas where the department has hit stumbling blocks during the course of the livestreamed discussion But the interview started with officials defending the shooting of Alfredo Rials-Torres and talking about areas the department can improve.

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News

Wardian Prepares to Reclaim 50K Treadmill Record This Weekend

By Vernon Miles

Arlington’s own extreme endurance athlete Michael Wardian is comfortable on a treadmill. Comfortable enough to play Madden while running. Comfortable enough to do an interview while running. And, he hopes, comfortable enough to reclaim the 50K treadmill world record tomorrow.

Starting at 6 p.m. Saturday, Wardian says he’ll start running with an aim of breaking the 50K record (around 31 miles) in around two hours and 57 minutes.

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Events

Arlington Church Plans Food Drive for Alexandria Neighborhood Hard-Hit By COVID-19

By Vernon Miles

This weekend, Calvary United Methodist Church in Aurora Highlands is holding a “Stuff the Truck” donation event to collect food for the Chirilagua neighborhood in Alexandria.

The community — also known as Arlandria — has faced disproportionately high numbers of COVID-19 positive patients, as have Latino and Hispanic communities in Arlington and throughout the region.

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Around Town

College Students Launch Glass Recycling Service in Arlington

By Vernon Miles

While Arlington is celebrating a new high in drop-off glass recycling, after discontinuing the recycling of glass collected curbside, a pair of local brothers have set up their own business to fill a gap in the market.

In a local Facebook group, Joe Core said he and his brother — both college students — would pick up glass from people’s homes to take it to one of Arlington’s drop-off glass recycling bins for $7. The service is contact-free, reducing the risk of spreading disease through in-person contact.

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Around Town

Columbia Pike Businesses Say Outdoor Dining Vital to Survival

By Vernon Miles

As Arlington’s restaurants try to return to some semblance of normalcy during the first phase of reopening, some local restaurants are anxiously awaiting Arlington County approval of temporary outdoor seating permits.

Owners of two eateries along the Columbia Pike corridor, Ethiopian restaurant Dama Pastry & Cafe (1505 Columbia Pike) and Ididos Coffee and Social House (1107 S. Walter Reed Drive) said getting access to outdoor dining is a crucial part of getting business back to normal.

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Around Town

Chalk Artist Creates Ballston Mural Celebrating Those Fighting the Pandemic

By Vernon Miles

Over the next three weeks, Ballston streets might look a little more colorful than before thanks to a new series of murals commissioned by BallstonGives, a charitable subsidiary of the Ballston Business Improvement District.

Artist Patrick Owens was commissioned to do a series of chalk images on the sidewalk over the next three weeks. The first was completed earlier this week outside Randolph Towers (4001 9th Street N.).

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News

Arlington Public Library Will Reopen Mid-June for Book Checkouts

By Vernon Miles

(Updated 6/8) Arlington Public Library is preparing to start allowing pickups for books, but the staggered reopening will not immediately resemble the pre-pandemic library experience

The first step towards reopening will be a book pick-up from the Central Library (1015 N. Quincy Street).

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Feature

Ballston Startup Aims to Help Keep Hands Clean and Safe Through Pandemic

By Vernon Miles

Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow, Startup Monday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups and their founders, plus other local technology happenings. Monday Properties remains firmly committed to the health, safety and well-being of its employees, tenants and community. This week, Monday Properties is proudly featuring 1000 and 1100 Wilson (The Rosslyn Towers).

It could be a while before coronavirus leaves the public consciousness, and Ballston startup HandArmor hopes to help reduce the spread of the disease.

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Around Town

Arlingtonians Raise Thousands to Get School Supplies to Low-Income Families

By Vernon Miles
My Job Bags being delivered (photo courtesy Sutton Family)

Like many community members in Arlington, Amanda and Michael Sutton were concerned that the pandemic could lead to a wider education gap between those with resources at home and those without. So they decided to do something about it.

The Suttons have so far raised more than $6,400 via an online fundraising campaign called “My Job Bags.”

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News

Arlington Hits a Few Bumps in Park Reopening Process

By Vernon Miles
Hayes Park remained locked and closed on Wednesday, May 27 (Staff Photo by Jay Westcott)

With parks reopening on Saturday, some Arlingtonians were eager to walk around some of the county’s nationally ranked parklands, only to find a padlock secured across the front entrance.

At Hayes Park, the front gates were secured, keeping visitors away from the three-acre park north of Virginia Square.

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