Higher fees for property owners pair with rising real estate assessments in the Falls Church budget proposal unveiled by City Manager Wyatt Shields Monday night.
Falls Church homeowners would pay an average $611 more — an increase of 5% — in real estate taxes under the $134.3 million fiscal year 2027 budget.
Proposed zoning changes headed to County Board members by summer may make it easier to install electric-vehicle charging facilities across Arlington.
Proposed zoning changes include:
Juvenile Assaulted Near Rosslyn — A juvenile was assaulted Sunday afternoon near 16th Street at N. Quinn Street by another juvenile known to him, according to police. The victim sustained non-life-threatening injuries and declined medics at the scene. The suspect fled on foot. [ACPD]
Space Flight Boosts Edtech Firm — Aisha Bowe’s flight to space last April aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard boosted her Arlington company Lingo after federal DEI crackdowns chilled demand for its coding kits. Arlington and Fairfax county schools began purchasing the kits for extracurricular programs, and Lingo has sold more than 10,000 nationally. [WBJ]
Wakefield Grad Up for TV Award — Wakefield High School alumnus Christian Yosef’s short film “Trife,” about a father and son experiencing homelessness, has been nominated for the Television Academy’s 45th College Television Awards. Yosef wrote and directed the film while earning his MFA at USC. Winners will be announced at a ceremony in North Hollywood on Friday. [Arlington Magazine]
Washingtonian’s Arlington Guide — Washingtonian published a neighborhood guide to Arlington featuring new restaurants, shops and things to do, including Oasis the Listening Bar in Clarendon, the Pinball Basement in Rosslyn and the Wandering Shelf mobile bookshop. [Washingtonian]
New Kayak Launch on Four Mile Run — “Congrats to the Four Mile Run Conservatory Foundation and the City of Alexandria on the new kayak launch just across from Arlington’s Water Pollution Treatment Plant. More multi for multimodal.” [Arlington DES/X]
Housing Fair Next Month — Arlington’s annual Housing Fair is set for Saturday, April 25 from 11 a.m.–4 p.m. at the Walter Reed Community Center. The free event connects residents with mortgage lenders, real estate agents and housing resources. No RSVP required. [Arlington County]
ICE at DCA, IAD — ICE officers arrived at Reagan National Airport earlier this week, and were also at Dulles International Airport early yesterday to assist with security checkpoints, as TSA workers remain unpaid during the government shutdown. A senior ICE official said officers will check IDs and assist with crowd control but are not trained to operate X-ray screening machines. [Andrew Leyden/X, Fox 5, NBC 4]
Falls Church City Manager to Retire — Falls Church City Manager Wyatt Shields on Tuesday announced plans to retire. He has served in the post since 2007 and was assistant city manager before that in a local-government career spanning 23 years. Shields’s expected retirement date is Sept. 4. City Council members in coming days plan to detail plans for the search for a replacement. [Falls Church News-Press]
Vape Crackdown on Governor’s Desk — Attorney General Jay Jones (D) is backing the Vape Enforcement Act, two bills that would restrict vape shops to selling only FDA-authorized or FDA-pending products. “If they continue to break the law, they are going to lose their license,” Jones said. The bills are on the governor’s desk. [WJLA]
Offshore Wind Hits Milestone — Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project is now sending power to the grid after its first commercial turbine was switched on Monday. The project, the largest offshore wind farm in the U.S., is about 70% complete and will produce 2.6 gigawatts when finished. [Virginia Mercury]
March Rainfall Below Average — D.C. has received 1.79 inches of precipitation this month, a bit below average, while Dulles is at 2.61 inches, about three-quarters of an inch above average, according to the Capital Weather Gang. Interstate 95 has been roughly the dividing line between wetter conditions to the west and drier to the east. [CWG/X]
It’s Wednesday — Expect partly sunny skies today with a high near 60 degrees and south winds at 3–9 mph. Tonight turns mostly cloudy with a low around 49 and south winds around 8 mph. [NWS]
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As debate over Virginia’s redistricting referendum heats up ahead of next month’s vote, a partisan newspaper advancing Democrats’ arguments has begun showing up in Arlington mailboxes.
The latest issue of The Virginia Independent — a product of American Independent Media, which specializes in content that mimics the form of impartial news sources in order to promote progressive causes — devotes a significant amount of space to the upcoming April 21 vote on redistricting.
More park space, improved traffic flow and better emergency-vehicle access are among the key desires of the Arlington View community.
Those concerns were outlined to County Board members on March 17, as the Board formally accepted an updated neighborhood plan that will guide future county planning efforts. It marks the first update to the original Arlington View Neighborhood Plan, which, when adopted in 1965, was the first of its kind in the county.
A 19-year-old has been arrested in connection with a series of armed robberies in Arlington last month.
Carlos Lopez Sparks, a Centreville resident, faces a total of 20 charges stemming from four incidents on Feb. 24 and 25 — where he is accused of threatening store employees and customers with a gun and demanding cash before fleeing the scene.
A $25 minimum wage proposal in D.C. could push some restaurant workers into Northern Virginia in the short term and, in the long term, potentially drive businesses to relocate as well, the head of the region’s restaurant association says.
The Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington — an outspoken opponent of D.C.’s Initiative 82, which sought to phase out the tip credit for tipped workers — is opposing One Fair Wage’s proposal to raise the District’s minimum wage to $25 per hour by July 2029.
Arlington has maintained its No. 4 spot in a ranking of the United States’ best “cities” to live.
It’s the third year in a row that Arlington has placed fourth in the annual Niche ranking of the nation’s localities. As in 2025 and 2024, several of the county’s neighborhoods also earned high honors.
Efforts to improve pedestrian safety amid a planned redevelopment project could bring a reduction to the number of lanes on Wilson Blvd just west of Arlington.
In the Seven Corners area, west of the Arlington/Fairfax county line, the Fairfax County Department of Transportation has floated the idea of reducing westbound Wilson Blvd from two lanes to one.
No ICE at Area Airports — No ICE officers were visible at Dulles, Reagan National or BWI on Monday as the Trump administration deployed immigration agents to 13 other U.S. airports to supplement TSA during the partial government shutdown. DHS said it would not confirm officer locations “for operational security reasons.” [WTOP, Jake Sherman/X]
New O’Connell Leader Named — Bishop Michael Burbidge has appointed Jonathan Brand as the next head of school at Bishop O’Connell High School, effective July 1. Brand, most recently head of school at Grymes Memorial School in Orange, Va., replaces Bill Crittenberger, who is retiring. [Arlington Diocese]
Reminder: Parkway Resurfacing — Resurfacing work on the GW Parkway between Spout Run and Alexandria is set to begin this week. [ARLnow]
Arlington County Survey — More than 1,200 Arlingtonians have taken the 2026 Resident Satisfaction Survey so far, and the county is encouraging more to weigh in before the March 31 deadline. [Arlington County/X]
Clarendon Author’s Debut — Clarendon resident Rebecca Morrison’s debut YA novel, “The Blue Dress,” releases today from Macmillan Publishers. The loosely autobiographical book tells the story of a 12-year-old Iranian immigrant navigating racism and disordered eating. [Arlington Magazine]
Arlington in 1930 — The “Our Man in Arlington” column looks back at the news stories Arlingtonians were reading about in March 1930, including a County Board rezoning controversy and referendums that led to the adoption of the county manager form of government. [FCNP]
Peak Bloom This Week — “This weekend’s warm weather pushed the Yoshino cherry trees to Stage Five: Puffy White. The blossoms are coming out, we’re just waiting on them to open. We expect Peak Bloom this week!” [National Mall NPS/X]
It’s Tuesday — Expect a cooler day with sunny skies and a high near 52, well below yesterday’s 65. North wind at 2–7 mph. Overnight lows drop to around 37 under partly cloudy skies. [NWS]
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Another wave of “No Kings” protests will be taking place along several high-visibility areas in Arlington on Saturday.
They’re part of over 3,000 similar events happening around the country on the same day, protesting the Trump administration and its tactics. Culminating in a large afternoon protest along an eight-mile stretch of Glebe Road, the actions will follow similar demonstrations last June and October.
A family safely got out after the attic of their home in the Country Club Hills neighborhood caught fire this morning.
Firefighters were first dispatched to the house on the 4600 block of 35th Street N. around 9:15 a.m. to investigate a burning light fixture and a haze on the second floor, according to scanner traffic. Arriving units reported smoke coming from the roof and asked for the call to be upgraded and additional resources to be dispatched.
