News | ARLnow.com - Part 1101

McAuliffe Plan to Boost Health Coverage Gets Mixed Reactions

Published September 9, 2014 at 10:45AM

McAuliffe unveiled a 10-point plan through which the majority of the newly covered — about 160,000 — will get assistance signing up for via the federal Affordable Care Act. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services has approved $4.3 million for outreach to help eligible individuals sign up, McAuliffe announced.

The plan includes measures to provide more and better care to those with mental illnesses, give dental care to pregnant women on Medicaid and FAMIS and launch a website “to inform Virginians of their coverage options and help them enroll,” among other platforms.

Senator: Arlington Is a ‘Soulless Suburb’

By ARLnow.com

Published September 9, 2014 at 9:00AM | Updated September 9, 2014 at 6:01PM

In her new book, “Off The Sidelines,” which is due out today, Gillibrand recounts her move from New York to the D.C. area — to Arlington, specifically — when she was first elected to the House of Representatives. It was a move Gillibrand would come to regret.

From the book:

Dryer Causes Fire in Ballston Townhouse

By Ethan Rothstein

Published September 8, 2014 at 6:00PM

A dryer caught fire early this evening in a townhouse on the 1100 block of N. Taylor Street in Ballston, igniting the laundry room in the basement of a home.

The Arlington County Fire Department arrived on the narrow street at 5:00 p.m., according to ACFD Battalion Chief Dan Fitch. The home’s occupant found the fire, left the building and called 9-1-1, Fitch said No one else was inside and no injuries were reported.

Parkmobile Now Available In Clarendon, Ballston

By Ethan Rothstein

Published September 8, 2014 at 3:30PM

Arlington has accelerated its Parkmobile rollout, installing the smartphone app service in Clarendon, Ballston and Virginia Square over the weekend.

The mobile app allows users to enter their parking “zone” number and pay from their phone with pre-saved credit card and vehicle information. It has been in use in D.C. since 2011, and it was first introduced in Crystal City and Shirlington in July, and Pentagon City soon after. Clarendon and Ballston were expected to have the service available “by winter,” county officials said at the time, but the timeline has been pushed up.

Arlington Sending Out Jury Duty Questionnaires

By Ethan Rothstein

Published September 8, 2014 at 10:00AM

Gavel (Flickr photo by Joe Gratz)

The questionnaires will be sent to about 11,000 residents of Arlington and Falls Church, which is also in the Arlington Circuit Court’s jurisdiction, this month, the county announced Friday. The pool of residents receiving questionnaires was selected from voter rolls provided by the state Board of Elections.

Jury terms are typically no longer than four days, Monday through Thursday, but the average trial is one to two days, the county said. Jurors receive $30 per day as reimbursement. The 2015 court year goes from the third week of January 2015 to January 2016.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Published September 8, 2014 at 9:20AM

Arlington Prepares for 9/11 Anniversary — Already, flags have been hung on the side of a number of buildings in Rosslyn (photo, above), in anticipation of Thursday’s 9/11 anniversary. Arlington County will mark the anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks with a wreath-laying ceremony at Courthouse Plaza (2100 Clarendon Blvd) at 9:30 a.m. [Arlington County]

Hispanic-Owned Arlington Firm Is Among Fastest Growing — An Arlington-based engineering and information technology company, Engineering Services Network, has been named one of the fastest growing Hispanic-owned firms by Hispanic Business magazine. Based in Crystal City, ESN has about 250 employees. [InsideNova, Engineering Services Network]

Police Swarm Ballston to Stop Alleged Bike Thieves

By Ethan Rothstein

Published September 5, 2014 at 3:30PM

(Updated at 3:35 p.m.) The Arlington County Police Department apprehended three bike theft suspects in Ballston this afternoon (Friday).

The suspects were caught with a bicycle that had been reported stolen this morning, according to Lt. Dan Murphy, who heads the ACPD’s property theft division. Around 12:30 p.m., police pulled over a minivan with four suspects inside. One female suspect ran away from police and is still at large. The other three were handcuffed and taken into custody, although one managed to flee from the van before police caught and detained him.

Local Officials React to McDonnell Verdict

By Ethan Rothstein

Published September 5, 2014 at 10:15AM

The governor was convicted on 11 of 13 counts, including three counts of honest-services wire fraud and six counts of obtaining property “under color of official right,” for gifts and loans received from businessman Jonnie Williams.

Maureen McDonnell was convicted on nine of a possible 13 counts, for many of the same crimes as her husband.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Published September 5, 2014 at 9:30AM

APS Enrollment Still Rising — This fall, Pre-K through 12 enrollment in Arlington Public Schools is expected to rise to 23,956 students, up from 23,316 last year and 22,657 two years ago. Despite accommodating more students, Superintendent Patrick Murphy said the first day of school was “a big success.” [InsideNova]

Letter From Arlington to Mrs. Wilson — Arlington County wrote to President Woodrow Wilson’s widow in 1926 to ask permission to name a new school in her late husband’s memory. The resulting Wilson School is located at 1601 Wilson Blvd in Rosslyn. The school building may be torn down in the near future to make way for a new school, to help Arlington Public Schools add more capacity. [Preservation Arlington]

Environmental Groups Protest Dominion in Crystal City

By Ethan Rothstein

Published September 4, 2014 at 5:00PM | Updated September 4, 2014 at 6:22PM

Photo courtesy Caroline Wood

A group of environmental activists and Alexandria Mayor Bill Euille gathered in Crystal City this afternoon to ask Dominion Resources, the parent company of Dominion Power, to end its membership in a conservative think tank.

The think tank, the American Legislative Exchange Council, is a membership-based, nonprofit group of state legislators — Virginia House of Delegates Speaker Bill Howell sits on its board — and private sector businessmen and women focused on “free markets, limited government and constitutional division of powers between the federal and state governments.”

Candidates Talk Bipartisanship, Libertarianism at Congressional Debate

By ARLnow.com

Published September 4, 2014 at 3:45PM | Updated September 6, 2014 at 2:16PM

(Updated on 9/6/14) Bipartisanship or libertarianism. Those were the two primary messages from the half-dozen congressional candidates participating in Tuesday’s Arlington Civic Federation candidates forum.

Democrat Don Beyer, the odds-on favorite in the race to replace retiring Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.), stuck to the “proven, principled progressive” theme of his successful primary campaign, while also promising to work across the aisle.

Arlington Throws Support Behind D.C. Olympic Bid

By Ethan Rothstein

Published September 4, 2014 at 11:35AM | Updated September 4, 2014 at 12:16PM

Arlington’s support of the bid appears based largely around its currently-stalled plans to build an Olympic-quality aquatics facility at Long Bridge Park, which Arlington expects to be a candidate for the location of the swimming and diving events if D.C. is chosen as the host city.

“Back in June, when we suspended construction plans for Phase 2 of Long Bridge Park, which will include the Aquatics, Health and Fitness Facility, we noted that we expected the park to be part of the plan for bringing the Olympics to the Washington Region,” Fisette said in a press release. “That is still our hope. We believe that Long Bridge could be a great venue for Olympic swimming events.”