(Updated at 9:25 p.m.) Commonwealth’s Attorney incumbent Parisa Dehghani-Tafti has defeated challenger Josh Katcher in Tuesday’s Democratic primary.
Dehghani-Tafti has 56% of the vote to 44% for Katcher, her former deputy, in the heated race for the top prosecutor of Arlington and Falls Church. That’s as of 8:40 p.m., with all but a few hundred provisional and late-arriving mailed ballots counted in Arlington. Polls closed at 7 p.m.
Arlington County’s pickleball plans continue to peeve particular people, prompting a potential project pause.
The Donaldson Run Civic Association (DRCA) sent a letter to the county’s Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) late last week expressing the belief the department did not sufficiently involve the civic association when making the decision to re-line several tennis courts for pickleball at Marcey Road Park in North Arlington.
The owner of garden apartments on the edge of the Fairlington neighborhood nabbed $46.6 million in federal loans to help keep the units affordable and fund upgrades.
Over the last two years, Standard Communities, which owns Park Shirlington (4510 31st Street S.), has been amassing funding — including from Arlington County — to keep the nearly 300 units on site affordable to people earning up to 60% of the area median income, while funding renovations and new construction work.
(Updated at 1:45 p.m.) A young black bear, perhaps the one spotted near Windy Run Park over the weekend, is currently running through backyards in a North Arlington neighborhood.
The bear was seen hopping a fence and running through the yard of homes in the Leeway-Overlee neighborhood, not too far from the East Falls Church Metro station, around 11:15 a.m.
Growing community concerns and a visit from county code enforcement have prompted a local property manager to clean and secure its vacant storefronts on Columbia Pike.
Some retail bays at the Fillmore Gardens Shopping Center, on the 2600 block of the Pike, have stood empty for a year as the strip mall awaited redevelopment. That includes the former spaces of Atilla’s restaurant, apparel store Legends Kicks and the Black Heritage Museum of Arlington.
Just under 10% of voters have cast ballots in today’s Democratic primary as of 9 a.m.
That includes 7% who voted early or by mail and 2% voting at the polls Tuesday morning, according to Arlington County election officials.
It’s Primary Day — Voting is now underway for today’s local Democratic primary. Links to candidate essays are as follows. Commonwealth’s Attorney: Josh Katcher and Parisa Dehghani-Tafti. County Board: Tony Weaver, Jonathan Dromgoole, JD Spain, Maureen Coffey, Susan Cunningham, and Natalie Roy. Sheriff: Jose Quiroz, James Herring, and Wanda Younger. State Senate: Barbara Favola.
More Bad Driving on I-395 — From Dave Statter on Monday: “The driver of a white SUV, going a bit faster than everyone else, lost control & went airborne for a moment after smashing into a guardrail on I-395N at Boundary Channel last night.” Statter on Saturday: “This Camaro sure took an interesting path. It came from the Rt 27 ramp to I-395S (from Col. Pike) & crossed 2 other ramps. The evidence shows up quite well on the @VaDOT cam.” [Twitter, Twitter]
(Updated at 3:25 p.m.) A man is in custody and a woman is dead after an early morning stabbing in Virginia Square.
The grisly incident happened around 5 a.m. at Terwilliger Place, the recently built apartment building on the American Legion Post 139 site at 3445 Washington Blvd.
There is a bear roaming around part of Arlington.
The Animal Welfare League of Arlington says that a young black bear was spotted in the area of Windy Run Park. The park is located north of Lorcom Lane near the Riverwood and Woodmont neighborhoods.
Just a few days remain to vote in the Arlington County Democratic primary.
Voters can cast their ballots early and in-person today (Friday) and tomorrow — or they can hit the polls on Tuesday.
The pickleball craze could be headed to the local jail next.
Acting Sheriff Jose Quiroz, who is one of three vying for the support of local Democrats in the primary this coming Tuesday, said that one amenity he would like to add to the jail is a pickleball court.
When a contractor for Arlington County embarked on work to renovate a county-owned childcare building near Courthouse, it ran into some costly problems.
The county contracted with Landivar & Associates in December to oversee plans to update the Arlington Children’s Center (1915 N. Uhle Street), which has housed a childcare facility for county employees for several decades. It will be updating the building to meet current daycare standards, comply with the Americans with Disability Act and provide an interior refresh.
