After spending all of their lives in kennels, nearly 70 beagles will soon be up for adoption through Arlington-based organizations.
The Animal Welfare League of Arlington and Lost Dog & Cat Rescue Foundation began welcoming a number of rescued beagles into their facilities last week.
New ‘Missing Middle’ Conversations — “Members of the Arlington County Board are hosting 11 community conversations on Missing Middle Housing. Participants will have the opportunity to learn, listen, reflect, and share perspectives with County Board members and neighbors. Sessions will be offered in person across the County, and virtually, with registration required. Community members are asked to register only to one session.” [Arlington County]
Murder Suspect Arrested in Arlington — “A Virginia man has been charged with second-degree murder and other crimes in the killing Wednesday of a female acquaintance who was found stabbed and “actively on fire” in her Fairfax County apartment, police said Thursday… [Arlington resident Richard Montano, 47] was arrested Wednesday night at an Arlington gas station. O’Carroll said Montano ‘has had very minimal contacts with law enforcement in the past.'” [Washington Post]
Arlington’s fall aquatics class registration did not go swimmingly for many who attempted it on Wednesday.
On the plus side, there appears to have been some degree of improvement from past meltdowns.
The Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority is looking to expand the W&OD Trail in Arlington, potentially by 2027.
The organization, also known as NOVA Parks, released its five-year strategic plan on Tuesday. The plan includes proposed upgrades to Arlington’s section of the Washington & Old Dominion (W&OD) Trail, including the addition of a dual-use trail.
Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) is addressing a key constituent concern — airplane noise — through the just-signed CHIPS Act.
The $280 billion bill is primarily focused on boosting domestic semiconductor manufacturing, but contains other scientific research provisions. Among them is wording from Beyer to “bolster NASA’s efforts to reduce emissions from the aviation industry while also reducing the impact of airplane noise in airport-adjacent communities.”
A man accused of robbing a security guard in Courthouse was arrested in front of Arlington police headquarters Tuesday night.
The incident happened around 10:30 p.m. Wednesday and started inside an office building lobby on the 2100 block of Clarendon Blvd. Arlington County government headquarters is the only office building on that exact block.
Few APS Students to Remain Remote — “The number of Arlington Public Schools students using the ‘virtual-learning’ option for the coming school year will be down more than 90 percent from last year, according to new figures, owing largely in a change to how online learning is being delivered. There were 533 students in the school system’s ‘VLP’ (Virtual Learning Program) at the end of the 2021-22 school year… The families of 36 students applied for participation in the program” this year. [Sun Gazette]
Change in County Board Speaker Rules — “Previously, an individual could show up at the 8:30 a.m. meeting (either in person or ‘virtually’) and submit a speaker form prior to the last public-comment speaker wrapping up comments, usually something that occurs about 9 a.m. or slightly later. Under the new rules, sign-ups must occur before 8:15 a.m. to make the cut.” [Sun Gazette]
Literacy Issues in Elementary Schools — “More fourth and fifth grade students in Arlington needed literacy help at the end of the last school year than at the beginning, according to data from the Virginia school system. About 15% of fourth and fifth grade students needed intensive support at the beginning of the year, according to results from Arlington County Public Schools’ literacy screening test. About 16.6% needed extra attention in the middle of year, as did nearly 18% of all fourth and fifth graders at the end of the school year.” [WTOP]
Teacher Hiring Nearly Complete — “Arlington Public Schools is on track to have all the teachers it needs to welcome students back to classrooms later in August. With just 68 full-time vacancies, the school system’s ranks were 97.8-percent filled as of Aug. 4, Superintendent Francisco Durán told School Board members at that evening’s meeting.” [Sun Gazette]
A section of Columbia Pike will be reduced to one lane in each direction starting next week.
The lane closure, which is set to start Monday and stretch into January 2023, will run about a third of a mile from S. Wakefield Street to S. George Mason Drive. It will help make way for latest phase of the Columbia Pike Multimodal Street Improvements project.
Don’t look now but Covid cases are declining in Arlington.
The average daily reported case rate in the county is currently around 90, down from 184 on Memorial Day. At the same time, the number of PCR tests performed in Arlington, as reported by the Virginia Dept. of Health, is also dropping and thus keeping the local test positivity rate high: just over 22%.
The beacon of light in the Arlington sky early Sunday morning wasn’t a UFO, but an authorized Pentagon drone flight.
At about 2:41 a.m. this past Sunday (Aug. 7) morning, some people spotted a dot of light hovering above the general vicinity of Arlington National Cemetery and the Pentagon.
A man upset that he couldn’t buy alcohol before 6 a.m. allegedly stole it by force and then threw some of it at a store employee.
The incident happened around 5 a.m. Sunday, at the 7-Eleven at 2001 Clarendon Blvd in Courthouse.
