Good morning, Arlington. Dana here. It’s Friday, August 20: National Radio Day and Demi Lovato’s 29th birthday.
Morning Notes
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News
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(Updated 11:40 a.m.) Last October, 46-year-old D.C. resident Darryl Becton died in his cell at the Arlington County Detention Facility in Courthouse.
The county is still looking into the circumstances around his death, but the Arlington County Police Department tells ARLnow the investigation could soon be concluded.
Arlington County plans to resurface a stretch of N. Lynn Street in Rosslyn to improve the driving and cycling experience.
The project is part of the county’s annual effort to resurface about 100 lane miles of roadway, prioritizing those in the most need of upgrades and those adjacent to development, schools or county-led capital projects. It is the second of two “complete streets” resurfacing projects proposed for 2021, the other being changes to Wilson Blvd in the Bluemont neighborhood.
Some Automatic Ped Signals Ending — “The County will be rolling back automatic pedestrian phase activations at several signalized intersections across Arlington. This measure was enacted in 2020 in response to low traffic volumes due to the COVID-19 pandemic and to minimize the need to press push buttons to trigger the pedestrian phase at a signal. This initiative was accompanied by ‘Do Not Push’ signage posted at various intersections.” [Arlington County, Twitter]
Mostly Back to Usual for School Buses — “APS will operate with normal bus capacity and follow normal procedures. Properly fitted masks are required for everyone on school buses and inside schools. There will be no temperature checks or verification of health screening completion upon arrival at the bus or school. Families will continue to receive the daily Qualtrics Symptom Screener as a reminder to complete health screening with their children prior to arrival at the bus, and to check temperatures daily. Please keep students home if they are sick.” [Arlington Public Schools]
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(Updated at 6:15 p.m.) Police and firefighters are on scene of an overturned vehicle in Pentagon City, near the Costco and the Amazon HQ2 construction site.
The crash happened around 3:45 p.m. at the intersection of 15th Street S. and S. Elm Street. Photos from the scene show only a single vehicle: a black SUV resting on its side, with its windshield smashed. Bystanders could be seen standing around it, before police arrived.
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(Updated 8/19 at 12:25 p.m.) Some Arlingtonians suspected it a few weeks ago, and an entomologist with Virginia Tech has now confirmed it: those mysterious, itchy red bug bites generating a buzz here are likely from oak itch mites.
The Virginia Tech Insect ID Lab has not yet received a mite this year to study, Kirsten Ann Conrad, an extension agent for Virginia Cooperative Extension, tells ARLnow. But the mite theory nonetheless is likely correct, she says.
Two people were hurt in an armed robbery of Preston’s Pharmacy on Route 29 this morning.
The robbery happened around 9:15 a.m. at the neighborhood pharmacy, located at 5101 Lee Highway.
The National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial is currently closed to the public due COVID protocols and may not be open to the public by September 11, a Pentagon spokesperson confirms to ARLnow.
The Department of Defense closed down the 9/11 Memorial and public tours again earlier this month due to an increase in COVID-19 cases in the region.
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(Updated at 10:40 a.m.) A day after declaring that vaccine booster shots were “not currently available,” Arlington started offering them.
“On Tuesday, August 17, Arlington County Public Health will begin offering an additional, or third, dose of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines (Moderna and Pfizer) to certain immunocompromised people,” Arlington County announced yesterday in a press release. “This follows FDA’s amended Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) and the CDC’s adoption of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ recommendation.”
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Arlington’s Biggest House Numbers? — “In the early days of the pandemic, I went on a quixotic quest to walk every one of the 1,114 blocks in my Arlington, Virginia, ZIP code, cataloging the styles of the address numbers on every house along the way… I have kept an eye on the house numbers in Arlington ever since, and imagine my joy this spring when suddenly, on a street I biked down every week, a new set of enormous house numbers appeared.” [Slate, Twitter]
Stepped Up DUI Patrols Begin Today — “This Labor Day, the Arlington County Police Department (ACPD) is participating in the national Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over impaired driving awareness campaign, which runs from August 18th through September 6th, 2021. This campaign aims to drastically reduce drunk driving on our nation’s roadways through a two-pronged approach of education and enforcement.” [ACPD]
This week, a Marymount University graduate working in tech is packing up and moving to Dublin, Ireland.
He didn’t expect — or want — to leave his home on the border of Arlington and Falls Church this way.
Airbags were stolen from a number of vehicles in several Arlington neighborhoods overnight Friday.
The thefts were reported in the Buckingham, Bluemont and Westover neighborhoods. In all, seven vehicles were “forcibly entered into and had their air bags stolen,” according to the Arlington County Police Department.