(Updated at 1:30 p.m.) A woman has been found deceased at the base of the antenna tower at 5301 22nd Street N., according to initial reports.
Arlington County police and firefighters are on the scene. A 911 caller reportedly saw the woman fall from the tower.
(Updated at 3:30 p.m.) Firefighters extinguished a blaze at the Ballston IHOP restaurant early this morning (Wednesday).
The fire started around 2 a.m. at the eatery, located at 935 N. Stafford Street. No one was hurt as a result of the blaze, which crews were able to put out within half an hour of arriving on scene.
Memorial Ride for Arlington Cyclist — A memorial ride is planned tonight in D.C. for Arlington resident Thomas Hollowell, who was killed while riding his bike to work last week near the intersection of 12th Street and Constitution Avenue NW. [Facebook]
Master Bike Plan for Arlington — Planners are putting the finishing touches on which bike infrastructure projects to include in Arlington County’s updated master plan. Currently in: the Army Navy Country Club Connector. Currently out: a connection from the Marine Corps War Memorial to the Roosevelt Bridge. [TheWashCycle]
Ammar Atef Alahdali, a 22-year-old Saudi Arabian national living in Arlington, pleaded guilty to one count of receipt of child pornography in federal court yesterday (Tuesday), according to a release from the Department of Justice.
Federal prosecutors say Alahdali used cryptocurrency to register on a dark web site, which could only be accessed via special software masking his IP address, back in April 2017.
County police say 34-year-old Rick Ramey of Bryans Road, Maryland wasn’t working as a rideshare or taxi driver when he managed to convince four people to get into his car around 3 a.m. Friday night (Sept. 28).
Police spokeswoman Ashley Savage says it’s unclear how Ramey met his passengers, or if he was posing as a rideshare driver, but she said “they appear unknown to each other prior to the incident.”
The Mt. Vernon Trail is currently blocked near Roosevelt Island after someone tried to drive a piece of large construction equipment over a rickety wooden bridge.
The wooden plank bridge carries trail traffic in the area of Roosevelt Island and the Roosevelt Bridge, near Rosslyn. It is noted for being slippery when wet and generally uneven at all times, causing bikes to shake as cyclists ride over it.
(Updated at 3:15 p.m.) Firefighters tackled a dumpster fire in Rosslyn near the Target store earlier today.
The fire broke out this morning behind a building on the 1500 block of Wilson Blvd. It scorched a big green dumpster before being extinguished by firefighters from nearby Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall.
George Mason University has cordoned off a “no scooter zone” in front of its Arlington campus in Virginia Square.
Readers alerted ARLnow to the signs yesterday (Monday), which are located in front of the university’s Founders Hall plaza on Fairfax Drive.
(Updated at 1:50 p.m.) At least two packages in a mail processing center at the Pentagon could contain the deadly poison ricin, according to news reports.
Department of Defense officials have told local and national news outlets that the packages were addressed to Defense Secretary James Mattis and Admiral John Richarson, but never made it inside the Pentagon itself. The mail center is located on the building’s campus, but not inside the Pentagon.
Judge Dismisses Dewey Horse Punch Case — A man who was accused of punching a police horse in Dewey Beach is now trying to clear his name after the case was dismissed. Surveillance video reportedly exonerated the man, who might not actually be from Arlington as originally reported. [Cape Gazette]
Rosslyn Transportation Meeting Tonight — “Join Arlington County and the Rosslyn BID to provide feedback at this public meeting that will focus on the Core of Rosslyn Transportation Study. This study will examine the feasibility and potential impacts of permanent changes to the street network in the core of Rosslyn, with the goals of improving safety and accessibility for all users, including those walking, biking, using transit and driving.” [Rosslyn]
A new group set to study potential reforms for the county’s “Neighborhood Conservation” program will soon start its work, with the broad goal of evaluating the program’s efficacy after it endured some deep cuts this year.
The county is now recruiting members for a working group on the subject, after staff sketched out their plans for the new committee to the County Board last Tuesday (Sept. 25).
County police believe 61-year-old Rigoberto Folgar Hernandez was sent home Friday afternoon (Sept. 28) after showing up to work drunk at a car wash along the 4100 block of S. Four Mile Run Drive.
But Hernandez returned to the business a short time later, when he “drove a customer’s vehicle off the property, went over a median and struck a concrete piling and a parked vehicle,” police say.
