News | ARLnow.com

Morning Notes

Published March 20, 2017 at 9:05AM | Updated March 20, 2017 at 9:34AM

Florida Men Arrested for Credit Card Skimming — Three men from Miami, Florida were arrested earlier this month on the 5600 block of Columbia Pike, in Fairfax County. They’re suspected of using Bluetooth-enabled credit card skimming devices to steal credit card numbers from gas station customers. [Falls Church News-Press]

School Board to Consider Wakefield Modifications — The Arlington School Board is expected to approve a $4 million internal modification project at Wakefield High School that will increase its student capacity to 2,300 from 1,900. [InsideNova]

Arlington’s Planning Director Departs for New Job in Florida

By ARLnow.com

Published March 17, 2017 at 10:25AM

Steven Cover joined Arlington County as director of Community Planning, Housing and Development in March 2015. He won the respect of many in Arlington’s business community by trying to streamline processes in CPHD, which has gained a reputation for a heavy-handed, intransigent approach to enforcing county regulations, sources tell ARLnow.com.

The City of Sarasota announced Cover’s hiring yesterday.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Published March 17, 2017 at 9:30AM

Arlington’s Irish Bars on St. Patrick’s Day — Today is St. Patrick’s Day and that of course means that Guinness will be flowing like water at Arlington’s half dozen Irish pubs. Among them: The Celtic House on Columbia Pike (recently lauded by Yelp and Travel + Leisure), Samuel Beckett’s in Shirlington, Ireland’s Four Courts in Courthouse, O’Sullivan’s in Clarendon, P. Brennan’s on Columbia Pike and Sine Irish Pub on Pentagon Row.

Arlington’s High-Earning Millennials — “Arlington has more millennials with a household income of $350,000 or more than any other jurisdiction in the country, with 8.7 percent of millennials among that wealthy cohort.” [Washington Post]

Water Pipes Spring Cleaning Begins Next Week

By Chris Teale

Published March 16, 2017 at 4:30PM

Kitchen sink and tap water (file photo)

From March 20 through April 17, the disinfectant in the water will switch temporarily from chloramine to chlorine, as part of routine cleaning of the drinking water systems by crews from the Washington Aqueduct.

Aqueduct crews will also add a corrosion control inhibitor during the switch to prevent the potential release of lead in system pipes throughout the region. County officials said extensive research in Arlington has never found any lead service lines or lead pipes inside homes.

Police: Apartment Resident Drew Gun After Maintenance Workers Knocked on Door

By ARLnow.com

Published March 16, 2017 at 3:30PM | Updated March 17, 2017 at 4:45PM

Arlington police car (file photo)

The incident drew a big police response at the Horizons apartments (4300 Old Dominion Drive) around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday. The maintenance workers reportedly ran away after the gun was drawn and nobody was hurt.

JUST IN: Trains Single-Tracking On Metro’s Yellow Line

By Chris Teale

Published March 16, 2017 at 1:25PM | Updated June 29, 2018 at 10:57AM

(Updated 2:40 p.m.) Engineers completed repairs of the tunnel leak, and trains are no longer sharing a track on the Yellow Line.

Original post:

County Manager Proposes Cuts to Halve Proposed Tax Rate Increase

By ARLnow.com

Published March 16, 2017 at 9:30AM | Updated March 16, 2017 at 10:06AM

The cuts to Schwartz’s proposed budget total $11.1 million and include everything from a multi-million dollar reduction in school funding to a reduction of hours at the Glencarlyn library and the elimination of a management intern position in the parks department.

From a county press release:

Man Arrested Near EFC Metro After Running from Police, Assaulting Officer

By ARLnow.com

Published March 15, 2017 at 10:10AM

File photo

The incident happened just before 2:30 p.m. Police say the man ran when approached by an officer on patrol. The pursuit ended on the 6700 block of 19th Road N. when, according to police, the man struck an officer and was tased.

More from Arlington County Police Department spokeswoman Ashley Savage:

Morning Poll: Grade Arlington’s Snow Removal Effort

By ARLnow.com

Published March 15, 2017 at 9:15AM

Approved this past summer, the new policy had snow crews clearing major roads and neighborhood streets concurrently, a change from the previous practice of only tackling neighborhood streets after arterial streets were totally clear.

The old policy led to complaints (and snow vigilantism) from residents that by the time crews got to their neighborhood, the snow had become so compacted or icy that it was hard for the plows to fully remove.

Pedestrian Crossing Installed at Washington Blvd and N. Utah Street

By Chris Teale

Published March 14, 2017 at 2:00PM | Updated March 14, 2017 at 2:47PM

The new pedestrian walk lights at Washington Boulevard and N. Utah Street

(Updated at 2:20 p.m.) A new pedestrian walk light at a dangerous intersection could help ease safety concerns for those on foot.

A teen was struck by a car last year at the intersection of Washington Boulevard and N. Utah Street near Washington-Lee High School and suffered a serious head injury.

Large Power Outage in Pentagon City

By ARLnow.com

Published March 14, 2017 at 11:00AM

Traffic lights are dark and nearly 2,200 Dominion customers are without power in the Pentagon City area.

So far there’s no word on what caused the outage.

County Board to Discuss Grant For Crystal City Venture Capital Hub

By Chris Teale

Published March 14, 2017 at 10:45AM

At its Saturday meeting, the Arlington County Board will consider a proposed agreement with SineWave Ventures for an incentive-based economic development grant.

Up to $250,000 would be paid over five years under the terms of the deal, depending on performance.