The county government’s arborist is pushing back on accusations that an iconic tree was removed needlessly from a Lyon Park median.
But local residents aghast at the removal aren’t letting the county government off the hook for its actions.
The county government’s arborist is pushing back on accusations that an iconic tree was removed needlessly from a Lyon Park median.
But local residents aghast at the removal aren’t letting the county government off the hook for its actions.

New APS Labor Agreement –“The Arlington School Board today certified a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between Arlington Public Schools (APS) and the Arlington School Administrators (ASA)… The APS–ASA successor agreement signed today is the most comprehensive administrative collective bargaining agreement in the Commonwealth.” [Press Release]
County Tops LGBTQ Rating — “Arlington County earned a perfect score – 100 out of 100 – on the Human Rights Campaign’s 14th annual Municipal Equality Index (MEI). The MEI examines how inclusive municipal laws, policies, and services are of LGBTQ+ people who live and work there. Arlington again received a score of 100 – plus an additional 16 bonus points – on the MEI Scorecard.” [Arlington County]
Video: Pentagon City Crash — “The changes @ArlingtonDES made with the Army Navy Drive Complete Street Project seem to have greatly reduced the number of crashes at this intersection (once the lights were better aligned). This is the first one I’ve seen in a while.” [Dave Statter/X]
Trees Cut Along Route 50 — “Looks like someone took a machete to all of the young recently-planted sapling trees along Arlington Blvd between N Courthouse Rd and 10th St N. There are now yard signs warning people that damaging the trees is a class 3 misdemeanor.” [Adam Theo/Bluesky]
New Chick-fil-A at DCA — “Christmas came early and Chick-fil-A is back and better than ever!!!!!!! The newly expanded restaurant reopened today, bringing back fan favorites, just in time for your holiday travels. National Hall, near the D Gates.” [Reagan Airport/X]
Spanberger’s Latest Plans — “Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger (D) began rolling out specifics Thursday of how she plans to deliver a more affordable Virginia, offering proposed legislation in areas of health care, housing and energy that she said uphold the promises that got her elected last month.” [Washington Post]
Latest on Legion Bridge — “The Trump administration appears to be growing impatient with a perceived lack of progress by Maryland to replace the American Legion Memorial Bridge. U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced last week (Dec. 9) that the Federal Highway Administration will seek feedback and proposals on ways to accelerate the delivery of a new bridge in the hopes of relieving congestion on the Capital Beltway.” [FFXnow]
Trump’s Name Now on Kennedy Center — “The Kennedy Center installed President Donald Trump’s name on its exterior Friday morning, a dramatic change to a building established by law as a “living memorial” to a slain president.” [Washington Post]
It’s Monday — The skies will gradually become cloudy, reaching a high temperature of around 44 degrees, accompanied by a light southwestern wind. Monday night, there is a 40% chance of rain and snow occurring from 1 am to 4 am, followed by a possibility of rain after 4 am. With an expected low of 35 degrees, the light south wind will intensify to 5-10 mph later in the evening. [NWS]
Today’s Morning Notes are brought to you by Industrious. ARLnow has been decking the halls at an Industrious office for years and we love the convenience — you get to focus on your work rather than worrying about brewing your own coffee or keeping the copy machine stocked. Industrious has several Metro-accessible coworking locations in Arlington to keep your season merry and bright.
Photo courtesy Tom Mockler/X

This regularly scheduled column is written by Eli Tucker, Arlington-based Realtor and Arlington resident. If you would like to work with Eli and his team in Northern Virginia and the greater D.C. Metro area, you can reach him directly at [email protected].
Thank you to all who have served and to the families who have sacrificed or lost loved ones for our freedom. I hope you and yours have a special Memorial Day weekend with friends and family to celebrate our country and those we’ve lost defending it.
The Eli Residential Group donates annually to Arlington-based TAPS (Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors) in honor of Memorial Day. Since 1994, TAPS has provided comfort and hope 24/7 to those grieving a death in the military or veteran community, through a national peer support network and connection to grief resources, all at no cost to surviving families and loved ones.
If you are interested in donating to a great charity this Memorial Day, TAPS is a four-star rated charity on Charity Navigator with 87.5% of funds raised going towards program expenses.

Eli and his team believe that your real estate needs should be managed by advisors, not salespeople. Their mission is to guide, educate, and advocate for their clients through real advice, hands-on support, and personalized service.
Good Friday evening, Arlington. Let’s take a look back at today’s stories and a look forward to tomorrow’s event calendar.
The following articles were published earlier today — Dec 19, 2025.
Since it’s Friday, we’ve also compiled a list of the most-read articles of the week, below.
Here is what’s going on Saturday in Arlington, from our event calendar.
Here are the events planned for Sunday:
Expect a mostly sunny day with a high temperature near 44 degrees, as calm winds in the morning shift to the south, ranging from 5 to 9 mph. For Saturday night, skies will be partly cloudy, with the temperature dropping to around 36 degrees and a south wind blowing between 8 to 11 mph. See more from Weather.gov.
“The mind is everything. What you think you become.”
– Buddha
The MonumentCam screenshot above is used with permission of the Trust for the National Mall and courtesy of EarthCam.
We hope you have a great weekend, Arlington! If you have something to say about an issue of local note not covered today, feel free to post it as a letter to the editor on our new forum. 👋
County education leaders are still evaluating new accountability ratings that showed a mix of success and shortcomings among Arlington schools.
Eight Arlington schools were categorized as “Needs Intensive Support” under new rating system and first results released earlier this month by the Virginia Department of Education, Superintendent Francisco Durán told School Board members at their Dec. 18 meeting.
Friday, May 29, 2026
8pm (Doors open at 7)
Thursday was a busy night of vehicular incidents for Arlington County first responders.
Less than two hours after a pair of pedestrians were struck and injured in an alleged road rage hit-and-run, another pedestrian was struck a few blocks away in Ballston. A woman crossing in the crosswalk at Fairfax Drive and N. Utah Street was hospitalized, police say, after she was struck by the driver of a pickup truck.
ARLnow is approaching its 16th anniversary next month and much has changed in media during that time.
On the digital side, the blogging era gave way to the Buzzfeed era of scaled, social media-driven audiences, which has since given way to a more atomized era of niche media, podcasters, YouTubers and email newsletters.
An institution in the D.C. area adult entertainment scene is changing hands to a regional chain.
Crystal City Restaurant and Gentlemen’s Club (422 23rd Street S.) has been sold to Paper Moon, which operates other gentlemen’s clubs in Richmond, Northern Virginia and D.C. It’s only the second time the family-owned business has transferred ownership in its 62-year history.
As the end of the year approaches, this week we’re taking a step back to look at something many residents say they love about Arlington: its community.
Year after year, Arlington’s community events help to bring people together and offer an opportunity to share in experiences that can’t be found anywhere else.
Here are the nominees for “The Best Community Event in Arlington” as part of our ARLnow Readers’ Choice awards.
Did we miss your favorite event? Write it in!
Voting will close in two weeks.
Voting for Best Spa in Arlington is still taking place. Be sure to cast your vote before voting closes next Friday at 8:30 a.m.
Two weeks ago, we voted on the Best Middle Eastern Restaurant in Arlington. The results are now official:
An ever-increasing amount of Falls Church history is now available with just a few keystrokes.
The city’s Mary Riley Styles Public Library has started encouraging the public to take a test drive of its new digital archive.