Just eight games into the regular season, the Wakefield Warriors girls softball team has already won as many games as it did during the entirety of last spring.
On track to surpass its 2025 win total in the Liberty District, as well, the high-school squad began this week with a 7-1 overall mark and stood 4-1 in the district. The team finished 7-8 overall a year ago.
Raffles, free books and other giveaways are coming to an East Falls Church bookstore this weekend in honor of Independent Bookstore Day.
One More Page Books is bringing back its annual festivities from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. this Saturday at 2200 N. Westmoreland Street. The day also kicks off the bookstore’s participation in the third annual NoVa + Indie Bookstore Crawl, which includes 18 stores around the region.
This sponsored column is by Law Office of James Montana PLLC. All questions about it should be directed to James Montana, Esq., Janice Chen, Esq., and Victoria Khaydar, Esq., practicing attorneys at The Law Office of James Montana PLLC, an immigration-focused law firm located in Falls Church, Virginia. The legal information given here is general in nature. If you want legal advice, contact us for an appointment.
If you filed an asylum application with USCIS more than a year ago, and that application is still pending, you may recently have received a notice from USCIS directing you to pay something called the Annual Asylum Fee. Or you may not have. That, as we will explain, is part of the problem.
The Annual Asylum Fee was created by H.R. 1 – the reconciliation bill enacted in July 2025, sometimes known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act – which requires asylum applicants to pay a fee for every year that their asylum application remains pending. The length of time an application remains pending is, of course, determined almost entirely by the government, not by the applicant. This feature of the law has not escaped the notice of asylum seekers or their lawyers.
The rollout has been, to put it charitably, iterative. USCIS launched a payment page in October 2025 and began sending notices. A federal court in Maryland paused the notices a few weeks later. That pause was lifted in February 2026. In April 2026, the Department of Homeland Security published an Interim Final Rule, effective May 29, 2026, which spelled out the consequences of failing to pay on time: rejection of the asylum application, termination of the applicant’s work permit, and potential referral to removal proceedings. Meanwhile, the notices themselves have proven unreliable. Many applicants report never receiving one, and some only learned that they had owed the fee when the USCIS website informed them that their payment period had expired.
In July 2026, a coalition of organizations representing asylum seekers and TPS holders sued USCIS in federal court in Massachusetts in Venezuelan Association of Massachusetts v. USCIS. On July 21, 2026, the court issued an administrative stay, and on August 5, 2026, it extended that relief while the case proceeds. Under the court’s orders, USCIS may not:
The stakes were not small. According to the plaintiffs, USCIS had been prepared to reject 227,186 pending asylum applications for nonpayment. In August, USCIS also reopened expired payment windows, so applicants who were previously told their deadline had passed may now be able to pay.
But note what the court did not do. The order expressly allows USCIS to keep collecting the fee, and USCIS’s position is that anyone who receives a notice must pay it according to its instructions.
A new fitness studio has entered Ballston’s wellness scene, hosting group workout classes with elements of yoga and Pilates.
Fitness franchise FS8, which specializes in reformer Pilates, yoga and low impact training, is now open for business at 4001 9th Street N. The new studio held a grand opening over the weekend with Olympic diving medalist Kassidy Cook.
Please join us for an Open House at St. Charles Preschool on November 13th at 9:30 am to learn more about our Christ-centered, nurturing preschool community! Applications for the 2027-28 school year will be opening that day on our school website.
Our school offers:
County leaders appear optimistic that plans for an Arlington boathouse on the Potomac River will stay on track to open by the end of the decade.
“I think we’re through the hardest parts,” County Board member Susan Cunningham said at the April 14 meeting of the Park and Recreation Commission, where the topic was discussed.
Join us in person for a day packed with excitement and peace of mind! Our Child Safety Fun event features a cool fair filled with games and activities for the kids, plus a seat check station to make sure the car seats are installed correctly and to ensure your little ones are buckled up safely. It's a perfect chance to have fun and learn some important safety tips. Don’t miss out on this awesome event made just for families!
County Board members are closing in on a decision about whether parts of the Nelly Custis School should receive historic designations.
Board members are slated to take their first procedural step toward a future decision on the 1.7-acre property tomorrow (Wednesday). They are likely to adopt an initiating resolution for consideration of the historic district proposed by a local resident and recommended by the Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board (HALRB).
Polls Open Today — Virginia’s special election is today, with polls open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Voters must go to their assigned polling place. On the ballot: a proposed state constitutional amendment that would temporarily allow the General Assembly to redraw congressional districts. Arlington Public Schools is off today due to the election. [Arlington Elections/X, Arlington County]
Amazon Behind on HQ2 Jobs — Amazon’s HQ2 in Pentagon City is falling short of its promised job targets for a third straight year. By the end of 2025, the company should have added 11,643 jobs under its state incentive agreement; instead it has created 7,159, or 28.6% of its 25,000-job goal by 2038. [Washington Post]
Defense Powers Office Market — Defense contractors drove N. Va.’s office leasing market in the first quarter, accounting for 85.2% of the largest deals, per JLL. Trophy vacancy fell to 13.9% as Lockheed Martin renewed its 176,127-square-foot lease at 2121 Crystal Drive in Crystal City — the quarter’s biggest deal. [WBJ]
Beyer Vows Kennedy Center Fight — Rep. Don Beyer (D) vowed to fight changes at the Kennedy Center, calling them “a disturbing extension of this Administration’s pay-to-play corruption.” Beyer was responding to a new Atlantic article on the institution’s ongoing leadership drama. [Rep. Don Beyer/X]
Sen. Warner Mourns Daughter — Sen. Mark Warner (D) and his wife Lisa Collis announced yesterday that their daughter Madison Warner, 36, has died after decades of battling juvenile diabetes and other health issues. “She filled our lives with love and laughter,” the family said. [ALXnow]
Tick Season Returns — As temperatures rise, tick activity is picking up across Virginia. State health officials say ticks can spread Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever and Alpha-gal Syndrome, and are urging Virginians to use EPA-registered insect repellents and check themselves after spending time outdoors. [VDH]
It’s Tuesday — Expect widespread frost before 10 am, followed by sunny weather with a high near 62°F. Winds will be calm, shifting to the south at about 6 mph in the afternoon. On Tuesday night, there is a 30% chance of showers after 2 am, with partly cloudy skies and a low around 50°F. South winds will increase to 7 to 9 mph. [NWS]
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Flickr pool photo by Jason Gooljar
Good Monday 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 — Apr 20, 2026.
Here is what’s going on Tuesday in Arlington, from our event calendar.
Expect widespread frost before 10 am, followed by sunny weather with a high near 62°F. Winds will be calm, shifting to the south at about 6 mph in the afternoon. On Tuesday night, there is a 30% chance of showers after 2 am, with partly cloudy skies and a low around 50°F. South winds will increase to 7 to 9 mph. See more from Weather.gov.
“Believe you can and you’re halfway there.”
– Theodore Roosevelt
The MonumentCam screenshot above is used with permission of the Trust for the National Mall and courtesy of EarthCam.
Thanks for reading! 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.
Green Valley’s newest art space is preparing to open to the public with a outdoor market featuring creative activities and artwork for sale.
The 2700 Art Space project, located at the site of former Inner Ear recording studio next to Jennie Dean Park, will kick off its first official programming on Sunday, May 3 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Called SPARK!, the first monthly art market will include artwork from local artists — including prints and ceramics from The Studios at Arlington Arts — plus the mobile bookstore The Wandering Shelf, a pop-up poetry booth from The Poet is IN and the popular “Patch or Swap” booth where visitors can mend old clothes or trade them in.
A 34-year-old Arlington man is behind bars and facing numerous charges after police say he injured half a dozen officers and a police dog.
Oleh Mashkin entered a condo building on Columbia Pike around 6 p.m. Friday, shoved someone out of an elevator, and then kicked down the door of an unoccupied apartment, according to Arlington County police.
