The federal government is pushing Arlington Public Schools to stop allowing transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms corresponding with their gender identity.
The U.S. Education Department announced today that it has completed a five-month investigation into the anti-discrimination policies of five school districts in Northern Virginia, including APS.
The Arlington County Board approved five lower speed limits and delivered salutes to an outgoing county attorney and organizations promoting disability awareness this week.
This is in addition to actions related to new development and office-building conversions. Barring something unexpected, the July 22 meeting represents the last public gathering for the Board until mid-September.
When Eddie Kaufholz and his family moved to Arlington nearly five years ago, they were not thinking about starting a business. They wanted to live in a place that was diverse, interesting and full of opportunity, with a school system they could rely on. Arlington fit.
In the years that followed, working out of a home office off Columbia Pike, he consulted with organizations across Northern Virginia and around the country: nonprofits, advocacy groups, mid-sized companies, agencies of various sizes. The work itself was good. But somewhere across all those projects, he started to notice a pattern.
”The agency model has gotten really bloated,” Kaufholz says. ”Layers, handoffs, middle management. The senior people who pitch the work often disappear once it starts. The idea with PILLAR was to strip all of that down; keep senior people on the work, approach each client with humility and care, do world-class strategy and execution, and pass the efficiency back to the client instead of absorbing it as agency margin.”
That thinking, slowly, became PILLAR, the Arlington-headquartered creative, communications and marketing agency Kaufholz founded.
PILLAR, he says, is built on an old idea. ”An idea that has always been possible but rarely practiced: that an agency should be structured to serve the work itself.” The team that delivers the work is assembled around the specific needs of each client and only stays as long as the work calls for them.
”The senior strategist on your kick-off call is the senior strategist writing your messaging,” Kaufholz says. ”Every person on a project is there because the work specifically calls for them.”
PILLAR’s recent work has spanned human rights, executive leadership, higher education, advocacy and direct-to-consumer ecommerce. The roster has included national nonprofits, a national multimillion-dollar direct-to-consumer brand and a number of institutions navigating significant moments of strategic change. The model is built to scale up to be the agency of record for a national brand, or to scale down to design a logo for a neighborhood nonprofit. PILLAR takes equal pride and care in both.
What Kaufholz did not understand when he started, he said, was how much the County itself would matter in making any of it possible. (more…)
It most likely will be 2028 before the Falls Church Police Department learns if it has achieved national accreditation.
But Police Chief Shahram Fard has a prediction.
A health-care nonprofit focused on providing affordable services in Northern Virginia is planning to construct a new medical office on Columbia Pike.
Public records show Neighborhood Health is preparing to open a clinic at 2301 Columbia Pike, where XSport Fitness gym closed in 2021. The medical group has over a dozen locations in the region, including a nearby pediatric center at 3401 Columbia Pike.
Join Jadin O’Brien, Olympic athlete, 3x NCAA pentathlon champion and 10x All-American (heptathlon) winner for this in-person and virtual 5K. This event is sponsored by The Alex Manfull Fund to raise awareness and advance research on debilitating infection-associated neuroimmune disorders (including PANS and PANDAS) that affect young people. The 5K is part of the organization’s 36 Hours for PANS and PANDAS Advocacy in Motion event. Runners will receive a Finisher’s Medal, Technical (Drifit) Event Shirt and A Chip Timed Event. The event commemorates the life of Alex Manfull, who died at age 26 due to PANDAS. Susan and William Manfull established the Fund in their daughter’s name with the vision that no life ever again be cut short—or interrupted—by these illnesses. Learn more at TheAlexManfullFund.org.
One of the oldest restaurants on Restaurant Row is celebrating its 55-year anniversary in Crystal City this summer.
The Portofino Restaurant will ring in its anniversary next month with a tomato-themed dinner on Sunday, Aug. 10. However, the restaurant has been celebrating 55 years in business since January, hosting monthly events like wine dinners, live music and raffles.
Several theater companies call Arlington home, entertaining and inspiring the community with performances year-round.
Here are the nominees for “Favorite Theater Company in Arlington” as part of our ARLnow Readers’ Choice awards.
Did we miss your favorite group? Write them in!
Voting will close in two weeks.
Voting for the Best Steakhouse 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 Things to do With Kids Arlington. The results are now official:
If you don’t like the way the County Board conducts public-comment sessions, come up with an alternative proposal.
That was the message from Board Chair Takis Karantonis on July 19, as the governing body again received criticism for limiting speakers at public-comment sessions to one per topic.
Arlington County’s auditor will spend part of the coming year evaluating whether local flood resilience plans and expenditures are achieving the desired effect.
A look at the Department of Environmental Services’ efforts to safeguard against flooding has been included in auditor Wayne Scott’s fiscal year 2026 work plan. County Board members adopted the plan at their Tuesday meeting.
Safety Concerns After Fatal Crash — “Virginia State Police say they believe a driver of a Scion XB stopped in the roadway as she entered the Express Lanes before a chain-reaction crash involving five vehicles Monday afternoon… The details of Monday’s crash are still under investigation, but McGurk says you should never stop in the lanes if you have mistakenly entered them.” [NBC 4]
More on Rising Ambulance Fees — “The fire department went on to explain the expenses for providing EMS care have gone up due to rising costs of technological advances, medical equipment, wages for personnel, fuel and the ambulances themselves. No one is ever denied services because they can’t pay or don’t have insurance, ACFD said.” [NBC 4]
Aspire Faces Funding Cut — “Aspire is now confronting an existential crisis, which CEO Paul Fynboh said could result in turning students away. The program, which provides free academic and enrichment support to low-income families in Arlington County, has lost nearly a third of its funding after the Trump administration cut roughly $400 million in federal funding for AmeriCorps.” [DC News Now]
New Fund for Ballston VC — “Arlington venture capital firm Marlinspike is nearly halfway to its goal of raising $70 million for an investment fund to back emerging defense tech startups… It plans to cut checks totaling $250,000 to more than $10 million to companies developing technologies at the convergence of AI systems and manufacturing.” [WBJ]
Recognition for Motor Startup — “Torev Motors, an Arlington-based developer of electric motors that don’t rely on rare earth minerals, was named the “People’s Choice Award” winner at this month’s Accelerate Breakfast Series event in Reston.” [Potomac Tech Wire]
Defense Conference Mulls Threats — “Leading experts in national security, aviation, and transportation convened this week for a critical workshop, “Defense of the Homeland: Aviation and Transportation in Irregular Warfare.” Held from July 15-16 in Arlington, Virginia, the event brought together government officials, military leaders, academics, and industry professionals.” [DVIDS]
D.C. Traffic Worse Than LA? — “Washington DC has overtaken Los Angeles as the US city with the worst traffic, in annual rankings from ConsumerAffairs. Drivers around the US capital spend more time in traffic than in any other city, with average daily commute times of 33.4 minutes, according to traffic data from the 50 biggest metropolitan areas in the nation.” [BBC]
FCNP Publisher Honored — “The venerable Washington Business Journal… honored 14 LGBTQ+ business leaders in the D.C. region with a classy rooftop reception in Arlington… Among the honored are two from Falls Church, Falls Church News-Press founder, owner and editor Nicholas F. Benton and Dr. Jorge Ramallo, medical director of the Inova Pride Clinic located in Falls Church.” [FCNP]
It’s Friday — Showers and thunderstorms are possible, mainly between 2pm and 5pm, with increasing clouds and a scorching high of 98. A heat index up to 106 is expected, with a southwest wind at 5-7 mph and a 30% chance of precipitation. On Friday night, anticipate more storm chances, primarily before 7pm, followed by partly cloudy conditions and a low of 77. There will be a northwest wind around 6 mph, and a 30% chance of precipitation. [NWS]
