Plans to open a new restaurant and beer garden at the site of a closed Falls Church motel are nearing completion.
After months of demolition and construction, Stratford Garden is beginning to materialize at 300 W. Broad Street, where the Stratford Motor Lounge closed in 2021. Aiming for a November opening, owner Arash Tafakor is wrapping up renovations and developing a menu with new head chef Cameron Cousin.
A free event on the future of artificial intelligence is taking place in Crystal City this weekend, resulting in a few road closures.
Programming for “AI Unlocked” begins at 10 a.m. on Friday at the Alamo Drafthouse (1660 Crystal Drive). That morning will feature a conversation on AI policy with U.S. Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.), followed by an afternoon discussion on “tech frontiers.”
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.
USCIS administers immigration benefits. In the time-honored tradition of government agencies since the days of Ur and Uruk, USCIS uses forms to collect, store, and interpret information. Immigrants complete these forms in order to obtain benefits. Most U.S. citizens have no idea what reams of paperwork these forms require. An ordinary green card application is comprised of ninety-seven pages of bare forms, which typically are supported by several hundred pages of supporting documents.
In better times, forms are a necessary evil. In the times we actually live in, forms are just another weapon with which to thwack your political opponents.
In the second iteration of the Trump Administration, USCIS has discovered a new, extremely petty way to make immigrants’ lives more difficult – by releasing new form versions which make utterly minute changes, and then decrees that yesterday’s official version is obsolete as of today.
The Office of Management and Budget, by the way, requires that all government forms have an ‘edition date’ and an ‘expiration date.’ USCIS evades this neatly by making the expiration date purely notional – the form can be valid after the expiration date, and it can be decreed obsolete at any time before or after the expiration date. (The edition date is notional, too – in the first months of the Trump Administration, USCIS persistently released forms backdated to January 20, 2025, seemingly just for the inaugural vibes.) The forms altered in the last two weeks are highlighted below.
An effort connecting local seniors to programs and support services has enough volunteers, but needs to improve its outreach, the county’s Commission on Aging has been told.
The Community Ambassador Program represents a partnership between the county’s Area Agency on Aging, Marymount University’s Center for Optimal Aging and the nonprofit Arlington Neighborhood Village. But even for those active in advocacy for seniors, its visibility seems low.
There’s something a little bit magical about picking up a foil for the first time — or drawing back a bow and watching your arrow fly true. It’s why fencing and archery have such a hold on kids and adults alike: real focus, real skill, and a thrill you don’t get from the usual sports lineup.
This fall, Nova Fencing & Archery Club in Bailey’s Crossroads is opening registration for both, with beginner classes for every age starting the week of September 12th. Fencing welcomes ages 7 to 12 and teens and adults 13 and up. Explore Archery, coached by USA Archery certified instructors, welcomes ages 8 to 12 and meets Tuesdays or Saturdays. And for our youngest fencers, ages 4 to 6, ABC’s of Fencing meets on Saturdays. All classes run eight sessions for $195, equipment provided, no experience needed — yes, even for grown-ups who’ve never held a sword or a bow before.
An government advisory panel may ask Arlington officials to increase funding to tackle invasive plants in county parks by up to 10 times current spending levels.
“We’re in crisis. The longer we wait, the less easy it’s going to be,” Park and Recreation Commission chair Jill Barker said at the body’s Sept. 23 meeting.
Whether autumn means sipping local ciders, decorating pumpkins with the kids, or enjoying live music, Fall Fest is packed with festive fun for all ages and the perfect way to spend a crisp October afternoon in Rosslyn!
Board to Designate Interim Chair — County Board members on Thursday, Oct. 2 will convene a special meeting to designate one of their ranks to serve as interim chair the week of Oct. 4-11. According to county leaders, Board Chair Takis Karantonis will be out of the country on an Arlington Sister Cities trip and Vice Chair Matt de Ferranti will be on paternity leave, necessitating that one of the other three members be designated chair for the period when neither is available. –Scott McCaffrey
Flyover Planned This Morning — From AlertDC: “The U.S. Military will conduct an aircraft flyover in the National Capital Region (NCR) over Arlington National Cemetery on Monday, September 29, 2025, at 9:16AM.”
Prosecutor Blasts Youngkin — “This is BS. My office (“far left prosecutor” per the GOP) is prosecuting this case and it would have been a crime regardless of which gender bathroom — or a parking lot for that matter. Elected leaders weaponizing what these victims went through for political purposes is its own depravity.” [Parisa Dehghani-Tafti/Bluesky]
Beyer Statement of ICE Visit — “ICE field offices are not designed or equipped to safely hold individuals for more than 12 hours, which was the long-standing policy until June, making the dangerous overcrowding both disturbing and wholly predictable. We are relieved to report that as of today, conditions appear to have improved from the horrifying reports we received just weeks ago.” [Press Release]
Worries About Local Economy — “The D.C. region is bracing for new economic pain next week as paychecks stop coming for thousands of federal workers who took the government’s offer of deferred resignation — and the threat of a shutdown could make it worse.” [Washington Post]
New Funding for Local Startup — “Epic Padel Inc., an Arlington sports and investment company, has raised $10 million to fuel its ambitions to build more padel courts and clubs across the country and to take equity stakes in other padel companies. Two United Arab Emirates-affiliated firms, Nowais Inc. and Stryde Ventures, led the Series A round for Epic Padel.” [WBJ]
Swift Album Release Events — “TS12, known by non-Swifties as Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl, comes out Oct. 3, and fans are ready to partay (see what we did there?). Take a break from speculating on the pop star’s wedding plans with Travis Kelce and head out to sing and dance along with your next earworm from her 12th album.” [Arlington Magazine]
It’s Monday — Clouds will increase throughout the day, reaching a high near 79 degrees, accompanied by a 6 mph east wind. Tonight, there is a 20% chance of showers after 2am, with cloudy skies and a low of 66 degrees in a light northeast wind. [NWS]
Today’s Notes are brought to you by Industrious. ARLnow has had an Industrious office for years and we love the simplicity — show up, get to work, and let them handle everything else. Industrious has several Metro-accessible coworking locations in Arlington.
An atypical, and unplanned, winning formula has evolved for the Yorktown Patriots in the team’s past two football games.
Yorktown (3-2, 2-0) has won despite being outgained in total yards, but has countered with a takeaway and bend-but-don’t-break defense that sets up points for an offense that is running error-free.
The Washington-Liberty Generals saw their 18-game regular-season football winning streak tripped up in a 34-28 road loss to the Centreville Wildcats Friday night (Sept. 26).
Despite gaining 515 yards to Centreville’s 390, W-L couldn’t overcome errors and failed to convert on a late-in-the-game touchdown drive in the high-school game.
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 — Sep 26, 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:
Showers possible before 11am, followed by potential showers and thunderstorms between 11am and 2pm, and likely showers with a possible thunderstorm after 2pm. Expect a cloudy day with a high around 75 and an east wind of 3 to 6 mph. There’s a 60% chance of precipitation, with new rainfall amounts under a tenth of an inch, barring higher amounts during thunderstorms. Saturday night may see showers, primarily before 2am, patchy fog, and cloudy conditions with a low of around 65 and a northeast wind of 3 to 5 mph. There’s a 60% chance of precipitation, and new rainfall amounts could measure between a half and three quarters of an inch. See more from Weather.gov.
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
– Mahatma Gandhi
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. 👋
The weekend is here and so is… the final episode of this season of the ARLnow podcast.
In our season finale, Vernon and Dan — and a special guest, ACFD firefighter Alexander Brahmstedt — discuss a few notable local news stories in Arlington from the past week, including:
Pentagon MMA has brought a special honor home to Arlington from the birthplace of Muay Thai.
The Arlington Muay Thai and Jiu Jitsu Academy is now officially a certified and registered Muay Thai Gym Partner through the Sports Authority of Thailand and the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of Thailand, making Pentagon MMA the only Muay Thai academy on the East Coast to have earned this distinction.
