Democratic leaders in the Virginia General Assembly reached an agreement on a state budget with a compromise on taxing data centers.
The proposed budget agreement, announced last Friday evening, kept the sales and use tax exemption for data centers, which has divided lawmakers in the Virginia Senate and House of Delegates. However, it adds a new data center electricity consumption tax, which would charge a rate of $0.011 per kilowatt hour based on the electricity a data center uses each month.
A local Juneteenth celebration drew calls to honor the past while working toward a better tomorrow.
The three-hour community festival — now in its third year and cosponsored by Challenging Racism and Arlington Public Schools — attracted a crowd of several hundred people to Wakefield High School on Friday.
Every year, for just a few minutes, one of Arlington’s most iconic works of public art comes to life exactly as its artist intended.
On Saturday, Aug. 1, at approximately 9:32 a.m., visitors will gather in Rosslyn to witness the annual shadow alignment at Nancy Holt’s Dark Star Park (1979–84). At that precise moment, the shadows cast by the sculpture’s spheres and poles align with permanent shadow forms embedded in the ground—a phenomenon Holt designed to commemorate the anniversary of Rosslyn’s founding.
The alignment lasts only a few moments, but it has become a beloved Arlington tradition, drawing residents, visitors, artists and architecture enthusiasts alike to experience the intersection of art, astronomy, and history. If the weather cooperates, the park transforms into a striking demonstration of how light, time and place can become part of a work of art.
Created between 1979 and 1984, Dark Star Park was Arlington’s first County-commissioned public artwork and remains one of the nation’s earliest examples of integrated public art—where sculpture, landscape architecture and the surrounding environment function as a single work. Rather than placing an object within a park, Holt made the entire park the artwork, incorporating spheres, pools, steel poles, tunnels, earthworks and carefully positioned plantings into an immersive landscape.
Nancy Holt (1938–2014) was a pioneering artist whose work spanned poetry, film, photography, land art and large-scale public sculpture. Throughout her career, she explored perception, time and humanity’s relationship with the natural world. Dark Star Park remains her most significant urban installation and one of the few major works by the artist that can be experienced in an accessible city setting.
Whether you’ve attended for years or have never visited before, Dark Star Park Day offers a rare opportunity to experience a public artwork that changes with the movement of the sun—and reminds us that some of the most memorable moments in art happen not inside a museum, but out in the world around us.
Dark Star Park Day
When: Saturday, Aug. 1, beginning around 9 a.m.; shadow alignment at approximately 9:32 a.m.
Where: Dark Star Park, 1655 N. Fort Myer Drive, Rosslyn
The entire D.C. area, including Arlington and Falls Church, is under a Severe Thunderstorm Watch tonight (Monday).
The watch is in effect until 9 p.m.
Clarendon’s newest ice cream parlor is off to a roaring start, attracting throngs of customers from throughout the region just weeks after opening.
Beginning with a grand opening on June 6 that broke attendance records for the franchise, The Scoop N Scootery (1138 N. Irving Street) has been enjoying a welcome as big and sweet as its generous offerings — benefitting from a strong social media presence, enthusiastic customer base and prime location.
Live standup comedy in Arlington on Friday July 31 starring Jim Bryan, Kim Villamera, and Greg Billet.
Friday, July 31, 2026
The opening week of the summer season resulted in victories for all four of Arlington’s Northern Virginia Swimming League teams on Saturday morning.
The last time all four won in the same week was during the 2015 campaign, while the last time all four won their opening meets in the same season was 2005.
Arlington officials are working to modernize outdoor drinking fountains in county parks, but acknowledge the effort will take time.
It could be into the 2030s before all fountains are converted to year-round use, the Park and Recreation Commission was told on June 16.
Arlington’s internal auditor is continuing to review the county’s response to flash floods in 2019 and resulting efforts to improve stormwater infrastructure.
This is one of several audits that auditor Wayne Scott and his deputy, Shirley Brothwell, will work on during the fiscal year that begins July 1.
School Board members have increased spending estimates for renovations to Thomas Jefferson Middle School, seeking to strike a balance between different proposals.
Board members voted 5-0 on June 18 to adopt the school system’s fiscal 2027-36 capital improvement plan, setting the stage for an $80 million school-bond referendum in the fall and future referendums down the road.
Arlingtonians’ views of the county government performance and overall quality of life have not rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, a new survey confirms.
While improving from the last resident-satisfaction survey conducted in 2022, overall grades on six key metrics remain down from 2018, according to data presented June 17 to County Board members.
