The Washington-Liberty Generals girls team advanced the farthest of any Arlington high-school basketball team in Liberty District tournaments.
The second-seeded girls squad (17-8) lost to the top seed and host Langley Saxons, 56-45, in the Friday (Feb. 21) championship contest, having its six-game winning streak snapped.
Multiple girls and boys basketball players from Arlington high-school squads were chosen to all-Liberty District teams for their regular-season performances during the 2024-25 campaign.
Selected to the girls first team were senior Frances Shapiro and sophomore Kathryn Wagner from the Washington-Liberty Generals and junior Eleanor Mahshie from the Yorktown Patriots.
Arlington’s small business community is strong and resilient. However, local businesses continue to face challenges from economic uncertainty, drops in consumer confidence, losses in access to capital, and disruptions from artificial intelligence. BizLaunch, a division of Arlington Economic Development, continues to rise to the challenge by supporting over 6,000 small businesses in Arlington with one-on-one counseling, innovative programming and robust marketing to encourage consumers to shop locally.
During a recent presentation to the Small Business Coordinating Council, BizLaunch Director Tara Palacios highlighted fiscal year 2026 results that underscore both the impact of Arlington’s business support programs and the pressures ahead.
BizLaunch provided technical assistance to entrepreneurs at a level 56% above its annual goal, reflecting sustained demand for one-on-one advising and business guidance. The division also served a diverse business community, including 52% women-owned businesses and 45% minority-owned enterprises. Nearly a quarter — 24% — of clients were in food and retail, industries that continue to face heightened economic pressure.
Major marketing and PR campaigns drove engagement across Arlington. Small Business Saturday, one of BizLaunch’s signature programs, prompted more than 4,141 transactions and $211,862 in consumer spending through the Open Rewards incentive, supported by a $10,625 investment of County funds. A coordinated marketing campaign with the BIDs and Partnerships further amplified the effort, generating more than 56,000 organic social media impressions, 44,000 video views and 1,619 engagements, along with nearly 2,000 paid ad clicks.
Support for business development through programming has also expanded. The BizLaunch Transformational Challenge and Pitchfest drew 40 participants for a five-week training program covering strategic planning, marketing, artificial intelligence and financial management. Participants developed pitch decks and presented to a panel of private lenders and business leaders. In all $25,000 was awarded to local businesses through the pitch event which came from private donations and contributions from the Industrial Development Authority. (more…)
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 — Feb 21, 2025.
Since it’s Friday, we’ve also compiled a list of the most-read articles of the week, below.
Below is an audio summary of this week’s most-read local stories. To get a daily summary, via email or podcast, join the ARLnow Press Club.
Here is what’s going on Saturday in Arlington, from our event calendar.
Here are the events planned for Sunday:
Clouds will increase throughout the day, reaching a high temperature of around 42°F. Morning light and variable winds will shift to the southwest at 6 mph. The night will begin as mostly cloudy, gradually clearing up, and the temperature will drop to around 30°F. South winds will continue at 5 mph, becoming calm after midnight. See more from Weather.gov.
“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.”
– Albert Camus
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! Feel free to discuss the most-read stories of the week, the upcoming weekend events or anything else of local interest in the comments. 👋
Led by a victory from Liam Keish, a versatile performance by Travon Buckner and other top individual finishes, the Wakefield Warriors placed second in the boys 6D North Region track-and-field championships.
Wakefield scored 59 points in the two-day meet Feb. 13-14. The first day’s events were held as scheduled in Prince George’s County, the second day being moved to Episcopal High School in Alexandria owing to weather. The South Lakes Seahawks won with 119.
Running the Army Ten Miler or the fall half marathon? We’re kicking off our fall training programs with a free training run, followed by an introduction to training, and a chance to ask some coaches questions about your own training. Run is free. We’ll chat after the run at post-run coffee. We will have two distances: 4 miles and 7 miles. We will have pacers running everything from a 7:30 mile to a 12:30 run-walk, so everyone will have someone to run with. No need to RSVP, just come out and run!
As expected, seniors Cambyses Khani and Basheer Hadi repeated as region wrestling champions this season for the Yorktown Patriots.
Khani won the 6D North Region tournament title at 120 pounds and Hadi was the heavyweight winner at the 285 weight class. Each had 3-0 records in the high-school competition, hosted by Centreville High School.
A standout individual performance and top relay finishes were big reasons the Washington-Liberty Generals won a region indoor track-and-field championship.
In addition, there were other key contributors as the Generals achieved the girls high-school title for the first time.
A standout multi-sports high-school athlete, then later an impactful assistant coach — all in Arlington — Joe McBride is switching counties to apply his craft.
The 2015 Yorktown High School graduate recently was hired as the new head varsity football coach at C.G. Woodson High in Fairfax County.
A marker celebrating a former cluster of Vietnamese businesses known as “Little Saigon” could be coming soon to Clarendon.
The concept design for a tabletop marker saluting the collection of Vietnamese restaurants and stores that once flourished in the neighborhood received approval from Arlington’s Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board (HALRB) on Wednesday.
V I R G I N I A:
IN THE GENERAL DISTRICT COURT OF THE COUNTY OF ARLINGTON
COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA
ONE CAT “CHARLIE”, (MALE, ORANGE/WHITE )
AND APRIL STANDFIELD
NOTICE
Please take notice that the Commonwealth’s petition to have the above described animals forfeited pursuant to Section 3.2-6569, Code of Virginia, shall be heard on Tuesday, February 25, 2025, at 10:00 am in Courtroom 3B of the Arlington County Courthouse, 1425 N. Courthouse Road, Arlington, VA 22201.
