News

Democratic-led states are increasingly pushing back against President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown — and Virginia is the latest to join in.

The Virginia Senate on Tuesday passed a bill that would place hefty guardrails on any proposed 287(g) agreements allowing local law enforcement to carry out federal immigration functions. The bill still must go to the House.


Sponsored

This regularly scheduled sponsored column is written by Carolanne Korolowicz, Arlington-based Realtor and Arlington resident. If you would like to work with Carolanne in Northern Virginia and the greater D.C. Metro area, you can reach her directly at [email protected].

As Spring peaks, Northern Virginia features flowering azaleas, dogwood canopies, and pesky dandelions. Manicured lawns flaunt along neighborhood streets, and Mother Nature continues to outshine in parks, trails and the spaces in between.

Home to a plethora of flora and fauna, Virginia has a long history of impressive grounds. The “Mother of Presidents” could also tack on, “and Their Gardens.” Many of these impressive natural displays are publicly accessible, but many of these gardens rooted in history are found at private residences. The Garden Club of Virginia (GCV) devotes an entire year of planning and preparation for their signature event, Historic Garden Week, to give the public a peek behind the fence.

Photo Courtesy of The Garden Club of Virginia
Photo Courtesy of The Garden Club of Virginia

The annual event is divided by region and tours span over the week (April 18–25). Northern Virginia kicks off in Old Town Alexandria this Saturday from 10:00 AM–4:00 PM. Tickets include tours of five rowhomes’ grounds, admission to Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens, and complimentary refreshments. (more…)


News

Just because a wipe says it’s “flushable,” that doesn’t mean it’s fit for Arlington’s sewage system.

That’s what the county’s Department of Environmental Services is reminding residents after a wad of wipes contributed to a sewage overflow last week at a ruptured sewage pipe upstream from Arlington on the Potomac River.


Announcement

ICA Language Services (ICA), a family-owned, woman-led small business based in Arlington, is celebrating its 40th anniversary, marking decades of supporting the U.S. military and diplomatic community through language training and testing.

Founded in April 1986 as Inlingua Foreign Language Center, a 6-classroom language school, ICA expanded under the leadership of Deidre Doyle, an entrepreneur with a background in organizational management who joined the company the same year. As a military spouse, she had developed a deep understanding of military organizations and culture, helping shape ICA into a trusted provider of language training and testing for military professionals. Doyle became a partner in 1993 and sole owner in 2009, when she changed the name to ICA Language Services.


Events

Arlington’s annual Feel the Heritage Festival is returning this weekend, bringing dozens of vendors, performers and history displays in celebration of Black History Month.

The 31st annual festival, taking place from noon to 5 p.m. on Saturday at the Charles Drew Community Center (3500 23rd Street S.), celebrates the national theme of this Black History Month, “A Century of Black History Commemoration.”


Event

Imagine a life of charm, comfort, and community in historic Williamsburg.

Join Cody Chance and Dick Nathan from Long & Foster, Lisa Bates from Williamsburg Landing, and Alexandra Fry from Orchestrated Moves, move manager, for an educational workshop for seniors, and learn how to:


News

Members of the county’s Disability Advisory Commission are deeply unhappy with recent local efforts to remove snow and ice from pedestrian pathways.

A recent meeting zeroed in on a lack of attention given to a key entrance to the Bozman Government Center, as well as lingering snow on many curb cuts and sidewalks.


News

A Falls Church advisory panel is asking city leaders to embrace a low-tech but potentially effective tool to promote pedestrian safety.

Discussion on providing orange flags at unsignalized street crossings came up at the Feb. 11 meeting of the Citizens Advisory Committee on Transportation.


News
Ice and snow around Lubber Run (Flickr pool photo by ksrjghkegkdhgkk)

Fat Tuesday Events — A number of New Orleans-themed events are being held today in honor of Fat Tuesday, including at Bayou Bakery, Ragtime and William Jeffrey’s Tavern.

Sewage Line Repairs — “Emergency repairs of the Potomac Interceptor will take 4–6 weeks. Crews are close to completing the enhanced bypass system, which will allow repairs to begin soon. Added pumps are online & no overflow events were reported.” [DC Water/X, WTOP]

Feds Stepping In — “President Donald Trump said Monday that the federal government will step in to “protect” the Potomac River following the collapse of a major sewer pipe in the Washington, D.C., region, and accused local officials of mismanaging waste management systems.” [NBC News]

Carjacking Arrest — “An Arlington woman was arrested after she allegedly stole a man’s car when he refused to give her a ride, according to police. It happened around 1:59 a.m. Thursday along Seminary Road in the Bailey’s Crossroads area of Fairfax County.” [WJLA, Annandale Today]

Red Light Runner on Camera — “Red light runner, possible hit & run crash early today on S. Glebe Rd near I-395. @ArlingtonVaPD
apparently found the driver of the white vehicle a few blocks away. No serious injuries reported.” [Dave Statter/X]

GW Parkway Work Update — “After more than two and a half years of major traffic disruptions for commuters and other drivers, the National Park Service (NPS) said it has reached “substantial completion” of rehabilitation work on a northern section of the George Washington Memorial Parkway.” [WJLA]

Post Layoffs Cut Courts Reporters — “Between buyouts at the Post last year and the layoffs this month, the Post eliminated all our local courts journalists save Sal… In all, we lost 18 local reporters and 7 local editors in these layoffs; five of the 16 remaining reporters are being transferred to national politics and criminal justice coverage. (Two of those left are on fellowships and may not have jobs at the end).” [Court Watch]

Lawsuit Over D.C. Courses — “Two recreational golfers from the D.C. area have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, challenging efforts to overhaul the East Potomac Golf Links and alleging the move could undermine its long-standing role as a public park. Dave Roberts, a Washington, D.C. resident, and Alex Dickson of Arlington, along with the D.C. Preservation League, are suing the Department of Interior and the National Park Service.” [Fox 5]

Arlington Company Expanding — “Arlington space company Umbra Lab Inc. plans to hire more than 100 employees and expand into a new 20,000-square-foot office in Reston as part of a $6.75 million investment announced Thursday. A $500,000 grant from Virginia’s Opportunity Fund is supporting the expansion.” [WBJ]

Va. Medical Leave Bill — “In Virginia, companies decide whether or not they will offer paid sick days to their employees, because there is no state policy that sets a minimum for how much sick time employers must offer. After several years of attempts, legislation to require paid sick leave for workers cleared Virginia’s House of Delegates on Monday.” [Virginia Mercury]

Lawsuit Against Fmr. AG — “A former Virginia Attorney General’s Office employee filed a lawsuit on Thursday against former Attorney General Jason Miyares, among other previous office leaders, due to allegations of wrongful termination after she spoke out about a payment she alleged was a conflict of interest.” [DC News Now]

Va. Social Media Restrictions — “Attorney General Jay Jones announces today that his office intends to fully enforce new provisions of the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act, which require social media platforms to limit minors’ usage to one hour per day unless a parent opts to increase that limit.” [Press Release]

Melting Helping Disabled People — “For week two, Rochelle Harrod remained stuck. The first time she tried to leave her apartment after a late-January snowstorm left the D.C. area locked down in “snowcrete,” she made it down the elevator from her Hyattsville, Maryland, apartment but could go no further than a few feet outside the front door. The wheels of her 300-pound motorized wheelchair couldn’t make it over a snow-covered ramp.” [Washington Post]

It’s Tuesday — Expect patchy fog to clear by 8am, giving way to partly sunny skies and a high near 55 with light southwest winds. As for Tuesday night, it’ll turn cloudy with a low around 43. [NWS]

Flickr pool photo by ksrjghkegkdhgkk


Around Town

Good Monday evening, Arlington. Let’s take a look back at today’s stories and a look forward to tomorrow’s event calendar.

🕗 News recap

The following articles were published earlier today — Feb 16, 2026.

📅 Upcoming events

Here is what’s going on Tuesday in Arlington, from our event calendar.

🌤️ Tuesday’s forecast

Expect patchy fog to clear by 8am, giving way to partly sunny skies and a high near 55 with light southwest winds. As for Tuesday night, it’ll turn cloudy with a low around 43. The calm wind will gradually pick up from the south at around 5 mph after midnight. See more from Weather.gov.

💡 Quote of the Day

“Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self.”
– Cyril Connolly

🌅 Tonight’s sunset

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.


Around Town

Local news is alive and well in the D.C. area.

The layoffs at the Washington Post earlier this month were a major blow to coverage of sports, courts, transportation and other topics for which the Post was one of the few outlets (or only outlet) to have dedicated local beat reporters. But it was not a death blow to local news in the region, despite the proclamations of some prominent commentators.

In fact, a small army of reporters is still on the beat, covering our communities.

There are dozens working for local TV and radio stations, like NBC 4, Fox 5, WTOP and WAMU. In Rosslyn, the Washington Business Journal continues to closely cover the local business community. The Washington Post reportedly still has around a dozen experienced local journalists — far diminished from its heyday, but not nothing. The Washington Times is somehow still putting general local coverage out in print. The Washington City Paper often punches above its weight. There are more recent online local news startups, like The 51st in D.C. and, now, the Baltimore Banner, which is expanding into suburban Maryland and D.C. sports. Seven full-time local news reporters and editors and several freelancers work for ARLnow and our sister sites, ALXnow and FFXnow, and more work for our partner sites PoPville, MoCoShow and Potomac Local. That’s not to mention longtime outlets like the Washington Informer, Afro, Metro Weekly and the Washington Blade.

We could go on, but you get the idea. Reports of the death of local news in the D.C. area are greatly exaggerated.

Then again, if you were to only scroll your favorite social media feed, or open up your phone’s news app, you might start believing that there’s not much local news left. That’s because day-to-day local news doesn’t give them the engagement or, in some cases, prestige they optimize for. Sure, you might encounter some local stories from legitimate outlets, but you’ll encounter a whole lot more national stories and viral slop.

Which brings us to WSHnow, ARLnow’s newest sister site.

We built WSHnow to surface a wide variety of stories from across the D.C. area, highlighting the reporting being done by hard-working local journalists on our sites and those of our competitors. We check 45 outlets several times an hour, and publish direct links to more than 100 stories over the course of a typical day.

The goal is simple: to give locals a place to find quality local news coverage. We hope you bookmark WSHnow, make it part of your daily routine, and discover great local news sources you weren’t already following and never encountered amid the social algos.

Local news isn’t going to save itself — it needs readers who show up. And the best way to support the reporters still on the beat is to actually read, share and subscribe to their work.