Arlington’s private schools say they are still riding a wave of enrollment increases that started early in the pandemic.
More than three years ago now, Covid lockdowns shut down schools, which reverted to distance learning. That fall, however, local private schools affiliated with a church or the Catholic Diocese of Arlington reopened their doors while Arlington Public Schools continued with virtual learning for most students for the better part of the 2020-21 school year.
Two years after Eagle Scout Megan Mazel started building a memorial around a World Trade Center steel beam in Pentagon City, a fellow scout is finishing what she started.
In 2010, the New York City Fire Department gave a warped and rusted steel beam — salvaged from the wreckage of World Trade Center’s North Tower after 9/11 — to the Arlington County Fire Department. The county held a ceremony and pledged to build a memorial.
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Real comedians will go toe-to-toe with AI at Arlington Cinema and Drafthouse on Columbia Pike.
On Friday, the old-school theater will host an interactive comedy show called “Comedy GPT.” Audience members will be able to spar with comedians and see if AI is as funny as they are.
FLOTUS to Mark 9/11 in Arlington — “[President] Biden will not participate in any of the observances at 9/11 memorial sites in New York City, Virginia or Pennsylvania. Instead, the president will stop in Alaska for a Sept. 11 observance at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson… First lady Jill Biden will lay a wreath at the 9/11 memorial at the Pentagon.” [Associated Press]
Arlington Has Star Power — “Arlington may contain but 5 percent of Virginia’s population, but a new ranking says 60 percent of the top five living celebrities from the Old Dominion have roots in the county… Topping the list from Virginia was actress/producer Sandra Bullock, a graduate of what then was Washington-Lee High School.” [Gazette Leader]
Give yourself a day to connect more deeply with yourself, community, and nature through experiential coaching exercises.
By attending the Friday Field Trip you’ll:
Good Tuesday 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 — Aug 29, 2023.
Jail entrance at the Arlington County Detention Facility (file photo)[/caption]
Of the eight people who have died in the Arlington County jail in eight years, five appear to have been homeless, according to court records.
Most recently, Abonesh Woldegeorges, a 73-year-old Black woman with no fixed address, died in the detention center on Sunday morning.
She was found at Dulles International Airport four times between 2019 and 2023 and then, this month, at Reagan National Airport, where she was arrested by airport police and sent to Arlington's jail, the Washington Post reported. Although eventually granted bond, Woldegeorges remained in jail so she could be taken to Loudoun County for a hearing related to her Dulles charges.
Her case is not unique. Her death, however, returns the jail to the spotlight after previous inmate deaths generated a $10 million wrongful death lawsuit and a civil rights investigation by the Dept. of Justice, as well as a slate of changes by the Sheriff's Office, which oversees the lockup.
Over the past year and a half it changed medical providers, purchased biometric sensors for select inmates and made other protocol changes. All of this occurred amid changing leadership: Beth Arthur retired before the end of her term and appointed as interim sheriff her Chief Deputy, Jose Quiroz.
Quiroz campaigned on improving inmate well-being and, after winning the Democratic primary, is the sole candidate for Sheriff on the November ballot.
"Clearly, changing to a new medical contractor didn’t change anything," says Michael Hemminger, president of the Arlington NAACP branch, which requested the federal inquiry he says is ongoing. "What level of care do these human beings deserve? Is it okay to continue outsourcing to a for-profit provider?"
A holding place for people without homes and with mental disorders
Court records indicate three other deceased inmates, dating back to 2015, had no address listed or their housing situation was fluid, with an address that varied by the year of their offense. A fourth the Washington Post reported was homeless and suffering from alcoholism.
Of this group, Paul Thompson (died 2022), Clyde Spencer (died 2021) and Edward Straughn (died 2015) were in jail on trespassing or public intoxication charges. Anthony Gordon (died 2015) had been convicted of assault and battery of a family member and was sentenced to five years.
The remaining inmates who have died were listed as D.C. or Maryland residents. This includes D.C. resident Darryl Becton, whose family sued Arlington County for wrongful death for $10 million and were awarded $1.3 million about three weeks ago, according to Hemminger.
That a majority of deceased inmates did not have stable housing comes as no surprise to Chief Public Defender Brad Haywood. He says the vast majority of inmates are indigent and his office has about a dozen clients right now with airport trespassing charges, specifically.
"People who have homes to go to never have to trespass. People who have money almost never steal. People who are urinating in public -- everyone I know would rather have a place to go inside," he said.
He added that more than half of jail inmates are also taking mental health medication. Statistics from the 2023 fiscal year indicate that psychotropic drugs were prescribed 1,582 times across 2,764 total commitments at Arlington's jail. Other signs of elevated mental health issues inside the jail include the 1,102 inmates assigned a mental health alert.
[caption id="attachment_302404" align="alignnone" width="1273"]
Jail statistics for the 2023 fiscal year (via Arlington County)[/caption]
That the jail has a large population of unhoused inmates with mental health disorders is both a funding issue and the result of a disconnect among the people and agencies reporting and arresting people for trespassing, he said.
"People don't think about the social conditions that lead to this," Haywood said. "It's just a combination of a lot of issues that no one really wants to confront because they're complicated and require a lot of resources."
ARLnow’s flagship Afternoon Update email newsletter gives you links to all of the local headlines of the day — up until 4 p.m., at least.
But what if you wanted a quicker way to breeze through local news stories for the previous day?
ACPD is investigating a pair of incidents this past weekend that left two people with serious injuries.
The first happened around 11 p.m. Friday on the 3500 block of Wilson Blvd in Virginia Square. That’s the same block as a 7-Eleven and a tobacco store.
Last week, residents may have received a postcard outlining a new tax they can expect next year: a stormwater utility fee.
Like electric, gas, or water utility bills, this fee effective Jan. 1, 2024, would charge properties a fee based on use of and impact on Arlington County’s stormwater system. The new fee will replace an existing sanitary district tax calculated based on property assessments.
