Tejada, a Democrat, made the announcement on his Facebook page this afternoon. He thanked his supporters and promised that “a more comprehensive statement will be forthcoming.”
An advocate for diversity, affordable housing and Latino issues, Tejada has served on the Board since 2003. He said that he intends to serve out his current term through the end of the year.
Foo Fighters Release Arlington-Produced Track — The Foo Fighters have released a new track, “The Feast and the Famine,” which was recorded at Inner Ear Studio in Arlington. The recording session will be featured on tonight’s episode of HBO’s Foo Fighters documentary series. [Pitchfork]
Arlington Recognized as ‘Smart Community’ — Arlington County has been recognized as one of the world’s Smart 21 Communities of 2015. It’s one of four U.S. localities to receive the honor this year. [WTOP]
LNN has hired Andrea Swalec, previously a reporter and editor at the local news website DNAinfo New York, to be the company’s new editorial director. Andrea will help support and oversee LNN’s three current sites — ARLnow.com, BethesdaNow.com and RestonNow.com — and will take the lead in launching the company’s new Capitol Hill site, HillNow.com. A tentative launch date of Oct. 20 has been set for Hill Now.
Andrea previously worked at NBC Local Integrated Media and contributed to The Current Newspapers — including Voice of the Hill, formerly a weekly newspaper covering Capitol Hill — and the New York Times blog The Local.
Crumbs Could Reopen — The shuttered Crumbs Bakeshop in Clarendon could reopen, after the bankrupt cupcake company was purchased by a new owner. Fischer Enterprises has yet to reveal which of Crumbs’ 48 stores will reopen. [Washington Business Journal]
Arlington’s Naturalist Blogs on the Side — Frustrated with “days filled with meetings and paperwork” after he started working as the natural resources manager for Arlington’s Dept. of Parks and Recreation, Alonso Abugattas founded an educational blog and Facebook group called Capital Naturalist. The blog has a loyal following among readers and respect from fellow naturalists. [Washington Post]
Doughnut Truck Comes to Arlington — A new food truck devoted to doughnuts has hit the streets of Arlington. The truck, from the Penn Quarter eatery Astro Doughnuts & Fried Chicken, is so far only selling doughnuts and coffee. It plans to stop in Rosslyn, Clarendon and Ballston. [Washingtonian]
Fundraising for Hot Car Mom — A local couple is trying to raise $50,000 for the legal defense of Zoraida Magali Conde Hernandez, the mother accused of accidentally leaving her 8-month-old son in a car for 6 hours on a hot day, leading to his death. The couple says they were “heartbroken” for Hernandez, who is facing a charge of felony child neglect. [Patch]
ARLbiz will be published weekly and will be geared toward local entrepreneurs and business professionals. It will provide concise original reporting on local business matters and links to other outlets’ Arlington-related business articles, all in one place.
There will also be weekly commentary from local business, nonprofit and government leaders.
There’s a new addition to our Arlington real estate section.
Now, in addition to sale, rental and open house listings, we’re debuting real-time Arlington real estate statistics.
Serving the Reston (Va.) community, Reston Now is helmed by Karen Goff, a long-time Reston resident who most recently worked as a local editor for Patch.com. Before transitioning to digital journalism, Goff was a feature writer and sports reporter for the Washington Times, and a metro reporter for the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel.
“I am so excited to work with Local News Now,” Goff said. “In my more than three years with Patch I learned how valuable hyperlocal news is to communities. Reston has really embraced online, up-to-the-minute news, and working with a locally-owned company will give residents the voice and outlet they need.”
Ethan Rothstein comes to ARLnow.com from Leesburg Today, a weekly newspaper in Leesburg, where he covered the Town of Leesburg and high school sports. He has broken stories on controversial developments, investigated local transit issues and covered elections from town council to the 2012 presidential campaign.
Previously, he covered education and sports for the Delaware Wave and Delaware Coast Press, based in Bethany Beach, Del. Ethan is a graduate of the University of Maryland’s Merrill School of Journalism, where he studied print journalism.
Update at 10:45 a.m. — The issue seems to be resolved. Thank you for your patience.
ARLnow.com is experiencing server problems this morning.
The new background is part of a site-wide promotion for Ballston Green, a new luxury townhome community near Ballston. The new background will be in place for the rest of the week, after which time we’ll revert to the old background.
ARLnow.com might host similar marketing campaigns in the future, but we wanted to give readers a heads up on this one to answer any questions the changes might have prompted.
