BLinked is available throughout Ballston’s public areas, thanks to a partnership between the Ballston Business Improvement District and Rockville-based startup Wi-Fiber. The BID says it is the first seamless, district-wide network in the region.
Wi-Fiber developed a system to serve the more than 30,000 people that work in Ballston. More than 30 discreet antennae relay signals connect all of Ballston’s outdoor public spaces to the “gigabit-capable” network, according to a press release.
One of the incidents happened early Friday morning in Ballston, while the other happened last Tuesday along Columbia Pike.
From ACPD:
Skimmers Found on Gas Pumps — Arlington County Police are investigating credit card skimmers that were found on gas pumps at the Shell station on S. Four Mile Run Drive. [NBC Washington]
‘Project DAPS’ Now Online — An Arlington Public Library project to digitize records, photos and oral histories of the effort to desegregate schools in Arlington County went online last month. Arlington “defied the state” when the first black students began attending Stratford Junior High in January 1959, though it would take another 12 years before county schools were fully integrated. [WAMU]
A local man will spend 25 years in prison for sexually assaulting a woman after breaking into her apartment last year.
Arlington resident Anibal Rodriguez Castellanos was today sentenced to 30 years, with five years suspended, for a charge of burglary while armed and 10 years for a charge of attempted rape. The sentences will run concurrently.
(Updated 4:55 p.m.) A plan to redevelop a Ballston church and preserve its historic graveyard got the go-ahead Tuesday night from the Arlington County Board.
The board unanimously agreed to revamp the Central United Methodist Church at 4201 N. Fairfax Drive to be an eight-story apartment building and two levels of underground parking.
(Updated on 12/23/21 at 11:20 p.m.) Arlington County Police have arrested a man suspected of robbing a bank in Ballston last month.
Someone dressed in a winter coat and sunglasses walked into the Navy Federal Credit Union at 875 N. Randolph Street on Feb. 10 and passed a note to a teller before running off with an “undisclosed amount of cash,” police said.
Busy Weekend for ACFD — The Arlington County Fire Department responded to a couple of big fires over the weekend. Two firefighters were injured while battling an apartment fire on the 5500 block of Columbia Pike; a resident tells ARLnow.com that the fire started when a resident fell asleep while cooking. Also on Saturday, Arlington firefighters assisted on a mutual aid call to battle a raging inferno at a McLean mansion owned by the United Arab Emirates. [WUSA 9, Connection Newspapers]
Carpool Bartender Profiled — “In an era where craft cocktails, celebrity chefs and ‘artisanal’ everything dominate the D.C. dining scene, it’s hard to find a watering hole where comfort comes in the form of a bottle of Bud, a basket of onion rings and a bartender who knows your name. But at Carpool in Arlington, Virginia, that is exactly what’s on the menu — at least for a few more weeks.” [WTOP]
(Updated at 3:49 p.m.) Arlington County Police are on the lookout for a man suspected of robbing a bank in Ballston.
A man entered the Navy Federal Credit Union, on the 800 block of N. Randolph Street, and passed a note to a teller around 11:40 a.m., police said. He then ran off with an “undisclosed amount of money.”
Police Search for Missing Boy — Updated — Arlington County Police were looking for a missing 13-year-old boy who may have run away from home yesterday evening. The boy took his bike and possibly camping gear, according to police and to scanner traffic. Police say the boy has since been “located in good health.” [Arlington County]
Carpool to Close, Move — The end is near for Carpool, the popular Ballston bar has kept on ticking despite originally being slated to close this past summer to make way for a redevelopment. Management reportedly plans to move Carpool to the Fair Lakes area of Fairfax County this summer. [Washington Business Journal]
As the minutes tick down to the start of the Super Bowl, more than 3,100 Dominion customers are currently without power in Arlington.
Dominion’s website says the cause of the widespread outage, centered around the Ballston and Bluemont neighborhoods, is “pending investigation.” Restoration of power is estimated between 7-9 p.m.
A two-vehicle crash resulted in an SUV flipping on its roof this morning at the intersection of Carlin Springs Road and N. Park Drive, near Ballston.
The accident happened around 11 a.m.
(Updated at 4:10 p.m.) Arlington County is adjusting its plan to upgrade and renovate Mosaic Park, the green space situated along N. Quincy Street in Ballston.
Though the county was slated to potentially break ground on the project last year — adding a public plaza, interactive water feature, multipurpose court, tree plantings and walkways — the plan hit a snag after its estimated construction costs overran its budget.
