News

Some members of two Arlington advisory bodies are unhappy with changes being imposed on their groups’ responsibilities.

A joint meeting of the Bicycle Advisory Committee and Pedestrian Advisory Committee last week offered a chance for the groups reporting to County Manager Mark Schwartz to lay out the new ground rules that Schwartz has requested. But the general sentiment on those advisory groups was that the  changes could be costly to transportation planning in the long run.


News

Missing Middle’s critics are launching another round of opposition as Arlington County returns to accepting permit applications for this kind of construction.

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit over Arlington’s Expanded Housing Option filed an emergency motion yesterday (Monday) in the Supreme Court of Virginia. They’re seeking to block a Virginia Court of Appeals order that allows the county to resume issuing permits for multifamily construction in previously single-family-only neighborhoods.


News

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia’s Democratic candidate for attorney general has apologized for widely condemned text messages from 2022 that revealed him suggesting that a prominent Republican get “two bullets to the head.”

The texts put the Democratic challenger, Jay Jones, on the defensive in what has been a hard-hitting campaign. Early voting is well underway in Virginia ahead of the November general election.


News

Members of Arlington’s reconstituted Human Rights Commission are seeking to clarify what they can do when county staff’s attempts to mediate disputes fail.

It’s a rare circumstance, to be sure. Most formal complaints to the county’s human rights office are settled, dismissed or withdrawn at the staff level, and over the past year, county officials said there was just a single case where the complaint was found justified but no settlement could be reached.


Schools

Should Arlington Public Schools bring back school resource officers? Candidates running for School Board have starkly different opinions.

School Board candidate James “Vell” Rives IV used the Sept. 2 Arlington County Civic Federation candidate forum to press for a return of resource officers, known as SROs, which were removed from county schools four years ago.


Schools

An Arlington School Board member is cautioning Democrats against arguing with voters about the school system’s policies on transgender students this election season.

“Please don’t engage — you don’t need to get into a debate,” School Board member Zuraya Tapia-Hadley told attendees at an Arlington County Democratic Committee meeting on Wednesday.


Schools

Start-of-school enrollment in Arlington is down from a year before and below springtime projections, but could move higher by the time a final tally is compiled at the end of the month.

Arlington Public Schools counted 27,603 students in pre-kindergarten to 12th-grade classes on Sept. 4, Superintendent Francisco Durán reported to School Board members that evening.


News

VHC Health has filed requests for land-use changes to support a new behavioral-health facility in Glencarlyn.

The submission, made Aug. 29, formally kicks off what could be a lengthy review process for a county-owned parcel at 601 S. Carlin Springs Road. The hospital organization is seeking to lease some of the 11.5 acres for the new structure.


News

Arlington’s unemployment rate ticked up once again in July, continuing a months-long trend that has paralleled federal downsizing across the region.

The county’s unemployment rate stood at 3.5% last month, slightly above 3.4% in June and a major increase from 2.5% in July 2024.


News

Members of an advisory panel are suggesting that the County Board might need to intervene in issues with a transportation program for residents with disabilities.

Karen Audant, interim chair of the Disability Advisory Commission, said she is “deeply concerned” about the operations of the Specialized Transit for Arlington Residents (STAR) program following a scathing report on the initiative from the county’s internal auditor, Wayne Scott.


News

Efforts to provide more funding for Arlington’s Affordable Housing Investment Fund (AHIF) will require buy-in from elected officials, the development industry, the General Assembly, activists and the broader community to be viable, an advisory panel believes.

“We should take the time and get it right,” said Joe Ventrone, a member of the Housing Commission’s working group on revisions to the government’s affordable-housing ordinance.


News

A controversial sign at an Arlington transgender rights rally last week is prompting public condemnation from organizers and invigorating supporters of Republican gubernatorial candidate Winsome Earle-Sears.

The sign in question reads, “Hey Winsome, if trans can’t share your bathroom then Blacks can’t share my water fountain.” It went viral on social media following a post on X from the Arlington GOP.


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