NAACP Wants War Memorial Plaque Changed — The Arlington chapter of the NAACP wants a plaque on the war memorial in Clarendon updated. The plaque lists Arlingtonians killed in World War I, but separates two “colored” military members from the rest of the local war dead. The NAACP says it would like to get the plaque removed and replaced. “We owe it to those who fought and died,” said local NAACP president Karen Nightengale. [InsideNova]
Two Restaurant Chains Coming to Arlington — Two regional franchise operators have signed agreements that will bring two expanding restaurant chains to Arlington. A former Domino’s Pizza franchisee is planning to open an Arlington location of Wisconsin-based Toppers Pizza, in addition to locations elsewhere in Northern Virginia. Meanwhile a Five Guys franchisee says it will be opening 10 Newk’s Eatery locations in Arlington and Fairfax counties. The Mississippi-based soup, salad, sandwich and pizza chain is big in the Southeast U.S., with more than 100 locations in 13 states and an aggressive expansion plan. [WTOP, Washington Business Journal]
Arlington Hotels Hacked — Two Arlington hotels have reportedly had their payment systems compromised by hackers. HEI Hotels and Resorts says malware was found on its systems at 20 hotels, including the Le Meridien in Rosslyn and the Sheraton Pentagon City on Columbia Pike. The hack potentially exposed the credit card information of hotel guests and customers. [Associated Press]
Pokemon Go at the Pentagon — Department of Defense officials have put the kibosh on DoD employees playing Pokemon Go on government phones, citing concerns about the game tracking the movement of its employees. The DoD has also reportedly told Pentagon employees to only play the game outside of the building. A Pokemon “gym” inside the Pentagon has been removed. [The Guardian, Twitter]
Bethesda Man Bought $1 Million Lottery Ticket in Arlington — The $1 million-winning Powerball ticket that was sold at a Ballston 7-Eleven store last month was sold to a Bethesda resident. Larry Elpiner says he plans to “share his winnings with family and friends,” in addition to paying for his daughter’s college education. [WUSA 9]
Photo courtesy Noah Kaufman
Someone in Arlington — or someone who shops in Arlington, at least — is $1 million richer as of Wednesday night.
A Powerball ticket sold at the Ballston 7-Eleven store at 4223 Fairfax Drive matched the first five numbers, but not the Powerball, in Wednesday’s drawing.
“The million-dollar ticket is the only one in Virginia to win Powerball’s second prize in [Wednesday] night’s drawing, and one of just four nationwide,” the Virginia lottery said in a press release. “The odds of matching the first five numbers are 1 in 11,688,054.”
“This is the ninth million-dollar winning Powerball ticket bought in Virginia so far in 2016,” the lottery said. “It comes just five days after a Mega Millions ticket bought in Prince William County won a $7.5 million Mega Millions jackpot.”
“Winners in Virginia have 180 days from the drawing date to claim the prize,” the press release continues. “The Virginia Lottery advises that before doing anything else, the winner should immediately sign the back of the ticket to establish ownership. When the person is ready to claim the million-dollar prize, he or she should contact the Virginia Lottery.”
The store that sold the winning million-dollar ticket will receive a $10,000 bonus from the lottery.
There was no jackpot winner in Wednesday’s drawing. Saturday’s Powerball jackpot is now estimated as $478 million.
An Arlington man has hit the jackpot — and it’s all because he went to get coffee while his car was in the shop.
John Johns purchased a few scratch-off Virginia Lottery tickets while grabbing a cup of coffee at a 7-Eleven in Alexandria. As he scratched them off, he couldn’t believe his eyes when one of them was a $2.5 million winner for the top prize in the Cash Winfall game.
Johns took the cash option over the annuity and will get a check for $1.35 million before taxes. He’s considering buying a new vacation home with his winnings.
From a Virginia Lottery press release:
No one enjoys waiting for a car to be repaired – unless you happen to win the lottery while waiting!
That’s what happened to John Johns of Arlington. While his car was in the shop, he walked over to the 7-Eleven at 7330 Richmond Highway in Alexandria for a cup of coffee. He also played a few Virginia Lottery Scratcher games while he was there. That’s when he won the top prize in the $2,500,000 Cash Winfall game.
“I had to look two or three times to make sure,” he said. “I just put the ticket in my pocket and left the store.”
On March 3, he returned to the store to receive his check from the Virginia Lottery. He had a choice of taking the full $2.5 million in annual payments over 30 years or a one-time cash option of $1,351,351 before taxes. He chose the cash option.
He’s not the only winner. The store receives a $10,000 bonus from the Virginia Lottery for selling the winning ticket.
“It feels good,” Mr. Johns said. “It’s still sinking in.”
$2,500,000 Cash Winfall is one of dozens of games available from the Virginia Lottery. As the name indicates, it features prizes ranging from $20 up to $2.5 million. This is the first top prize claimed, which means two more have yet to be claimed. The chances of winning the top prize are 1 in 1,305,600. The odds of winning any prize in this game are 1 in 2.65.
Mr. Johns said he has no immediate plans for his winnings, although he said there may be a vacation in his future.
The Virginia Lottery generates more than $1.4 million per day for public schools in the Commonwealth.
W-L Student Dies — The Washington-Lee High School community is mourning the death of Juliana Clarkson, 14, who died on Friday after a battle with leukemia. Fellow W-L students and crew teammates have filled the N. Stafford Street bridge with chalk tributes to Clarkson. [Legacy, Vimeo, Team in Training]
Man Wins Lottery, Decks Out Rosslyn Condo — Brian McCarthy, 29, won $68.4 million in the Virginia Mega Millions lottery four years ago, and has spent part of his winnings turning his Rosslyn condo into the ultimate bachelor pad. Among the accoutrements are a custom LED chandelier in his 20-foot-tall living room, a 300 gallon fish tank that simulates ocean waves, a TV in his bathroom mirror and a private roof deck with a grill and a glare-free outdoor TV. [Washingtonian]
What’s Next for Arlington’s Millennials — As the oldest of the millennial generation start having kids and raising families, many may end up moving out of Arlington to locales with lower housing costs. Arlington, however, is studying the reasons why people move out and is contemplating new housing options to help others to stay. [Washington Post]
Finalists for Elementary School Site — A working group has narrowed down the list of potential sites to build a new elementary school in South Arlington to 11 options. Those options include existing school campuses, parks, community centers and two privately-owned sites. [InsideNova]
Bar Owner Makes Brief ‘Bachelor’ Appearance — Chris Bukowski, co-owner of the Bracket Room sports bar in Clarendon, made a brief and ignominious appearance on ABC’s “Bachelor in Paradise” last night. Bukowski, who has appeared on four other seasons of The Bachelor and its spin-off shows, proceeded to get drunk after arriving in paradise, failed to find a suitable date, and then walked off the set, dejected. [People]
Flickr pool photo by Joseph Gruber
Impede Apartments, Get a Self Storage Place — In an editorial, Falls Church’s newspaper of record is warning of “The Lesson of Cube Smart.” The lesson: when Arlington County put up roadblocks to the development of the proposed Shreve Apartments in East Falls Church, developer Mark Silverwood eventually lost patience and figured out that building a “by right” self-storage place would be easier and more lucrative. Separately, Silverwood also proposed an apartment building in Bluemont that was rejected by the community, canceling a proposed revamp of the neighborhood’s Safeway supermarket. [Falls Church News-Press]
More Orange Line Delays — There were morning rush hour delays once again on Metro’s Orange and Silver lines today. A train malfunction at the Virginia Square station prompted single tracking past the station and, once that was cleared, residual delays. [Twitter]
Arlington Man Wins $100,000 — Arlington resident Robert Thomas won $100,000 in a Virginia Lottery Cash 5 drawing last week. Thomas purchased the winning ticket at the Chanda Market at 5550 Columbia Pike. [WJLA]
APS SOL Score Rise — Arlington Public Schools is touting “impressive results” on its students’ 2015 Virginia Standards of Learning tests. Among those achieving significant test score gains were Limited English Proficient and minority students. [Arlington Public Schools]
Flickr pool photo by Alan Kotok
Man Pleads to Arlington Hospital Rape — A former Virginia Hospital Center employee has pleaded guilty to the rape of a 37-year-old woman at the hospital. The victim was at the hospital to receive a CT scan after falling and hitting her head while drunk. The rapist, 30-year-old Roy Anthony Jones, will be sentenced in October and could spend up to 18 years in prison. [Washington Post]
Construction Permits Filed for Office Tower — JBG Cos. has already filed for construction permits for the new CEB Tower office building in Rosslyn. The 31-story tower is part of JBG’s Central Place project, which also includes a residential tower which is currently under construction. [Washington Business Journal]
Arlington Powerball Winner Claims Prize — Arlington resident Tim Dudgeon has come forward as the winner of a $1 million Powerball prize. Dudgeon bought the ticket at Mia’s Market and Deli at 1607 S. Glebe Road. The store received a $10,000 bonus from the lottery for selling the ticket. [WJLA]
Vihstadt Pushes for Greater Contract Oversight — After a $7 million streetcar contract was able to bypass a County Board approval process on a technicality, Board member John Vihstadt wants to require all capital improvement contracts valued at $1 million or above to receive Board approval. County Manager Barbara Donnellan is evaluating the proposal. [InsideNova]
Arlington Celebrates Public Art Milestone — Arlington County is celebrating “30 years of Public Art placemaking in our community.” The multi-month celebration will kick off Aug. 1 on Dark Star Park Day, held at 1655 Fort Myer Drive in Rosslyn. [Arlington County]
A tiny grocery store at the corner of S. Glebe Road and Walter Reed Drive has sold a winning $1 million Powerball ticket.
Mia’s Market and Deli (1607 S. Glebe Road) sold one of three $1 million winning Powerball tickets nationwide for the July 16 drawing. The lucky winner matched all five numbers — 5-15-18-26-32 — but not the Powerball, 35.
The winner has 180 days to claim the prize.
Photo via Google Maps
The lucky Arlington resident who matched five numbers in the Nov. 28 Powerball drawing officially claimed her $1 million prize on Friday.
Joanna Wallace (left) matched five numbers but didn’t match the Powerball, which would given her a share of the $587 million jackpot. She was one of four $1 million winners in Virginia from the record-setting jackpot drawing.
Wallace purchased her ticket at the 7-Eleven store at 5267 Lee Highway, using the Easy Pick option to randomly select the numbers on her ticket, according to the Virginia Lottery. The store received a $10,000 bonus for selling the ticket.
Virginia Lottery Executive Director Paula Otto presented Wallace with a check for $1,000,004.00 at the store on Friday.
Photo courtesy Virginia Lottery
Someone is $1 million richer this morning after buying a winning Powerball ticket in Arlington.
The ticket for last night’s drawing was sold at the 7-Eleven store at 5267 Lee Highway, according to the Virginia Lottery. The lucky winner matched the first five numbers, but not the Powerball. (The winning combination was 5-16-22-23-29 with a Powerball of 6.)
The Arlington winner was one of four $1 million winners in Virginia. The other million dollar tickets were sold in Daleville, Harrisonburg and Richmond. Fifteen $10,000 tickets were also sold in Virginia.
The biggest winner in Virginia was the Commonwealth, which generated $13.3 million in profit from Powerball tickets sold in advance of the Wednesday drawing. That money will be used to benefit K-12 public schools.
The record-setting Powerball jackpot of $587.5 million will be split between two winning tickets in Arizona and Missouri.
Photo via Google Maps
One lucky Arlington man has a lot to celebrate, after winning $100,000 in the Virginia Lottery Cash 5 game — for the second time in three months.
Joseph Sylvester won the top prize for matching all five numbers in the daily drawing on July 3. He had done the same thing exactly three months earlier, on April 3.
Once he realized he had won again, Sylvester wasn’t fazed by the prospect of holding the big check in front of all those cameras.
“Gotta get my picture taken again,” Sylvester said. “The second time is a little more routine.”
Sylvester bought his latest winning ticket at the 7-Eleven at 1500 South Fern Street. He allowed the computer to randomly select the numbers on his ticket — 11, 15, 19, 26 and 27. The chances of a person winning the top prize of $100,000 are one in 278,256.
Sylvester hasn’t said yet what he’ll do with his new winnings. He used the money he won in April to pay bills and buy a new truck.
Elizabeth Abraham, a second grade teacher at Arlington Science Focus School, was the surprise recipient of a Virginia Lottery “Super Teacher” award at a school-wide assembly yesterday.
Students, faculty, PTA representatives, school board members, Superintendent Dr. Patrick Murphy, and Del. Patrick Hope — along with Abraham’s husband and two children — were on hand when Abraham was told she was the first of eight teachers statewide who will receive the award this year.
Abraham will receive a $2,000 cash prize from the lottery, as well as $2,000 classroom supply credit.
“Beth’s commitment to students of all levels is unmistakable,” said Arlington Science Focus School PTA President Noah Simon. “Whether it is the differentiated guided reading groups she established or her firm yet supportive classroom management style, her students develop and keep the will to learn and excel.”
Simon also noted that Abraham has been working beyond her contract hours to help an at-risk student “whose behavior has not only improved, but is serving as an example classmates can follow.”
Funds raised by the Virginia Lottery provided more than $430 million last year for Virginia public schools, representing about 8 percent of state funding for public education.
Photo courtesy Frank Bellavia/Arlington Public Schools
