Mark Levine | ARLnow.com

Morning Notes

Published June 27, 2019 at 7:30AM | Updated June 27, 2019 at 9:27AM

Another Water Main Break in Courthouse — “Emergency Water Main Repairs: Crews working on a 6-inch valve leak at 1315 N Barton St. Traffic is detoured around the work site. At least one high-rise building is affected.” [Twitter]

Business Owners Planning for HQ2 — “Dawson and Bayne said Highline is ‘a happy-hour machine’ during the week, thanks to the office buildings that surround it. But business late at night and on weekends isn’t as steady. The impending arrival of Amazon, however, is causing the business partners to rethink Highline’s concept.” [WTOP]

News

Arlington’s Delegate Candidates Drop Dominion Energy Money

By Airey

Published April 22, 2019 at 3:40PM | Updated April 25, 2019 at 8:53AM

Del. Rip Sullivan

(Updated on 04/25/19) Arlington’s representatives in the Virginia House of Delegates have made good on promises to eschew Dominion Energy money, according to recent campaign finance reports.

Arlington’s six candidates for the House of Delegates shared financial reports indicating their campaigns took in no money from the utility company this year. However, most candidates are still relying on contributions from advocacy and labor groups, political action committees, and businesses, as opposed to running campaigns based only around individual contributions.

News

Legislative Lookback: What Arlington’s State Delegates Accomplished This Year

By Airey

Published April 9, 2019 at 3:45PM | Updated September 23, 2020 at 11:23AM

Del. Alfonso Lopez

Arlington’s representatives in the Virginia House of Delegates say they tackled a host of important issues, from criminal justice reform to LGBT parental rights to public health, during this year’s legislative session.

The county is represented in the state House by four elected officials — Democrats Mark Levine, Patrick Hope, Richard “Rip” Sullivan, and Alfonso H. Lopez — all of whom are up for re-election this year.

Opinion

Poll: Arlington Can Now Rename Jefferson Davis Highway… Should We?

By ARLnow.com

Published March 25, 2019 at 9:15AM

Signs for Jefferson Davis Highway along Route 1 in Crystal City

Late last week, a mini legal bombshell dropped: Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring issued an opinion that Arlington County can, in fact, initiate a renaming of Jefferson Davis Highway (Route 1) within its borders.

After years of unsuccessfully pushing for state legislation to allow it, the Arlington County Board can now just go ahead and pick a new name for “J-D Highway” and ask the Commonwealth Transportation Board to make it so, bypassing the change-resistant General Assembly.

News

Arlington Democrats Warn GOP to ‘Lead, Follow or Get Out of the Way’ in New Legislative Session

By Alex Koma

Published January 9, 2019 at 1:45PM

State Sen. Adam Ebbin (left) with Dels. Patrick Hope (center) and Alfonso Lopez (right) (file photo)

After years facing powerful Republican majorities in both chambers of the General Assembly, Arlington lawmakers are accustomed to harboring only modest ambitions for each legislative session.

But as legislators return to Richmond today (Wednesday), members of the county’s all-Democratic delegation say they’re ready to flex their muscles a bit over the new, 45-day session.

News

Levine ‘Extremely Optimistic’ of Legalizing Medical Marijuana This Year

By Chris Teale

Published January 30, 2018 at 10:45AM | Updated January 30, 2018 at 3:34PM

Del. Mark Levine

Levine is chief co-patron on H.B. 1251, introduced by Del. Ben Cline (R-24), which advanced from a subcommittee of the Virginia House of Delegates’ Courts of Justice committee.

It would make medical marijuana, made from cannabidiol oils that can be used for medical purposes after being derived from the flowers of cannabis plants, legal as of July 1, 2018.

News

Ebbin Bill Banning ‘Bump Stocks’ Progresses in Va. Senate

By Chris Teale

Published January 19, 2018 at 3:45PM | Updated January 19, 2018 at 5:19PM

(Updated at 4:30 p.m.) A bill by state Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-30) banning so-called “bump stocks” in Virginia has made progress in the early days of the 2018 Virginia General Assembly legislative session.

Ebbin’s bill — S.B. 1 — passed the Senate’s Courts of Justice Committee on Monday, January 15 and then was referred to the Finance Committee.

News

Va. Bills Would Ban ‘Bump Stocks’ for Semi-Automatic Weapons

By Chris Teale

Published December 21, 2017 at 9:45AM | Updated January 16, 2018 at 2:26PM

Del. Mark Levine

Months after the mass shootings in Las Vegas, several legislators representing Arlington County have filed bills in the Virginia General Assembly to outlaw “bump stocks.”

After the October 1 shooting, which left 58 people dead and 546 injured, investigators found that gunman Stephen Paddock had modified some of the semi-automatic rifles in his hotel room with “bump stocks,” an attachment that allows the guns to fire faster.

News

Levine Re-Introduces Va. Bill to Give Localities Ability to Set Own Minimum Wage

By Chris Teale

Published December 19, 2017 at 1:45PM | Updated January 16, 2018 at 2:27PM

Del. Mark Levine

Del. Mark Levine (D) will re-introduce a bill to the Virginia House of Delegates designed to give jurisdictions the ability to set an alternative minimum wage.

The bill, HB 39 in the 2018 legislative session that starts in early January, would allow local jurisdictions to set an alternative minimum wage, different from the state minimum of $7.25 an hour.

News

Metro, Renaming Jefferson Davis Hwy Among Priorities in 2018 General Assembly Session

By Chris Teale

Published December 1, 2017 at 9:45AM | Updated January 16, 2018 at 2:27PM

(Updated at 9:55 a.m.) Arlington’s representatives will push hard in the Virginia General Assembly on Metro funding, the authority to rename Jefferson Davis Highway and absentee voting, among other issues.

At a work session Thursday, Arlington County Board members discussed their legislative agenda — bills they would like to see passed and issues they would like to see emphasized — for the 2018 session with local Delegates and state Senators.

News

UPDATED: Democrats Celebrate Clean Sweep of Local, Statewide Elections

By Chris Teale

Published November 7, 2017 at 7:00PM | Updated November 8, 2017 at 4:32PM

Erik Gutshall after being elected in November 2017

(Updated 9:50 p.m.) Arlington Democrats celebrated a triumphant election night for its candidates for Arlington County Board and School Board, as well as all members of the state-level Democratic ticket.

With all precincts reporting, Democratic nominee Erik Gutshall won the race for County Board with 62.82 percent of the vote. Monique O’Grady, the Arlington County Democratic Committee’s endorsee for School Board, took 70.56 percent.

News

Local Candidates United With County Board in Call to Rename Jefferson Davis, Lee Highways

By ARLnow.com

Published August 18, 2017 at 10:30AM

Then-County Board candidate Erik Gutshall

Arlington County Board candidate Erik Gutshall and incumbent House of Delegates candidates Mark Levine, Patrick Hope, Richard “Rip” Sullivan and Alfonso Lopez praised the County Board’s stand. In a statement, an excerpt of which is below, all five applauded what they described as “a powerful statement from the Arlington County Board rejecting racism and bigotry.”

The county will need to first obtain the legal authority to rename both stretches of state highway within its borders, an uphill battle in the GOP-controlled General Assembly. But the incumbents pledged to try to do so, so the county can choose “who in our history we want to honor and celebrate.”