By popular demand, county leaders are seeking a new title for a rather unimaginatively named park in Aurora Highlands.
An effort to improve amenities and visibility at the 900-square-foot park, currently known as “23rd Street S. and S. Eads Street Park,” is coming up. But before construction starts, county leaders need to settle on a name.
As they gear up for a busy fall schedule, Falls Church city leaders are preparing to seek their share of a $6.5 billion national opioid settlement.
City Council members on Sept. 8 are slated to approve action notifying Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares that the city will participate in the state government’s proposed settlement with Purdue Pharma and its primary owner, the Sackler family.
A newly adopted vision statement affirms Arlington County’s commitment to supporting modes of transportation other than cars, but falls short of some advocates’ ambitions.
County Board members, who adopted the statement and associated goals at a Saturday meeting, defended the new language as aspirational while also being realistic about the current state of transit in Arlington.
Continued calls for a $2 million investment in Arlington after-school programs dominated a Tuesday meeting on the county budget.
Funding for children with behavioral issues, nature centers and a public library were among numerous other priorities that over 60 speakers expressed at the Arlington County Board meeting.
An Arlington doctor has been sentenced to a decade in prison for a drug distribution scheme.
Kirsten Van Steenberg Ball was found guilty by a federal jury in December of the illicit distribution of more than a million oxycodone pills. She was sentenced today (Wednesday) in Alexandria federal court.
(Updated 2/19) Advocates are calling for Arlington County to invest $2 million in additional programs to stop students from dying of drug overdoses.
The mother of an Arlington ninth grader who died of an apparent fentanyl overdose in September joined over 250 others on Wednesday to demand additional funding for free after-school programs. Organizers say a scarcity of accessible, interesting programming makes students more likely to fall into drug addiction.
An Arlington doctor indicted earlier this year on charges of illicit distribution of opioid pills was found guilty by a federal jury Tuesday.
Dr. Kirsten Ball, 69, was convicted on 20 federal counts that each carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Ball’s office manager and co-conspirator was sentenced to seven years in prison last year.
Bucking statewide trends, Arlington County may be seeing opioid overdoses trend down this year.
So far this year, Arlington registered 44 overdoses with Narcan — a brand name for the opioid-reversal drug naloxone — deployed in 35 instances. Of the overdoses, eight involved juveniles, all of whom received Narcan.
A week after announcing an arrest for a 2022 fatal overdose, Arlington County police have charged two more people in another deadly opioid overdose.
A 19-year-old Arlington man and 19-year-old Fairfax woman are facing manslaughter and other charges in connection to a March 2023 overdose in the Courthouse area. A man died after being found unresponsive in a stairwell; police say he was sold drugs containing fentanyl by the suspect, Shan Mehmood.
When Arlington firefighters respond to drug overdoses, they could soon start bringing along enough doses of an opioid-reversal drug to leave some behind.
This is part of a statewide effort “to prevent fatal overdoses and increase community access” to the nasal spray Narcan, one form of the reversal drug called naloxone.
An Arlington doctor is facing federal charges after a grand jury indicted her for the illicit distribution of opioid pills.
Dr. Kirsten Ball is facing nearly a dozen counts of charges related to oxycodone distribution. Federal prosecutors say she and her office manager, who was convicted and sentenced last year, conspired to dispense “vast quantities of oxycodone to her patients — contrary to ordinary standards of medical care.”
Seven years after ending its substance use treatment options for youth, a local facility is poised to resume providing some outpatient services.
National Capital Treatment & Recovery CEO Debby Taylor tells ARLnow that Arlington County approached the center about providing therapeutic services to youth in the county after 14-year-old Sergio Flores fatally overdosed at Wakefield High School. The center has since obtained licensure to provide intensive outpatient and outpatient services and could be ready to debut its programming this spring.
