Virginia’s attorney general plans to challenge an executive order by President Donald Trump that would add more restrictions and federal oversight to mail voting.
Attorney General Jay Jones (D) has indicated plans to join top elections officials in states like Oregon and Arizona, who pledged to mount legal opposition to the executive order within minutes of Trump signing it — arguing that the president was illegally encroaching on the right of states to run elections.
North Arlington residents say their mail service is finally improving after months of spotty deliveries.
Following ARLnow’s reporting on the issue and advocacy from U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D), residents in the 22207 ZIP code say they’ve now gotten some, but not all, of their missing mail in batches.
Update at 4:15 p.m. Thursday — Rep. Don Beyer shared that he met with the Arlington postmaster, who indicated the U.S. Postal Service will clear its backlog of undelivered mail next week. The congressman said a new manager who was hired has approved additional hiring to prevent future delays.
Earlier: Issues with mail delivery, sometimes involving important documents, have been plaguing one North Arlington ZIP code for months and have gotten worse this winter, residents say.
Two men allegedly tried to rob a mail carrier in Arlington this past Friday afternoon.
Arlington County police were dispatched to N. Columbus Street just north of Route 50 — in the Arlington Forest neighborhood — around 12:45 p.m. on Sept. 5, for reports of an attempted robbery by two men, one of whom implied having a gun.
A post office on Crystal Drive is relocating, but not very far.
The current United States Postal Service office inside the Crystal City Shops at 2180 Crystal Drive is closing, but a new post office is expected to open less than a quarter mile away at 320 23rd Street S.
Firefighters are battling a blaze at a postal facility near Shirlington.
They were dispatched to 2565 Shirlington Road in Green Valley around 10:45 a.m. after receiving multiple calls about a dumpster that was on fire next to a building. The address corresponds with the U.S. Postal Service Shirlington Annex.
Four masked men allegedly broke into an Arlington apartment building early Tuesday morning and stole mail from the mailroom.
The theft happened at the Camden Potomac Yard apartments, on the 3500 block of S. Ball Street, near the Alexandria border.
Since last fall, residents in the 22204 zip code, which includes a large swath of south Arlington around Columbia Pike, say they’ve been getting their mail two to three times a week or not at all.
“Our mail delivery in 22204 had been irregular, sporadic or often non existent for past 5 or so years,” writes resident Nancy Miller. “Frustration abounds! Meanwhile in other Zip Codes in Arlington, mail delivery has not been a problem.”
New Deputy County Attorney Named — “Mr. Ryan Samuel, who joined the County Attorney’s Office (CAO) in 2018, serves as a board member for the Local Government Attorneys of Virginia and is a member of the Virginia Workers’ Compensation American Inn of Court.” [Arlington Government]
APS Launches Test to Stay — The Virginia Department of Health has authorized Arlington Public Schools to implement its “test to stay” pilot program, which consists of contact tracing and serial COVID-19 testing so students can continue attending school during after being a close contact to someone who tested positive. [APS]
One of five individuals implicated in a scheme to steal mail from Postal Service boxes around Arlington County has pleaded guilty.
Aaron Kyle Johnson pleaded guilty in Alexandria federal court on May 28 in connection to the scheme, which lasted more than a year, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office tells ARLnow.
Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) is looking to rename the post office on N. George Mason Drive after Jesus Collazos, a beloved postal worker who died of the coronavirus.
Collazos left the poor neighborhood of his childhood, Barrio Obrero in Colombia, for the U.S. in the 1980s. He settled in Arlington with his wife, where he delivered mail for 25 years and they raised a family, the Washington Post reported last year. He was known for responding to letters to Santa Claus and for his friendly presence.
Many locals haven’t been getting their mail in a timely fashion recently and Virginia’s U.S. Senators are deeply concerned.
Yesterday (Feb. 1), Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine sent a letter to the U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy asking why there has been such considerable delays on folks getting their mail.
