Around Town

An Arlington man is preparing to scale the highest peak in Africa with a prosthetic leg, aiming to fundraise for clean water and inspire other amputees.

Jacob Rainey, who walks with an artificial right leg, is embarking on a seven-day, 43-mile challenge to hike Mount Kilimanjaro this February. Alongside a group including veterans and former athletes, he is raising funds for Waterboys, a clean water advocacy initiative by former NFL defensive end Chris Long.


Around Town

Arlington resident Cozette Washington turns 100 today (Wednesday) and hasn’t wasted a second.

Washington was born in Bayonne, N.J. on Sept. 24, 1925. At the time, clothes were washed on scrub boards and the radio was new, her granddaughter, Kamilla Scott, told ARLnow.


News

An Arlington author and journalist has published a new book on a jazz musician’s harrowing experiences in World War II.

In the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor, musician Artie Shaw joined up with the U.S. Navy to perform in a touring, morale-boosting band. He’d return home two years later, shattered by the Battle of Guadalcanal.


News

A history-making Black female leader retired Friday after a 30-year career at the Arlington County Fire Department.

Tiffanye Wesley — the department’s first Black female lieutenant, captain, battalion chief and deputy chief — celebrated her last day at the agency surrounded by dozens of friends and fellow firefighters.


News

It’s a beautiful November morning among the trees outside of Long Branch Nature Center and Melody Mobley is at peace. She’s remembering how her mom used to take her and her siblings to creeks and collect leaves on weekends.

“To this day, I feel like I’m in more than church any time I’m out in the forest,” Mobley says, sitting on a bench in front of a pond. “This is my sacred space.”


News

In heavily-blue Arlington County, independent candidate Adam Theo faces an uphill battle to pry local voters away from the incumbent Democrats in favor of his libertarian platform.

Theo said his multi-year campaign strategy has a pretty simple tactic at its heart: showing local progressives they have more in common with him than with the current County Board members.


Around Town

Arlington County Board Communications Manager Mary Curtius was a journalist when the reporters wrote drunk and sometimes edited sober, and when the editors ashed their cigarettes on reporters’ desks if they were lucky.

She started writing when “cut-and-paste” literally meant cutting sections of type out and sticking paragraphs together with rubber cement glue.


News

There was a moment when Ahmad Ayyad, owner of Darna Lounge at Virginia Square, was sure COVID-19 was going to kill him.

“When I went to [Sibley Memorial Hospital in D.C.] and they intubated me and I woke up in Baltimore at [Johns Hopkins Hospital],” Ayyad said. “I had this tube and all these things connected to me. I texted my best friend ‘I think I’m going to die.'”


Around Town

A lot has changed for Grace Rubinger, an Arlington native who has been working for Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) since she graduated college.

Rubinger started her career as an intern in Rep. Beyer’s office the fall after she graduated from Elon University in 2016, just before President Trump was elected. Four years later, she is now a legislative assistant to the congressman, working behind the scenes in various policy areas Rep. Beyer is passionate about.


News

Man Punched Outside Ballston Subway — A man was punched in the face outside the Subway on Fairfax Drive in Ballston yesterday. The assault occurred just before lunchtime and those flocking to the restaurant for footlongs had to step over splatters of blood on the sidewalk. No word yet on what prompted the fight nor whether the suspect, who reportedly fled into the Metro station, was later apprehended. [Twitter]

Tonight: Committee of 100 County Board Debate — The Arlington Committee of 100 will be holding a County Board debate tonight at Marymount University. The program, moderated by ARLnow’s Scott Brodbeck, will start at 8 p.m. after a meet and greet and dinner. [Committee of 100]


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