News

NEW: Judge temporarily blocks the Trump administration from firing workers during the government shutdown

By The Associated Press
1/4

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration for now must stop firing workers during the government shutdown, a federal judge ordered on Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco said the cuts appeared to be politically motivated and were being carried out without much thought.

“It’s very much ready, fire, aim on most of these programs, and it has a human cost,” she said. “It’s a human cost that cannot be tolerated.”

She granted a temporary restraining order blocking the job cuts, saying she believed the evidence would ultimately show the cuts were illegal and in excess of authority.

Emails sent to the White House and the Office of Management and Budget after the judge’s ruling Wednesday were not immediately returned.a dawdawd

The judge’s decision came after federal agencies on Friday started issuing layoff notices aimed at reducing the size of the federal government. The layoff notices are part of an effort by Trump’s Republican administration to exert more pressure on Democratic lawmakers as the government shutdown continues.

The American Federation of Government Employees and other federal labor unions had asked Illston to block the administration from issuing new layoff notices and implementing those that were already sent out. The unions said the firings were an abuse of power designed to punish workers and pressure Congress.

Illston’s order came as the shutdown, which started Oct. 1, entered its third week. Democratic lawmakers are demanding that any deal to reopen the federal government address their health care demands. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson predicted the shutdown may become the longest in history, saying he “won’t negotiate” with Democrats until they hit pause on those demands and reopen.

Democrats have demanded that health care subsidies, first put in place in 2021 and extended a year later, be extended again. They also want any government funding bill to reverse the Medicaid cuts in Trump’s big tax breaks and spending cuts bill passed this summer.

The Trump administration has been paying the military and pursuing its crackdown on immigration while slashing jobs in health and education, including in special education and after-school programs. Trump said programs favored by Democrats are being targeted and “they’re never going to come back, in many cases.”

In a court filing, the administration said it planned to fire more than 4,100 employees across eight agencies.

The unions say the layoff notices are an illegal attempt at political pressure and retribution and are based on the false premise that a temporary funding lapse eliminates Congress’ authorization of agency programs.

The government says the district court lacks jurisdiction to hear employment decisions made by federal agencies.

Around Town

Lost Dog Cafe to close on Columbia Pike this week after months of declining sales

By Katie Taranto

A longtime Columbia Pike pizzeria is closing its doors for good.

Lost Dog Cafe will serve its last pies at 2920 Columbia Pike this week after 16 years in business there. The closure comes months after the local business’s owner shared concerns of flagging sales amid ongoing roadwork.

“With the construction in the Pike, we aren’t able to stay in business,” managing partner Sarah White told ARLnow. “We have loved our time there and appreciate all that have supported us over the years. We couldn’t be more proud of our staff and their Herculean effort to keep going, but it just isn’t feasible any longer.”

The restaurant’s last day “will likely be Friday, but we aren’t ruling out closing tomorrow [Thursday],” White said. Any events scheduled in South Arlington will be moved to one of the local chain’s other locations, she added.

Lost Dog Cafe had previously considered closing back in 2021, raising concerns about the high cost of parking in a nearby garage.

The restaurant, which serves sandwiches, salad and soups in addition to pizza, has five Northern Virginia locations, including an original Westover spot that opened in 1985. It’s among several small businesses along the Pike that have shared worries of declining revenue during the years-long construction project, which is expected to reach substantial completion by the end of this year.

Last month, owners of the Celtic House Irish Pub & Restaurant expressed disappointment over the roadwork causing the temporary closure of outdoor patios and some parking spaces.

“It’s no surprise that the loss of our patios and construction on the property will have a direct financial impact on our business, especially in the cooler summer and fall evenings,” the owners wrote.

In April, Acme Pie Co. owner Sol Schott attributed storefront construction and restricted sidewalks to a 50% decrease in retail sales since 2023.

The Lost Dog Cafe team hopes to start future projects “in locations that are better suited to doing business,” White said.

Sports

After 56-7 loss, Wakefield football team looks to Yorktown matchup

By Dave Facinoli

With their worst game of the season behind them, the Wakefield Warriors won’t dwell on the lopsided setback, because the high-school football team has an Arlington rival next up on the schedule.

Wakefield (3-3, 0-2) lost to the host Langley Saxons, 56-7, in Liberty District action Friday night (Oct. 10). Next up on its home field Friday, Oct. 17 at 7 p.m., Wakefield hosts the district-leading Yorktown Patriots (4-3, 3-0).

The Warriors last defeated Yorktown during the 1995 campaign, losing 28 straight times since that victory.

“The players know it’s been a long time since we defeated Yorktown. So this is a great opportunity for us and we look forward to the game,” Wakefield coach Clarence Martin told ARLnow. “We have to get back on track this week in practice to be ready for Yorktown. They are well-coached and have size up front.”

Yorktown also will be coming off a lopsided loss when it plays Wakefield. The Patriots fell at home to the West Springfield Spartans, 31-7, in non-district play Oct. 10.

Wakefield never got going in the loss to Langley. The Warriors lost a fumble on the game’s opening kickoff, with the Saxons scoring a touchdown on their second play to build a 7-0 lead just 28 seconds into the game. Langley (5-2, 2-1) was ahead 14-0 after the first quarter and 49-7 at halftime.

The Warriors were hurt by multiple turnovers, including an interception return for a touchdown. They had just 93 total yards, with only one yard rushing, and converted only one of nine third-down attempts.

Langley amassed 450 total yards and had long scoring plays covering 70, 48 and 36 yards.

“Langley is a very good football team. They are big, and we couldn’t get anything going or get on track,” Martin said. “We never really rebounded well after that opening kickoff, and didn’t have much energy. It was kind of the domino effect after that kickoff.”

Wakefield’s touchdown came on a 30-yard second-quarter pass from Judah Connor to Xavier Winkelmann. Andrew Jackson added the extra point.

Connor threw for 92 yards, including a 33-yarder.

Chris Gilpin had 20 yards in kick returns and Chris Sewell five for Wakefield. Jackson punted five times, with his longest for 53 yards.

The loss was the second straight for Wakefield, which fell to Arlington rival Washington-Liberty, 14-10, in its previous game. Washington-Liberty (6-1) is tied for first with Yorktown in the Liberty District at 3-0.

News

Arlington pedestrian and bicycle panels push back against changes in roles

By Scott McCaffrey
A long row of Capital Bikeshare bicycles in Rosslyn (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

Some members of two Arlington advisory bodies are unhappy with changes being imposed on their groups’ responsibilities.

A joint meeting of the Bicycle Advisory Committee and Pedestrian Advisory Committee last week offered a chance for the groups reporting to County Manager Mark Schwartz to lay out the new ground rules that Schwartz has requested. But the general sentiment on those advisory groups was that the  changes could be costly to transportation planning in the long run.

Among the switches: The panels will no longer receive briefings or be asked to weigh in on specific projects. Instead, they will be asked to send representatives to and monitor the broader community-engagement efforts for those projects.

That proposal drew particular flak from members of the Bicycle Advisory Committee.

“It doesn’t sound like there’s any specific desire or system [by county leaders] to get advice from us other than ‘hey, go participate in the public process,'” said BAC member Mike Hanna.

“We’re not the general public. We’re the committee that was specifically appointed by the county manager to provide this kind of advice,” Hanna said.

Dana Bres, vice chair of the BAC, said forcing that group’s participation into the general community-engagement effort makes little sense.

“My gripe, for lack of a better term, with the engagement process is, it’s at some level trivial,” Bres said. “The public says ‘you should do something here’ and then you go from there to an almost full-fledged project” without needed vetting in between.

The result? “We end up getting something that is three-quarters done that doesn’t work,” Bres said.

Cynthia Palmer, who chairs the BAC, said eliminating the advisory panels from a significant review role results in “a resource that is not being used.”

“Sometimes a five-minute conversation with our committees … can save you resources and money and everything else,” Palmer said.

BAC member Gillian Burgess argued that it would go against the groups’ charters to follow county staff’s request to serve more as advocates for transportation planning and funding.

“We don’t advocate. We don’t advise anyone else. We advise the county manager,” she said. “He has been very clear he does not want the advisory committees going outside of him. It’s 100% clear. That’s what the charter is.”

Trying to calm the waters were Hui Wang, the newly promoted chief deputy director of the Department of Environmental Services, and Valerie Mosley, bureau chief of transportation planning and capital projects.

“I get the sentiment. I totally get it. You want us to be more intentionally seeking your advice,” Wang said.

She suggested the possibility of reaching a middle ground.

“We’re going to go back and think through what additional things, what intentional communication, we can do so you feel your opinion is not being thrown in a black hole,” Wang said.

The process changes being sought would bring transportation planning into line with a six-step public-engagement process enacted by county leaders in 2018.

Wang said it was necessary to “make sure we are going through the proper process for every project.”

“It does come at a cost,” she said. “The cost is while we are doing all that engagement and trying to capture the larger community, we do not have the same amount of attention and specific conversation with the committees and commissions. It really comes down to resources and how to use them the best way.”

Under the six-step engagement process, “we are trying to reach everyone we can who has an interest and wants their voice to be heard,” Mosley said.

Eric Goodman, acting chair of the Pedestrian Advisory Committee, said there could be a middle ground.

One step would be for planning staff to provide the committees with direct notification when new community-engagement processes start up. That way, the bodies could designate a member or members to keep track of them.

As for the litany of concerns raised at the meeting? Wang said staff had heard them “loud and clear,” but are not the ones with final authority to address them.

At his meeting with the pedestrian and bicycle groups in the spring, Schwartz suggested combining the two bodies, but has not moved forward on that.

The county manager’s concerns about the Bicycle Advisory Committee date back years. In 2018, Schwartz removed a number of its members and installed a new chair to make the group “more fully representative” of the biking community.

View More Stories