Author: Aaron Kraut

Lubber Run To Host Trio Of Shows This Weekend

By Aaron Kraut

The Lubber Run Amphitheater will host a trio of events this weekend, including a Shakespeare play and a Hawaiian music and hula concert.

Lubber Run’s summer series of free outdoor shows will offer a change of pace with Traveling Players Ensemble’s performance of Shakespeare’s “As You Like It,” at 8 p.m. on Friday, July 27.

The series, which typically features local music acts, will welcome Baltimore-based band The Project, on Saturday.

From a Lubber Run Amphitheater Foundation press release:

 Selected as a “Summer School in the Arts” by the NEA, Traveling Players Ensemble is a professional theater company dedicated to bringing great theater into the great outdoors through a thriving summer camp and year-round acting classes and workshops

The Project will play at 8 p.m. on Saturday, July 28. Also from the release:

Baltimore musicians Bob Goldberg (lead vocals and guitar), Eric McCleaf (guitar), and Jason Wilson (bass guitar and backing vocals) rock the house with everything from classic rock to current pop, with some 80s rock, 90s modern rock, and lots of other stuff in between.

Finally, a group from Arlington-based “native Hawaiian school” Halau O ‘Aulani will take the stage at 6 p.m. on Sunday, July 29:

Native music and dance presented by Halau O ‘Aulani, founded in 1996 for the sole purpose of creating a learning environment for students interested in the preservation of the multi-faceted cultures of Hawai’i with primary emphasis on the Hawaiian culture.

New Frozen Yogurt Shop Coming to Pentagon City

By Aaron Kraut

Is there enough room in Pentagon City for two self-serve frozen yogurt stores?

Tutti Frutti franchise owner Geoff Trout is betting on it. He hopes to open shop on South Fern Street, next to the Post Office in the Millennium at Metropolitan Park apartments, in late August or early September.

The self-serve frozen yogurt trend hit Pentagon Row earlier this year when Yogiberry replaced Maggie Moo’s ice cream. The Tutti Frutti concept is similar — a rotating menu of flavors combined with 35 to 40 fruit and candy toppings.

“I feel very confident in the product,” Trout said. “I don’t think Pentagon Row is close enough. This is a company that has really taken off.”

The Los Angeles-based company claims it’s the largest self-serve frozen yogurt chain in the world, with 584 franchises.

Crystal City To Host Dog-Friendly Beer Festival

By Aaron Kraut

Crystal City will be hosting an event this fall geared to lovers of both dogs and beer.

The inaugural “Pups and Pilsners” outdoor beer festival will be held on Sept. 23. The Crystal City Business Improvement District and Washington Wine Academy is stocking the event, from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. at 1405 Crystal Drive, with a beer garden of 10 craft brews and food from Crystal City restaurants.

Entry to the “dog-friendly festival” is free — and bringing Fido is optional. The beer garden will cost you, though. Tickets will be available at washingtonwineacademy.org.

Disclosure: Crystal City BID is an ARLnow.com advertiser

Police Identify Couple In Murder-Suicide

By Aaron Kraut

Police on Thursday identified the man and woman killed in Tuesday’s murder-suicide at the Park Shirlington Apartments on the 4500 block of 31st Street South, near the Fairlington neighborhood.

Xiomara Aracely Benitez, 30, of Arlington was pronounced dead at the scene along with Juan Carlos Mox Mox, 30, of Arlington, according to a press release from the Arlington County Police Department. Police identified Benitez as the victim and Mox Mox as the subject. They were married with two children.

Police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck said a family member took in the two children after the incident, which police have officially ruled a murder-suicide. The cause of death has not yet been determined, according to police.

A family member discovered the victim and subject in a back bedroom of their apartment and police received a 911 call at 2:43 p.m. on Tuesday.

This last homicide in Arlington County happened on March 14, 2010, when a man was stabbed to death in the Lyon Park neighborhood.

Arlington Gets Praise In First Year Of ‘100 Homes’ Campaign

By Aaron Kraut

Earlier this month, the 2012 National Conference on Ending Homelessness recognized Arlington County as one of 15 communities nationwide that are “on track” to end homelessness among the medically vulnerable within four years.

The claim is based on a benchmark set by the National Alliance to End Homelessness — cities or counties that moved 2.5 percent of their chronically ill homeless population into permanent housing each month made the list.

Arlington’s “100 Homes” campaign, a partnership with the nonprofit A-SPAN, put about 30 homeless people with life-threatening medical issues into permanent, federally-funded supported housing since starting up last October.

“It does actually cost the community a lot more to leave them homeless,” said A-SPAN Director of Development Jan-Michael Sacharko. “If you can keep people out of the emergency room, out of shelters, out of jails, you save a lot more money.”

The initiative, an outgrowth of the national “100,000 Homes” campaign, was cost-free, Department of Human Services spokesman Kurt Larrick said.

And it rallied significant volunteer support. About 180 volunteers went out at 4 a.m. for three days last fall to survey the homeless and check for those with hypothermia, chronic kidney disease, AIDS, HIV or other diseases.

“We’ve always had data on people who were homeless in Arlington,” Larrick said. “This was the most specific.”

Larrick said the survey found 113 “extremely vulnerable” homeless people. The 30 who moved into permanent housing did so with existing county and federal housing programs. Many are clients of A-SPAN, which provides individual case managers to track progress.

As of Arlington’s last count, which came in January, there are 451 homeless people on the streets and in homeless shelters, Larrick said.

Flickr pool photo by Chris Rief

Moran: Congress Must Do More To Stop Gun Violence

By Aaron Kraut

Rep. Jim Moran (D) called for the renewal of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban and the closing of the “Gun Show Loophole” in an interview Monday afternoon on MSNBC.

Moran spoke with Martin Bashir guest-host Thomas Roberts about gun control laws in the wake of last week’s movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colo., in which 12 were killed and dozens were injured.

Moran referred to “more than 60 multiple shootings” nationwide after the Jan. 8, 2011 shooting of Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

“We shrug our shoulders and come up with all kinds of pious, remorseful rhetoric. We ought to do something,” Moran said. “And we haven’t done anything about this. To some extent, we are complicit in these crimes if we don’t stand up and speak out.”

Moran also said that lawmakers have been “politically castrated” by the National Rifle Association.

County Board Approves $6.5 Million In Water Infrastructure Improvements

By Aaron Kraut

Updated at 1:55 p.m. The Arlington County Board on Saturday approved $6.5 million in contracts for a new water main project on Williamsburg Boulevard and a sewer pipe upgrade at the intersection of Lee Highway and John Marshall Drive.

The Williamsburg Boulevard Water Supply Main project is the second phase of the county’s effort to connect the Ethan Allen pump station to the Minor Hill Reservoir. Part of the water main, from the pump station to north Glebe Road, was completed in 2003.  The segment from North Glebe Road to 34th Road North is under construction.

The $5.6 million project was awarded to Alexandria-based contractor Martin & Gass Inc., which will lay the 36-inch water main in Williamsburg Boulevard beginning at 35th Street North and ending at the reservoir. The new water main will provide water supply to Minor Hill, which will allow for maintenance on existing water mains without service disruption, according to an Arlington County press release.

The entire water main should be completed by September 2013, according to Shannon Whalen McDaniel, spokeswoman for the Arlington County Department of Environmental Services. The new phase of the project will begin in December.

About $900,000 of the approved funds will go toward sewer improvements at John Marshall Drive and Lee Highway, an area the county deemed as prone to flooding in a 2011 analysis. Flooding during a June 2006 storm damaged area homes, which prompted the stormwater study. The project is scheduled to begin in September, McDaniel said.

“As our County continues to grow and age, it is critical that we make ongoing, prudent investments in our infrastructure,” said County Board Chair Mary Hynes. “The upgrades that the Board approved today will help improve the operations of our essential water and sewage systems, protect against flooding and allow us to continue delivering first-class services to our residents.”