Author: ARLnow.com

County Board Organization Meeting Tonight — “The County Board of Arlington Co., Va., will meet on Tuesday, January 3, 2023, at 6:00 p.m., or as soon thereafter as matters may be heard, at 2100 Clarendon Boulevard… for its Annual Organizational Meeting.” [Arlington County]

Covid Outbreak at Homeless Shelter — “Each night, as the temperature plummets and dozens seek refuge inside Arlington County’s largest homeless shelter, the staff runs through the same drill it has for the past three years: Before anyone is given a bed, they are tested for the coronavirus. On Wednesday, the shelter’s usual one or two coronavirus cases landed early. As more people arrived, more cases followed. By the end of the night, the staff said, a dozen people had tested positive. All needed to be isolated. The shelter had an outbreak.” [Washington Post]

Overturned Vehicle Near Pentagon — From the Arlington County Fire Department on Friday: “At 3:13p this afternoon crews were dispatched for a reported vehicle crash with entrapment in the area of Boundary Channel and 395. Units quickly arrived on scene and extricated the trapped occupant. A total of 3 patients were transported from the incident, all with NLT injuries.” [Twitter]

CivFed to Take on Controversial Proposal — “The contentious internal battle over an Arlington County Civic Federation resolution will play out at the organization’s Feb. 21 meeting… The measure in question, proposed several months ago by five former presidents of the Civic Federation, demands more accountability of the county government, and a return to a more bottom-up style of decision-making. But the measure itself has run into criticisms from some quarters, both for its tone and for some of the assertions made in the resolution itself and in its hundreds and hundreds of appendix footnotes.” [Sun Gazette]

AWS Skills Center Now Open — “Opened in October 2022 near parent company Amazon.com Inc.’s HQ2 East Coast headquarters, the 10,000-square-foot AWS Skills Center includes classrooms and interactive exhibits that demonstrate cloud computing in real time, including a miniature smart home. The Arlington location is the second AWS Skills Center; its first opened in Seattle in November 2021.” [Virginia Business]

Grocery Bills Now a Bit Lower — “For Virginians, bills at the grocery store will soon be a little less expensive. That’s because the state has repealed its 1.5% sales tax on groceries and certain essential personal hygiene items, effective Jan. 1, 2023. Among personal hygiene items, bed sheets, diapers and feminine hygiene products, such as period underwear and tampons, will qualify for the tax reduction.” [WTOP]

Nearby: Fairfax Co. Sewage Plant Saves Xmas — “Fairfax County homes were able to keep their holiday lights blazing Christmas Eve after staff at the Noman M. Cole Jr. Pollution Control Plant in Lorton turned on the facility’s generators to help avoid an electrical blackout.. Noman Cole staff switched on the plant’s five large diesel-powered electricity generators, which took the plant off the electric-power grid. The plant was able remove 5,700 kilowatts of electricity from the grid for more than 14 hours, which equates to that consumed by 4,500 households, officials said.” [Sun Gazette]

It’s Tuesday — Fog in the morning, then mostly cloudy throughout the day. High of 65 and low of 50. Sunrise at 7:28 am and sunset at 4:59 pm. [Weather.gov]

New Year’s County Closures — Arlington County facilities will be closed on Sunday and Monday for the New Year’s holiday. Metered parking will not be enforced. [Arlington County]

More Southwest Cancellations — “As Southwest Airlines continues its struggle to get planes and crews to airports, about 2,400 flights across the United States were canceled Thursday, including seven at Dulles Airport and 64 at Reagan National Airport. The airline also canceled 192 scheduled flights at Baltimore/Washington International Airport, which serves many Virginia travelers.” [Patch]

Buyer Interest Remains in Arlington — “Even as much of the rest of the region goes into winter hibernation, real-estate-wise, there is still some decent activity in portions of Arlington. In fact, five ZIP codes within the county remain in the ‘High’ level of buyer interest, according to the December T3 Home-Demand Index.” [Sun Gazette]

Award for Local Lawmaker — “Del. Patrick Hope (D-Arlington) on Dec. 17 was the recipient of the 2022 Equality Award from the Arlington-Alexandria Gay and Lesbian Alliance (AGLA). Hope received the award for patroning legislation, passed in 2020, banning ‘conversion therapy’ for minors.” [Sun Gazette]

And We’re Off — Except for breaking news and perhaps a holiday greeting, ARLnow will not be publishing during the New Year’s holiday. We’ll be back with a full news coverage schedule on Tuesday.

It’s Friday — Clear throughout the day. High of 60 and low of 34. Sunrise at 7:28 am and sunset at 4:56 pm. [Weather.gov]

District Taco’s Big Expansion — “District Taco has inked a trio of franchise agreements to significantly expand along the East Coast, the next step in a larger plan to broaden the reach of the Yucatán-style restaurant chain that started in 2009 from a single food cart… It’s the latest step by co-founders Osiris Hoil and Marc Wallace to turn the restaurant chain into a nationally known brand or, as Hoil put it in an August interview, to put District Taco on every American’s dining room table.” [Washington Business Journal]

Rep. Beyer Studying AI at GMU — “His phone was ringing. ‘I’ll be there,’ Beyer told a colleague wondering when he would be returning to the House floor for votes. It seemed study time would have to wait. That’s been the story of the year for Beyer (D-Va.), who has been moonlighting as a student at George Mason University in pursuit of a master’s degree in machine learning while balancing his duties as a congressman.” [Washington Post]

Trash Collection Bills to Rise — “‘We [currently] have a really fantastic deal’ on the solid-waste-collection contract, Schwartz told Civic Federation delegates. ‘That contract’s about to come due. Their labor cost has gone up 50 to 60 percent over the course of the contract.’ Any increases to future contracts will end up getting passed on to homeowners, who currently pay $318.61 for trash-collection services.” [Sun Gazette]

Brandishing Tuesday Night on the Pike — “A security guard observed a vehicle parked in the fire lane of a residential complex and approached the driver. A verbal dispute ensued, during which the driver brandished a firearm and verbally threatened the security guard. The suspect then fled the scene in a gray vehicle. Responding officers canvassed the area for the suspect yielding negative results.” [ACPD]

Workers Spend Xmas Eve Fixing Pole — From Arlington’s Dept. of Environmental Services: “After a driver totaled a signal pole at Washington Boulevard and Sycamore late Christmas Eve, a DES operations crew spent the deep-freeze early morning securing the damage and ensuring safety. Temporary armature is now in place.” [Twitter]

Top 25 Books at Arlington Libraries — “It’s no secret that Arlington is a community of readers. Here is a breakdown of combined adult eBook, eAudiobooks and print checkouts that made the 25 top list this year. In 2022, we saw six titles rising above the 2,000-checkout mark starting with ‘Cloud Cuckoo Land’ by Anthony Doerr.” [Arlington Public Library]

It’s Thursday — Clear throughout the day. High of 51 and low of 30. Sunrise at 7:28 am and sunset at 4:56 pm. [Weather.gov]