Author: ARLnow.com

Launched in January 2010, ARLnow.com is the place for the latest news, views and things to do around Arlington, Virginia. Started by a Pentagon City resident who has spent the past several years working in local TV news, ARLnow.com seeks to distinguish itself with original, enterprising, up-to-the-minute local coverage.

Man charged with DUI after rollover crash in Arlington Forest

By ARLnow.com
1/2

A 24-year-old man is facing several charges after a rollover crash Sunday morning.

The crash happened just before 6 a.m. near the intersection of Route 50 and N. Columbus Street in the Arlington Forest neighborhood.

A man driving a Chevy Camaro ran into a brick wall lining a residential property, flipping the coupe on its roof in the process. A local resident told ARLnow that there was “blood on the airbags” and the “driver apologized to [the] home owner before ambulating away.”

A suspect was later spotted on foot along Route 50 and taken into custody, an Arlington County police spokeswoman told ARLnow.

“Upon arrival, officers located an unoccupied, overturned vehicle which had struck a retaining wall,” ACPD’s Alli Shorb said. “Witnesses reported observing the male driver, who was determined to be the sole occupant of the vehicle, leave the scene on foot following the crash.”

“A lookout was broadcast and responding officers located the driver in the area of S. Carlin Springs Road and Arlington Boulevard and took him into custody,” Shorb continued. “He was transported to an area hospital for treatment of injuries considered non-life threatening.”

The suspect, a Falls Church resident, “was charged with Driving Under the Influence, Hit and Run and Driving Without a License,” Shorb said.

Route 50 intersections bordering the Arlington Forest neighborhood have proven crash-prone over the years, particularly the intersection of Route 50 and Park Drive, where a rollover crash happened in April.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com
Flight from DCA reflected in a Rosslyn office building (Flickr pool photo by Jeff Vincent)

Milestone for 9/11 Visitor Center — “The Pentagon Memorial Fund, Inc. (PMF) passed a critical milestone in plans for a Visitor Education Center near the site of the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial, receiving approval for its concept design from the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts (CFA). This action follows approval in July of the concept design from the National Capital Planning Commission.” [Pentagon Memorial Fund]

Charges Against Mall Shop Owner — “The owner of a local ‘exotic’ snack shop has been arrested as part of a drug ring investigation by county police… One of those arrested was Matthew Powers, owner of the snack and collectible shop ‘Highs & Lows‘ which has locations on Richmond Highway and in Springfield Town Center. There’s also a shop inside the mall in Pentagon City.” [FFXnow, Fox 5]

Swim Club Suspension — “Arlington Aquatic Club (AAC) board president Mark Black has been suspended indefinitely by the U.S. Center for SafeSport and USA Swimming for unspecified allegations of misconduct… AAC produced a Tokyo Olympian two summers ago and achieved gold medal certification for the first time in 2021-22.” [SwimSwam]

No Arlington Envy for Fairfax — “Consider this comment, no doubt designed mostly for internal consumption, from Fairfax County Supervisor Dalia Palchik (D-Providence) at a recent briefing on that county’s economic-development initiatives… ‘I know, coming into this seat, I was a little jealous of things I was seeing in Arlington,’ she said. ‘No longer. They should be jealous of us.'” [Gazette Leader]

Early Morning Chase Outside Pentagon — From Dave Statter: “Here’s a wild one. @PFPAOfficial chased a woman driving through the #Pentagon just before 1:30 a.m. Her car crashed in the lower bus lanes of the Pentagon Transit Center. @ArlingtonVaFD took the handcuffed woman to the hospital.” [Twitter]

Fundraise for Local Startup — “Arlington startup Predict Health has raised $4 million in seed funding to improve the Medicare open enrollment experience using artificial intelligence. Shubadeep Debgupta founded Predict Health in 2019, inspired by his father Sailesh’s less-than-pleasant experience signing up for a Medicare insurer.” [Washington Business Journal]

Blue, Yellow Line Delays — “Most Metrorail customers will see nearly normal train service tomorrow, even as Metro continues to inspect the fleet’s oldest railcars. Metro will operate service to all customers (every 6-12 minutes from end-of-line stations); however Blue and Yellow line trains will depart every 15 minutes while work continues to repair tracks damaged in Friday’s derailment.” [WMATA]

It’s Monday — Sunny with a high temperature near 81 degrees, accompanied by a mild north wind around 6 mph. At night, expect mostly clear skies and a low temperature around 60 degrees with light and variable winds. [Weather.gov]

Flickr pool photo by Jeff Vincent

ARLnow Daily Debrief for Sep 29, 2023

By ARLnow.com

Good Friday evening, Arlington. Let’s take a look back at today’s stories and a look forward to tomorrow’s event calendar.

🕗 News recap

The following articles were published earlier today — Sep 29, 2023.

Since it’s Friday, we’ve also compiled a list of the most-read articles of the week, below.

  1. Wakefield High School sees second student death this year (33077 views)
  2. UPDATED: Large power outage after reported substation fire (21669 views)
  3. Revamped, food-centric Crystal City Water Park set to open next week (20186 views)
  4. Clarendon Day, Celtic Festival and Oktoberfest to prompt road closures this weekend (14071 views)
  5. JUST IN: Large police response at Yorktown HS after threatening phone call (13876 views)
  6. A $4 million renovation of Ballston Wetlands Park is officially complete — and beavers returned for the occasion (11939 views)
  7. More Arlington properties are now located within floodplains, county says (9264 views)
  8. New study sees surge of people living alone in Arlington (8617 views)
  9. Metro 29 Diner faces uncertain timeline for reopening due to faulty sewer line (6326 views)
  10. Here are ten local businesses listed for sale in Arlington (5976 views)
  11. NEW: Shooting threat outside Washington-Liberty HS leads to arrest (5910 views)
  12. UPDATED: Arrest made after shooting on Columbia Pike (5575 views)
  13. Clarendon’s Bar Ivy now open ‘morning, noon and night’ with new breakfast options (4446 views)

📅 Upcoming events

Here is what’s going on Saturday in Arlington, from our event calendar.

Here are the events planned for Sunday:

🎙️ This week’s podcast

ARLnow’s reporting crew talked about some of the week’s stories and discussed why we make certain decisions. Subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Amazon, Spotify, iHeart, Audacy or TuneIn.

🌥️ Saturday’s forecast

The forecast for Saturday indicates mostly cloudy weather with a high temperature near 71°F and a north wind at around 9 mph. During Saturday night, expect patchy fog to develop after 5am and partly cloudy skies, with a low temperature around 58°F. The north wind will decrease to around 5 mph before becoming calm. See more from Weather.gov.

💡 Quote of the Day

“We can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone.”
– Ronald Reagan

🌅 Tonight’s sunset

We hope you have a great weekend, Arlington! Feel free to discuss the most-read stories of the week, the upcoming weekend events or anything else of local interest in the comments. 👋

Fmr. journalist sentenced for child sexual abuse material

By ARLnow.com
1/3

A former ABC News producer whose Columbia Pike apartment was raided by the FBI last year has been sentenced.

James Gordon Meek, 53, pleaded guilty in July to transportation and possession of child sexual abuse material. Today he was sentenced to six years in prison, just above the minimum five year sentence for the charges.

The FBI raided Meek’s apartment on Columbia Pike in April 2022, as photos first published by ARLnow — taken by local resident John Antonelli — showed. Speculation about the raid swirled in the ensuing months, in part due to Meek’s job as a prominent producer for ABC News and his former role in counter-terrorism for the House Committee on Homeland Security.

More on the sentencing, below, from a U.S. Dept. of Justice press release.

An Arlington man was sentenced today to 72 months in prison for transportation and possession of child sexual abuse material.

According to court documents, while visiting South Carolina in February 2020, James Gordon Meek, 53, used an online messaging platform on his iPhone to send and receive images and videos depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, and to discuss his sexual interest in children. Some of the images and videos depicted prepubescent minors and minors under the age of 12, including an infant being raped. Meek brought the iPhone containing the child sexual abuse material back with him when he returned to Virginia. Additionally, Meek possessed multiple electronic devices containing images and videos of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Jessica D. Aber, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Wayne A. Jacobs, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office Criminal Division, made the announcement after sentencing by Senior U.S. District Judge Claude M. Hilton.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Zoe Bedell and Trial Attorney Whitney Kramer for the Department of Justice’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section prosecuted the case.

This case was investigated by the FBI Washington Field Office’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force. The task force is composed of FBI agents, along with other federal agents and detectives from northern Virginia and the District of Columbia. The task force is charged with investigating and bringing federal charges against individuals engaged in the exploitation of children and those engaged in human trafficking. Valuable assistance was provided by the Arlington County Police Department.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

UPDATED: Metro train derails near National Airport

By ARLnow.com
National Airport Metro station (Flickr pool photo by Bekah Richards)

(Updated at 4 p.m.) Metrorail service was suspended on the Blue and Yellow lines today after a train derailed.

Metro says no injuries were reported among the 50 people on the derailed train, adding that they have since been transferred via shuttle bus to another train.

The derailment happened around 10:45 a.m., south of the National Airport station, and involved the lead car of the train, according to scanner traffic. Arlington medics were dispatched to the scene but there were no reports of injuries.

Since the derailment, trains have been operating in two segments — Franconia/Huntington to Potomac Yard and Largo/Mt. Vernon Square to National Airport, according to Metro.

Shortly after 12:30 p.m., the transit agency said it was inspecting the track ahead of resuming service on a single track. As of 1:30 p.m., Blue and Yellow line trains were running every 24 minutes and single-tracking past the derailment.

A partial derailment near Rosslyn in October 2021 was found to have been caused by a wheel defect in newer, 7000-series trains. Earlier this year Metro unveiled a multi-year plan to change out wheelsets on hundreds of 7000-series trains.

Metro’s general manager said in a press conference this afternoon that it was a 7000-series train that derailed, but the agency believes a brake assembly came off of an older 3000-series train and caused the derailment.

 

Flickr pool photo by Bekah Richards

Listing of the Day: 3616 N. Glebe Road

By ARLnow.com
1/5

Address: 3616 N. Glebe Road
Neighborhood: Jamestown Village
Type: 4 BR, 3 BA single-family detached — 2,600 sq. ft.
Listed: $975,000

Noteworthy: 4 bedroom 3 bath 2 car garage, 1/4 acre Jamestown Williamsburg Yorktown pyramid

So much space and value in this sun filled home, well sited on a large, level and well landscaped lot. Bring your Pinterest imagination to make this home your own.

Open floorplan with a living room flowing into the dining room and updated kitchen featuring light wood cabinets, granite tops, and stainless appliances. The family room has windows on three sides, and doors to the patio and private rear yard. The primary bedroom has a step in closet and recently renovated private bathroom while the second and third bedrooms share an updated bathroom.

In the daylight lower level, there is a rec room, fourth bedroom and another updated bathroom, large laundry room and a utility room with additional storage. The deep two car garage accommodates even more storage. Near parks, bike lanes, Lee-Harrison Center and restaurants and shops along Langston Blvd. Easy commute to Washington, business and government centers, Amazon HQ2 at Crystal and Pentagon Cities, and National Airport. Good reverse commute to Tysons and Dulles Tech Corridor and Airport.

Listed by:
Betsy Twigg
[email protected]
(703) 967-4391

Morning Poll: Big snowstorm on tap this winter?

By ARLnow.com
Snow removal in Clarendon on Feb. 6, 2010 (file photo)

After several years of relatively meager winters, could this upcoming season have a big snowstorm on tap for us?

There’s some early suggestion of an elevated chance of large coastal winter storms between January and March, owing in part to a particularly intense El Niño climate pattern.

Of course, such a pattern could also leave Arlington high and dry again.

“Of the seven strong El Niño winters since 1950, four have been associated with well above normal snowfall while snowfall was virtually absent in the other three winters,” the National Weather Service wrote about winters in metro D.C. and Baltimore.

Climate prognosticating — it’s an inexact science, just ask the groundhog — has been raising the hopes of snow lovers this month, with some models suggesting a cold and snowy winter is likely for the Mid-Atlantic region.

The last really big winter storm to hit Arington was the Jan. 22-23, 2016 blizzard. The three large snow events of the winter of 2009-2010, meanwhile, are still fresh in the minds of many locals who lived through them.

What do you think? Would you welcome another big snowstorm this winter or do you prefer the mostly snowless winters of late?

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com
Colorful paint on the neighborhood side of an I-66 barrier wall in Westover (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

Free Pantry Being Removed — “After more than three years, a food pantry in Arlington County is closing and food-insecure families who take advantage of it say they only received a three-day notice. Now, volunteers are hoping to save the community resource… The food pantry is located outside the Arlington Central Library in Ballston and was started by the Eagle Scouts during the pandemic.” [WJLA]

Ovechkin-Owned Home for Rent — “Alex Ovechkin’s relatively modest Arlington home — at least compared to the mansion he lives in now — is back on the market for lease. The five-bedroom, four-and-a-half bath home at 4906 16th St. N served as Ovechkin’s abode during his first years with the Washington Capitals. It is listed for rent by Ali Nasir of TTR Sotheby’s International Realty for $9,000 a month. The 5,000-square-foot residence, which sits on a half-acre lot, was last rented to Erik Gustafson, who played for the Caps during the ’22-’23 season.” [Washington Business Journal]

Pickleball Fight Continues — “If Arlington County Board members thought their two-month summer break would bring a respite from battles over pickleball courts, they were quickly disabused of the notion. A representative of the Columbia Heights Civic Association on Sept. 23 rapped efforts by the Department of Parks and Recreation at Walter Reed Community Center, saying the number of planned courts must come down and noise-mitigation efforts must improve.” [Gazette Leader]

Shots Fired Near the Serrano Apts — “5500 block of Columbia Pike. At approximately 6:47 p.m. on September 27, police were dispatched to the report of shots heard. Responding officers recovered evidence confirming shots had been fired in the area. No injuries or property damage were reported. There are no suspect(s) descriptions. The investigation is ongoing.” [ACPD]

County Joins Insulin Suit — “Members of the Arlington County Board on Sept. 26 authorized the hiring of outside legal counsel to join lawsuits by local and state governments nationally against alleged price-fixing by insulin suppliers.” [Gazette Leader]

Motorcade This Morning — Updated at 10 a.m. — The president and vice president will be coming to Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall this morning to attend a farewell tribute ceremony for Gen. Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Rabies Exposure in F.C. — “On Saturday, September 23, 2023, an injured raccoon was euthanized by the City of Falls Church Police after being struck by two vehicles near the 500 block of S. Washington St. A witness stated that prior to officers arriving, both he and an unidentified driver came in direct contact with the injured raccoon while removing it from the roadway. On Tuesday, September 26, 2023, the Fairfax County Health Department reported that the raccoon had tested clinically positive for rabies.” [City of Falls Church]

It’s Friday — Patchy drizzle and a 30% chance of showers until 2pm, with mostly cloudy skies and a high of 69°F accompanied by a north wind at 9 mph. For Friday night, expect mostly cloudy conditions with a low of 60°F and an 8 mph north wind. [Weather.gov]

ARLnow Daily Debrief for Sep 28, 2023

By ARLnow.com

Good Thursday evening, Arlington. Let’s take a look back at today’s stories and a look forward to tomorrow’s event calendar.

🕗 News recap

The following articles were published earlier today — Sep 28, 2023.

📅 Upcoming events

Here is what’s going on Friday in Arlington, from our event calendar.

🌧️ Friday’s forecast

Expect patchy drizzle and scattered showers before 2pm, followed by isolated showers and fog later in the day, with a high of 69°F and a 30% chance of precipitation. Friday night will see possible isolated showers before 2am and fog after 11pm, accompanied by a low of 60°F, an 8 mph north wind, and a 20% chance of precipitation. See more from Weather.gov.

💡 Quote of the Day

“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”
– Henry David Thoreau

🌅 Tonight’s sunset

Thanks for reading! Feel free to discuss the day’s happenings in the comments.

Smallest and largest homes sold in Arlington (August 2023)

By ARLnow.com

Here in Arlington, real estate is a spectator sport. Let’s take a look at some of the smallest and largest homes sold last month (August 2023).

Largest homes sold

  1. 3133 N Piedmont St — Bellevue Forest — $2,850,000 (5 beds | 8 baths | 9,004 sq. ft.)
  2. 5407 36th St N — Williamsburg — $2,695,000 (7 beds | 7.5 baths | 6,580 sq. ft.)
  3. 4A N Ridgeview Rd — Dover Crystal — $3,608,356 (5 beds | 6.5 baths | 6,404 sq. ft.)

Smallest homes sold*

  1. 1804 S Stafford St — Douglas Park — $950,000 (4 beds | 3 baths | 1,950 sq. ft.)
  2. 409 N Oxford St — Ashton Heights — $1,059,000 (3 beds | 2 baths | 1,950 sq. ft.)
  3. 112 N Highland St — Lyon Park — $1,100,000 (3 beds | 1.5 baths | 1,958 sq. ft.)

*Minimum home value of $200,000 set to exclude certain land sales, retirement condos, properties with expiring ground leases, etc.

UPDATED: Large police response at Yorktown HS after threatening phone call

By ARLnow.com
1/5

(Updated at 12:55 p.m.) It’s likely a hoax but a threatening phone call prompted another large police response at Yorktown High School today.

Someone called 911 shortly before noon, claiming to be in a bathroom at the school and planning a shooting, according to a police dispatch. The call taker could then hear gunshots and screaming in the background, possibly from a recording.

Officers arriving on scene reported no suspicious activity outside nor inside the school, which was quickly placed on “secure the school” mode as a precaution, per scanner traffic.

A large police presence remained on scene investigating.

In an email to school staff just after noon, Yorktown Principal Dr. Kevin Clark said that the call was not placed inside the school and that normal activities could resume inside the school.

In February 2022, an anonymous threat that turned out to be a hoax prompted a lockdown and evacuation of Yorktown. An Arlington man, meanwhile, was arrested last night after allegedly threatening a shooting outside of Washington-Liberty High School during a band practice.

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