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.

Wine robber arrested on bus after allegedly threatening employee with bottle

By ARLnow.com
File photo

A suspect is in custody after police say a store in Virginia Square was robbed and one of its employees threatened.

The unidentified store on the 3400 block of Washington Blvd — the same block as the Giant supermarket — was robbed of several bottles of wine Tuesday afternoon, according to scanner traffic. The thief then used a wine bottle to threaten a store employee before boarding a Metro bus, police said.

Police tracked down the bus and took the suspect into custody.

More, below, from the latest Arlington County Police Department crime report.

ROBBERY, 2023-09120186, 3400 block of Washington Boulevard. At approximately 3:41 p.m. on September 12, police were dispatched to the report of a larceny just occurred. Upon arrival, it was determined the male suspect entered the business, collected merchandise and allegedly exited the store without payment. An employee followed the suspect out of the store, during which the suspect threatened the employee with a wine bottle before boarding a Metro bus. Officers located the bus with the suspect on board and took him into custody without incident. [The suspect], 35, of No Fixed Address was arrested and charged with Robbery. He was held without bond.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com
An American flag drapes over the Pentagon in remembrance of those killed on 9/11 (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

Could Pickleball Disrupt Voting? — “Will the effort to squeeze the vehicles of both voters and pickleball players into the parking lot at Walter Reed Community Center go harmoniously? Or will it result in conflict that raises a (wait for it …) racket? County election officials are hoping for the former rather than the latter as the days count down to the start of early voting at Walter Reed.” [Gazette Leader]

Housing Voucher Lottery Now Open — “Arlington opened the waitlist for its housing voucher lottery Wednesday. It’s the first time since 2012 that county residents have a chance to apply for the federally-funded rent subsidy program.  Eligible residents can apply online to be entered into a lottery draw for the county’s 5,000-slot waitlist for the Housing Choice Voucher Program, formerly called Section 8, which helps residents pay a portion of their monthly rent.” [Fox 5]

APS Enrollment Down Slightly — “It appears that, once the dust settles, 2023-24 enrollment for Arlington’s public-school system will be roughly on par with that of the preceding academic year. County school officials announced a first-day-of-school enrollment of 27,407 – 26,554 in kindergarten through 12th grade and 853 in pre-kindergarten – which represents a slight (117 students) shortfall compared to last year’s official student-body count submitted to state education officials.” [Gazette Leader]

New Urgent Care Clinic Opens — “MedStar Health has opened a new urgent care location in the heart of Ballston to serve the surrounding community of Arlington, Va., including students, faculty, and staff from nearby Marymount University. It is the 34th urgent care site in the MedStar Health system.” [MedStar]

WHS Grad Helps YMCA — “A 2023 graduate of Wakefield High School in Arlington spent the summer working with the YMCA of Metropolitan Washington as part of an internship sponsored by Bank of America… Yabsera Negussie, who is beginning her first year at Dartmouth College and is majoring in neuroscience and business, worked with Home Depot to get materials needed for students to participate in the 29th annual Thingamajig Invention Convention.” [Patch]

Amazon’s Housing Investments — “Amazon.com Inc. has committed over half its $2 billion affordable housing fund to projects in Greater Washington, far more than the other regions the fund touches. The $1.1 billion distributed in the region via the company’s Housing Equity Fund has gone toward more than 7,500 affordable units across 29 projects in various stages of advancement in Greater Washington, according to figures furnished by Amazon.” [Washington Business Journal]

Football Forfeit = DJO Win — “The Bishop O’Connell Knights (1-1) did not play this past weekend but the high-school football team still got a victory by virtue of a forfeit. The St. Albans Bulldogs were scheduled to play at O’Connell on Saturday, Sept. 9 in a non-conference private-school contest at noon, but forfeited the game instead for unspecified reasons, giving O’Connell a win.” [Gazette Leader]

It’s Thursday — Sunny and pleasant with a high temperature close to 77 degrees. There will be a gentle north wind at about 10 mph throughout the day. Moving into Thursday night, the sky will remain clear and the low temperature will be around 57 degrees. [Weather.gov]

ARLnow Daily Debrief for Sep 13, 2023

By ARLnow.com

Good Wednesday 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 13, 2023.

📅 Upcoming events

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

☀️ Thursday’s forecast

The weather forecast for Thursday is sunny with a high temperature near 77 degrees, accompanied by a north wind blowing at 6 to 10 mph. As for Thursday night, the sky will remain clear, reaching a low temperature around 57 degrees, with a north wind at 6 to 9 mph. See more from Weather.gov.

💡 Quote of the Day

“Creativity is intelligence having fun.”
– Albert Einstein

🌅 Tonight’s sunset

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

Morning Poll: How do you feel about duplexes?

By ARLnow.com
1/6

Last week, ARLnow reported that neighbors successfully dissuaded a developer from building a duplex in the Tara-Leeway Heights neighborhood.

Their concerns included traffic and parking challenges on the street, writing that the “proposed development will only exacerbate this, endangering residents, including the many children who live on the block.”

While the neighbors were able to leverage a restrictive deed covenant from 1938 to scuttle the duplex and convince the developer to build a single-family home instead, more duplexes are on the way following the Arlington County Board’s approval of the “Missing Middle” zoning changes earlier this year.

According to real estate agent Natalie Roy’s latest EHO Watch newsletter, one duplex has been approved under the new “Enhanced Housing Options” process, another is nearing approval, and two more were recently submitted for review.

Notwithstanding a successful legal challenge to Missing Middle — a lawsuit by a group of residents is set for a court date next week — Arlington residents are likely to see more duplexes, alongside 3-6 unit EHO projects, in the coming years.

Given that, we were wondering how ARLnow readers feel about duplexes specifically, given that they’re perhaps the most palatable to those otherwise skeptical of higher density projects. Yes, duplexes are now allowed countywide thanks to “Missing Middle,” but our poll questions asks if you are in support of that.

Do you think duplexes should be allowed to be built in most or all residential neighborhoods in Arlington — assuming that current EHO restrictions, including only being able construct the same size building as that allowed for single-family homes, remain in place?

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com
The setting sun as seen from Minor’s Hill, the highest elevation in Arlington County (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

Arlington Rent Stays at No. 2 Regionally — “We at Zumper have just published our latest D.C. Metro Report… This month, Arlington ranked as the 2nd most expensive city to rent. The price of one bedroom units fell 2.1% to $2,340, while two bedroom units dropped 0.6% to $3,110.” [Zumper]

APS Vending Policy Change — “Arlington School Board members on Sept. 21 are expected to formally rescind the school system’s policy governing vending machines in schools. The reason? Schools haven’t had vending machines in them since 2014, when they were phased out. Technically, county schools haven’t had operating vending machines since 2014. A number of machines remain in schools but are not in use.” [Gazette Leader]

Yet Another Exit 10C Crash — From Dave Statter: “This is at least the 6th crash in 24 days on I-395N Exit 10C. All caused by drivers trying to get to the exit at the last second. This driver did not come from the GW Parkway.” [Twitter]

Courthouse Cafe Expanding to D.C. — “Our first location of Simona Café is currently opened in Arlington and we are planning on opening our second location in NoMa the third week of September.” [PoPville]

Bike Trail Repaving — “Bike Trail Over 66 Is Paved #Ballston.” [Twitter]

Reporter Discusses Crisis Team — “New program in Arlington County works to tackle homelessness Arlington Now’s James Jarvis has been reporting on Arlington County’s new Mobile Health Crisis Team.” [Fox 5]

New Committee Assignment for Favola? — “Arlington may start 2024 with the same number of legislators on the powerful state Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations as it has in 2023. State Sen. Barbara Favola said she has a good shot at ending up on the committee after the dust settles from the Nov. 7 election.” [Gazette Leader]

Metro Mulling Map and Sign Changes — “Metro is looking at ways to improve the customer experience on buses and trains by changing signage across the system, including the possibility of renaming and numbering its rail lines. Metro’s Chief Experience Officer Sarah Meyer, who recently took the job after spending time at New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority, says Metro is now studying transit agencies around the world.” [NBC 4]

It’s Wednesday — There is a 60% chance of showers and potential thunderstorms in the morning, followed by mostly sunny skies and a high of 79°F. Winds will be from the northwest at 6-8 mph. In the evening, expect partly cloudy skies with a low of 61°F. [Weather.gov]

ARLnow Daily Debrief for Sep 12, 2023

By ARLnow.com

Good Tuesday 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 12, 2023.

📅 Upcoming events

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

⛈️ Wednesday’s forecast

There is a 60% chance of showers and a possible thunderstorm before 8am, followed by intermittent showers and thunderstorms throughout the day. Gradually, skies will become mostly sunny with a high temperature of around 79°F and a light northwest wind at 7 mph. Expect less than a tenth of an inch of new rainfall, although higher amounts are possible in thunderstorms. Wednesday night will be partly cloudy with a low of around 61°F and a north wind at 7 mph. See more from Weather.gov.

💡 Quote of the Day

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched – they must be felt with the heart.”
– Helen Keller

🌅 Tonight’s sunset

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

ARLnow sees highest readership in three years

By ARLnow.com
ARLnow logo over the Rosslyn skyline

August is generally a slow month for news, but ARLnow saw the highest readership since the height of the pandemic.

The site recorded 1,542,873 pageviews for the month of August, according to Google Analytics. That’s the highest readership in three years, following a massive readership spike in the first half of 2020. Our all-time record remains 2.5 million monthly views at the beginning of the pandemic.

Our sister sites also had strong months, each near record post-pandemic readership levels. ALXnow saw nearly a half million monthly views in August and FFXnow — along with its subsites in Reston and Tysons — recorded about 625,000 views.

Despite the very real struggles in the local news business — primarily tied to the secular decline of print-based business models — ARLnow and its locally-owned, Arlington-based parent company remains modestly profitable. ARLnow gets most of its revenue through local advertising but is also supported by readers via the ARLnow Press Club.

Covid cases on the rise in Arlington, but so far lower than last year

By ARLnow.com
Covid cases in Arlington over the past three months, as of 9/12/23 (via Virginia Dept. of Health)

Don’t look now but Covid cases are on the rise in Arlington.

As of today, the Virginia Dept. of Health is reporting a seven-day average of just over 21 daily cases in the county. That’s the highest point since this past February.

Of course, there are some caveats. First, Covid cases are not getting reported to health departments as consistently as earlier in the pandemic, thanks in part to the availability of at-home tests. On the other end of the equation, cases are still much lower compared to this time last year, then there were more than 50 average daily cases in Arlington reported to VDH.

And then there’s the matter of Covid being a respiratory virus with seasonal spikes — like the flu — so an increase in September is not unexpected.

Covid cases in Arlington over the past year, as of 9/12/23 (via Virginia Dept. of Health)

Nonetheless, there are anecdotal indications that Covid is making the rounds locally. Several D.C. area employees of ARLnow’s parent company, which is a primarily remote workplace, recently were diagnosed. And some schools in the region have been reporting outbreaks.

That’s not to mention what has been characterized as a “late summer surge” nationally.

Arlington Public Schools no longer reports cases via an online dashboard, as in previous years, but an APS spokesman told the Washington Post that the school system is monitoring for outbreaks.

In nearby Arlington County, spokesman Frank Bellavia said the school district, which has been in class for only five days, is not tracking cases this year, but it will be monitoring for an influx of cases and will provide notice of an outbreak as it would for other communicable diseases.

Meanwhile, the FDA just approved updated Covid vaccines. From CNN:

The US Food and Drug Administration gave the green light Monday to updated Covid-19 vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech amid rising cases and hospitalizations.

Both vaccine manufacturers have said testing shows that their vaccines are effective against EG.5, the currently dominant strain in the United States.

Two Covid-related deaths have been reported so far this year in Arlington, according to VDH.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com
Sunset above Langston Blvd and the bike/pedestrian bridge (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

Local Harris Teeters Sold — “Could Piggly Wiggly make a grand return to Greater Washington? It’s possible, now that the Kroger Co., Harris Teeter’s parent company, and Albertsons Cos. Inc. have agreed to sell a combined 413 stores, including 10 Harris Teeter stores in Virginia, Maryland and D.C., to C&S Wholesale Grocers LLC. The Keene, New Hampshire-based grocery store supplier also own hundreds of Piggly Wiggly stores across the country.” [Washington Business Journal]

Crash Near 14th Street Bridge — From Dave Statter: “Today’s crash on I-395N Exit 10C for the GW Parkway northbound. At least the 5th crash involving drivers trying to get to that exit in the last 23 days.” [Twitter]

APS Still Looking for Some Teachers — “As of last week, the school system was still shy 33 full-time and four part-time teachers… At 99 percent filled, Arlington’s teaching recruitment has done better this school year than any other school system across Northern Virginia, Durán believes.” [Gazette Leader]

Clement Wants Missing Middle Forum — “Epstein asked the candidates if they would support the county board holding a public hearing in early 2024 to review the Expanding Housing Option program and consider making adjustments to it. Audrey Clement, an independent candidate for Arlington County Board, was the first to answer and the only candidate to directly respond to the question. ‘Yes, a forum next year to discuss alternative solutions to Missing Middle would be on the top of my agenda if elected,’ Clement said.” [Patch]

GOP Candidate: ‘Time for a Change’ — “[State Senate candidate David] Henshaw praised Favola’s quarter-century in elected office, but said it was time for a change, calling Favola ‘out of touch’ with Virginians on a number of issues. ‘That’s a lot of public service you’ve done – I do appreciate that,’ he said in a direct exchange with the incumbent. ‘At the same time, though, I think it’s time for a change.'” [Gazette Leader]

National Landing Dining Options — “The lively stretch that includes Crystal City, Pentagon City, Westpost (Pentagon Row) and Potomac Yard is still home to plenty of time-tested establishments that are worth a taste. Here are some oldies, goodies and newbies to try… with more to come.” [Arlington Magazine]

It’s Tuesday — There is a 30% chance of showers after 2pm today, with mostly sunny skies and a high near 86°F. For Tuesday night, expect a 60% chance of showers and thunderstorms, increasing in likelihood after 8pm. The night will be mostly cloudy with a low of around 68°F. A south wind of 5-7 mph will shift westward after midnight, and new rainfall amounts could range between a quarter and half an inch. [Weather.gov]

ARLnow Daily Debrief for Sep 11, 2023

By ARLnow.com

Good Monday 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 11, 2023.

📅 Upcoming events

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

⛅️ Tuesday’s forecast

There is a 30% chance of showers after 2pm today, with mostly sunny weather and a high near 86°F. Calm winds will become southwest around 6 mph in the afternoon. On Tuesday night, expect a 60% chance of showers and thunderstorms, with possible rainfall amounts between a quarter and half an inch. Lows will be around 68°F, with south wind 5-7 mph turning west after midnight. See more from Weather.gov.

💡 Quote of the Day

“Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.”
– Joshua J. Marine

🌅 Tonight’s sunset

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

Listing of the Day: 309 N. Fillmore Street

By ARLnow.com
1/6

Address: 309 N. Fillmore Street
Neighborhood: Lyon Park
Type: 5 BR, 4 (+1 half) BA single-family detached — 4,497 sq. ft.
Listed: $2,350,000

Noteworthy: Luxe living in Lyon Park. BCN custom-quality home with 4,500 finished sq. ft.

Luxe living in Lyon Park. BCN custom-quality home with 4,500 finished sq. ft., 5 bedrooms, and 4 1/2 baths, offers the perfect blend of modern elegance and timeless charm — and TRULY lives like new.

This meticulously maintained contemporary home has a spacious open floor plan, flooded with natural light from the abundance of oversized windows on all 3 levels. The attention to detail is evident throughout, with design features including well-proportioned rooms, high ceilings, high-end custom window treatments and light fixtures, wide-plank espresso hardwood floors throughout and upgraded trim. The gourmet kitchen with oversized walk-in pantry, features a 6-burner Wolf stove, brand new refrigerator, custom cabinets with under-cabinet lighting and a large island with seating for 4.

A generously-sized home office, dining room, family room with marble-surround gas fireplace, powder room and eat-in kitchen with breakfast area complete the main level. The upper level has a well-appointed primary suite with a dramatic vaulted ceiling, incredible walk-in closet and a spectacularly designed spa-like bathroom. Three additional bedrooms, two sharing a jack-n-jill bath and an ensuite bedroom, perfect for guests, and a laundry room with front-load washer and dryer complete the space.

The open and airy lower level is fully finished and includes a large rec room, a bedroom and full bathroom — offering flexibility for use as a guest suite, home office, gym or entertainment area.

Listed by:
Steve Wydler  Wydler Brothers of Compass
[email protected]
(703) 348-6326

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