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.

Vehicle Runs Off I-395 Overpass, Lands on Pentagon Entrance

By ARLnow.com

Rescuers work to free driver from SUV that fell off the side of a I-395 overpass near the Pentagon (courtesy photo)

(Updated at 11:45 a.m.) A vehicle ran off the side of an I-395 overpass last night and landed on S. Rotary Road at S. Eads Street, a main entrance to the Pentagon reservation.

I-395 overpass at S. Rotary Road (photo via Google Maps)The incident was reported around 12:40 a.m. Arlington County firefighters responded and worked to extricate the driver, who was trapped inside the vehicle.

Once freed, the driver was transported to the trauma center at George Washington University Hospital for “further evaluation,” according to ACFD.

The vehicle — described as a hatchback or hybrid SUV — was heavily damaged in the 25-50 foot fall from the highway to the roadway below. It also took out a “large light pole” on the way down, according to a fire department Facebook post.

No other vehicles were reported to be involved.

Courtesy photo (top), photo (middle) via Google Maps

Nespresso Boutique Coming to Pentagon City Mall

By ARLnow.com
1/3

A Nespresso boutique is coming to the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City.

The store is located adjacent to the mall’s main entrance off of S. Hayes Street, in the former Belmont Jewelers space. Demolition of the store’s interior started last month.

Belmont is relocating to a different storefront on the first level of the mall and is expected to reopen March 1.

The Nespresso store is scheduled to open at some point this spring, offering “a world of unique coffee experiences.” There are four existing Nespresso boutiques in the Washington area, according to the brand’s website: two in Tysons, one at Westfield Montgomery mall in Bethesda, and another in the Friendship Heights neighborhood of D.C.

Before it was Belmont Jewelers, the storefront was home to the Tourneau high-end watch store, which was robbed by four hammer-wielding men in 2013.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

"Spring in Midwinter: Arlington Forest, Arlington Virginia 7:20 a.m. 2/8/17" (Flickr pool photo by Dennis Dimick)

Median Home Sales Price Ticks Down — “Prices, sales and contract signings for home sales all hit 10-year highs for a January in the Washington metro.” according to WTOP’s Jeff Clabaugh. However, in Virginia, “Falls Church, Arlington County and Alexandria were the only three jurisdictions with lower median sales prices from a year earlier.” [WTOP]

Primary Challenge for Del. Levine — Del. Mark Levine, who represents part of Arlington, is facing a Democratic primary challenge from Alexandria School Board member Karen Graf. Levine has been endorsed by Gov. Terry McAuliffe while Graf has the endorsement of state Sen. Adam Ebbin. The primary will be held in June. [InsideNova]

Remodeling Reveals Historic Headlines — A couple in north Arlington made a surprise find inside a wall while remodeling their home: “yellowed newspapers detailing the stock market crash of October 1929.” [Falls Church News-Press]

Flickr pool photo by Dennis Dimick

Yorktown Principal’s Letter Regarding Sign Issue

By ARLnow.com

Screen capture of controversial sign at YorktownOn Tuesday afternoon, Yorktown High School principal Dr. Ray Pasi sent a letter to students and families regarding the ongoing sign controversy at the school.

While the “Patriots Know” signs remain up in classrooms, according to an Arlington Public Schools spokesman, Pasi apologized for the “distress” the issue — which has received national attention from conservative media — may have caused.

“We sincerely regret any distress this may have caused our students, parents or anyone in the Yorktown community,” Pasi wrote. “We want our focus to continue to be instruction, while at the same time providing a safe and supportive environment for discussion, consistent with the YHS and APS mission, vision and core values.”

Pasi said that Yorktown has adopted sign policies in place at other Arlington high schools, although he did not elaborate on the specifics of those policies nor their application to the current controversy.

The full letter is below.

For many years, Yorktown High School’s philosophy and goal has been to work deliberately, daily and collectively on fostering respect for ALL. Our long standing social-emotional learning (SEL) and ROCS (Respect for Others, Community and Self) programs are designed to help foster a positive, respectful school climate for ALL. It’s a feature of our educational program we take seriously and have worked on each day. We want every student here to feel valued, supported and respected.

We all know that we live in a challenging and sometimes difficult political climate. With that, many schools (including Yorktown) are dealing with new situations and issues. Here at Yorktown, one of those issues has been signs that have been posted with good intentions that some members of our community have supported while others have taken exception to for one reason or another.

We sincerely regret any distress this may have caused our students, parents or anyone in the Yorktown community. We want our focus to continue to be instruction, while at the same time providing a safe and supportive environment for discussion, consistent with the YHS and APS mission, vision and core values.

Last year, some APS high schools experienced a few difficulties with how and when students could post signs equitably because so many student clubs and organizations were interested in promoting their activities and events. To help provide clarity, a set of procedures and guidelines for posting materials in high schools were developed by a team of high school staff that is also consistent with the APS Printed Materials Policy.

While this was not a concern for Yorktown at that time, last week we experienced confusion over how to determine what should be posted. Moving forward, we have decided to use the same guidelines and process here at Yorktown that the other APS high schools are following so that all high schools are approaching these decisions in a uniform way.

On Friday, I met with teachers and many of our students to discuss this and we have revised our processes to be consistent with the other high schools.  We also will be meeting with representatives of each YHS student organization so that everyone knows and understands our process as we move forward.

In the future, there may be differences of opinions on one issue or another. We need to recognize that it is in the best interest of our entire community that we work together to create our future.  That comes through cooperation and understanding our similarities as well as accepting our differences.  We will continue to strive to create a school climate that is inclusive and supportive of all students.

Carbon Monoxide Incident at Pentagon City Restaurant

By ARLnow.com

Chevy's restaurant in Pentagon City (photo via Google Maps)(Updated at 12:30 p.m.) The Chevy’s Fresh Mex restaurant at 1201 S. Hayes Street in Pentagon City is being evacuated due to “elevated” carbon monoxide levels.

Fire department units are being dispatched to the scene to investigate the source of the CO, according to scanner traffic. Washington Gas is also responding to the scene.

Initial reports suggest the higher-than-normal carbon monoxide levels were detected in the kitchen and possibly related to a water heater.

So far there’s no report of anyone becoming sick, though the restaurant’s kitchen workers are being evaluated by firefighters.

Photo via Google Maps

Video: Yorktown Student Talks About Sign Controversy on Fox News

By ARLnow.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEArGmAjJg4

The controversy over a sign posted by teachers at Yorktown High School has taken an even bigger national stage.

Yorktown senior John Piper was a guest on Tucker Carlson’s prime time show on Fox News last night, discussing why the seemingly innocuous sign was actually “political propaganda.”

Screen capture of controversial sign at YorktownPiper says he and his parents talked to to school administrators, the Arlington School Board and local radio station WMAL about why the signs are “obviously” political, especially given the current political climate. But after being told the signs would be coming down, Piper says administrators “changed their minds” and the signs remained.

Tipsters tell ARLnow.com that those inquiring about the decision to keep the signs were sent a letter to the School Board from a Yorktown physics teacher objecting to the removal (posted below, after the jump).

Carlson called the signs “the sneakiest type of propaganda… propaganda passing itself off as obvious observations.” He asked Piper if anyone at the school thinks that science “is not real.”

“No,” Piper replied, adding that he and fellow members of the Yorktown Republican club also believe in diversity despite implications to the contrary given their opposition to the signs.

A similar sign about conservative values — like the Second Amendment right to bear arms — would not be allowed at Yorktown, Piper guessed.

“There’s a serious double standard here,” Piper said. “Conservative values would not be accepted on the walls of the school, especially in the way they’re doing them. They would see through that easily.”

This is not the only sign controversy brewing at Yorktown. A Black Lives Matter banner at the school was removed late last week, according to a tipster. High school principals, we’re told, have been meeting “to set policy for putting signs up in the future.”

Update at 5:50 p.m. — On Tuesday afternoon, Yorktown principal Dr. Ray Pasi sent a letter to students and families regarding the sign issue.

The letter from the teacher regarding the “Patriots Know” signs, after the jump.

(more…)

Sen. Warner Statement on Gen. Flynn’s Resignation

By ARLnow.com

Sen. Mark Warner holds a press conference outside of his office on Capitol Hill 4/13/16Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) has released a statement on the resignation of Gen. Michael Flynn as National Security Advisor.

Warner, who serves as the vice chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said that he will continue to push to investigate Gen. Flynn and “any other campaign official who may have had inappropriate and improper contacts with Russian officials prior to the election.”

The full statement is below.

Reports that the White House may have been briefed weeks ago on the nature of Gen. Flynn’s calls raise deeply troubling questions. The American people deserve to know at whose direction Gen. Flynn was acting when he made these calls, and why the White House waited until these reports were public to take action.

These developments underscore how many questions still remain unanswered to the American people more than three months after Election Day, including who was aware of what, and when. This reinforces both the urgency and the significance of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s bipartisan investigation into Russian interference, which will include a thorough examination of contacts between Russia and individuals associated with political campaigns, as well as interviews with current and former government officials.

Nothing about this resignation, or resignations that could occur in the future, precludes the Senate Intelligence Committee from continuing to investigate Gen. Flynn, or any other campaign official who may have had inappropriate and improper contacts with Russian officials prior to the election.

It is clear that our task is more urgent than ever.

Update at 12:35 p.m. — Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) has also weighed in with a statement (after the jump).

(more…)

Animal Control Officers Rescue Raccoon from Drain

By ARLnow.com
Raccoon rescued from drain at Wakefield High School (photo via AWLA)

A raccoon got stuck in a drain at Wakefield High School yesterday, but animal control officers rode to the rescue.

The Animal Welfare League of Arlington posted a photo of the critter on Twitter, taken just before it was freed from the small concrete trench.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Fairlington at night

Highest Monday Wind Gusts — According to the National Weather Service, the highest wind gusts recorded in Arlington Monday, after the initial squall line came through Sunday night, were between 47 mph in Barcroft and 53 mph in Cherrydale. [National Weather Service]

Arlington Man Arrested for Bank Robbery — A 41-year-old Arlington man was arrested in D.C. Monday and accused of robbing the HSBC Bank at the corner of 14th and I streets NW. Police say the man passed the teller a note claiming to have a bomb, fled on foot with cash but was then detained by a pair of witnesses and held until police arrived. [Washington Post]

County Defends Property Purchase — Arlington County says it did not overpay by spending $800,000 to buy a house, assessed for $519,200, which was needed for the Fire Station No. 8 expansion project. The county says the owner of the home was not anxious to sell and, essentially, making them an offer they couldn’t refuse helped save time and effort compared to trying to use eminent-domain to try to acquire the property at a fair-market value. [InsideNova]

Kudos for Arlington’s Affordable Housing Plan — “Arlington has set ambitious goals to tackle housing affordability, in part by making it easier for developers to build affordable housing in the first place. According to a recent report, Arlington made plans for new affordable units and brought its number of homeless residents down last year even as rents and housing costs went up.” [Greater Greater Washington]

Registration Open for Girls Fire Camp — The Arlington County Fire Department is now taking applications for its 2017 Girls Fire Camp, which “gives teenage girls, ages 15-18, a chance to experience firsthand what it takes to be an Arlington County Firefighter/Emergency Medical Technician.” The camp will take place from July 6-9. [Arlington County]

Nearby: No New Taco Bell in Alexandria — A proposed new Taco Bell restaurant on Duke Street in Alexandria, which neighbors worried could bring “late night riff raff” and cause traffic problems, will not be opening after all. The company has withdrawn its plans for the new location. [Washington Business Journal]

Scattered Power Outages Remain Throughout Arlington

By ARLnow.com
1/4

Nearly 900 Dominion customers are still without power in Arlington as of 5 p.m. Monday, with numerous small outages scattered across the county.

That’s down from more than 6,500 outages last night, after an initial line of 60+ mile per hour wind gusts swept through the area. The strong winds continued through this afternoon but have since died down.

Dominion’s power outage map shows the two biggest power outages are in the Highgate/Colonial Terrace community in the Rosslyn area, and along 26th Street N./31st Street N., near Marymount University, where photos (above and via Twitter) show at least one tree down in the roadway and a power pole snapped in half.

Dominion is estimating that power will be restored by 11 p.m. and 8 p.m., respectively, for each outage.

In all, around 3,000 Dominion customers are still in the dark around Northern Virginia.

FCC Commissioner Questions APS Backup Fiber System Plan

By ARLnow.com

FCC logoAn FCC commissioner is questioning an Arlington Public Schools plan to build a backup fiber optic network with the help of federal funds.

Commissioner Mike O’Rielly, a Republican appointed by President Obama, says the APS plan, first reported by ARLnow.com, is an example of wasteful “overbuilding” under the federal E-rate program.

E-rate is funded via Universal Service Fund fees and is intended to make “telecommunications and information services more affordable for schools and libraries in America.”

O’Rielly, however, said in a Feb. 10 letter that APS using E-rate to pay for half the costs of building a backup system — when a county-run fiber system and Comcast connections are available — is “troubling.”

“As an initial matter, I do not believe that our rules permit funding for backup networks,” O’Rielly writes. “Regardless, I see absolutely no justification for using E-rate funds for such a purpose. Instead, any universal service funding for broadband deployment should be targeted… to underserved communities most in need of support.”

https://twitter.com/douglevin/status/831186102681796608

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