Around Town

ARLnow Daily Debrief for Jan 26, 2024

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 — Jan 26, 2024.

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

  1. BREAKING: Police charge fmr. W-L girls basketball coach with sex crimes involving players (21271 views)
  2. Liquor store robbery leads to chase and arrests on I-395 (19796 views)
  3. Falls Church has twice as many restaurants as Arlington on new Washingtonian ‘100 Very Best’ list (15142 views)
  4. Mister Days appears to be returning to Clarendon (13091 views)
  5. An ‘old-school American butcher’ serving locally sourced meat is coming to Falls Church this month (12952 views)
  6. BREAKING: Former swim club board president pleads guilty to sexually exploiting children (12860 views)
  7. Astro Beer Hall to revamp basement following successful Shirlington launch and ‘overwhelming’ community support (8649 views)
  8. Video: Driver slams into building on Columbia Pike (7495 views)
  9. Jos A. Bank is second retail store to close in Clarendon in two months (5029 views)
  10. BREAKING: Arlington County Board Chair Libby Garvey to retire at the end of year (4455 views)
  11. Long Bridge Park aquatics center pool to close early until summer for needed repairs (4090 views)

📅 Upcoming events

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

Here are the events planned for Sunday:

🌧️ Saturday’s forecast

Rain is expected mostly after 5pm alongside increasing clouds and a high temperature near 56 degrees, with a northwest wind of 5 to 8 mph and a 30% chance of precipitation. On Saturday night, rain will be more prevalent after 8pm, with a low temperature around 44 degrees, and an east wind of 5 to 10 mph. There is a 100% chance of precipitation and new rainfall amounts may range between half to three quarters of an inch. See more from Weather.gov.

💡 Quote of the Day

“In the end, we only regret the chances we didn’t take.”
– Lewis Carroll

🌅 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. 👋

News

Why community radio station WERA 96.7 has had lo-fi beats on loop for nearly two months

By Jo DeVoe
Arlington Independent Media in Clarendon (file photo)

Arlington’s local radio station has been playing the same music on repeat since December.

The continuous lo-fi beats, noted by listeners more than a month ago, are a result of aging equipment and financing delays complicating Arlington Independent Media‘s move into a new office building that is home to a transmitter critical to AIM’s operations.

The nonprofit community media outlet — which has TV and radio programming and offers media training courses — is mid-way through its move from its Clarendon outpost at the corner of N. Danville Street and Wilson Blvd, behind the Beyond Hello dispensary, to a new location at 2300 Clarendon Blvd.

Staff packed up and stored all AIM’s non-technical equipment in its new Green Valley outpost while its TV and radio broadcasting equipment sits in the lobby, awaiting contractors who can rewire it in 2300 Clarendon Blvd, a new space dubbed AIM Live!

It is a point of consternation for Alvin Jones, the station manager for the community media outlet’s radio station, WERA 96.7 FM.

“It’s been frustrating,” he told ARLnow. “I don’t get to hear, when I’m in my car, the great programming 50 producers are putting out.”

Former radio show producer Bennett Kobb says he has noticed the same music playing since Dec. 1, 2023. The beats are intended as a backup when interruptions arise, whether that is due to a power outage, a delayed DJ or problems with a station computer, he said.

“It is not permitted to broadcast ‘dead air’ for any significant length of time, that is, a radio signal with no content and no station identification,” he said. “Many radio stations have such arrangements in place… But this was never intended to go on for weeks as it has.”

As of Jan. 12, he had not heard of any communications to the public explaining what was going on. AIM did ultimately provide an update that listeners should expect the radio to go silent on Jan. 20, followed by TV on Jan. 24, as a result of the move. The post noted listeners “will continue to hear music through our transmitter on WERA 96.7 FM.”

The reason for the prolonged continuous loop is because the equipment that relayed microwave signals from AIM’s Clarendon location to the transmitter at 2300 Clarendon Blvd went down, says Jones. AIM will not need this equipment once it is set up in the same building as the transmitter. Jones likened fixing it before the move to upgrading the tires on a car just before trading it in for a new vehicle.

AIM originally had until Dec. 31, 2023, to move out but now predicts that full move-out will happen next week. The delays come down to finances, according to Jones and AIM CEO Whytni Kernodle.

They say they are waiting for Arlington County to approve the rest of a funding request from November for Public, Educational and Government (PEG) funds — subscription revenue that the county receives from franchise agreements with Comcast and Verizon.

These funds only cover capital expenses, which include hiring contractors to take down and rewire equipment.

(more…)

News

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Around Town

Smallest and largest homes sold in Arlington (December 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 (December 2023).

Largest homes sold

  1. 2503 16th St N — Lyon Village — $3,700,000 (7 beds | 7.5 baths | 7,700 sq. ft.)
  2. 3162 N Pollard St — Bellevue Forest — $2,674,200 (6 beds | 8 baths | 6,463 sq. ft.)
  3. 3914 17th St N — Cherrydale — $2,332,845 (6 beds | 6.5 baths | 6,255 sq. ft.)

Smallest homes sold*

  1. 1781 N Pierce St — Rosslyn — $1,750,000 (2 beds | 2 baths | 2,022 sq. ft.)
  2. 2352 N Vermont St — Donaldson Run — $990,000 (3 beds | 2.5 baths | 2,076 sq. ft.)
  3. 1401 N Oak St Unit 904 — Rosslyn — $2,200,000 (3 beds | 2.5 baths | 2,154 sq. ft.)

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

Announcement

Browse & Support Year-End Needs of Small Nonprofits with Holiday Wish Catalog

By Arlington Community Foundation

For the fourth year, Arlington Community Foundation is hosting the Nonprofit Wish Catalog, featuring grant ideas of 30+ local nonprofits with wishes of up to $5,000 each.

From rainy day gifts for cancer patients, to bilingual culinary workforce development, to dental treatments for seniors, to coats and shoes for kids, these year-end wishes provide donors the opportunity to browse a variety of local needs and missions and donate any amount toward any goal in one easy-to-navigate place, now through December 31.

Go to Browse & Support Year-End Needs of Small Nonprofits with Holiday Wish Catalog Read more
Around Town

Halal barbecue shop in Ballston blends Maryland and Pakistani flavors into a Chesapeake ‘Bay-B-Q’ style

By Madisson Weyrich
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Arlington’s first halal barbecue restaurant is up and running in Ballston.

Hal & Al’s BBQ in Quarter Market, the food hall in Ballston Quarter, opened in December. It is best known at this point for its beef brisket, though it also serves beef ribs and turkey sausage and sides such as chili and mac and cheese.

All of the meats follow Islamic food preparation laws — meaning customers will not find pork on the menu.

Owner Mohsin Rehman was born and raised in Baltimore and his parents immigrated to the U.S. from Pakistan. Rehman incorporates his upbringing in his dishes by merging Baltimore and Pakistani flavors to create Hal & Al’s popular brisket.

“Deep down, I have my love for Old Bay,” Rehman said. “So we use kind of a hybrid of Pakistani spices and Maryland crab seasoning mixed together to create our brisket. It creates this kind of ‘Bay-B-Q’ vibe, a Chesapeake Bay barbecue vibe.”

Rehman believes it’s important to highlight flavors from different regions as part of the varied Northern Virginia food scene.

“We live in a world — such a diverse world with such a diverse palette — and just black pepper and salt really keeps you from showcasing what you could do with brisket,” Rehman said. “You’re not going to go to a fancy restaurant where they’re like, ‘We only use black pepper.’ They’re going to use a multitude of spices from all over the world. I try staying to my roots.”

Rehman started his venture into the culinary world in college where he was lovingly titled the “Italian grandmother” by his friends due to his love of cooking.

“I get a lot of joy from feeding people,” he said. “I’ve always really gotten a lot of pleasure from seeing people nourished and happy from what I put my time into. The nice thing about barbecue is it’s a very family-oriented community, it sparks a lot of memories for folks.”

In 2010, Rehman started a food blog and, he says, was the only halal food blogger who traveled nationwide as part of his writing. He was inspired to open Hal & Al’s BBQ in Quarter Market (4328 Wilson Blvd) after noticing a lack of halal barbecue spots on the East Coast.

“I found halal Italian places, halal Chinese spots, but not once did I find a halal barbecue place,” he said. “When I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do, what theme I wanted to go with for the restaurant, there’s nothing more quintessential to being American than barbecue. But there’s also nothing more quintessential to being human than barbecue.”

Rehman’s big goal? To put his “Bay-B-Q” spin on the map.

“You have Texas barbecue, you have Kansas City barbecue, there’s Memphis barbecue, you go to Carolina and they have that vinegar barbecue, and you go down to Alabama and they have the Alabama white sauce barbecue,” he said.

“I’m hoping 20 years from now we’re going to have Bay-B-Q, which is going to be barbecue using Chesapeake Bay seasonings or Old Bay,” Rehman continued. “And it’ll be barbecue all based here in the DMV, up and down the mid-Atlantic.”

Announcement

2024: A Great Time to Start Some Art!

By Art House 7

Cultivate your creativity heading into the new year at Art House 7! We have a range of fantastic winter classes, starting Jan. 13, for ages preschool on up. Among the highlights: award-winning artist Mark Giaimo will be teaching portrait painting for adults on Tuesday evenings (his portrait of a boy is above). Also in this session: Mommy and Me classes, drawing, crochet, clay sculpture, ceramics, watercolor painting, oil painting, Japanese Suminagashi, sewing, printmaking and more.

We also offer workshops, BYOB art nights, and open studios.

Go to 2024: A Great Time to Start Some Art! Read more
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