bankruptcy

Arlington County has the eleventh lowest personal bankruptcy rate among U.S. counties, according to newly-compiled statistics.

The website NerdWallet says that Arlington had only 72.67 personal bankruptcy filings for every 100,000 people between 2015 and 2016. That’s about 160 total bankruptcies in Arlington over a one year period.

Arlington’s rate compares to Ector County, Texas, which has the lowest rate in the country with 34.5 filings per 100,000 people, and Shelby County, Tennessee, which has the highest rate with 1,285.83 bankruptcy filings per 100,000 people. The median rate among the 587 counties that NerdWallet examined was 224 filings per 100,000 people.

“Even with bankruptcy filings declining across the nation, Americans living in some parts of the country have a much higher bankruptcy rate than in other places,” Nerdwallet wrote. The south and parts of the midwest, in particular, had the some of the highest rates of bankruptcy filings, while the northeast U.S. stood out as a region for having rates mostly below the median.

School Board Candidates Not Ruling Parkland Out — Two candidates for Arlington School Board say they aren’t ruling anything out — including use of parkland — for the building of new schools. Independent Green-endorsed candidate Brooklyn Kinlay said it would “be a tragedy” to use parkland. Reid Goldstein, who has the Democratic endorsement, said the school system is “not moving fast enough” to address the school capacity issue. [InsideNova]

Ray’s Company Files for Bankruptcy — A company affiliated with the popular Ray’s the Steaks and Ray’s Hell Burger restaurants in Arlington has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The restaurants’ operations are reportedly not affected. [Washington Business Journal]

Marymount Tops Diversity List — Marymount University ranks No. 1 for ethnic diversity among regional universities in the South, according to the new 2016 “Best Colleges” rankings from U.S. News and World Report. “It’s all part of our ongoing commitment to creating a culture of engagement that fosters intellectual curiosity, service to others and a global perspective in our students,” said Marymount President Matthew Shank. [Marymount University]

New Civic Association Forms — Arlington has a new civic association. The Arlington County Civic Federation has added the new Shirlington Civic Association as a member. Also, the Columbia Heights West Civic Association has changed its name to the Arlington Mill Civic Association. [InsideNova]

Newspaper Columnist Denied Lemonade — “Our Man in Arlington” columnist Charlie Clark received questionable service after ordering a 50-cent lemonade from a children’s lemonade stand near Virginia Hospital Center last week. [Falls Church News-Press]

Flickr pool photo by Erinn Shirley

Arlington Has One of the Country’s Lowest Bankruptcy Rates

Morning Notes