News

After seven years in retirement in Italy, Franco Abbruzzetti is back at Trattoria da Franco in Old Town.

Last fall, the 85-year-old bought back his restaurant at 305 S. Washington Street from Michael Strutton, who bought it in 2017 and renamed it Michael’s Little Italy. Abbruzzetti and his wife moved to Rome, adopted a young boy, Bruno, who is now five years old, and got bored being away from his business.


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A 41-year-old Alexandria man is being held without bond on multiple charges after allegedly shooting a gun at a vehicle while driving, strangling a former girlfriend, eluding police and discarding a handgun on Interstate 395.

The victim called police at around 11:15 p.m. on Friday night (May 5) and reported that the suspect allegedly fired several shots at other vehicles in the area of E. Raymond Avenue and Dewitt Avenue, according to dispatch reports.


News

A 56-year-old Alexandria woman was sentenced to 41 months in prison for ordering more than $600,000 in cell phones through her former employer, the YMCA of Metropolitan Washington, and keeping the money.

The former office manager at YMCA-DC was sentenced Thursday, according to an announcement from the U.S. Department of Justice. According to court documents, she worked at YMCA-DC from 2007 until her termination in May 2019.


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It’s been a busy week in Alexandria.

City Council unanimously approved City Manager Jim Parajon’s $884.3 million fiscal year 2024 budget, funding citywide pay increases, a fully funded school system and collective bargaining agreements with the police and fire departments.


News

An increase in crime has resulted in the Giant Food store at 3131 Duke Street locking one of its two front doors, as staff say that shoplifting has become a daily occurrence.

“It’s kids, grownups, everybody,” store manager Zaina Calo told ALXnow. “They try to steal fish, and from the whole meat and seafood department, wine. It doesn’t matter. Anything, really.”


News

Alexandria City Manager Jim Parajon’s $884.3 million fiscal year 2024 budget was unanimously approved by City Council Wednesday night (May 4), backing citywide pay increases, a fully funded school system and collective bargaining agreements with the police and fire departments.

While the real estate tax rate remains unchanged at $1.11 per $100 of assessed value, city residents will have to pay $308.70 annually for the stormwater utility fee — an increase from $294 last year. The budget, which goes into effect July 1, is an increase of 5.4% over last year’s $839.2 million budget. About 47% of it ($398 million) is dedicated to paying the salaries of 2,765 city employees.


News

After a request from the Del Ray Citizens Association, Alexandria is leaning toward extending a public comment period by two months after it releases its controversial zoning for housing plan later this year.

The massive plan would upend a number of zoning ordinances. One of them is a bonus height amendment that would incentivize developers to add affordable housing to projects in exchange for two additional stories of construction in areas where height limits are 45 feet or more.


News

The Alexandria Fire Department suspects arson after a fire at an unoccupied house used for police and fire department training in the West End, according to a recently released search warrant affidavit.

The fire at 5173 Seminary Road was reported by a passerby at around 3:45 a.m. on Wednesday, April 19, according to AFD. Firefighters arrived to find the boards used to secure the front windows of the vacant house were on fire, and the blaze spread into the interior of the building, according to the search warrant affidavit.


News

The brothers behind the new Dos Hermanos Tex Mex restaurant in Del Ray want to open by this summer.

On April 1, Wilmer and Elmer Cruz Villatoro signed a 10-year lease for the 4,000-square-foot space at 1603 Commonwealth Avenue. The interior renovations are nearly finished, with bright red and yellow walls adorned by colorful sombreros and prints of Mexican paintings.


News

The permanent superintendent of Alexandria City Public  Schools will be announced by the School Board on Thursday night, ACPS announced today.

While their identity has not been revealed, the successful candidate was chosen after a national search that started last November in consultation with Nebraska-based McPherson & Jacobson, L.L.C Executive Recruitment and Development, according to ACPS.


News

(Updated 5:30 p.m.) A 45-year-old Fairfax County man was sentenced to 10 years in prison last Thursday for a 2022 crash on Duke Street that killed a Fairfax County man and injured four others.

Carlos Kami Adar McKethan pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and driving under the influence of drugs in connection with the death of 39-year-old Bizuayehu Bulti on the night of Feb. 22, according to Commonwealth’s Attorney Bryan Porter.


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