Author: Ryan Belmore

The National Park Service will temporarily close southbound lanes of the George Washington Memorial Parkway from Tulane Drive to Morningside Lane next week for tree maintenance work.

The closures are scheduled for Oct. 1, 2, 6, and 7 from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., weather permitting. Southbound traffic will be diverted onto Park Terrace Drive during the work periods.

Alexandria finds itself at the center of a housing market dynamic where federal downsizing has increased the number of residents putting homes on the market, while falling mortgage rates could boost buyer demand.

The White House told federal agencies to prepare for mass layoffs if the government shuts down next week. In a memo released Wednesday night, the Office of Management and Budget instructed agencies to consider “a reduction in force” for programs “not consistent with the President’s priorities,” according to The Associated Press. Unlike previous shutdowns, where workers were furloughed and returned, this would permanently eliminate positions.

Alexandria is among the Virginia suburbs experiencing the biggest increases in unemployment since the Trump administration began dramatic federal downsizing in January, according to a Brookings Institution report released Wednesday.

The report, “Early warning signs for the DC region’s economy amid federal downsizing,” identifies Alexandria alongside Arlington County, Fairfax County, and Loudoun County as jurisdictions where unemployment has risen most sharply. The pattern reflects that while higher concentrations of federal jobs are located in Washington, D.C., the vast majority of the region’s federal workers live in Virginia and Maryland suburbs, according to the researchers.