Author: Ryan Belmore

The City of Alexandria will commemorate the 24th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on Thursday, Sept. 11, with a remembrance ceremony at City Hall and a volunteer service project at Alexandria National Cemetery.

More than 200 volunteers are expected to gather at Alexandria National Cemetery from 9 a.m. to noon to clean headstones and beautify the grounds. The volunteer event is organized by Carry The Load, a national nonprofit, and is part of a nationwide initiative spanning nearly 70 national cemeteries where thousands of volunteers will participate in similar acts of remembrance.

Alexandria resident and retired supervisory special agent Jeffrey James Higgins released his latest espionage thriller, “The Khorasan Retribution,” today, Sept. 9. The book is the newest in his Nathan Burke Thrillers series.

The novel follows FBI Special Agent Nathan Burke and his new partner, Bridget Quinn, who find themselves in a fierce shootout outside a mosque in Arlington while intercepting a shipment of Chinese fentanyl. The operation reveals a plot involving a series of deadly terror attacks that use opioids. As the death toll rises, Burke races the clock to identify the terrorists. His investigation uncovers a shadowy figure leading an elite terror cell, the Phantoms of Khorasan, who is driven by revenge.