Vernon Miles is the ALXnow cofounder and editor. He's covered Alexandria since 2014 and has been with Local News Now since 2018. When he's not reporting, he can usually be found playing video games or Dungeons and Dragons with friends.
The Animal Welfare League of Alexandria (AWLA) has hit a record for the most adoptions in one day.
The local shelter at 4101 Eisenhower Avenue said that it hit the record with 22 animals adopted on Sunday, Aug. 20.
First days back at school are always bumpy, but Alexandria City High School had a particularly rough start with an evacuation first thing in the morning.
Fortunately, the evacuation didn’t last long, but students and staff were outside of the building for around 25 minutes on their first day.
Mya Hall, a manager at Matt & Tony’s All Day Kitchen + Bar in Del Ray (1501 Mt Vernon Avenue) was killed Saturday morning in a single-vehicle crash on I-70 in Baltimore.
Hall, 28, leaves behind one son. Matt Sloan, owner of Matt & Tony’s, launched a GoFundMe to support Hall’s family. Sloan described Hall as a beloved friend who brightened everyone’s day with her smile and humor:
Still, at the risk of triggering Alexandria’s flood-afflicted residents: mid-August is the calm before the storm. School starts up again next week, with some students entering a brand new school and others warned to keep away from bad habits.
Alexandria’s boards and commissions start to kick things off again after a short break later this month, which is music to the ears of those scratching through dockets for crumbs. Some local businesses, like a new cafe in Old Town, are already waiting in the wings for approval for move forward this fall.
Anyone who has traveled along the Mount Vernon Trail can tell you the kudzu near the old GenOn power plant is so thick it nearly swallows the trail. Now, Friends of the Mount Vernon Trail are fighting back.
The group is organizing a pushback to the kudzu invasion on Saturday, Aug. 19 from 9-11 a.m. The group is meeting on the trail near 1198 N. Fairfax Street.
Ahead of the start of the new school year, Alexandria City High School (ACHS) Principal Alexander Duncan issued a warning reminder that students are “discouraged” from going to nearby shopping centers during school hours.
The specific shopping center isn’t named, but it’s no secret that the Bradlee Shopping Center has been afflicted with violence in recent years linked to students from the nearby ACHS. There have been multiple shootings and brawls, including one that ended with the murder of 18-year-old Luis Mejia Hernandez in the parking lot of the Bradlee Shopping Center.
(Updated 2:40 p.m.) The National Endowment for the Arts has awarded a grant to Alexandria to keep some of the city’s most high-profile art projects going.
The grant funding goes to the Artist Residency Program, part of Alexandria’s Office of the Arts, which supports projects like the Waterfront Park art initiative and the art lab. Diane Ruggiero, who leads of Office of the Arts, said the grant was for $45,000.
The Alexandria Fire Department is running its annual fundraiser for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) starting next week.
The Fill the Boot campaign is an annual drive run by the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 2141. This year, it kicks off on Wednesday, Aug. 23 and will run through Thursday, Aug. 31. Drivers around Alexandria can expect to see local firefighters along the side of the road looking for donations.
The Alexandria Police Department said one man was arrested after an attempted robbery in 7-Eleven this morning.
The incident occurred at the 7-Eleven at 3023 Duke Street, near the Alexandria Commons shopping center.
Whether it’s adding the Death Star to a pastoral scene to Mario Kart characters to a watercolor trail, “reimagining paintings” can be a fun way of spicing up otherwise blasé works.
The Alexandria Library is hosting an event tonight (Wednesday) specifically dedicated to painting over an existing painting.
Alexandria’s new speed cameras have already issued over 3,500 warnings. Soon, the city says those will become speeding tickets.
The City ran a two-week warning period at the end of the last school year and will start another one beginning Monday, Aug. 21, as the new school year starts. The City warned that the speed cameras will begin ticketing starting Sept. 18.
