Sora Ethiopian Market & Cafe on Duke Street has permanently closed after 12 years in business, with an online auction of its equipment confirming the shutdown of a business that served as both a market and community gathering place.
The restaurant, which opened in 2013, closed over the weekend of Aug. 31, according to customers who posted in a local Facebook group. The building at 5145 Duke St. sold for $2.85 million on July 1 to ADRS Properties LP, according to Alexandria property records.
Alexandria nonprofit ALIVE! gets plenty of peanut butter donations, but not enough jelly.
ALIVE! feeds more than 20,000 hungry residents monthly, and recently announced on social media that the perfect partner to peanut butter is harder to come by. According to ALIVE:
A new traveling exhibit chronicling 400 years of struggle for Black equality in the U.S. will open in Alexandria on Wednesday, Sept. 24.
The Kate Waller Branch Library (717 Queen Street) will host Determined: The 400-Year Struggle for Black Equity Exhibit from Sept. 24 until Oct. 25 (Saturday). The traveling exhibit from the Virginia Museum of History and Culture highlights the stories of Black Virginians who fought against injustice. Alexandria history makers are included in the exhibit, and the opening on Sept. 24 will be hosted by Alexandria Library Director Rose Dawson and feature a presentation from genealogist Char McCargo Bah on 15 African Americans “whose lives and legacies shaped the city’s journey toward equality,” according to Alexandria Library.
Alo Yoga started construction at 814 King Street in Old Town.
The California-based yoga chain has gutted the interior of the space that was previously home to the Random Harvest furniture store. According to contractors working on site, the renovation should be completed within a month.
Alexandria’s childhood vaccination rates have fallen to concerning levels, dropping from 95% in 2019 to just 88% last school year for measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccines, according to new data from an NBC News investigation published Monday.
The decline affects Alexandria City Public Schools’ 16,335 students across 18 schools. It puts the city below the critical 95% vaccination threshold needed for “herd immunity” — the level required to prevent measles outbreaks and stop disease spread within a community.
Good morning, Alexandria! Today is Tuesday, Sept. 16, the 259th day of 2025. There are 106 days left in the year.
⛈️ Today’s weather: A chance of showers, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 2 p.m. Cloudy, with a high near 69—northeast wind 13 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 32 mph. The chance of precipitation is 60%—new rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
A D.C. police officer was charged with multiple crimes Sunday after allegedly assaulting two Alexandria officers and attempting to grab one of their weapons while in custody at a local hospital, NBC Washington reported.
Officer Trevon King, a five-year veteran of the Metropolitan Police Department, was initially arrested for drunken driving following an 8 p.m. crash on Russell Road, according to Alexandria police. Police transported King to a hospital, where he allegedly attacked the officers and tried to disarm one of them.
U.S. Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner sent a letter to Education Secretary Linda McMahon on Monday demanding the immediate reversal of federal funding cuts to Alexandria City Public Schools and four other Northern Virginia school districts over transgender student policies.
The letter represents the latest escalation in a monthslong standoff between the Trump administration and Northern Virginia schools that has put more than $300 million in federal funding at risk for more than 386,000 students across the five districts.
Alexandria-based Carpenter’s Shelter will hold its signature fundraiser next month, pitting chefs around the city against each other.
Chefs from more than a dozen Alexandria restaurants will compete in the Carpenter’s Cook-Off 2025 from noon to 3 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 19, at The Birchmere (3701 Mount Vernon Avenue). Funds from the event will benefit the nonprofit, which provides temporary housing and support for hundreds of homeless families and individuals every year.
A teacher at a daycare in Old Town North has been fired, and her aide was reprimanded after a 21-month-old child was tied to a chair for 22 minutes during lunchtime on Wednesday, August 13.
The Virginia Department of Social Services (DSS) made an unannounced inspection of the Vinci School Alexandria North (1001 N. Fairfax Street) on Aug. 21, after receiving a self-report on forbidden actions from the daycare’s licensing office. The toddler was tied to a chair with a thin blanket after throwing food on the floor and moving from a table while eating during lunchtime, DSS reported.
A former U.S. Army private stationed at Fort Belvoir has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for two counts of assaulting his infant daughter in 2012, as well as one count of sexual abuse.
Austin Blair Johnson pleaded guilty in June to permanently injuring his child and raping his wife, the U.S. Department of Justice announced. Senior U.S. District Judge Claude M. Hilton also ordered that Johnson must pay $1.1 million in restitution. The former U.S. Army private was living on base with his family at the time of the incidents. The sentence will be served consecutively with a 15-year sentence for assault of an infant in violation of Montana law, according to the DOJ.
