Alexandria’s Troy “The Transformer” Isley says it was a dream come true to box in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Isley, a middleweight, won in his Olympic debut against Vitali Bandarenka of Belarus on July 26. He was disappointed after a mid-fight comeback to lose his second fight against Russian Gleb Bakshi on July 29, which knocked him out of the tournament.


The embattled Heritage project came within a hair’s breadth of being denied at the Board of Architectural Review‘s design review last week, and survived only on a last-minute deferral.

Many of the recurring public criticisms of the project, a series of three new apartment buildings along S. Patrick and Washington Streets in Old Town, resurfaced during the public comment period and from members of the BAR during discussions. BAR members have described the project as putting “lipstick on a pig” when the project first came forward for permitting last fall.


A 30-year-old Alexandria woman was arrested last month and charged with making threats and domestic assault and battery against her roommate in the Landmark area.

The suspect was booked and released on July 14, and her court date is not yet publicly listed.


Alexandria sprinter Noah Lyles took home the bronze medal in the 200 meters in the Tokyo Olympics on Wednesday, August 4.

The 24-year-old clocked in at 19.74 seconds, behind silver medalist Kenneth Bednarek’s 19.62 seconds and Canada’s Andre de Grasse, who took home gold with 19.62 seconds — the fastest 200m in the world this year. Lyles previously ran the fastest 200m this year with the same time of 19.74 in the Olympic trials in June.


When students come back to Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) later this month, they will be wearing face masks.

The School Board voted unanimously last night (Tuesday) to require all students, faculty, staff and visitors to ACPS facilities to wear face masks when inside for the time being.


Capitol officer who committed suicide was from Alexandria — “Very sad news: @MikevWUSA @wusa9 reports MPD Officer Kyle DeFreytag died by suicide in July after defending the US Capitol on January 6. His obituary says he was a hiker, drummer, motorcyclist, and resident of Alexandria, who served with MPD for five years” [WUSA9]

Alexandria, neighboring health directors recommend wearing face masks indoors — “Today, all five Northern Virginia Health Directors issued a joint letter of interim recommendations for mask wearing in Northern Virginia. The letter was issued by Health Directors from the City of Alexandria, as well as Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties to Northern Virginia Mayors, Chairs and Chief Administrative Officers with the recommendation that individuals wear masks while indoors in government and other public settings, regardless of vaccination status.” [City of Alexandria]


Fingerprints have linked a 59-year-old Alexandria man to a February 25 robbery at the 7-Eleven at 3412 Mount Vernon Avenue in the Arlandria area.

The same suspect, Stanley Rivers, was already in jail for allegedly burgling the 7-Eleven down the road at 2108 Mount Vernon Avenue on Friday, Jan. 22. He was arrested on June 16, nearly five months after DNA evidence linked him to the January incident.


(Updated 9:30 p.m.) After advancing in two straight preliminary races, Noah Lyles will run for the gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics on Wednesday.

Lyles’s family is staying at a hotel in the area to watch the gold medal match, his mother Keisha Bishop said at a watch party at Alexandria City High School on Monday night.


Last year marked the first time in 14 years that ACPS saw an enrollment decrease, and with schools headed back to in-person teaching at the end of the month it’s likely that the school system could see enrollment increases in the years to come.

So, where are all the new kids coming from?


The good news for users of the Mount Vernon Trail is that a proposed widening project was selected for state funding. The bad news? It will be 2026 before work even starts on the project.

As anyone who has bicycled or walked along the popular trail could likely attest, there are parts that can feel dangerously narrow. Last year, the National Park Service released a report recommending widening. The report noted that there were 225 reported bike and pedestrian crashes on the trail between 2006 and 2010, many of them at crash hotspots near National Airport and the 14th Street Bridge.


An 18-year-old Alexandria man has been arrested for allegedly firing a gun at the exterior of an apartment building in the West End on Thursday, July 29.

Mauricio Urquilla Escobar was charged with shooting into an occupied dwelling, illegally discharging a weapon and drug possession with the intent to distribute. Shell casings were recovered at the scene, according to police.


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