In a unanimous decision Thursday night, the Alexandria School Board went against the recommendation of Superintendent Gregory Hutchings, Jr. and changed distancing in schools from six feet to three feet.
School Board members were unhappy that, also on Thursday, Alexandria City Public Schools posted that the school system “is maintaining six feet of physical distancing throughout the remainder of the school year.”
City staff have launched a defense of the embattled Taylor Run Stream Restoration Project — criticized by some environmental activists and the city’s Natural Resources Manager Rod Simmons
As part of the budget query process, Vice-Mayor Elizabeth Bennett-Parker asked staff to look into other options as alternatives to the project. Despite reluctance towards the Taylor Run restoration project starting to take hold in the City Council, staff said in a response to Bennett-Parker they believe the current course to be the most effective one.
You don’t have to go to a galaxy far, far away to bring Boba, Fett, Han Solo and Yoda into your home.
The four 10-week-old male hamsters are available for adoption at the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria.
Alexandria woman wins $1 million in lottery — “Clarice Chandler told lottery officials “it was just by chance” she bought a ticket at Royal Farms at 5301 Jefferson Davis Highway in Fredericksburg. She claimed her prize three months later, becoming one of four $1 million winners in the New Year’s Day drawing.” [Patch]
Florence King joining City Council race as independent — “An Alexandria resident and business owner for thirty years, Florence M. King filed the organizational paperwork as an Independent candidate to get on the ballot, and is running for one of the six open seats on Alexandria’s City Council.” [Zebra]
“Alexandria City High School” on Thursday night was unanimously chosen as the new name for T.C. Williams High School. The Alexandria School Board voted for the name change for the city’s only public high school, and the effort took more than a year in the making.
“It’s a big deal and it will mean a lot for our future use,” School Board Chair Meagan Alderton said. “Sometimes it’s good for us to think about the power in reclaiming a name, in changing the name to mean something — other than what we’ve always used it for.”
Alexandria is gearing up to move into the next phase of vaccination later this month, and the city’s Health Department is getting ready to launch some new programs and make adjustments to help make getting the shot a little easier.
So far, around 47,434 Alexandrians have been partially vaccinated, and 26,717 have been fully vaccinated. The target goal is 80% of the city vaccinated (106,618 people).
(Updated at 11 a.m. on April 12) Alexandria Police Department employees have mixed reviews whether they feel valued.
Roughly half of APD staff (153-155 employees) recently participated in an annual citywide employee engagement survey. APD says that Chief Michael L. Brown and other Department heads were encouraged by the city to release the survey results to employees, and that the findings are being included in the APD High Performance Organization Plan.
Mayor Justin Wilson says that money is no object and that he wants the Alexandria City Public Schools system to fully reopen to in-person instruction as soon as possible.
However, ACPS Superintendent Gregory Hutchings, Jr. says that in-person instruction won’t be expanded past two days a week at least for the remainder of this school year.
Six Alexandria Police officers have been placed on administrative duties as an internal review continues on the in-custody death of a suspect after a chase on Tuesday night.
Multiple buildings and vehicles were hit by bullets in the 800 block of North Patrick Street on Tuesday night, and police chased the suspects all the way to Interstate 295. The driver of the vehicle crashed and then jumped over an overpass barrier and was tased by police, arrested and later died.
In what is possibly the ultimate example of making use of the city’s land scarcity, a new application coming up at the Monday (April 12) Board of Zoning Appeals meeting seeks to turn a Parker-Gray alleyway into a new single-family home.
The 2,000 square foot lot at 1117 Queen Street is strip of gravel between two other homes mainly used for street parking.
A 58-year-old Fairfax County man was arrested and charged with three counts of burglary and three counts of conspiracy to commit burglary against businesses in Alexandria.
The suspect was booked into the Alexandria jail on Feb. 26 and released on personal recognizance on March 1.
