After weeks of speculation, ACPS announced today that the school’s winter sports season would be cancelled.
The cancellation will include this year’s boys basketball, girls basketball, wrestling, indoor track, gymnastics, ice hockey and swim and dive competitions.
The following Letter to the Editor was written by Dr. Stephen Haering, Alexandria’s Health Department Director.
One of the most common questions we receive at Alexandria Health Department (AHD) is how to prevent a second wave of COVID-19 in our community. To start, we need to acknowledge some hard truths, including that we never truly left the first wave.
(Updated 2 p.m.) The sweeping RiverRenew project being helmed by Alexandria Renew Enterprises has some new forward momentum with a contract awarded yesterday (Tuesday).
The AlexRenew Board of Directors met yesterday to award a contract to build the RiverRenew Tunnel System to Traylor-Shea Joint Venture, a team specializing in tunnel projects that recently completed the 4.5-mile-long, 23-foot-wide Blue Plains Tunnel in D.C.
ACPS Virtual Helpline Extended to Next Year — “When the Virtual PLUS+ Helpline began in August 2020 to help our families transition into an unconventional school year, it was expected to be a short term endeavour, over in a matter of weeks.” [ACPS]
Volunteers Clear Mount Vernon Trail Bridge — “Friends of Mount Vernon Trail volunteers are the greatest people on earth. Today volunteers removed kudzu from the power plant bridge to improve sight lines and prevent bridge damage.” [Twitter]
A planned Woodrow Wilson Bridge opening tonight could disrupt travel plans for late-night drivers on I-495.
According to an alert, the bridge could be impassable from 11 p.m. tonight (Tuesday) until sometime Wednesday morning (Nov. 18). VDOT warned that travellers should expect delays and consider other routes.
Alexandria’s course toward social justice might be long, but hope remains for a better future. That’s the message behind the Alexandria Choral Society’s (ACS) Refuge project, and if all goes as planned the five-movement piece will be performed live next May by members of the T.C. Williams High School choir.
“There’s a lot of mileage that you have to go on that journey for a better future,” Refuge composer Jonathan Kolm told ALXnow. “There’s an uplifting arc of hope, but one that is tempered by difficult circumstances that we find ourselves in.”
(Updated 11/18) The Alexandria City Council met with state legislators this weekend to hammer out priorities for the upcoming year, complete with a few sparks as legislators and City Council representatives clashed.
A few times every year, Alexandria’s city leadership meets with state representatives to iron out what local government sees as priorities for the session. The meetings have grown substantially more hopeful in the year since the Democrats took control of the legislature.
Nonprofits Hearts of Enpowerment and The Oasis Alliance has helped to makeover the homes for some local survivors of trauma and for Alexandria-based recovery program Friends of Guest House — an Alexandria reentry program for women leaving prison.
“Hearts of Empowerment contributed its fundraising capacity to raise over $4,500, supply furniture and building materials, as well as provide discounts at local hardware stores,” the organization said in a press release. “The group promoted the program to shelters and community centers to help identify individuals and families that could benefit from the service.”
Scott Shaw equates the COVID-19 experience to a Greek tragedy with a beginning, middle and end. Right now, he says, we’re in the middle and looking forward to the third act — a period of eventual recovery.
Shaw, a partner with Alexandria Restaurant Partners, says that his company is similar to a lot of other restaurant companies looking at an uncertain winter on the horizon.
The city’s partnership with Neighborhood Health is continuing this month with a series of four free COVID-19 testing events in the city.
Testing covers everyone above the age of two, though anyone under 18 requires a parent or guardian present. Bringing ID and insurance cards is encouraged, but not required.
The Loop Opens in Old Town — “The Loop at 215 (located at 215 N. Payne St. in Old Town) is finally open now. The mission is to help companies and individuals ‘work better, be better, and do better.’ The co-working space has a mixture of serviced private offices and open flex workspaces.” [Alexandria Living Magazine]
Three ACPS Students are National Merit Scholar Finalists — “Earlier this month, the T.C. Williams High School seniors discovered they had all been named National Merit Scholarship semi finalists after outstanding results in the PSAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test last October.” [ACPS]
