After getting a late initial start, the Four Mile Run Conservatory Foundation is back on the water and looking for volunteers to help kayak along Alexandria’s northern border and do some cleaning.
The organization has had three kayak cleanups so far this season, starting in late June. Upcoming sessions are planned for Wednesday, July 29 at 4 p.m., and on both Saturday, August 1 and Sunday, August 16, at 9 a.m.
Seven years to the day after he was shot in the head by a deranged cab driver in Old Town, former Alexandria Police officer Peter Laboy got his driver’s license.
The 17-year APD veteran spent years trying to legally drive again, and now after two years without any seizures and after passing all of his tests, the former motorcycle cop is back on the road and his license has no restrictions.
A series of new improvements to Alexandria’s Union Station — a Virginia Railway Express stop — proposed late last year are moving forward toward city approval.
The plan is to create new Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant access with a grade-separated pedestrian tunnel and elevator access. The expansion will also allow the station to take two trains at any given time, with one at each platform. The change is part of a regional effort to reduce the system’s bottleneck around the D.C. area.
Mayor Says Heroes Act Ignores Local Government — “The Heroes Act, adopted by the House of Representatives included $89.6M in funding for Alexandria, which nearly replaced the revenue we are projected to lose this year. The bill released in the Senate tonight doesn’t even mention local government. They cannot be serious.” [Twitter]
ACPS Hosting Reopening Chats Today — “School Board Representatives, Lorraine Johnson and Ashley Sanchez-Viafara (both seniors), to lead Student-focused Reopening Community Chats.” [ACPS]
Despite the pandemic, Inova Blood Donor Services says participation in blood drives has remained high in the region. Inova expects that need to go up soon as more people begin to leave their homes.
On Thursday, July 30, the Inova Blood Donor Services’ Bloodmobile will be set up at Inova Alexandria Hospital’s paid visitor’s lot from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. to keep up the services’ fresh supply of blood.
Gov. Ralph Northam has raised the possibility of moving back into the shutdown if coronavirus cases continue to increase, but the state’s data indicates many Alexandrians still haven’t recovered from the first shutdown.
Alexandria’s continued unemployment continues to hover around 6,000 people with new claims reaching mid-May levels, according to the Virginia Employment Commission.
Alexandria is advising residents to file a claim for flood damage after the Alexandria’s sewer system was backed up by a rush of water 30 times greater than what the city can accommodate in an intense storm last Thursday (July 23).
The most impacted areas were Del Ray, Old Town and Park Fairfax, the latter of which had water reaching to the level of car windows, according to the Alexandria Times.
Students at T.C. Williams High School and city residents are placing a tarp over the school marquee every day to obscure the name until the school board votes to change it next spring.
“I don’t want to graduate from a school that is represented by a racist name,” T.C. rising senior Sarah Devendorf told ALXnow. “I don’t want to put it on my diploma, and it’s shameful because we are such a diverse liberal community.”
Dozens of protestors demonstrated outside the Alexandria home of acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf on Sunday, and called for him to end actions against protestors throughout the country by federal agents.
“We live among the people who are wreaking havoc on this country,” one protestor said. “He goes out and commits these atrocities every day. He’s not elected. He’s not Senate confirmed. He is an acting appointee of Donald Trump… We will not be good Germans. We will not be the people who sat by and watched our neighbors commit these atrocities.”
An Alexandria resident in their 50s reportedly died from COVID-19 over the weekend, marking the first death from the virus this month and putting the total death count at 57.
There are now or have been 2,735 cases of the virus in Alexandria, which is an increase of 176 cases since last Monday, July 20, according to the Virginia Department of Health. It had been nearly a month since the last reported fatality on June 29, and cases in the city surpassed the 2,500 mark on July 16 with 21 new cases.
Survey Shows Discontent Among APD Officers — “A survey that the Times acquired from a former Alexandria Police Department officer revealed that several APD officers are unhappy with Police Chief Michael Brown and the culture of the department.” [AlexTimes]
Nearly 1K Families Supported in ALIVE! Food Distribution — “929 households were served at today’s ALIVE! Food Distribution! Thanks to all those from @Volalex, @AlexVASheriff, @AlexandriaVATES who helped in the hot weather today to supply groceries,(meat,eggs,produce and more) masks and hand sanitizer to people in need.” [Twitter]
