Alexandria City Public Schools has announced it will be closed tomorrow (Monday), following previous plans to open with a two-hour delay.
All schools and offices will be closed tomorrow, with students participating in synchronous learning and staff following a virtual workday. ACPS announced the decision around 9:40 p.m. Sunday, adjusting from the previously planned two-hour delay.
Former Alexandria Democratic Committee Chair Sandy Marks has won the Democratic firehouse primary for an open seat on City Council tonight (Saturday), beating four opponents to face independent candidate and former Republican councilman Frank Fannon in the special election.
Marks won with 1,573 votes (39.6%), against 947 votes for Tim Laderach (23.8%), 876 votes for Roberto Gomez (22%), 467 votes for Charles Sumpter (11.7%) and 112 votes for Cesar Madison Tapia (2.8%) out of the 3,975 ballots cast. From the time polls opened at 8:30 a.m. to closing at 7 p.m., the five candidates spent time at both polling locations: Charles E. Beatley, Jr. Central Library (5005 Duke Street) and the Leonard “Chick” Armstrong Recreation Center (25 W. Reed Avenue).
Good Friday evening, Alexandria. Let’s take a look back at today’s stories and a look forward to tomorrow’s event calendar.
The following articles were published earlier today — Feb 20, 2026.
Here are today’s most-read articles:
Since it’s Friday, we’ve also compiled a list of the most-read articles of the week, below.
Here is what’s going on Saturday in Alexandria, from our event calendar.
The weather will transition from mostly cloudy to sunny with temperatures reaching around 53°F and a northwest wind at 6 mph. For Saturday night, anticipate a 50% chance of rain starting after 1am, which may mix with snow after 4am. The sky will become increasingly cloudy as temperatures drop to approximately 35°F, accompanied by a light northeast wind. See more from Weather.gov.
“Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work in hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.”
– Alexander Graham Bell
We hope you have a great weekend, Alexandria!
Visit Alexandria‘s newest marketing campaign is tapping into the stories behind businesses, tourist attractions and unique personalities.
From now until June, the Unlock Your Story campaign will tell stories all over Alexandria, focusing on the city’s history, small attractions, and unique small businesses, artists and entrepreneurs. The promotion follows Visit Alexandria’s Best Kept Shh! campaign, which launched three years ago and positioned Alexandria as the region’s best kept secret.
Some residents have pushed back on proposed lane changes and parking removals on Braddock Road ahead of the Alexandria Traffic and Parking Board’s review on Monday.
The changes are being proposed on the major route between West Street near the Braddock Road Metro and Russell Road in the Del Ray and Rosemont neighborhoods. The city has worked on the Braddock Road Corridor Improvements project since last year as a response to concerns from Alex311, the 2023 Safe Routes to School walk audit at George Washington Middle School and the Virginia Department of Transportation.
Audrey Davis, the first director of the African American History Division in the Office of Historic Alexandria, is at the forefront of preserving and showcasing the city’s Black history.
Black History Month has brought music, historical discussions and exhibits, displays of student art and so much more to Alexandria this month, commemorating a vast history spanning hundreds of years, from the 18th century to the Civil Rights Movement and present day.
Two Alexandria students were recently awarded $500 prizes for their submissions to the 2026 George Washington Legacy Foundation Essay Contest.
Garrett Wagman of George Washington Middle School and David De Costa of Bishop Ireton High School won the middle school and high school contests, which were open to all students in the city. This year’s 700-to-1,000-word essay contest focused on America’s 250th anniversary and Washington’s role in uniting the colonies.
Alexandria City School Board member Kelly Carmichael Booz visited Minnesota last week as part of a project to inform educators on how to respond to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity.
Booz, who is from Minneapolis, visited the Twin Cities from Feb. 9-13, in the wake of the fatal ICE shootings of U.S. citizens Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good and the widely reported drawdown of ICE agents there. Her project, a report for the American Federation of Teachers, aims to offer “resources and trainings” for school districts and unions on what to do when ICE enters their communities, she told ALXnow.
The Alexandria City School Board approved the school division’s 2027 budget yesterday (Thursday), but challenges surrounding city funding and employee health care costs remain before the final version is adopted in June.
The bulk of the Alexandria City Public Schools’ $406.5 million combined funds budget includes the $374.5 million operating budget, as well as school nutrition funds, grants and a special projects fund. The operating budget itself is a 3.7% increase from the last budget.
An Alexandria office building is one of several potential measles exposure sites in Northern Virginia confirmed by state health officials last night (Thursday).
People in the office building, located at 2800 Eisenhower Avenue, could have been exposed to measles between 10 a.m.-1 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 17, according to the Virginia Department of Health. The office was reported as an exposure site in connection with two new measles cases in the region.
On This Day in Alexandria History — “On February 20, 1755 General Edward Braddock arrived at Hampton, Virginia to command British forces against New France in the American colonies. Less than two months later, on April 15 he met with five colonial governors at the Congress of Alexandria, held at the home of John Carlyle. Braddock had hoped to raise funding from the colonies to finance the French and Indian War, but was rebuffed in his efforts by the governors, who demanded that the United Kingdom honor its past promises of financial support. The meeting was one of the first instances of tension over taxation between the Americans colonies and Britain.” [Historic Alexandria]
Firehouse Primary Tomorrow, Online Voting Available — “The Alexandria Democratic Committee will hold an unassembled caucus, also known as a firehouse primary, [for Alexandria City Council] on Saturday, February 21, 2026, from 8:30 AM to 7:00 PM.” Voting will be available at Charles E. Beatley, Jr. Central Library, Leonard “Chick” Armstrong Recreation Center or online, for voters who register by 5 p.m. today (Friday). [Alexandria Democratic Committee]
