WASHINGTON — The House passed a bill Wednesday to end the nation’s longest government shutdown, sending the measure to President Donald Trump for his signature after a historic 43-day funding lapse that saw federal workers go without multiple paychecks, travelers stranded at airports and people lining up at food banks to get a meal for their families.
House lawmakers made their long-awaited return to the nation’s capital this week after nearly eight weeks away. Republicans used their slight majority to get the bill over the finish line with a mostly party-line vote of 222-209. The Senate has already passed the measure.
Good Wednesday evening, Alexandria. Let’s take a look back at today’s stories and a look forward to tomorrow’s event calendar.
🕗 News recap
The following articles were published earlier today — Nov 12, 2025.
Here are today’s most-read articles:
- Northern lights could return to N. Va. skies tonight after Tuesday auroras (4093 views)
- Maintenance workers restrain larceny suspect at West End apartment complex (647 views)
- Project leaders break ground on Samuel Madden Homes affordable apartment complex (542 views)
- JUST IN: Judge dismisses case against Alexandria’s Zoning for Housing overhaul (371 views)
- New city assessment deems West End watersheds ‘vulnerable’ to flooding (323 views)
📅 Upcoming events
Here is what’s going on Thursday in Alexandria, from our event calendar.
☀️ Thursday’s forecast
Expect sunny skies and a high temperature near 56°F. Northwest winds will blow at 7 to 14 mph, and may gust up to 26 mph. For Thursday evening, the sky will be mostly clear, and the temperature will drop to around 35°F. A gentle west wind at approximately 6 mph is expected. See more from Weather.gov.
💡 Quote of the Day
“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
– Martin Luther King Jr.
🌅 Tonight’s sunset
Thanks for reading!
Alexandria won its nearly two-year battle in Circuit Court today (Wednesday) against residents fighting the city’s massive Zoning for Housing/Housing for All overhaul.
Judge H. Thomas Padrick, Jr. granted the city’s motion for summary judgement and dismissed the case against the plaintiffs, a group of Old Town residents who had been fighting to reverse the zoning changes since they were approved by City Council in Dec. 2023.
City and public housing leaders joined developers today (Wednesday) to break ground on the Samuel Madden Homes affordable housing apartment complex in Old Town.
The project will replace the former 66-unit public housing apartment complex with 532 new affordable homes across two phases. The first phase, costing $120 million, will redevelop the site into 207 units of affordable and mixed-income housing, with an estimated completion date of fall 2027.
Alexandria, VA – In recognition of World Pride Month, the City of Alexandria welcomes back the Annual LGBTQIA+ Pride fair on June 27 from 2 to 6 p.m. at John Carlyle Square Park (300 John Carlyle Street), sponsored by the City of Alexandria, Del Ray Community Partnership, Inova Pride, Kindred Tree Healing Center, and VEG ER for Pets.
Join neighbors, friends, and allies for an afternoon of music, creativity, and community. Enjoy emcee Rayceen Pendarvis, inspiring words from Alexandria leaders, live performances by the Funicular Project, line-dancing, and DJ Thunderbunny. Express yourself at the mobile art lab, grab a bite from local food vendors, and explore more than 100 Pride affirming programs, organizations, and businesses from across Alexandria. Families are invited to experience Drag Story Hour, celebrating imagination, joy, and the freedom to be your authentic self.
City Council will consider fare increases to its disability transit program and changes to food truck parking enforcement at a meeting tonight (Wednesday).
Up for vote is a resolution that would increase some paratransit fares by $1 and create a new $2 “peak-hour” surcharge for some trips. The Council will also complete a first read of an ordinance that would shift how the city enforces parking for food trucks.
Solar storms brought colorful auroras to unexpected places last night (Tuesday), and there could be more to come across the D.C. area this evening.
Space weather forecasters confirmed that storms reached severe levels Tuesday, triggering vibrant northern lights as far south as Kansas, Colorado and Texas. In Virginia, residents posted about aurora sightings from northern localities like Arlington and Vienna, and out west in Rockingham County.
A new flooding assessment and map have identified watersheds in the West End as some of Alexandria’s most vulnerable flood zones.
Areas considered most at-risk of flooding include the Potomac waterfront, Four Mile Run and Hooffs Run — as well as new additions like Holmes Run, Cameron Run and Backlick Run, according to a map shared by Flood Resilience Plan (FRP) project leaders at a meeting Monday night.
With buckets, nets and a whole lot of trout, the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources restocked Lake Cook’s fish population earlier this week.
DWR staff deposited about 350 pounds of trout across the four-acre lake on Monday as part of the department’s Urban Fishing Program. In total, some 200 to 300 fish made the journey to Alexandria from a DWR hatchery in Montebello, about three hours southwest, fisheries biologist John Odenkirk told ALXnow.
Three Alexandria museums are participating in a new Virginia tourism campaign to commemorate the country’s 250th anniversary next year.
The new program, called the Virginia 250 Passport, includes Gadsby’s Tavern Museum, the Alexandria Black History Museum and the Alexandria History Museum at The Lyceum as part of a “passport” sweepstakes. The program encourages residents to visit various museums and historic sites throughout the commonwealth.
