The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office will establish its new Southeast Regional Outreach Office at its Alexandria headquarters, reversing a previous decision to locate the facility in Atlanta, according to an announcement from the federal agency on June 6.
The USPTO had originally announced in December 2023 that it would launch the Southeast Regional Outreach Office in Atlanta in late 2025. However, the agency now says it “wants to begin serving the southeast region immediately from Alexandria.”
Good morning, Alexandria! Today is Thursday, June 26, the 177th day of 2025. There are 188 days left in the year.
⛈️ Today’s weather: Scattered showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 4 p.m. Mostly sunny, with a high near 95. Heat index values as high as 107. Calm wind becoming northeast around five mph in the afternoon. The chance of precipitation is 30%.
Among the movers serving Alexandria, VA, 495 Movers stands out for a simple reason: its local hourly rate includes packing materials, furniture disassembly and reassembly, and protection for floors, walls, and elevators. The company has been in business since 2009 and has completed more than 20,000 moves, a number that keeps climbing.
Anyone who has hired movers in the DC area knows the familiar pattern. A low hourly rate wins the call. Then the invoice arrives with a charge for boxes, a charge for taking the bed apart, a fee for the stairs, and another for the elevator. By the end, the number on the bill has little to do with the number in the ad. 495 Movers was built to avoid that.
495 Movers is a full-service moving company serving Alexandria and the rest of the DMV, founded in 2009 by people who had worked as movers for several other companies first. They wanted to do it differently.
“We wanted to take a different approach, offering a simple, honest, and transparent approach for the customer,” said Moti Kachlon, co-owner at 495 Movers. For local moves, that meant building the most common extras into the hourly rate. Seventeen years and more than 20,000 moves later, the company is still growing.
Alexandria is a hard place to move. A truck on an Old Town block gets watched by neighbors, property managers, and a family wondering whether the sofa will make the turn on a staircase built long before sofas got this big.
Old Town’s rowhouses have narrow staircases and tight turns, which is why large furniture often has to come apart to get out. Del Ray’s bungalows and rowhouses have basements that hold more than anyone remembers. And condo and apartment buildings in Carlyle, Potomac Yard, and the West End often require movers to carry a certificate of insurance and book the elevator, with building managers who care a great deal about scuffed hallways. The street adds its own complications, from cobblestones to limited curb space.
That’s the context for how 495 Movers prices its work.
For local moves, the rate covers four things that many movers bill separately:
CSX Transportation (CSXT) is soliciting a Request for Proposal to support the Alexandria Fourth Track Project, including site civil work, bridge and retaining wall work, drainage work, grading, track work, and support of track work by CSX forces, in the City of Alexandria and Arlington County, VA.
A mandatory pre-bid meeting will be held on July 22, 2025 at 8:30 am ET. Contractors who are attending the pre-bid meeting shall notify the CSXT contact, Mr. Brett Sanders, at [email protected] (cc [email protected]) by 12:00 noon July 21, 2025 and include number of attendees. After notice has been received, the contractor will then be provided with full bid documents (available June 30, 2025).
Construction bids will be due August 19, 2025 at 12:00 noon ET.
All RFIs and questions will be sent via e-mail to LaMont Jones, [email protected]. The last day for RFIs will be August 8, 2025 at 3 pm ET. NTP is anticipated in October 2025 and construction completion will be December 31, 2027.
CSXT reserves the right to accept a proposal or reject any or all proposals.
The City of Alexandria’s Transportation Demand Management Program, GO Alex, and SmartBenefits, a commuter benefits program that allows employers to offer tax-free transit benefits to their employees, have earned recognition from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG).
Alexandria was one of three organizations to receive a 2025 Employer Award at the 28th annual ceremony held at the National Press Club on Wednesday (June 25).
Join us for our second annual CatRad Halloween Eve! A night of ghoulish fun, spooky treats, and a wicked good time!
It's time for CatRads 2nd Annual Halloween Eve! Join us at St. Elmo's Old Town North for an evening of Halloween fun. Join us for:
Repairs to the overpass bridge linking Duke Street and Ben Brenman Park, near Cameron Station, are scheduled to begin this month, and the city is hosting a community meeting on the project.
The city estimates that the $2.5 million repair project will be completed by November, and it includes periodic lane closures on Breman Park Drive and Duke Street near the bridge during construction hours, according to the city. The project schedule is also contingent on the weather.
Former pro boxer Tony “Da Beast” Suggs, former T.C. Williams High School principal John Porter, and the 1947 George Washington High School Baseball Team are heading to the hall of fame.
The Alexandria City Public Schools Athletic Hall of Fame, that is. This year’s 16 inductees were approved for inclusion by the School Board on June 12, and the induction ceremony will take place on October 11.
A relocated children’s area, enhanced lighting and multi-use courts are just a few of the proposed recommendations to revitalize John Ewald Park (4452 Duke Street).
Plans have long been in the works for the West End park, and the city’s Park and Recreation Commission will hold its public hearing on the improvements on Thursday (June 26) at 7 p.m. at Patrick Henry Recreation Center (4653 Taney Avenue).
Alexandria police are urgently searching for Edith Walker, a 49-year-old woman who’s gone missing from the Taylor Run neighborhood. Walker was last seen near the 1100 block of E. Taylor Run Parkway.
Described as 5’3″ tall and 130 pounds with brown eyes and black hair, Walker’s disappearance is considered critical. The Alexandria Police Department is seeking the public’s help in locating her.
National Night Out is around the corner, and so is the deadline for Alexandria’s communities to register for the annual event.
The national event on Aug. 5 (Thursday) is intended to bring police closer to their communities with hot dogs, games, and raffles. The deadline to register your neighborhood is Tuesday, July 18.
