The statue of Justice outside the Albert V. Bryan United States Courthouse in Alexandria (staff photo by James Cullum)
An Alexandria man pleaded guilty Wednesday (Aug. 26) to transmission of national defense information to a foreign government.
Nathan Vilas Laatsch, 29, an IT specialist in the Defense Intelligence Agency’s Insider Threat Division, was arrested on May 29, 2025, after making a dead drop at a prearranged location. The Federal Bureau of Investigation started its investigation into Laatsch in March 2025, after he sent an email decrying the Trump administration and offering to give classified information to a “friendly foreign government,” according to court records.
Alexandria City Councilman Canek Aguirre (staff photo by James Cullum)
Members of Alexandria City Council and the Alexandria City School Board appointed to a special committee found some common ground as they met for the first time Tuesday (Aug. 25) to discuss School Board election reforms.
On Tuesday, the committee shared some agreement on increasing term lengths from three to four years. While there wasn’t any initial consensus on staggering terms, members will continue discussions at the next meeting and will also start dialogue on board size.
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 at a glance
In business since: 2009 (17 years)
Moves completed: more than 20,000, local and long-distance
Licensed in: Virginia
Serves: Alexandria and the rest of the DMV
Local hourly rate includes: packing materials, furniture disassembly and reassembly, and home protection on every move
No separate fees for: stairs or elevators
Also offers: junk removal, custom crating, and self-storage
Reputation: 4.7 stars across nearly 1,000 Google reviews
Who is 495 Movers?
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.
What makes moving in Alexandria different?
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.
What does 495 Movers include in its hourly rate?
For local moves, the rate covers four things that many movers bill separately:
Packing materials. Boxes, tape, paper, and wrap are provided at no additional cost, whether a move needs a few or a few hundred.
Furniture disassembly and reassembly. Beds, tables, desks, sectionals, and wardrobes are taken apart, moved, and put back together at the new home. In an Old Town rowhouse, that’s often the only way a dresser gets down the stairs.
Alexandria police cruiser (staff photo by James Jarvis)
An Alexandria man was among nine men arrested last month as part of an online child exploitation sting by the Fairfax County Police Department.
Henry Flores Herrera, 39, was arrested on July 16 and charged with soliciting a minor for prostitution and using a computer to solicit a minor after allegedly soliciting a detective posing as a juvenile online. Herrera and other suspects believed they were going to meet a juvenile and instead met officers from the department’s Child Exploitation Unit in Fairfax County and were arrested, according to FCPD.
Mayor Alyia Gaskins is applauded by Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chair Jeff McKay (staff photo by Scott McCaffrey)
Alexandria city officials are taking aggressive action to attract and retain businesses large and small, the city’s mayor said at an Aug. 26 gathering of regional officials.
“We want to be a city where businesses feel their ideas are heard and implemented,” Mayor Alyia Gaskins said at the 11th annual Northern Virginia Regional Elected Leaders Summit.
Rowers with Alexandria City High School on the Potomac River (courtesy of Titan Rowing)
On This Day in Alexandria History — “On August 27, 1948, the Alexandria Citizens Band gave a concert outside Maury School to celebrate its first prize honors at Virginia State Fireman’s Convention days before. The band had previously won top honors several times at the competition.” [Historic Alexandria]
School Board Meets Tonight — The Alexandria City School Board is back for a meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 27, with an agenda featuring community donations, adjustments to the budget due to state funding, and a closed session to discuss superintendent candidates. [Alexandria City School Board]
Showers and thunderstorms are possible, mainly after 2pm, with some storms potentially severe. Expect mostly sunny skies and a high near 90, with south winds at 7 to 10 mph and a 30% chance of rain. Thursday night, there’s a greater chance of showers and thunderstorms, especially before midnight, with a low around 69. The sky will be mostly cloudy, winds will become calm, and the chance of rain is 50%. See more from Weather.gov.
💡 Quote of the Day
“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” – Arthur Ashe
Crash on I-395 southbound at Little River Turnpike on Aug. 26, 2026 (via VDOT)
A driver was reportedly injured in a two-vehicle crash on southbound Interstate 395 near the Duke Street/Little River Turnpike exit Wednesday afternoon.
The crash between a black SUV and a tan Toyota sedan was reported just after 3:45 p.m. Alexandria police and fire responders cut off traffic in the third and fourth lanes near the righthand shoulder of the roadway. The crash occurred just before exit 3 on I-395.
School bus outside Alexandria City High School (staff photo by James Cullum)
Alexandria City Public Schools officials are touting improvements in standardized testing results from the Virginia Department of Education.
VDOE’s annual SOL standardized test results showed ACPS improved across all content areas divisionwide in the 2025-26 school year, increasing 9% in history (to 71%), 5% in mathematics (to 59%), 3% in science (to 56%) and 1% in reading (to 63%).
A Dominion Energy lineman lifts himself up to work on a power line in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024, in North Augusta, S.C. (AP Photo/Artie Walker Jr., File)
The City of Alexandria is formally intervening in the proposed merger of Dominion Energy with Florida-based NextEra Energy under consideration by state and federal regulators.
The city government has filed as a participant in the case under review by Virginia’s State Corporation Commission. Along with the SCC, the $67 billion merger proposal is under consideration at the North Carolina Utilities Commission, the Public Service Commission of South Carolina, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.