coronavirus | ALXnow

Morning Notes

Published September 18, 2020 at 9:00AM

Beyer Co-sponsoring Legislation to Impeach U.S. Attorney General — “Accusing political opponents of “sedition” then morphing into an arch libertarian when Trump cronies are indicted. Attacking career prosecutors for doing their jobs. AG Barr is a menace to the rule of law–I’m cosponsoring legislation to begin impeachment proceedings against him.” [Twitter]

Absentee Voting Begins Today in Alexandria — “The ballot includes contests for President and Vice President of the United States, one member of the U.S. Senate, the member of the U.S. House of Representatives from the 8th Congressional District, and two amendments to the Constitution of Virginia.” [Patch]

News

Second Round of Back to Business Grants Available September 30

By James Cullum

Published September 17, 2020 at 3:45PM

The second round of the Alexandria Back to Business (ALX B2B) grant program opens at the end of September, and $2.4 million is available for qualifying small businesses and nonprofits to cope with financial losses related to the pandemic.

“The program criteria for Round Two has been expanded so additional types of businesses and nonprofit childcare providers will be eligible to apply for a grant,” according to the Alexandria Economic Development Partnership, which is receiving the applications. “Grants will be awarded in amounts ranging from $5,000 to $20,000 depending on the number of employees working for the business.”

News

Morning Notes

By James Cullum

Published September 17, 2020 at 9:00AM

Beyer Condemns Trump for Coronavirus Statement on Blue States— “This is quite simply one of the most appalling and inhuman statements ever uttered by an American President.” [Twitter]

Chewish Deli Set to Open First Permanent Location — “When Linzey stumbled upon the Pendleton Carryout Co. space for sale this summer at 807 Pendleton St., he wasn’t exactly looking for a store location. But, Linzey knew that if a spot in Old Town ever opened up, he would want to take it.” [Alexandria Living]

News

Four More COVID-19 Deaths in Alexandria

By James Cullum

Published September 16, 2020 at 10:30AM

The emergency room at Inova Alexandria Hospital. (Staff photo by James Cullum)

Four more COVID-19 deaths have been reported in Alexandria, bringing the death toll from the virus to 66. Three of the deaths occurred last month, and the most recent casualty was reported today by the Virginia Department of Health.

Three of the fatalities occurred in August and went unreported for a month until a periodic review of vital records, according to the city.

News

Morning Notes

By James Cullum

Published September 16, 2020 at 9:00AM

Beyer Says Trump Supported Murder of Portland Protestor — “In televised comments yesterday Donald Trump called for extrajudicial murder and later expressed his desire to remain in office past term limits imposed by the Constitution. Today members of the party that supposedly backs ‘limited government’ pretend not to know what he said.” [Twitter]

Second Round of Business Grants Available — “Applications for a second round of Alexandria Back to Business grants will begin Sept. 30 for qualifying small businesses and nonprofits to offset costs related to reopening or rescaling.” [Twitter]

News

DASH Returns to 80% of Pre-COVID Bus Service in Alexandria

By James Cullum

Published September 15, 2020 at 11:30AM

A DASH bus in Old Town Alexandria (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

DASH increased their services today to 80% of its pre-pandemic service levels, and several of its routes have gone back to their regular routes.

The city’s transit service is currently seeing 35% ridership, according to Whitney Code, DASH’s marketing and communications manager.

News

Morning Notes

By James Cullum

Published September 15, 2020 at 9:00AM | Updated September 15, 2020 at 7:35PM

Mayor: Council to Accelerate Sewer Capacity Projects — “Our ’16 Storm Sewer Capacity Analysis identified 90 areas where the system does not meet our CURRENT design standard of a 10-year storm. Our Stormwater Utility Fee was implemented in ’18 to fund capacity and environmental compliance. Council will now discuss how to accelerate.” [Facebook]

Beyer Attacks Trump’s Environmental Stance — “Trump’s climate change strategy is the same as his pandemic strategy: play it down and pretend it isn’t happening. There are a record number of named storms in the Atlantic and the west coast is on fire.” [Twitter]

News

ALIVE! Gets Donation of Large Refrigerated Shipping Container

By James Cullum

Published September 14, 2020 at 3:30PM | Updated September 14, 2020 at 5:19PM

ALIVE! received a refrigerated container. (Courtesy photo)

ALIVE! has given away hundreds of thousands of pounds of food since the onset of the pandemic, and on Monday the nonprofit got an additional boost with the donation of a large refrigerated shipping container.

The trailer was a gift from AMX Leasing, which is a part of Abilene Motor Express. It was arranged by Alexandria Living Legend Marion Moon, the CEO of the Convention Tradeshow Freight Specialists.

News

COVID-19 Update: Cases at 3,613 in Alexandria, No New Deaths

By James Cullum

Published September 14, 2020 at 2:30PM | Updated September 14, 2020 at 3:01PM

Alexandria has seen an increase of 86 cases since this time last week, and the city’s seven-day positivity rate is no longer the lowest in the region, according to the Virginia Department of Health.

There have been 62 deaths in the city due to the virus (unchanged since last week) and there are or have been 3,613 cases of coronavirus in the city since the first case was reported on March 11.

News

City Council Passes Mask Ordinance, and There’s No Fine for Noncompliance

By James Cullum

Published September 14, 2020 at 1:35PM | Updated September 18, 2020 at 11:33AM

Walking on King Street in Old Town, Alexandria (staff photo by James Cullum)

The Alexandria City Council on Saturday passed an ordinance requiring everyone in the city to wear a face mask in public.

The measure passed 5-2, and a $100 civil penalty for not wearing a mask was removed from the ordinance before passage after it was universally agreed at the meeting by council and city staff that it will not be enforceable. The city manager must now designate city staff to hand out masks and citations to lawbreakers.

News

Morning Notes

By James Cullum

Published September 14, 2020 at 9:00AM

Beyer Negates Trump’s Coronavirus Claims — “Nearly 194,000 Americans have died in a pandemic Trump lied to the country about. As Dr. Gottlieb points out, the coming cold weather months bring danger of new spread of the virus. Even after seven months of this Trump still has no strategy to keep Americans safe.” [Twitter]

Former Mayor Silberberg Says Taylor Run Restoration Will Hurt Environment — “Recent soil testing from Taylor Run, analyzed by Brookside Laboratories, showed a negligible amount of phosphorous in the soil of the stream bank. Restoration of Taylor Run will therefore have a questionable impact at best on the watershed – but the restoration work will have a devastating impact on the habitat and tree canopy surrounding the stream.” [Alex Times]