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After 16 months in operation, the Alexandria Drug Treatment Court has its first graduate. The program, which the Alexandria Commonwealth Attorney’s Office started with little funding, also just got a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance.

The Treatment Court launched in September 2019 as an alternative to jail for individuals with substance abuse issues. Most participants have been to jail multiple times. Participants usually meets every Thursday in the Alexandria Courthouse, although the building at 520 King Street is largely shut down now due to COVID-19 and meetings have been held virtually.


News

Updated 2:25 p.m. — There has been an outbreak of COVID-19 in the office of the Alexandria Clerk of Court.

The office is only operating with four employees out of 22, and may shut down, Clerk of Court Greg Parks told ALXnow in an email.


News

The Alexandria Courthouse was deep cleaned last weekend after an employee of the General District Court tested positive to COVID-19, according to the Alexandria Sheriff’s Office.

“On Friday October 16, 2020 the Alexandria General District Court was notified that an employee tested positive for COVID-19,” Undersheriff Tim Gleeson of the Judicial and Special Operations Bureau told ALXnow in an email.


News

The 19-year-old man arrested for the September 30 West End murder of John Harding Pope was released on bond just eight days before Pope was killed.

Tavon Marquis Lanier was arrested  Sept. 22 for allegedly breaking into his girlfriend’s apartment, stalking and threatening her and was released on bond by the magistrate’s office.


News

A 39-year-old Arlington man has been sentenced to 65 years in prison for raping two lifeguards at gunpoint in Alexandria and Fairfax County.

Jesse Bjerke, a former nurse at Inova Alexandria Hospital, pleaded guilty last year to raping a lifeguard at a condominium complex swimming pool in the 200 block of Pickett Street on Labor Day weekend in 2016, as well as raping another woman in Fairfax County on August 1, 2014.


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Gov. Ralph Northam and First Lady Test Positive For COVID-19 — “Gov. Ralph Northam and his wife, Pamela, have both tested positive for COVID-19, according to a Sept. 25 news release from the governor’s office.” [Alex Times]

Beyer Says Trump is Taking Dramatic Steps Toward Abolishing Obamacare — “No Supreme Court nominee has ever been confirmed so close to the election. Why are Senate Republicans in such a hurry to break their 2016 promises? They want the Court to side with Trump, strike down the Affordable Care Act, and wreck your healthcare. The case hits in November.” [Twitter]


News

Virginia Tech Announces Advisory Board for Innovation Campus — “The board consists of company leaders along with several tech pioneers. Members include Sanju Bansal, founder and CEO of Hunch Analytics; Dave Calhoun, president and CEO of Boeing; Ted Colbert, executive vice president of Boeing; Joe DeSimone, professor at Stanford University and executive chairman and co-founder of Carbon; Lynne Doughtie, former chairman and CEO of KPMG; Regina Dugan, CEO of Wellcome Leap; Steve Mollenkopf, CEO of Qualcomm; Russ Ramsey, board chair of Greater Washington Partnership; Kathy Warden, CEO, of Northrop Grumman Corporation; Glenn Youngkin, co-chief executive officer of The Carlyle Group.” [Patch]

Beyer: Trump and Republicans Should Feel Same Urgency With COVID-19 as Ginsburg Replacement — “Imagine if Donald Trump and Senate Republicans felt this urgency about responding to a pandemic that has now killed over 200,000 Americans. 4 months ago the House passed a bill to help American families and boost the economy. Mitch McConnell said he didn’t feel any ‘urgency.'” [Twitter]


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