Elizabeth Bennett-Parker | ALXnow

Alexandria School Board considering staggered terms, fewer members and eliminating districts

Published December 14, 2022 at 3:30PM | Updated December 15, 2022 at 2:25PM

ACPS headquarters and clock (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

(Updated 4:15 p.m.) Are there too many Alexandria School Board Members? Should their terms be staggered and should districts be eliminated? The Board wants these questions answered by the time voters cast their ballots in November 2024.

Yesterday (Tuesday), the nine-person Board unanimously agreed to establish a process for asking the public these questions. The answers will inform a Board resolution that is expected to go before the Alexandria City Council next year and the Virginia General Assembly in 2024.

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Inova Alexandria Hospital celebrates 150th anniversary

By James Cullum

Published December 12, 2022 at 4:00PM

(Left to right) Mayor Justin Wilson, Council Member Alyia Gaskins, Inova Alexandria Hospital President Dr. Rina Bansal, Inova President Dr. J. Stephen Jones, Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker, Vice Mayor Amy Jackson, Rep. Don Beyer and Council Member Canek Aguirre at the 150th birthday celebration for Inova Alexandria Hospital. (staff photo by James Cullum)

Inova Alexandria Hospital celebrated its 150th anniversary on Monday with local elected officials.

The hospital was founded in 1872, in the wake of a typhoid outbreak. It is Virginia’s oldest continuously operating community hospital.

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Elizabeth Bennett-Parker announces reelection campaign for House of Delegates

By James Cullum

Published December 1, 2022 at 10:50AM | Updated December 1, 2022 at 11:41AM

Elizabeth Bennett-Parker casts her vote on primary day, June 8, 2021, at Matthew Maury Elementary School. (Staff photo by James Cullum)

Alexandria Delegate Elizabeth Bennett-Parker is running for reelection for Virginia’s 45th District, she announced on Wednesday.

Bennett-Parker will kick off her campaign formally on Jan. 7.

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PHOTOS: Santa helps light Alexandria’s holiday tree in Old Town

By James Cullum

Published November 21, 2022 at 3:30PM

The holiday tree lighting at Market Square in Old Town, Nov. 19, 2022. (Via Griffin Vision)

Old Town just got a little brighter.

On Saturday (Nov. 19), Santa Claus made his way to City Hall on the King Street Trolley to help members of City Council light the holiday tree at Market Square in front of City Hall.

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PHOTOS: Thousands marched in the Del Ray Halloween Parade

By James Cullum

Published October 31, 2022 at 10:45AM | Updated October 31, 2022 at 1:40PM

The Del Ray Halloween Parade on Sunday, October 30, 2022. (staff photo by James Cullum)

It was crisp, clear on Sunday in Del Ray — perfect for the annual Del Ray Halloween Parade.

Thousands of kids and adults marched in costumes for the event, including members of the Alexandria City Council and the Alexandria City High School ‘Zombie Band’.

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Alexandria dedicates massive RiverRenew Tunnel Boring Project

By James Cullum

Published July 14, 2022 at 2:15PM | Updated July 14, 2022 at 3:47PM

Mayor Justin Wilson christens Hazel, the tunnel boring machine for AlexRenew's RiverRenew Tunnel Project, July 14, 2022. (staff photo by James Cullum)

It moves at a snail’s pace, but Alexandria’s tunnel boring machine is ready to drill through 100-foot-deep soil to prevent millions of gallons of combined sewage from flowing into the Potomac River, Hooffs Run, and Hunting Creek.

On Thursday, Alexandria’s leaders were on-hand for the unveiling and dedication of AlexRenew’s RiverRenew Tunnel Project. The $454.4 million project is the largest infrastructure project in the city’s history, and will result in a 12-foot-wide, two-mile-long waterfront tunnel, which will divert approximately 120 million gallons of sewage every year.

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PHOTOS: Alexandria’s birthday celebration on the waterfront

By James Cullum

Published July 11, 2022 at 11:00AM | Updated July 12, 2022 at 11:31AM

Alexandria's birthday celebration at Oronoco Bay Park, July 10, 2022. (staff photo by James Cullum)

With fireworks, cupcakes and music, Alexandria celebrated its 273rd birthday on Sunday, July 10.

Thousands were in attendance for the free party, which also celebrates America’s birthday and was supposed to be held on Saturday (July 9), but was held off due to rain. What resulted was a less crowded event than years past — with performances by Town Crier Ben Fiore-Walker, Poet Laureate Zeina Azzam, and the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra (ASO).

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Alexandria City Council meeting disrupted by anti-abortion activists

By James Cullum

Published June 29, 2022 at 10:45AM | Updated June 29, 2022 at 11:20PM

A.J. Hurley, national director of Survivors Of The Abortion Holocaust, being led out of the Alexandria City Council meeting while council discussed a resolution supporting abortion access, June 28, 2022. (Staff photo by James Cullum)

More than a dozen anti-abortion activists were individually led out of Alexandria’s City Council Chambers on Tuesday night (June 28), as Council unanimously approved a resolution to protect access to abortions in the city.

Members of the California-based group Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust sat in Council Chambers holding signs depicting graphic photos and drawings of aborted fetuses. The group spent the last several days demonstrating outside the U.S. Supreme Court leading up to last week’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, banning abortion in more than a dozen states.

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Alexandria makes progress on virtual meetings and flood prevention legislation

By Vernon Miles

Published January 26, 2022 at 11:00AM

Douglass Memorial Cemetery following flood damages in 2021 (photo courtesy Michael Johnson)

Alexandria has had a few promising starts so far in the 2022 legislative session, with preliminary funding and authority granted on some key issues.

In a legislative update to the City Council last night (Tuesday), Legislative Director Sarah Graham Taylor outlined some of the early successes.

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ALXnow’s top stories this week in Alexandria

By Vernon Miles

Published November 5, 2021 at 3:30PM

Voting at Alexandria City Hall (staff photo by James Cullum)

It was election week in Alexandria, so congratulations and/or condolences.

Alexandria Democrats managed to hold onto all of the City Council seats. Mayor Justin Wilson won reelection and Elizabeth Bennett-Parker was elected to the 45th District House of Delegates seat. But any local Democrat euphoria was dampened by statewide losses that Wilson warned could reverse recent local wins on some issues.

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BREAKING: Bennett-Parker declares victory in 45th District seat in Virginia House of Delegates

By ALXnow.com

Published November 2, 2021 at 11:00PM | Updated November 3, 2021 at 4:44PM

Alexandria Vice Mayor Elizabeth Bennett-Parker at the annual APD wreath laying ceremony for fallen officers, May 10, 2021. (Staff photo by James Cullum)

(Updated at 4:45 on Nov. 3) Alexandria Vice Mayor Elizabeth Bennett-Parker declared victory in her bid for Virginia’s 45th District House seat on Tuesday, defeating Republican opponent Justin “J.D.” Maddox.

“I’m honored to be the Delegate-elect for the 45th District,” Bennett-Parker told ALXnow. “Thank you to every voter who put their faith in me. I got into this race to continue delivering for our community.”