Alexandrians who experience the summer climate may not be surprised to learn the city is one of Northern Virginia’s heat islands, according to preliminary results from the Urban Heat Island Mapping Project.
The project, organized by Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions with George Mason University’s Virginia Climate Center and the American Red Cross-National Capital Chapter, mapped significant parts of Alexandria and Arlington plus pockets of Fairfax County that were hot all day.
Four restaurants in the Alexandria area have been named among the region’s best for 2026 by Northern Virginia Magazine, though only two are located in the city proper.
While the city’s dining scene was completely left out of the magazine’s ranked top 10, which were unveiled last Friday (Oct. 16), it received a bit more love in the full list of Northern Virginia’s 50 Best Restaurants released at noon today (Wednesday).
After Alexandria’s mayor and City Council spoke out against an electric substation for a data center development near the city, some elected officials joined a march against data centers.
On Saturday (Oct. 10), residents and community groups marched from Aslin Beer Company in Alexandria’s West End to the nearby Plaza 500 site in Lincolnia where a data center campus is planned.
Organizations and residents opposed to planned data center development just outside city limits are leading a march starting in Alexandria’s West End.
At 12 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10, the march will run from Aslin Beer Company (950 S. Pickett Street) to the Plaza 500 center (6295 Edsall Road in Lincolnia) where data centers and a proposed substation are planned.
Alexandria may not be ground zero in the growing contentious public debate over the impact of data centers. But the city is gearing up to address an increasing number of indirect consequences.
Even if not located in the city, data centers “still have regional impacts — they don’t stop at a city line or county line,” Mayor Alyia Gaskins said at the Aug. 26 Northern Virginia Regional Elected Leaders Summit.
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.
Alexandria City Council has joined a growing number of local residents asking Fairfax County to deny a substation associated with data center development just outside city limits.
In a letter to the Fairfax County Planning Commission, City Council cited “the incompatibility of heavy industrial use” near densely populated Alexandria. The letter was sent by Mayor Alyia Gaskins on behalf of the entire City Council.
Data center plans just outside Alexandria city limits has raised concerns among residents and officials.
Starwood Capital Group filed the permit application and building plans to Fairfax County for the 34-acre Plaza 500 site at 6299 Edsall Road in Lincolnia. The application is for Plaza 500 South, the first of two data center buildings it is seeking.
A 29-year-old Alexandria man faces hundreds of charges tied to alleged thefts from unlocked vehicles parked outside of fitness centers in Fairfax County and Falls Church.
Kumneger Ayalsew was arrested in Alexandria on June 26 and is currently being held at the Arlington County jail. He faces hundreds of charges for similar alleged crimes in Fairfax County and Falls Church, according to a release from the Fairfax County Police Department.
Alexandria Mayor Alyia Gaskins has joined other local leaders in opposing a potential merger of bus operations across multiple Northern Virginia localities.
Gaskins told ALXnow she is strongly opposed to the idea that Alexandria’s free DASH bus system should merge with Arlington Transit, the Fairfax Connector and CUE (City of Fairfax). Between now and November, the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT) is compiling a report as part of the recently adopted biennial budget to consider cost savings and rider impacts of merging the local bus systems.
More details have been released on a mother and daughter arrested last month for allegedly running a sex trafficking operation in Alexandria and Fairfax County.
The 21-year-old and 51-year-old women who live in Fairfax County have been held without bond since their arrest on May 4. On Feb. 6, 2025, Virginia State Police received an anonymous tip of a suspected illicit massage business, and provided multiple addresses and phone numbers, according to a recently released search warrant affidavit. About 11 months later, in January 2026, VSP created a fake phone number and made an appointment for $70.
