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.
Two women are being held without bond in Alexandria after being arrested for alleged sex trafficking at a massage parlor in the Huntington area of Fairfax County, according to the Alexandria Police Department.
The two Fairfax County residents — ages 51 and 21 — were arrested Monday, May 4, and charged with sex trafficking. The arrests were made after APD, with assistance from the Virginia State Police, served a search warrant at a massage business in the 5900 block of Ashlar Way, near the city border in Huntington.
Police are investigating whether a 79-year-old Alexandria man suffered a medical emergency when his Ford Explorer crashed into another vehicle on the Mount Vernon Memorial Highway on Saturday morning (March 14).
David Owens, the driver of the Explorer, was taken to a local hospital and was pronounced dead, according to the Fairfax County Police Department. The crash occurred at around 10:15 a.m. in the area of Mount Vernon Memorial Highway and Grist Mill Woods Way in Mount Vernon.
The Alexandria Health Department is advising city residents of Northern Virginia’s fourth confirmed measles case this year and warning of potential exposures.
An adult from Northern Virginia with measles traveled through various sites in Fairfax County late last month, leading to potential exposures, according to the Virginia Department of Health. Dates, times and locations for the potential exposures are listed below.
Recommendations for safety, transit, cyclist and pedestrian improvements on S. Van Dorn Street at the Alexandria border in Fairfax County will be open for public review next month.
After considerable public input earlier this year, the Virginia Department of Transportation has outlined improvement alternatives for the 2.5-mile stretch of roadway in the South Van Dorn Street STARS Study (Strategically Targeted Affordable Roadway Solutions).
