Tree lovers, tree stewards and tree protectors have grown across Arlington recently. The county released its latest study of the 755,400-tree canopy (a protective asset from Mother Nature under threat from over-exuberant development), designated four protected tree specimens and updated its inventory of “champion trees.” This weekend, I met with […]

“My kids said middle school stinks, and they hope high school is better.” That was a motivator for Karyn Ewart, the clinical psychologist who last September opened Arlington’s newest educational experiment. The private Sycamore School, where she gave me the cook’s tour, serves just over 20 motivated 6th-to-8th-graders on leased […]

The stately Arlington home that gave its name to Bellevue Forest is, oddly, not in that subdivision off Military Road along the Potomac. Instead, the storied 150-plus-year-old white house with a view of the D.C. skyline stands at 3311 N. Glebe Road, a block north of the country club. I […]

Whither Lee Highway? I caught a glimpse of the multi-faceted answer on Jan. 11 when I attended the board meeting of the five-year-old Lee Highway Alliance. Some 45 gathered at its newly rented office in the Russell Building near Lee Heights shopping center. They offered a rich example of Arlington’s […]

The steadiest hometown newspaper in Arlington would be the Sun-Gazette, nee the Northern Virginia Sun. Its inaugural issue on Dec. 12, 1935, which I viewed on microfilm, was a far cry from today’s expressly local and conservative-leaning chain-owned Sun-Gazette. The original was a high-brow, region-wide compilation that included global UPI […]

Who’s up for a tailgate party at the next youth swim meet? That’s the alcohol policy issue making waves this winter in some of Arlington’s swimming pool communities, particularly at the Dominion Hills Area Recreation Association. It’s a tale with passion and intrigue. Last summer, I’m told by several members […]

It was an anxiety-ridden, but fruitful year in Arlington. My selected highlights for 2017: In January, the Donald Trump Inauguration across the river drew smaller crowds than the one the next day for the pink-hatted women’s march. The entrance to the East Falls Church Metro was so jammed – the […]

Old-school-tie emotions ran high at the Arlington Committee of 100’s examination of the pending question: Should the name of Washington-Lee High School be changed? School Board chairman Barbara Kanninen had put the national-turned-local issue in play after last August’s racial violence in Charlottesville following that city’s plans to remove a […]

The slow-motion clash continues in the Westover community, where builders are tearing down aging apartments to erect $800,000 townhomes. Residents await a drawn-out county decision on protecting World War II-era garden apartments via a proposed historic district, which would bring strict regulations on improvements. And the county is proceeding with […]

Perhaps you noticed that the winner of October’s Arlington-based Marine Corps Marathon was from Ethiopia. You may not have noticed that 32-year-old Desta Beriso Morkama, who placed first at 2:25:14, is an Arlingtonian with an intricate local support network (the proverbial village). His talent and exhaustive work is backed by […]