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Baby Bust
Declining birth rates lead to shrinking Kindergarten enrollments.
Declining birth rates and the pandemic have conspired to send Alexandria's Kindergarten enrollment down 17 percent since 2018, a trend that school officials say will have a long-term influence on how the division operates and plans for the future. Some of the decline is driven by the pandemic as parents opted for private schools or kept their children in daycare rather than enroll them. But the long-term forecast for schools will be shaped one birth at a time.
Supreme Court of Virginia Sides with Car-Title Lenders
TitleMax, LoanMax and Fast Auto Loans will be able to keep details about their business secret.
How many cars did TitleMax repossess last year? What was the average loan amount for LoanMax? How many judgments did Fast Auto Loans obtain against people who were so hard up for cash that they handed over the title to their automobiles? That’s all information that these companies handed over to state regulators last year. But according to a new ruling from the Supreme Court of Virginia, it’s also information that these companies can keep secret.
Marijuana Is Now Legal
The long strange trip from a failed war on drugs to social equity licenses
Smoke 'em if you've got 'em because pot is now legal in the commonwealth of Virginia.
Mental Health First Aid Seen as a Way to Identify Problems Early
Del. Rob Krupicka (D-45) leads effort to expand training for workers on the front lines.
In her role as a caseworker for Adult Protective Services, Wilma Roberts has seen it all.
Anticipation
Costly initiatives, a special election and steady rise in student enrollment.
In looking ahead for what Arlington will be facing in 2014, a number of issues have carried forward from last year.
Absentee Minded
Lawmakers consider bill to assign absentee ballots to precincts where voters live.
On election night, Democrats were shocked by how well Donald Trump was performing in Alexandria. As returns were posted online, concerns were rising among supporters of Joe Biden as the incumbent was outperforming expectations at precinct after precinct.
Supervisor McKay Launches Effort to Explain County Budget Process
Effort could create interactive online guide and new chapter in citizens' handbook.
Lee District Supervisor is frustrated. Every year, he hears from parents who want him to do something about funding full-day Kindergarten.
Recovering After Disaster
New approach allows disaster loans to become grants, avoiding glut of uncollected debt.
The Small Business Administration has issued more than $1 million in low-interest disaster loans in Alexandria since 1987, and most of those loans were never paid back in full, according to documents received through a public-records request. Now, with the economy in crisis, leaders at the federal officials are rolling out a new loan program that recipients won’t need to pay back in full if they keep their employees during the downturn. The move comes as businesses across Alexandria are trying to figure out how they are going to stay afloat now that Gov. Ralph Northam has ordered residents across Virginia to stay at home until June 10.
Living in the Dark
Could you survive without your iPhone? Do you have an evacuation kit? Are you really prepared for the worst?
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Expanding the First Aid Battlefield Toward Mental Health
Legislators to consider $2 million for Mental Health First Aid.
The idea of first aid dates back to Order of St. John, a medieval society of knights that offered training in how to treat common battlefield injuries.
Council Notebook
Private Virtue is a public good. That’s the result of a decision this week at the Alexandria Circuit Court, which is giving the green light to city officials who want to lease part of a public alley to a private restaurant known as Virtue.
Business Matters
How about this heat? Like death and taxes, this weekend’s heat wave is an inevitable fact of life. But it’s also an opportunity to make money.
Massive Resistance from an Eyewitness
Civil rights pioneer explains segregation to diverse group of students.
As the students assembled in a conference room at Campbell Elementary School, it was clear that the Rev. James M. Kilby had his work cut out for him. How would a 71-year-old civil rights pioneer explain massive resistance to this diverse crowd of students — a group that included not only whites and blacks but also Hispanics and Indians?
Virginia Officials Deliberately Moving Slowly on Health Care Exchange
If Supreme Court upholds health-care reform, governor would have to call special session.
Virginia has eight months to create a certification plan for how it plans to create a health-care exchange, a legal requirement of President Barack Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
How Would City Council Candidates Have Voted on the Waterfront Plan?
Candidates for office take sides in debate on controversial waterfront proposal.
The waterfront is no longer a partisan issue. As more candidates throw their hat into the ring to run in the election for Alexandria City Council, a broader field of possibilities is opening up to voters.
Predatory Lenders Work Behind the Scenes to Avoid Regulation and Evade the Law
Campaign contributions and political connections used to sidestep crackdown.
Predatory Loans in the Crossfire: Lawmakers conflicted about how to handle high-interest loans.
Dieting Sisters in Virginia
From road diets to balancing the books, Alexandria and Norton compare notes.
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Could You Be a Mentor?
The city is looking for a few good men and women to make a difference.
Could You Be a Mentor?
Negative Campaign
Candidates appear at minority business forum, attacking each other.
Local and statewide candidates for office appeared at an unprecedented forum in Northern Virginia last weekend, a collaboration of minority business groups of blacks, Hispanics and Asians. But as candidates arrived at the Annandale campus of the Northern Virginia Community College for a Sunday afternoon forum, voters realized that the tone of the campaign would remain unrelentingly negative. "All three of the Republican candidates are Tea Party right wing extremists," said Del. Ken Plum (D-36), who is running unopposed. "Look at their records and their stands on the issues." Plum attacked Cuccinelli's lawsuit against the Affordable Care Act as well as his investigation into a University of Virginia professor studying climate change. The longtime delegate also said the Republican attorney general candidate Sen. Mark Obenshain (R-25) has a similar record, including a bill that would have required women to report abortions to police. Together with the candidate for lieutenant governor, Plum said, the ticket is Tea Party from top to bottom.
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