The General Assembly passed legislation Thursday sponsored by Delegate David Englin (D-45) to give the Alexandria City Council the power to improve retirement benefits for its deputy sheriffs, fire marshals, emergency medical technicians, and other public safety workers. House Bill 273 will empower the City of Alexandria to offer all of its public safety workers a pension plan that allows them to retire after 25 years of service, which is the standard across public safety professions.

Last night, the Alexandria School Board adopted a fiscal year 2011 operating budget of $201,137,753, an increase of $3.5 million or 1.8% over the current budget. The Board is requesting $167,886,567 from the City, an increase of two percent, which aligns with the City Manager’s proposed school transfer.

The Alexandria Police Department is asking for help in identifying two suspects wanted in a robbery that occurred in the 200 block of South Royal Street. On January 11, at around 7:30 p.m., a 29-year-old woman was walking home from work, when she was approached by two suspects. The suspects pushed her up against a [...]

House Bill 1300, allowing the trading of emissions credits in air quality non-attainment areas, was narrowly amended (21-19) by the Virginia Senate on the motion of Senator Chap Petersen (D-Fairfax), who filed a floor amendment to protect northern Virginia localities currently protected under state law from further decreases in air quality due to emissions trading. The amended bill then passed the full body on a vote of 27 to 11

Marian Van Landingham, the founding director of the Torpedo Factory Art Center and a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from 1982 to 2005, has been named one of Virginia’s 2010 Women in History.

Alexandria turned green Saturday as thousands celebrated the 29th Annual St. Patrick’s Day parade. Spirits were high, and so was the temperature – a crisp 55 degrees with a cloudless blue sky.

Although the number of people who smoke cigarettes has continued to decline, hundreds of thousands of people in Virginia and the United States continue to light up every day. Virginia has the 12th lowest smoking rate in the nation. As of 2008, 2.4 million Virginians, about 40.5% of the population, have tried smoking. Nearly 60% have tried to quit and 40% continue to smoke. One in six Virginians, about 973,000 people, were smokers in 2008.