A 34-year-old Alexandria man is being held without bond after allegedly drugging a woman at an Old Town bar and raping her on an outdoor patio of a nearby hotel.
The victim told police that on the night of Sept. 15, she had dinner and drinks with a friend in Old Town. Afterward, she and her friend walked to a popular bar near the waterfront, where she had another drink and waited with her friend for two men to join them, according to a recently released search warrant affidavit.
The Virginia Board of Historic Resources last month approved a new historical marker recognizing the lynchings of Joseph McCoy and Benjamin Thomas in Alexandria.
The 19-year-old McCoy was arrested without a warrant and then lynched by a mob on April 23, 1897, according to the city government. A mob of white residents stormed the Police House (now City Hall), where McCoy was being held after being accused of sexually assaulting three women. He was shot, stabbed and hanged from a lamppost at Cameron and Lee Streets.
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Late-night drivers on the Capital Beltway (Interstate 495) will encounter some delays over the next two nights on the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.
The drawbridge will open at 11 p.m. tonight (Oct. 7) to let the Sweet Pea pass through, according to the City of Alexandria. The opening is expected to take 15 to 20 minutes. The bridge had last opened for the Sweet Pea to pass on Oct. 1.
A man was charged with malicious wounding and is being held without bond after an alleged machete attack against a homeless man in the Arlandria neighborhood on Sunday (Oct. 4), Alexandria police say.
Around 1:35 p.m., the Alexandria Police Department received multiple calls about a man in a gray Toyota Camry getting out and attacking the victim with a machete near the intersection of W. Glebe Road and Executive Avenue.
Shifting Waters Leadership Institute (SWLI) is bringing a new kind of leadership experience to Old Town Alexandria and DMV area this fall. On November 19 and 20, 2026, the organization will host its inaugural November Leadership Incubator Weekend at COWO & Crèche, a two-day, application-based program built for leaders who are ready to do more than perform their roles well. They are ready to be formed.
The incubator is led by Grace Adofoli, Founder and CEO of SWLI, a leadership development practitioner, executive coach, and 2026 Alexandria Chamber of Commerce 40 Under 40 honoree who has worked across leaders in more than thirty countries over the past decade. Her background spans global public health, disaster relief, and community development, including field work in the Philippines, Ethiopia, and Cambodia, alongside service with AmeriCorps and in underserved communities across the United States. She holds an ACC credential through the International Coaching Federation and degrees in public health and social work from the University of Michigan.
The Alexandria City School Board will announce the city school system’s new superintendent at its meeting Thursday night, (Oct. 8).
School Board Chair Christopher Harris announced in an email to the Alexandria City Public Schools community that contract negotiations with the new superintendent “concluded earlier than anticipated.”
After years of treating patients with preventable chronic illnesses, Nicole Batts wanted to leave the healthcare industry and help people get healthy before reaching the hospital.
Batts took over ownership of Old Town’s Fitness Together Alexandria (300 N Washington Street, Suite 106) in 2019. That comes after working in nursing in the surgical intensive care unit at Washington Hospital Center, the emergency room at Inova Loudoun Hospital and nursing manager of the clinical cardiac rehab program at Inova Fairfax Hospital.
On This Day in Alexandria History — “On October 7, 1975, the historic Taylor-Fraser House was moved from 109 South Pitt Street to the southeast corner of Franklin and South Pitt. It was loaded atop a set of airplane tires and with the help of three modified military tanks, it was transported down Washington Street, a route selected because it minimized impact to power lines and trees.” [Historic Alexandria]
New Deputy City Manager Named — “The City of Alexandria is pleased to announce the appointment of Vanetta Pledger as its new Deputy City Manager, effective Tuesday, October 13. Pledger brings more than 20 years of dedicated public service experience to the role. For the last decade, she has served as the City’s Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Director of Information Technology Services … In her new role, Pledger will oversee planning, technology, community engagement, race and social equity, finance, tourism, and innovation.” [City of Alexandria]
Good Tuesday evening, Alexandria. Let’s take a look back at today’s stories and a look forward to tomorrow’s event calendar.
The following articles were published earlier today — Oct 6, 2026.
Here are today’s most-read articles:
Here is what’s going on Wednesday in Alexandria, from our event calendar.
Expect sunny weather with a high of around 70 degrees and a gentle south wind blowing at 5 to 9 mph. Wednesday night will be clear, with temperatures dropping to about 54 degrees and a southwest wind near 7 mph. See more from Weather.gov.
“Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.”
– Henry David Thoreau
Thanks for reading!
Under mounting privacy fears from residents, APD has answered more City Council questions on Flock surveillance cameras and released a map of where 61 of the automated license plate readers (ALPRs) are located throughout the city.
The Alexandria Police Department made nearly 21,000 automated license plate reader queries between August 2025 and August 2026, directly leading to 72 felony charges and 65 misdemeanor charges. That would represent about 5% out of the total 2,694 criminal arrests made during that period. The Flock surveillance cameras also helped APD locate three missing persons and recover 35 stolen vehicles and four firearms, according to APD’s updated FAQ page on Flock cameras.
