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The excitement in Arlington, Virginia, is palpable. The anxiously awaited Phase 1 of Amazon’s HQ2, known as Metropolitan Park, is done and thousands of employees and retail businesses have begun moving in.

Met Park has been four years in the making — constructionwise. The new Amazon headquarters space includes two 22-story towers with more than 2 million square feet of office and collaboration space. There’s also 50,000 thousand square feet of retail space and a 2.5-acre park.

“It’s not only a place for employees, it’s really a place for the entire community to gather,” said Holly Sullivan, vice president of worldwide economic development at Amazon.

No argument from Arlington County Board Chair Christian Dorsey, who sees HQ2 as the hub of a dynamic neighborhood. “It’s really the locus of an emerging community that’s going to be quite special.”

Plus, Dorsey sees numerous benefits for education in the region as a ripple effect from tech sector businesses wanting to be near Amazon and creating a workforce pipeline.

“We’re seeing that with institutions of higher learning, like Virginia Tech, which is this massive investment in the National Landing area that is going to really be, I think, nationally renowned, if not world renowned,” he said.

Other colleges are also looking to develop programs to assist with creating a pipeline of tech workers, which Dorsey described as the beginnings of an ecosystem of higher education programs that have evolved from investments by Amazon.

Sullivan said that the company is particularly proud of the Amazon Web Services Skill Center that will open at HQ2. “Somebody walking down the street who wants to learn something about cloud computing or data science can walk into the AWS Skill Center and learn more about it, and there are actual classes you can ign up for too,” she said, calling the center a great addition to the momentum already building in Arlington.

When Amazon first selected Arlington County as the site for Met Park, Sullivan said the project team listened to the residents, listened to county board members and developed partnerships with many individuals and organizations in the area.

“What it means is it’s going to be a destination for our employees, a great place to live … but also, with all the other development going on — the residential parts of it, the apartments coming up, the retail — you can live, work, play and recreate right here in downtown Arlington,” she said.

Met Park builds on Arlington long-term development plans

As part of the HQ2 development, Amazon committed to investing billions of dollars in the community, creating 25,000 jobs by 2030 and helping expand affordable housing. Already, 8,000 Amazon employees are working at the new offices, Sullivan said.

Dorsey added that thousands of residential units are under construction within walking distance of HQ2, which he said “will provide sorely needed relief for our housing shortage in the region, but also help reduce the upward pressure on prices that we’ve been experiencing throughout the region for decades.”

Arlington is ready for the benefits that the Met Park development will provide, Dorsey said. The county has been planning for these changes for decades, even though its board didn’t realize early on that the changes would involve Amazon and HQ2.

“We’ve laid out the community plan for where the density should go and what amenities would be needed to add value to existing and new neighbors,” he said, adding that Amazon has been “a willing participant in the building of buildings, but also in enhancing the community.”

From its perspective, Amazon considers sustainability and reducing its carbon footprint critical to the development of Met Park and efforts in the surrounding community. The campus’ buildings will be LEED Platinum–certified and “take sustainability to the next level,” Sullivan said. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certifications are the most widely used green building ratings in the world.

Creating a space that provides multiple uses was also a focus. Sullivan pointed out that Met Park has a 700-person meeting space for community events and town halls available to the public by reservation. And for the retail opportunities, “we’ve really tried to choose local, with a focus on minority-based retailers,” she said. (See the list of retailers below.)

Sullivan also expressed excitement about the feel of Met Park. “It has a really cool vibe — lots of conference spaces, lots of gathering spaces on the inside and outside,” she said. And, in addition to the park areas, there are also architectural details that bring the outdoors in, “a lot of green walls, the flora and fauna that are natural to the region, she said.”

Beyond Met Park, there are additional projects underway in the county, Dorsey said. For instance, the county has begun a major renovation of the nearby Crystal City Water Park. As part of that project, as many as nine restaurants have been carefully curated to reflect the diversity of the region, he said.

More to come in Arlington

Sullivan said that the Met Park development has exceeded Amazon’s own expectations. “This headquarters is truly raising the bar, not only with our sustainability but through the partnerships that we developed along the way with nonprofits, the county board, the residents and community members,” she said. “Listening to them and what their vision was helped us as a company raise the bar and really take into account … the diversity and the infrastructure that Arlington County has to offer.”

Next up? Phase 2 of the HQ2 development, Pen Place, which will feature two additional towers and The Helix, an iconic building that will take a few years to build. Phase 2 is currently in the preconstruction phase, with a pause announced in March.

Sullivan said that Amazon wants to understand “how our employees are going to return to the office, so we can also take into account all the infrastructure, the investments that we have done and then hopefully kick that off in a few months.”

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At a Tuesday school board meeting, Smith clarified that around 80% of schools either have no waitlist, or waitlists with only a handful of students, including recent additions whose families changed their minds on having their child attend in-person classes.

According to Smith, 42% of schools have no waitlist at all. Across all schools, less than 1% of students are waiting to get back into the classroom.

Families were first given the chance to weigh in on returning to classrooms last December, but over time, some changed their minds. Smith said other families have done the reverse, opting to bring their student home after initially opting-in to physical attendance.

“I got an email the other day from a frantic parent that said ‘someone in my family broke a leg and we need to move back to virtual,” Smith said.

The subject of school buildings being closed to students on Wednesdays was also discussed. For now, that won’t change, but Smith said the district does plan to open in the fall with all five days spent in classrooms.

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The new memorial, located in Pershing Park at 14th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, opened to the public Saturday.

“Doughboys” was the nickname for American infantrymen who served during what was called the Great War.

Walking along the memorial, Steve Pflasterer took photos as he recalled his father’s time as a soldier during World War II. “I’m still taking it all in. Certainly this is important as well,” he added.

With maps and quotes adorning the walls and flowers serving as a symbol of appreciation, Pflasterer said he is grateful for their sacrifice. “General Pershing’s writing on the wall over there, it just kind of takes you back,” he said.

During Friday’s dedication ceremony, several speakers, many prerecorded, told the story of America’s involvement in World War I, the American men and women who served in it and the push to remember them with a national memorial in the nation’s capital.

As President Joe Biden pointed out in his remarks, more than 4 million Americans served in World War I, both in the U.S. and overseas. Millions more supported the war effort at home, and 116,516 lost their lives.

“Let us remember all that was sacrificed, all that was sanctified by the proud brave Americans who served in World War 1,” said Biden in taped remarks.

“More than 100 years have passed, but the legacy and courage of those Doughboys sailing off to war and the values they fought to defend still live in our nation today.”

One part of the memorial not yet visible is an enormous bronze relief titled “A Soldier’s Journey.” It depicts the story of a soldier who leaves his family, sees combat and loses many of his fellow soldiers, before then returning to his family. It’s being crafted by sculptor Sabin Howard.

The relief is expected to be completed in three years, in time for Memorial Day 2024. When it’s done, it will be the largest free-standing bronze relief in the Western Hemisphere. For now, there’s canvas in its place, showing visitors what it will look like.

Friday morning’s dedication followed years of arguments over the location and design of the memorial.

The event ended with a flyover by two F-22 Raptors from the 94th Fighter Squadron, a unit that was recognized for its success during World War I.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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The survey responses will let school officials gauge a student’s level of academic stress, any family or home stress, and see some of the specific coping strategies the students use.

The school system is trying to give students a way to check in with their feelings, to let kids know that PGCPS has a mental health web site. It will also help mental health professionals prepare materials resources to help kids who may be in crisis.

Elementary schoolers have their own survey, middle and high schoolers use the same one.

Families are asked to complete the survey by Friday, April 23.

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The proposed new program, Virtual Academy, will be an option for students in pre-K through 12th grade.

“We know there’s a part of the community who may not want to return for health reasons, or may just be thriving in this virtual learning environment — able to focus more, and are performing better,” MCPS Engagement, Innovation and Operations Chief Derek Turner said.

Students would have to apply and be accepted into the Virtual Academy — the school system is still working on the criteria.

MCPS’s Brian Beaubien said the concept would be very different from virtual classes students have taken this academic year.

“The content that’s within those courses is built specifically for the virtual space,” he said. “So it’s not leveraging content that was not built with that intent in mind.”

Virtual Academy students would remain enrolled at their home schools, but will take all of their classes online. And they will be allowed to participate in in-person sports and extracurricular activities, and receive meals, at their home schools.

MCPS plans to release a survey next week to determine how many students and families might be interested in the all-virtual option.

See the board meeting below.

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Michael Regan, at his first in-person event as Environmental Protection Agency administrator, on Thursday announced the $156 million loan through the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act. Officials said the low-interest loan will save the city $30 million in interest over what it would pay for a commercial loan.

Regan said the project will improve drinking water distribution in the city by “upgrading the main pumps that serve roughly 700,000 D.C. residents, including communities of color and low-income communities.”

He added that the money will also “help upgrade storm water systems to protect the ecologically vibrant Anacostia and Potomac Rivers from sewage contamination.”

DC Water CEO and General Manager David Gadis said the loan will fund “small-diameter water main replacements, wastewater treatment plant upgrades and sewer rehabilitation projects.” Gadis also said the loan will allow DC Water to expedite a number of projects.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser is looking forward to getting those new projects going.

“It means we can do more, faster, to clean our rivers,” she said, “and it means that we can do more, faster, to stop flooding that has caused expensive property damage to homeowners.”

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton also attended Thursday’s event, along with DC Water Board of Directors Chair Tommy Wells and Ward 5 Council Member Kenyan McDuffie.

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The event featured a panel of guests who had been victimized in hate crimes and a discussion among several attorneys general who talked about how they’re dealing with hate.

The panel included Susan Bro, whose daughter Heather Heyer was killed when a white supremacist drove his car through a crowd of protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017; Rabbi Hazzan Jeffrey Myers, of the Tree Of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, where the congregation was attacked in a mass shooting in 2018 that killed 11 people; Pardeep Kaleka, whose father was killed in an attack on a Sikh Temple in Wisconsin in 2012; and Jeff Binkley whose daughter Maura was killed in 2018 by a violent extremist in a yoga studio in Tallahassee, Florida.

Their discussion was moderated by the Rev. Bill Lamar, pastor of the Metropolitan African Methodist Church in D.C.

The spread of hate online, and what the public should demand of the big tech companies, got plenty of attention.

Bro acknowledged how tough it is for big tech companies to police everything on their platforms.

“We have a responsibility as citizens to educate ourselves and others around us,” she said. “As Einstein said on Facebook recently, don’t believe everything you see.”

Rabbi Myers discussed how important community support was in the shooting’s aftermath. “The city enveloped us,” he said, “with this massive, nonstop hug and uplift.”

He went on to clarify, “When I say the city, it was all peoples, all faiths, all colors, all sexual orientations, all reached out.”

The Fireside Chat section featured D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine speaking with colleagues from around the country, including Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, who highlighted the importance of modernizing hate crime laws to define specific conduct and specify all protected groups.

She said Massachusetts updated its hate crimes statute “to define certain conduct and to make sure that we were clarifying the classes of people who were protected.” She said they also included gender and immigrants.

Healey added that they also defined the terms and the elements of the crimes and their penalties “because it was our experience that neither prosecutors nor judges had the sufficient clarity to treat hate-based violence with the seriousness it deserved.”

Healey said they also set stronger penalties, moving many cases from District court to Superior Court, “so from misdemeanor to felony.”

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Overall, despite fewer drivers on the road, a total of 569 people were killed on Maryland roadways last year — an increase of 6.4% — according to the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration.

The increase in deadly crashes came even as average vehicle traffic volumes in Maryland dropped more than 50% in April of last year compared to 2019 — and they’re still down about 11%, according to state data.

“Not only did Maryland tragically lose thousands of lives in 2020 to COVID-19, but we lost an additional 569 lives from motor vehicle crashes,” Maryland Department of Transportation Secretary Greg Slater said in a news release.

“These losses are unnecessary and unacceptable. They represent men, women and children whose lives were cut short way too soon — our family members, friends, neighbors and co-workers. Simple actions such as slowing down, driving sober, putting the phone down and wearing a seat belt could have prevented these tragedies.”

There was also an increase in pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities. MDOT MVA Administrator Chrissy Nizer said in a news release it’s the same contributing factors every year: speed, distractions, impairment and lack of seat belt use.

The MVA’s Highway Safety Office recently launched a “Be the Driver Who Saves Lives” safety campaign. It focuses on being sober, slowing down, buckling up, staying focused, sharing the road and looking twice.

In January, MDOT announced its , the latest update of Maryland’s five-year plan to identify strategies and actions to eliminate fatalities on state roadways.

The SHSP addresses the major areas of traffic safety: aggressive, impaired and distracted driving, highway infrastructure, seat belt use and pedestrian and bicyclist safety.

Local jurisdictions are encouraged to develop their own safety plans suited to each jurisdiction’s specific concerns.

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The runaway train incident, which an official described as serious, occurred March 26, and began after a mishap involving passenger suck on a stopped train. A Metro train stopped 100 yards short of the Rhode Island Avenue station platform, keeping passengers stuck on the train for about 90 minutes.

During that period, two passengers got impatient and got off the train, walking along the tracks back to the station platform.

There are two reasons that’s potentially dangerous: the risk of being hit by a moving train or possibly coming into contact with the third rail, which is electrified.

Metrorail initially did not even identify that this so-called self-evacuation occurred. A rescue train ultimately brought the rest of the passengers back to the station platform.

But the WMSC also discovered another event that happened after that rescue train got the passengers back to the station.

When Metro tried to tow the disabled train, it began to roll. It rolled nearly 140 feet before a worker was able to engage a hand brake.

WMSC CEO David Mayer told the commissioners that Metro is required to report an incident like this to the WMSC and the Federal Transit Administration within two hours.

But, he said, when Metro finally submitted its preliminary report — five days after the event — it “still did not include all the information from data downloads required to examine what has been confirmed as a serious runaway train event that is reportable to both the WMSC and the Federal Transit Administration.”

Mayer said “urgency is required to identify safety events so that improvements can be made to reduce the risk of these events happening again in the future.”

Ultimately, the rescue train was coupled to the disabled train and moved it back to a rail yard.

Mayer said the WMSC’s preliminary investigation related to customer, first responder and employee safety “has also identified concerns related to Metrorail’s communications and emergency preparedness, and an overall lack of coordination” in the incident response.

In another case, at the U Street station last November, two trains with the same number ended up moving toward each other on a single track.

In the meeting, D.C. Commissioner Robert Bobb asked WMSC’s Investigative Programs Manager Adam Quigley about the possible outcome there.

Quigley replied that it could have resulted in “a low-speed collision.”

“With passengers?” Bobb asked.

“Yes, sir,” Quigley said.

The trains were able to stop. Passengers were walked back to the platform and service was suspended for three hours.

Metro did produce a “lessons learned” safety document about the incident afterward.

WMSC was created by D.C., Maryland and Virginia to independently oversee Metrorail safety.

See the full meeting below.

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So if you’ve already received the J&J vaccine, here’s what you should know.

The six people who experienced clots were all women between the ages of 18 and 48, with symptoms developing six to 13 days after they received the shot, officials said.

For now, federal distribution channels, including mass vaccination sites, will pause the use of the J&J shot — D.C, Maryland and Virginia all announced their intentions to do the same Tuesday.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration recommend that people who were given the J&J vaccine should contact their doctor if they experience severe headache, abdominal pain, leg pain or shortness of breath within three weeks.

The CDC can include pain, redness or swelling at the injection site; chills; fever; nausea; headache; or muscle pain.

J&J said in a statement that it was aware of the reports of blood clots, but that no link to its vaccine had been established.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the public should be aware of any symptoms after receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

“If someone had recently [received the vaccine] within days, I would tell them to just, first of all, don’t get an anxiety reaction because remember, it’s less than one in a million,” Fauci said.

“However, having said that, pay attention. Do you have symptoms? Headache? Do you have shortness of breath? Chest discomfort? Do you have anything that resembles a neurological syndrome? And obviously, if you have something as serious as a seizure … that’s pretty clear.

“But the manifestations of this are that headache is the very common component of it because the sinus thrombosis that they have is the draining of the blood in the brain, and it will cause enough symptomatology to make you notice it. Just tell people to just watch out for not feeling very well.”

Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, vice dean for Public Health Practice at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said instances similar to those under investigation are very rare.

“What it looks like is this is a very, very rare complication that really might only happen in the first couple of weeks,” he said. “So I think it’s very low risk to anyone who’s gotten the Johnson & Johnson shot.”

Sharfstein also said the six reported cases are among nearly 7 million doses of the J&J vaccine that have been administered in the U.S.

He thinks one point of interest for investigators will likely be “the connection between the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and the AstraZeneca vaccine, which has not been authorized in this country.”

Both share the adenovirus vector as the way the vaccine delivers its virus protection.

“This kind of rare blood clot has been associated with the AstraZeneca vaccine,” Sharfstein said, “so I think a question is whether the adenovirus vector may be, in part, responsible for this.”

Sharfstein does not believe the pause will substantially hamper the COVID-19 vaccine supply in the U.S. in the short term, because the overwhelming majority of the U.S. vaccine supplies come from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. Both are very different vaccines, and neither have been linked to this particular kind of blood clot, so they’re not affected by the pause.

The FDA said the CDC will convene a meeting of its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices on Wednesday to further review these cases and assess their potential significance. The FDA will then review that analysis as it also investigates the cases.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Jim Pagels was killed on his bike Friday in an accident involving five cars.

His friend Finn Vigeland remembered Pagels as passionate about “everything in his life, whether it was his Texas sports teams, whether it was explaining the rules of a really complicated board game and then trouncing you at it, or cities. He loved cities; he loved biking, he loved the ways that we moved through cities.”

Vigeland said Pagels “had a total career change to make sure that he could study cities and make them even better.”

Vigeland is helping organize a memorial ride Thursday, April 15, at 6 p.m., starting at Massachusetts Avenue and Second Street in Northwest, where Pagels was struck and killed. He said they’ll begin by installing a Ghost Bike — a bicycle painted white and permanently installed at the intersection. He described it as “a visual cue to everyone, whether in a car or on bike or on foot, that a cyclist died here.”

“From there,” Vigeland said, “we will go on a ride around D.C., as Jim would have wanted us to.”

Vigeland hopes that anyone who knew Pagels, or who was just touched by the story of his death, will join them Thursday. Vigeland said Pagels would want people to “keep biking and to fight to make the District a safer place for all cyclists, for all vulnerable road users.”

D.C. was Pagels’ adoptive hometown; he moved to the District directly after graduating college in 2013. Vigeland said Pagels was thrilled when he was accepted for a Ph.D. program at the University of Michigan, except that meant leaving D.C.

A bright spot of the pandemic for him came when his class went virtual and he was able to move back in January.

Pagels had just tweeted hours earlier Friday about how unsafe D.C. can be for cyclists.

Had to bike through a roundabout over a highway to get my Covid jab. Lifespan maximization function is clearly perfectly well-calibrated.

— Jim Pagels (@jimpagels)

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The top prosecutor for Prince George’s County, in Maryland, has some tips to keep you and your business from becoming victims.

State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy, in a virtual news conference, highlighted a couple of ongoing cases and offered tips to keep it from happening to you.

In one case, a former bookkeeper for a local volunteer fire department was recently indicted on charges of stealing over $100,000 from the department, allegedly by moving money from various accounts into a checking account, then writing checks to herself.

In another case, a woman is accused of stealing more than $600,000 from her mother-in-law. She’s also accused of stealing real property from her mother-in-law, all to finance her own lifestyle

Braveboy said there are several way businesses can protect themselves:

• Require more than one person to sign checks.
• Establish a regular financial reporting system to a board of directors. It can be monthly or quarterly.
• Make sure independent audits are conducted, at least annually.
• Perform background checks on people you hire.
• Obtain errors and omissions insurance, which covers all officers of the company or nonprofit, and any employees who have access to finances.

In the case of a family situation where a person is caring for someone who is elderly, has a disability, or is otherwise unable to care for themselves, even if you’re asking a family member to be the caregiver, you can ask the court to appoint them as “guardian ad litem,” which would give the court the ability to oversee financial transactions involving the vulnerable person’s accounts.

Braveboy was joined at the news conference by Franklin Shelton, the chief of Prince George’s County’s Special Prosecutions Unit, and Assistant State’s Attorney Drew Grigg.

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is a product of Maryland’s Active Assailant Interdisciplinary Work Group, which convened following the Washington Navy Yard shooting in September 2013. The website aims to provide advice from experts on preparedness.

For example, the section on  identifies specific behaviors of concern that employers or co-workers might recognize as signaling a potential problem. It also features potential intervention strategies. And in a worst-case scenario, it identifies survival strategies.

There are different threat assessment guidelines for Ěý˛ą˛Ô»ĺĚý in the Schools and Universities section.

°Őłó±đĚýHouses of Worship section features a guide for developing an emergency operations plan, including what to do until help arrives.

There’s also a personal security checklist in the  section that suggests creating a personal or family emergency action plan and carrying simple-to-use protective tools such as pepper spray. It also details some possibly suspicious behaviors you may spot in others.

±«˛Ô»ĺ±đ°ůĚý, there’s guidance on what to do if you find yourself in a mass shooting incident.

Some of the sources for these safety tips include the FBI, FEMA, the Maryland State Department of Education, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the Healthcare & Public Health Sector Coordinating Council and the InfraGard, which is a partnership between the FBI and members of the private sector.

The bottom line is to help keep you from becoming a victim.

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In essence, the File of Life is a simple packet of important medical information about a person, geared at helping first responders respond to emergencies.

It comes as an inexpensive fridge magnet, ID card or door decal imprinted with a person’s current and critical health details including allergies, medications and emergency contacts.

It’s particularly important for seniors, but anyone with a chronic illness, severe medical condition or developmental disability can benefit.

You can download the provided inserts, or forms to fill out from a local fire departments, or write it all out on your own — but be sure to use pencil so you can update it as needed.

File of Life .

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The city said co-housing would include rooming and boarding houses, single room occupancy and some types of group living arrangements. But a spokesperson for told Alexandria Living that what the city is considering regulating is actually co-living — not co-housing.

The difference is co-living involves the communal use of shared bathrooms and common spaces, such as kitchens and living rooms. Co-housing, on the other hand, involves individual units with their own kitchens and bathrooms.

Co-living is already going on in Alexandria, with people renting out spare bedrooms.

The city is taking feedback though April 11 on possible regulations for what it is calling co-housing. There’s an with a chance for you to weigh-in after watching it.

ĂŰĚŇĘÓƵapp’s Matthew Delaney contributed to this report.

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