Arlington Alert subscribers got a message just before 4 p.m. that police are searching for 60-year-old Lansen Li, a recent Chinese immigrant who speaks no English and was last seen at approximately 8:30 a.m. this morning. Li left the house in the Arlington-East Falls Church neighborhood with her infant grandson, Jeffrey, in a stroller to take him for a walk. Ms. Li does not have any medical problems, but she left without any identification or......

Ick, ew, gross. Someone has illegally dumped waste from port-a-potties into Four Mile Run Stream near Westover Park in Arlington County. Arlington Alert sent out warnings earlier today telling residents not to fish in or have any contact with the waters – including wading or swimming – until further notice. The Post has a story up about the dumping, and quotes an Arlington parks official describing water near the spill as "blue, crummy and yucky......

If you're a frequent parker in Arlington, you may want to budget in some extra cash for a rate hike at parking meters. According to the Examiner, Arlington County officials are considering making some sweeping changes to the current system, such as extending the metered hours and raising the current flat rate of $1 per hour. Obviously, there's a tough balance to keep here for County officials - on the one hand, the Wilson Boulevard......

Folks in Columbia Heights salivating for a burger and cajun fries can finally step into a Five Guys today. Located at the corner of 14th and Irving streets, the shop was already bustling with a hungry lunch-time crowd. Now, anyone exiting the west Columbia Heights Metro -- surrounded on three sides with Potbelly's, Pete's Apizza and Five Guys -- will be hard-pressed to not grab something to eat In Arlington, Michael Landrum continues to......

A couple weeks ago we linked to a post on popular Clarendon bar Galaxy Hut's MySpace blog announcing that owner Lary Hoffman had decided to stop accepting credit cards. The announcement sparked a number of agitated and sarcastic comments accusing Hoffman of passing on unnecessary extra costs, like ATM fees, to his customers. Thanks to the negative reaction, over the weekend Hoffman emailed us and posted a comment on the same thread saying he'd changed......

Via USA Today's Pop Candy blog, Amazon.com has put out a list of what they're calling the country's "Most Romantic Cities" (just in time for Valentine's Day promotional product tie-ins!) -- except by "most romantic" they actually appear to mean "most in need of more romance". The list corresponds to the web site's top locations for sales of romance novels, relationship and sex books. Two Northern Virginia cities in the metro area made the top......

There are three simple rules when planning a trip to Pike Pizza (which doesn't actually serve pizza) on Columbia Pike in Arlington: Arrive hungry; Arrive early; Hog the salteñas. Usually available right when the restaurant opens and only in limited supply, salteñas are a version of empanadas, turnovers with your choice of meat combined with potatoes, peas, olives, and a hard-boiled egg. The chicken tends to complement the other ingredients better than the beef, but......