Two new faces joined the Halifax County Industrial Development Authority board of directors at their Nov. 20 meeting in the IDA boardroom â J. Michael âMikeâ Davidson, the IDAâs newly hired interim executive director (pictured top right), and Kristy Johnson (pictured to Davidsonâs right), who formerly served as deputy director and interim executive director for the IDA. Also pictured are Halifax County administrator Scott Simpson and IDA board members Mattie Cowan, Ryland Clark, Nancy Pool, Jeremy Satterfield and board chairman Robert Bates.
File photo
Published December 23, 2020 •
Updated on December 23, 2020 at 12:23 pm
Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images & Win McNamee/Getty Images & Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images (L-R)
Between the devastation of the coronavirus pandemic, a renewed racial justice movement and an election that will unseat President Donald Trump, it’s been a monumental news year in Washington, D.C., and our region.
Here are the top 20 local stories that captivated readers and viewers in 2020.
First COVID-19 Cases Diagnosed in DC, Maryland and Virginia in March
At first, there were just three people in the D.C. area who were known to have COVID-19. A woman in her 50s and a married couple in their 70s, all from Montgomery County, Maryland, fell ill after taking a cruise in Egypt, officials announced on March 5. Two days later, a U.S. Marine at Fort Belvoir in Virginia was announced to be positive, along with with the first two cases in D.C., those of a church rector and an international v
Mohamed Aly. Photo from Blue Ridge Regional Jail.
A Virginia teenager, who was charged in February with the double homicide of two Northwest High School graduates, has been sentenced to four consecutive life terms plus 18 years.
Mohamed Aly, who was 18 at the time, was arrested Feb. 13 and charged with killing Ayanna Munne Maertens Griffin, 18, and Ntombo Joel Bianda, 21, according to Virginia State Police (VSP). Maertens Griffin and Bianda were dating, according to a statement from the Halifax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office. Fox 5 DC reported they met as students at Northwest High School in Germantown and were living in Alexandria. Aly was an Alexandria resident.
‘I don’t get to see her grow up’: Parent ‘haunted’ by Halifax County murder as killer gets life sentence
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Mohamed Aly at the time of his arrest in February 2020. (Blue Ridge Regional Jail)
Aly, as well as Bianda and Griffin, are all from Alexandria and were driving to Danville to visit a friend. Aly confessed that he shot the couple and left their bodies on the side of Highway 58.
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The mother of one of the victims said she believes justice was served, adding that even though Aly apologized, she’ll never be able to forgive him for what he took.