By Rachel Weiner

… Aggravated assaults [in Arlington] spiked 33 percent. That jump, police said, is largely due to increased reports of domestic strangulation. The Virginia legislature made “strangulation of another,” previously a misdemeanor, a Class 6 felony in 2012, to praise from groups that fight domestic violence. About 30 states have passed similar laws, mostly in the past 10 years, according to the Associated Press.