Monday, November 30, 2020

Armed robbery in Gaithersburg


City of Gaithersburg police responded to a report of an armed robbery on Friday evening. The robbery was reported at a residential parking lot in the unit block of S. Frederick Avenue around 6:15 PM. According to crime data, the weapon used was not a gun.

Friday, November 27, 2020

Car stolen in Gaithersburg


Montgomery County police responded to a report of a stolen car in Gaithersburg early Wednesday morning. The vehicle was stolen from a church parking lot in the 19400 block of Woodfield Road sometime between 11:15 PM Tuesday night and 12:15 AM Wednesday, according to crime data.

Wednesday, November 25, 2020

Armed robbery in Montgomery Village


Montgomery County police responded to a report of an armed robbery in Montgomery Village this past Saturday, November 21. The robbery was reported on an unspecified block of Montgomery Village Avenue around 9:22 PM. A knife was the weapon used in the robbery, according to crime data.

Monday, November 23, 2020

Marshalls to open store at Gaithersburg Square


Marshalls
will open a new location at Gaithersburg Square at 524 N. Frederick Avenue, property owner Federal Realty announced today. The store will take over a 24,000-square-foot space located near CVS, the firm said in a press release. Also officially confirmed were two other new tenants that Sam Eig readers have known about for many weeks already, Ronky Creative Hair Salon and Allure Jewelers.

The Marshalls coming to Gaithersburg Square will be "relocating from a nearby shopping destination," Federal Realty said, without specifying the exact address. Marshalls currently has stores in Montgomery Village and Rockville. The Gaithersburg store will open in the fall of 2021.

Friday, November 20, 2020

Dining in a bubble to avoid Covid at Downtown Crown


Diners trying to reduce their chances of catching Covid-19 while eating out have a new option at Downtown Crown in Gaithersburg. Ted's Bulletin is now offering bubble seating outdoors. The dining pods offer semi-isolated seating for solo diners, couples and very small parties.





Thursday, November 19, 2020

Sign installed at Ela Mesa Taste of Greece in Gaithersburg


The permanent sign is up at Ela Mesa Taste of Greece, located at 109 Paramount Park Drive in Gaithersburg. Not much has been done on the construction of the interior of the restaurant yet, however.



Wednesday, November 18, 2020

Rio Fire Lounge construction update


Work continues on the new Fire Lounge at Rio Lakefront in Gaithersburg. The pressure on retail centers and restaurants to provide outdoor spaces has only increased with the new restrictions handed down on indoor dining and shopping by Maryland and Montgomery County in recent days.









Tuesday, November 17, 2020

Hogan orders all Maryland restaurants, bars to close at 10 PM, new restrictions on retail, hospital visits, sporting events, places of worship


Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) announced additional restrictions on businesses and activities this afternoon, as the coronavirus pandemic worsens in the state and around the world. Effective Friday at 5:00 PM, Hogan has ordered all restaurants and bars statewide to close at 10:00 PM nightly. None will be allowed to open between 10:00 PM and 6:00 AM. 

Hogan also ordered most hospital visits to be suspended with some exceptions, and nursing home visitors will be limited to compassionate care visitors, who have to be tested 72 hours before visiting. The governor also banned all attendance at professional and collegiate sporting events, just weeks after fans were allowed to return to stadiums in the state.

Under the new restrictions, all retail stores and places of worship must reduce capacity to 50%. Hogan urged any students returning from college, or who plan to be around elderly relatives for Thanksgiving, to get tested for Covid-19 first. 

The governor asked hospitals to postpone any elective procedures or treatments where possible. He said hospitalizations are up 100% since November 1. The number of patients in ICU beds is the highest since June 2020. Maryland's Health Department is issuing an order to allow hospitals that are full, or nearing capacity, to transfer patients to other hospitals.

"We are in a war right now, and the virus is winning," Hogan said. "Now more than ever, I am pleading with the people of our state to stand together a while longer to help us battle this surging virus.”


Monday, November 16, 2020

Rio Lakefront Christmas decorations in Gaithersburg (Video+Photos)


Here's a look at the Christmas decorations at Rio Lakefront in Gaithersburg. With animated, color-changing lights, the retail center takes full advantage of the reflective lake surface at night. There's a Rio logo minus the "i," which is meant to be filled in by you for an Instagram moment.








Friday, November 13, 2020

NIST helps shine a light on the moon Europa ahead of NASA's Europa Clipper mission


Scientists at NIST in Gaithersburg have assisted in a breakthrough by researchers at NASA's California Jet Propulsion Laboratory in predicting the composition of ice on the moon Europa by its glowing colors. The Europa Clipper spacecraft, launching later this decade, will study this among other details. NIST's Fred Bateman exposed ice samples to radiation beams at the institute's Medical Industrial Radiation Facility, and observed different levels of glow emanate from the samples depending upon their composition. 

"Seeing the sodium chloride brine with a significantly lower level of glow was the 'aha' moment that changed the course of the research," Bateman said in a NASA press release. Unlike our moon, Europa glows even on its dark side without light from the sun. "If Europa weren't under this radiation, it would look the way our moon looks to us - dark on the shadowed side," JPL's Murthy Gudipati said. "But because it's bombarded by the radiation from Jupiter, it glows in the dark."

Measurements made with the help of Bateman at NIST may well assist identification of salty components on the icy moon's surface when Europa Clipper arrives, NASA predicts.

Photo courtesy NASA

Thursday, November 12, 2020

Damascus' Sydney Naylor is Pitt prospect for 2021 lacrosse

Sydney Naylor

Two Montgomery County residents will be top prospects for the University of Pittsburgh women's lacrosse team in 2021. Sydney Naylor of Damascus and Maeve Murray of Chevy Chase will be part of the first Pitt women's lacrosse team to face off against NCAA Division I competition in the 2021-22 academic year.

Naylor helped Glenelg Country School attain national ranking as a freshman, and was one of the top scorers in Howard County as a sophomore. She was nominated to the Nike 120 as well as the Under Armour 150 and was named MVP of the EMPIRE Camp in Baltimore in 2020.

Maeve Murray

Murray was the leading scorer and a captain of Georgetown Visitation's indoor lacrosse team before the season was canceled due to the pandemic. She similarly led Capital Blue in scoring in summer play in 2018 and 2019.

Photos via University of Pittsburgh

Wednesday, November 11, 2020

Upcounty restaurants hit hard by new Montgomery County Covid-19 restrictions as cases, hospitalizations spike


Upcounty restaurants already struggling through the coronavirus pandemic are facing another financial blow, as Covid-19 cases spike in Montgomery County ahead of what is expected to be a difficult winter. Many mom-and-pop restaurants, and even operators of chain businesses, have said they are struggling to turn a profit while surviving month-to-month with various government assistance programs. On Tuesday, the Montgomery County Council unanimously approved tougher Covid-19 restrictions, including the reduction of restaurant capacity to 25% effective yesterday at 5:00 PM.

The new restrictions limit gatherings to 25 people or less. 25% capacity restrictions will also apply to houses of worship, retail stores, museums and galleries, and gyms. Restaurants will now be required to maintain a record of all indoor and outdoor patrons, for at least 30 days, to assist with contact tracing. Information collected must include date, time, name of each patron and contact information.

Loss of indoor dining capacity comes just as plummeting temperatures make outdoor dining much less practical. Whether heaters and tents will in any way reduce that impact will be determined for the first time this winter. We are in uncharted waters in an industry that already has razor-thin profit margins in high-rent, high-tax, high-operating-cost, liquor-monopoly-controlled Montgomery County.

At the same time, there is no doubt the pandemic is taking a turn for the worse as winter approaches, as many had predicted. Maryland hospital beds are currently filled at a higher rate than during the summer coronavirus spike. All County hospitals were under Blue Alert Monday night, and at least one went to a full Red Alert Tuesday, forcing rerouting of emergency patients who require electrocardiogram-monitored beds. Yesterday, Covid-related hospitalizations in America reached a record high.

Tuesday, November 10, 2020

Gaithersburg woman arrested in Wheaton stabbing


Montgomery County police announced they have arrested a suspect in the November 1, 2020 stabbing of a man outside the Wheaton Metro station. Nelly Lovette Moore, 22, of the 9200 block of Hummingbird Terrace in Gaithersburg was arrested and faces assault charges. Detectives say they do not believe the suspect and victim knew each other. Moore was transported to the County Central Processing Unit, and is being held on a $5,000 bond.

Monday, November 9, 2020

RanKen Noodle House applies for liquor license at Kentlands


RanKen Noodle House
is moving closer towards opening day at Kentlands Market Square in Gaithersburg. The ramen restaurant has applied for a liquor license from Montgomery County. Their hearing is scheduled for November 19, 2020 at 9:30 AM.

Friday, November 6, 2020

Gaithersburg Winter Lights Festival tickets go on sale for 2020


A safe, socially-distanced activity for the holiday season will be driving through the annual Gaithersburg Winter Lights Festival. The 3.5 mile drive through the light display is located in Seneca Creek State Park at 11950 Clopper Road. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Winter Lights Enchanted Evenings (S’more Lights, Wine Under the Lights, Run Under the Lights, Leashes n’ Lights) will not take place this year.

Tickets are now available to purchase online.

Thursday, November 5, 2020

Starbucks closes at Rio Lakefront


Here's something you don't see every day: a Starbucks closing. Like bank branches, the coffee giant seems only to multiply. But the Starbucks at Rio Lakefront in Gaithersburg has indeed closed. 

It's an odd choice by the chain, since it is a prime location compared to some out-of-the-way Starbucks stores. However, Starbucks has said it will close at least 500 stores across the country to increase profits. A downtown Bethesda store also recently closed its doors. There are still two small Starbucks outlets inside Target and Barnes & Noble at Rio Lakefront.

Wednesday, November 4, 2020

2020 Montgomery County election results show local political machine in full control


Montgomery County Election Results 2020

100% of Election Day-cast voting results were released by the Montgomery County Board of Elections as of 1:53 AM this morning, as well as some early voting tabulations. Analysis of the results follows below. No election-related unrest has impacted Montgomery County so far, as both Joe Biden and Donald Trump retained pathways to victory in the presidential race overnight, with Biden winning Maryland and holding the lead in electoral votes nationally as of this hour. 

Amazon Books boarded up
at Bethesda Row on election night

Amazon Books boarded up its windows at Bethesda Row Tuesday, and additional Friendship Heights businesses did the same. The 24-hour CVS Pharmacy at 7809 Wisconsin Avenue simply closed without explanation or boards. While police maintained a heavy presence around those key retail hubs, no additional businesses have followed in boarding up their windows.

CVS Pharmacy unexpectedly closes
election night in downtown Bethesda

Election results analysis

Montgomery County 2020 election results so far show the county's political machine in full control, with a majority of voters rejecting citizen-petitioned ballot questions, and endorsing a County Council ballot question that would allow their taxes to be raised higher than ever. It's unclear if voters knew approving Question A would end up giving them more and larger tax hikes, as the text of the question falsely made it appear to be a limit on taxation. But voters rejected Question B that would have actually placed a new limit on tax increases, despite having supported Robin Ficker's other tax cap ballot questions in the past.

Boarded-up businesses in
Friendship Heights

Also failing so far on the ballot is Question D, which would have eliminated the At-Large seats on the County Council, and realigned the body's structure into nine more-compact districts. Voters approved a competing measure by the County Council, Question C, which will keep the Council as-is, while adding two new district seats. 

Friendship Heights

It's unclear how Question C's approval will actually change the dynamics of leadership and representation for three reasons: First, by only adding two new districts instead of four, all seven districts will be larger than nine smaller ones. Second, the At-Large seats remain to counterbalance parochial interests, while likely remaining in the same geographical area downcounty, retaining a solid control over policy by downcounty politicians and their financial backers. Finally, the Council could choose to ignore the vote, and keep the status quo as it did when it overturned the will of the voters on the Ambulance Fee a decade ago.

Police cruiser parked inside the
Maryland-D.C. border in Chevy Chase

What is clear is that the Washington Post editorial board continues to hold increasingly-outsize sway over regional voting decisions. The Post has scored win after win in recent years, after a period when Montgomery County voters for a time exercised more independence in their decisions. Results so far show a majority of voters precisely following the advice of the Post and the County Democratic Party sample ballot in 2020.

Jeff Bezos taking no chances

The lone resistance to the Post's marching orders came in the District 2 Board of Education race, where results so far show voters returning Rebecca Smondrowski to her seat by a twenty-point margin. Smondrowski is the only candidate to survive the primary and general election this year while not wholeheartedly endorsing a controversial push to redistrict school boundaries. Post endorsees Lynne Harris (BOE At-Large) and Shebra Evans (BOE District 4) are coasting to victory at the moment.


With the Post's increasingly-heavy thumb on the voting scales in Montgomery County, change in a declining and stagnant county remains unlikely. There is a clear partnership between the paper and the Montgomery County cartel on dystopian talking points and objectives: dismantling existing single-family-home neighborhoods, reducing the quality of all schools rather than fixing the failing ones, squashing any effort to elect independent community-focused officials (even if they are Democrats), maintaining developer dominance of County politics and land-use decisions, and an Ahab-like quest to boot Marc Elrich from office in 2022.

The Post dedicated several pages to high-quality coverage of the D.C. City Council races this year. It glaringly did not in the 2018 Montgomery County Council races, a clear indication of its role in stifling any voices of dissent or change in Montgomery County.

Tuesday, November 3, 2020

Roosters opens at Rio Lakefront, Amazing Lash Studio coming soon


Roosters Mens Grooming Center
has opened at 20-C Grand Corner Avenue at Rio Lakefront in Gaithersburg. The salon has implemented Covid-19 protocols such as disinfecting after each client, and taking client temperatures before allowing them to enter. 

Coming soon to Rio is Amazing Lash Studio. Services will include eyelash extensions, lash lifting, and volumizing. It will be located right by Roosters at 20-D Grand Corner.

Monday, November 2, 2020

Chennai Hoppers holding soft opening in Gaithersburg


Chennai Hoppers
is holding a soft opening at 136 Paramount Drive in Gaithersburg. The menu selections will initially be limited, to allow staff to get up to normal speed with cooking and serving customers - but the fairly large number of items available now suggests the permanent menu will be quite extensive. 

Chef-owner John Rajoo hails from southern India, and received his formal culinary training in Chennai. Take a look at the soft opening menu here.