ATM stolen from Germantown gas station

Montgomery County police are investigating the theft of an ATM machine from a gas station in Germantown on September 23, 2024. One or more burglars forced their way into the station building at 5:19 AM, ripped out an ATM machine, and fled. Police do not have a description of the suspect(s) at this time. If you have any information about this incident, call police at (301) 279-8000.

Arrests made in Montgomery Village armed robbery

Montgomery County police have arrested two suspects in the September 17, 2024 armed robbery in Montgomery Village. The suspects allegedly approached the adult male victim in the 18200 block of Lost Knife Circle at 3:14 PM that afternoon. Police say they displayed unspecified weapons, and assaulted the victim, before taking his money.

Jose Ortega-Mejia, 29, of Germantown, and Abner Ortiz-Cruz, 23, of Gaithersburg have been arrested and charged in the incident. Ortega-Mejia has been charged with felony armed robbery, felony 1st-degree assault, 2nd-degree assault, theft of less than $100, possession of drug paraphernalia, conspiracy to commit armed robbery, conspiracy to commit 1st and 2nd-degree assault, and conspiracy to steal less than $100. He is being held without bond.

Ortiz-Cruz faces similar charges, with an additional charge of concealing a dangerous weapon. He is also being held without bond. Lost Knife Circle continues to rank among the highest-crime streets in Montgomery County.

"Sirius" failure for Montgomery County, Maryland as Virginia wins UK defense firm's US HQ

Officials in Montgomery County and the State of Maryland just can't seem to get "Sirius" about economic development, coming up empty again as a U.K. defense firm has followed so many others to Virginia to establish its first U.S. headquarters. Sirius Analysis, a defense management software consulting company headquartered in Portsmouth, England, will open its American headquarters at 4525 Main Street in Virginia Beach, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced in a statement. The headquarters will bring 105 new high-wage tech jobs to the Old Dominion. 

Youngkin said Virginia and Massachusetts were the two finalists competing for the headquarters. There's no indication that Montgomery County or Maryland officials even bothered to compete. This despite Sirius having sought a location near military bases, of which Maryland has twenty, compared to Massachusetts' paltry six. Did we blow it, or what?

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin

“Sirius Analysis choosing Virginia Beach as their U.S. headquarters showcases the Commonwealth's magnetic appeal in global defense innovation,” Youngkin said in a statement. “This expansion bridges UK-US defense collaboration, bringing cutting-edge analysis capabilities to our shores and creating valuable job opportunities for Virginians.”

“The arrival of Sirius Analysis signals a bright future for our region's tech ecosystem,” Virginia State Senator Aaron Rouse said. “By choosing our Virginia Beach for their U.S. operations, Sirius Analysis is not just creating over 100 high-skilled jobs, they're planting seeds for a new wave of innovation by strengthening our position as a hub for defense technology." 

It's long past time Montgomery County and Maryland's elected officials conducted a "Sirius Analysis" of their failures to attract corporate headquarters to locate here. Virginia is laughing at us.

Photo credits: Sirius Analysis (top), Office of Gov. Glenn Youngkin (bottom)

Montgomery County Public Libraries hit by network outage

Montgomery County Public Libraries announced that they are experiencing a system-wide network outage, due to an "underground fire in Baltimore this past weekend." The fire damaged a fiber optic cable network that serves public libraries statewide, MCPL said in a statement this afternoon. 

All Montgomery County libraries remain open on their normal schedules, and it is possible to check out books and materials. However, MCPL’s Wi-Fi, public computers, printing, scanning and copying services are currently unavailable, and MCPL believes the outage may last for several days. Libraries and school systems in all Maryland counties have been impacted.

Repairs to the fiber optic system are currently underway, MCPL stated. Baltimore City officials do not yet know the cause of several recent underground fires that have impacted electrical and communication utilities. This past weekend's fire was followed Monday by a major Verizon cell service outage impacting multiple states, and today by an eight-hour Sony PlayStation Network outage that affected users worldwide. Neither Verizon nor Sony have indicated the cause of their service interruptions so far.