Empress Coffee & Cocktails for sale in Gaithersburg

Empress Coffee & Cocktails is being marketed as available for sale at 325 Main Street in the Kentlands area of Gaithersburg. The asking price is $250,000. Empress has a lease that expires on April 3, 2034, at a rent of $6200 a month, according to the online sale listing. That listing states that the reason the coffee shop is on the market is that the owner is moving. Empress remains fully open for business at this time.

Sheetz opens second Gaithersburg location

Sheetz is now open at 793 S. Frederick Avenue (MD 355) at the Walnut Hill Shopping Center in Gaithersburg. This is the second Montgomery County location for the convenience store and mega gas station chain. The store model used in the County is smaller than the ones I've been in on the road elsewhere. Sheetz expedited development of this second Gaithersburg location after the first, at 751 Progress Way, quickly proved to be a financial success. This one is convenient to the Rockville and Derwood areas.

Teen stabbed in Germantown

Montgomery County police responded to a report of a stabbing in Germantown yesterday afternoon. The assault took place at the 7-Eleven store at 19786 Crystal Rock Drive at 4:25 PM Wednesday. One juvenile male victim was transported to a local hospital with serious injuries, but is expected to survive, police say. The suspect(s) in the incident remain at large as of this writing.

Violent assault in Montgomery Village

Montgomery County police responded to a report of a violent assault in Montgomery Village this past Saturday afternoon. The assault was reported in the 18700 block of Nathans Place at 3:17 PM. According to police, the victim was assaulted by an unspecified number of assailants, and was transported to a local hospital with serious injuries as a result. It was a disturbing incident for two reasons: First, it continued the troubling 2026 Montgomery County crime trend of violent crime being committed during daylight hours. And second, it took place only a block east of the Lakeforest Mall site, where developers will soon be attempting to sell homebuyers on an expensive new community in one of the highest-crime hotspots in Montgomery County.

Police investigate shots-fired incident at Gaithersburg apartment building

A shots-fired incident inside a Gaithersburg apartment building is being investigated by police. The incident was reported at an apartment complex in the 18300 block of Streamside Drive at 8:42 PM last night. According to Montgomery County police, a single shot was fired inside an apartment unit there. Police have not announced any further details yet regarding the circumstances of the discharge, or whether any charges have been brought as a result.

Self-storage unit burglarized in Gaithersburg

Montgomery County police responded to a report of a burglary at a self-storage facility in Gaithersburg yesterday afternoon. The burglary was reported at a self-storage complex in the 8500 block of Snouffer School Road at 2:55 PM Thursday. Police have not identified the specific business, but that appears to be the U-Haul Moving & Storage facility at 8501 Snouffer School Road. Officers responding to the scene found evidence of forced entry into at least one storage unit. They determined that items were stolen from the unit.

Road rage in Germantown

Montgomery County police responded to a road rage incident in Germantown yesterday morning, August 12, 2026. The incident was reported at the intersection of Father Hurley Boulevard and Waters Landing Drive between 10:00 and 10:30 AM Wednesday. According to police, amid a road rage dispute, one driver displayed a handgun to the other. No description of the suspect was released.

Aspen Dental, Jersey Mike's lease spaces at new strip mall in Gaithersburg

Gaithersburg's newest strip mall has secured its first two tenants. Aspen Dental and Jersey Mike's have leased inline spaces at Matan Companies' Progress Way development at the intersection of Route 355 and Montgomery Village Avenue. The new strip mall structure is joining existing tenants Sheetz and Chick-Fil-A, which each have pad sites. Formerly home to IBM and Leidos, the property also has industrial buildings leased by AstraZeneca and Montgomery County Public Schools.

Car stolen from dealership in Gaithersburg

Montgomery County police responded to a report of a stolen car at an auto dealership in Gaithersburg on July 27, 2026. The vehicle was stolen sometime in the early morning hours from Mr. 301 Auto Sales at 8061 Snouffer School Road. No suspect descriptions, vehicle description, or surveillance camera images have been released in this case. If you have any information regarding this incident, call police at (301) 279-8000.

Sleepy burglar arrested in Gaithersburg

A burglar broke into a business in Gaithersburg sometime overnight between Tuesday night and yesterday morning, only to fall asleep once inside. Workers discovered the sound sleeper at 9:53 AM inside a business in the 600 block of N. Frederick Avenue. They called police, who took the intruder into custody. Officers found no evidence that the burglar had pocketed anything while inside.

Taiwan's MedVoyage Global chooses Virginia over Maryland for U.S. headquarters

Is Northern Virginia tired of winning yet? No! And fortunately for them, Montgomery County and Maryland elected officials aren't tired of losing. Thus it is that the Taiwanese firm MedVoyage Global has chosen Virginia, not Maryland, for its U.S. headquarters. The MedVoyage HQ will be at 10300 Eaton Place, at the Mason Enterprise Center (MEC) in Fairfax City. MedVoyage is a leading firm in the future of healthcare, using a low-Earth-orbit satellite network to deliver telehealth and pharmacy services to remote areas in 40 countries, to ships at sea, and to over 80 bricks-and-mortar medical centers across the globe, as well as connecting these remote customers with emergency response units.

Now MedVoyage is expanding into the North American healthcare market, and has chosen Northern Virginia as its base to scale up system and sales operations, as well as to navigate federal regulatory red tape. "Over the next two years, the company plans to scale its local workforce with systems engineers, clinical compliance specialists, and commercial sales executives," the Fairfax City Economic Development corporation said in a statement this morning. FCED added that this latest victory "further strengthens Fairfax City’s role within Northern Virginia’s innovation economy."

"Selecting Fairfax City for our U.S. headquarters is a foundational step in our global scaling strategy," MedVoyage Global CEO Nemo Teng said in a statement. "MEC Fairfax offers the ideal soft-landing environment and unparalleled access to the Northern Virginia tech ecosystem, placing us minutes away from critical federal and defense stakeholders such as the U.S. Coast Guard, Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Defense. This facility allows us to rapidly build strategic U.S. partnerships, access premier regional engineering talent, and deploy our emergency and maritime telehealth solutions across North America."

Anyone familiar with local geography will realize that Montgomery County is also in close proximity to these same federal and defense stakeholders. So, why does Northern Virginia keep winning, and Montgomery County keep losing?

You can look at the most obvious difference, which is the low tax environment of Virginia versus Montgomery County, which weighs down its residents and businesses with the highest total tax and fee burden in the region. But let's again go a step further, and see how once again Northern Virginia's superior infrastructure triumphs over Montgomery County's incomplete master plan highway system and poor airport access.

MedVoyage Global's new U.S. HQ will sit right beside an on-ramp to Interstate 66, and directly adjacent to U.S. Route 50. That will give MedVoyage a straight shot to Dulles International Airport via Route 50, or even faster with tolls via I-66. In contrast, Montgomery County and Maryland elected officials continue to block construction of the long-delayed new Potomac River crossing of I-370 from Gaithersburg to Dulles. 

As much as Northern Virginia enjoys winning, so do corporations that need to make something called profits. Winning is contagious. And winners like to have direct access to the only airport in the region with the frequency and variety of flights to international destinations that international businesspeople require to compete - Dulles International Airport. Thanks to our anti-business, Marxist "leadership," Montgomery County continues to lack that strategic advantage - by choice!!

In another delicious coincidence, did you know that Montgomery County's unfinished master plan highway system would have also extended I-66 access into Bethesda? The unbuilt Northwest Freeway, which would have paralleled Wisconsin Avenue through Bethesda, Friendship Heights and Tenleytown, would have crossed the Potomac on the also-unbuilt Three Sisters Bridge and (surprise!) also-unbuilt I-266 near Georgetown University. And you wonder where Montgomery County got all that land for tiny parks and big parking garages between Wisconsin Avenue and the Town of Chevy Chase!

By learning to love losing.

Assault at restaurant in Germantown

Two people were assaulted at a restaurant in Germantown yesterday, August 3, 2026. Montgomery County police were called to a restaurant in the 12900 block of Middlebrook Road at 10:03 PM Monday. According to police, two people were arguing outside of the restaurant. A third individual approached and pepper sprayed them. The suspect was described by police only as "a man."

Indecent exposure at pool in Germantown

Montgomery County police responded to a report of indecent exposure at a pool in Germantown Saturday afternoon, August 1, 2026. The incident was reported at a pool in the 13600 block of Ale House Circle at 4:51 PM. That is a pool located within the Millstone at Kingsview apartment complex, off of Germantown Road.

Montgomery County Council seeks to remove neighborhood veto power on "benefit performances"

The Montgomery County Council is proposing to strip residents of their existing veto power over "benefit performances" staged in their residential neighborhoods. Currently, entities and organizations - with a few exceptions, such as fire departments and religious institutions - who propose to hold a live music event, carnival, festival, or other performance to raise charitable funds must obtain consent from 75% of residents whose homes are within 600 feet of the performance site. Zoning Text Amendment (ZTA) 26-11: Temporary Uses - Benefit Performances would entirely eliminate this veto authority from neighbors. If passed, the ZTA would merely require that those residents be notified that they are going to be treated to a benefit performance, whether they like it or not. The performances could last as long as 15 days(!!).

I would venture to say that few Montgomery County residents are even aware that they currently possess this veto authority, much less that the Council is conniving to relieve them of it. The move continues a trend for the Council - when they're not banning stuff or raising taxes, they're systematically removing residents' ability to express objection or input on controversial matters they want to ram through, from development and road diets to bike lanes, bus depots, landfills and jails. A public hearing on the ZTA is scheduled for Tuesday, September 15, 2026, from 1:30 PM to 3:30 PM.