Arts

As part of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in May, the Asian Pacific American Student Achievement Action Group (APASAAG) is sponsoring a poster contest for K–12 students. This is the fourth year for the contest.

The contest calls for students to submit original artwork reflecting significant moments or events in Asian American and Pacific Islander history and/or culture. Artwork must be drawings, paintings or digital art and submitted electronically. First, second and third place winners will receive cash awards for lower elementary, upper elementary, middle and high school levels. One entry per student is allowed. Submissions are due Friday, April 23.


Maryland

The Office of the Attorney General has received information that businesses in Maryland have been receiving a letter entitled “2023 Certificate of Good Standing Request Form” that requests a fee in exchange for a letter of good standing with an “official seal of the Secretary of State.” This letter is a SCAM. This same scam letter was circulated in 2019 and 2020.

The scam letter asks the recipient to send a check or money order to an entity named “MD Certificate Service” in Baltimore, MD in exchange for an “elective Maryland Certificate of Good Standing.” The letter goes to great lengths to look official with a “document number” and a barcode, and includes a customer service phone number of 1-855-222-3322.


Education

Entrepreneurial students from six high schools participated in the annual MCPS Business Pitch Challenge on March 22. They created business ideas and presented them to a panel of local entrepreneur judges. Participating high schools were: Montgomery Blair, Albert Einstein, Gaithersburg, Northwest, Northwood and Paint Branch, with The MoCoShow’s very own Alex T. serving as the keynote speaker for the event.

The Northwest team placed third with a business proposal focused on repurposing clothing or sentimental items into apparel that an individual would still be able to wear. The Northwest team included Maddie Kaplan, Aayush Thakkar, Jonah Karst and Zach Greenspan. Teacher sponsor was Kristin Vick.


Crime

Per the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Maryland – U.S. District Judge Ellen L. Hollander sentenced Robert Reeves III, age 37 of Dallas, Texas, to two years in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for a conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen goods where the defendant and his co-conspirators broke into businesses and stole cash from Bitcoin-related ATMs.  Judge Hollander also ordered Reeves to pay restitution in the full amount of the victims’ losses, which is $55,316. The sentence was imposed on March 27, 2023.

According to his guilty plea, from August 2018 through at least September 13, 2018, Reeves, co-defendants Meleech Neugent and Brandon Davis, and other individuals conspired to travel from the Dallas, Texas area to other parts of the United States, including the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, break into businesses after they closed and steal cash from Bitcoin-related automated teller machines (“ATMs”).  Specifically, on August 29, 2018, Reeves, his co-defendants and others traveled from Dallas, Texas to Dulles International Airport and rented a vehicle.  In the early morning hours of August 31, 2018 and September 1, 2018, they used that vehicle to drive to locations in Rockville, Columbia and Baltimore, Maryland, where they broke into four separate businesses.  Once inside the business, the conspirators stole cash from the ATM machines.


Education

Per MCPS: For two years Gaithersburg High School staff have been working with an organization called Support Ed, to provide training for leadership, teachers and staff, focusing on how to work with Emerging Multilingual Learners (EML) students. The training allows teachers and staff to learn more about their students, and to develop strategies to make all content more available to multilingual learners. Watch the video.

 


Education

Per MCPS: At the March 28, 2023 Board of Education Meeting, Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) leaders presented mid-year Evidence of Learning (EOL) data that is focused on grade-level proficiency utilizing multiple measures to determine the success of students, schools and the District overall. The EOL framework intentionally uses multiple measures to determine student performance that include classroom grades, data from curriculum-aligned assessments, and state and national assessments.

EOL mid-year data allows MCPS to examine how successfully students transition from one grade level to the next. The data serves as a checkpoint for how students in kindergarten, grades 3, 6, and 9, have transitioned from pre-kindergarten, grades 2, 5, and 8. Further, they provide an opportunity to determine the extent to which students are meeting standards and additional support that may need to be provided for their continued success.


Crime

At approximately 6:34 pm, the Montgomery County Police Department responded to the 2700 block of Spartan Road for the report of a shooting that had just occurred.  The preliminarily investigation […]


Crime

Per Takoma Park Police: On March 28 at approximately 4:35 pm, Takoma Park Police responded to the 7400 block of New Hampshire Avenue (Red Carpet Inn) for a welfare check on a female. Officers arrived and were directed to a specific room where they found a victim suffering from injuries.  The victim, an employee of the establishment, was conducting house cleaning in a room when she was approached by an unknown male in the doorway of the room.  The male suspect entered the room, struck the victim in the head and put his hand forcefully over her mouth.  The male suspect attempted to rape the victim, without success.  The victim was able to free her mouth long enough to scream so someone would hear her.  The suspect fled on foot towards New Hampshire Avenue.  Prior to police arrival, a witness approached the room to check on the welfare of the victim at which time the suspect was making his way back to the room.  The victim barricaded herself in another room and the witness was able to flee and reach the management office to alert police.

Surveillance footage revealed a male suspect in an orange or yellow shirt with a dark jacket over the shirt, dark pants, boots, glasses and a surgical mask over his face fleeing the scene on foot towards New Hampshire Avenue.  Items of evidentiary value were recovered by police.  The victim was not seriously physically injured. Investigation continues.  Anyone with information about this crime is asked to please call us at 301-270-1100 and reference case #230015040.


Events

Postponed: April 15, 2023, Shine Brighter Together event re-scheduled due to rain The new date for the event is April 30, 2023, 11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.

Montgomery Parks, part of The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, is hosting Shine Brighter Together, a free special event to promote autism acceptance.


Aspen Hill

On Friday, March 10, 2023, two victims parked their vehicles at the location. While the victims were inside the fitness center, the suspects forced entry into their vehicles. The suspects stole one of the victim’s personal belongings, including credit cards, from one of the vehicles. Several fraudulent transactions were then made with the stolen credit cards.


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