MCS Staff, Author at The MoCo Show

Maryland United States Attorney’s Office Resolves Disability Discrimination Lawsuit Against Maryland Developer Involving Multifamily Housing Complexes

Published September 28, 2022 at 7:08AM

Per the Office of the U.S. Attotney, District of Maryland: United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron and Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division announced today that Maryland-based developer Stavrou Associates, Inc. and related entities have agreed to pay $185,000 to settle claims that they violated the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by failing to build 11 multi-family housing complexes in Maryland with required accessible features for people with disabilities. As part of the settlement, the defendants also agreed to make extensive retrofits to remove accessibility barriers at the complexes.

The government’s lawsuit, filed today, raises similar allegations against a second Maryland-based developer, Humphrey Stavrou Associates, Inc., and related entities, which were involved in building six other multi-family housing complexes in Maryland. The lawsuit involving those properties is unaffected by today’s settlement.

Education

Montgomery College Selected for Prestigious Delphi Award for Transforming Support for Contingent Faculty

By MCS Staff

Published September 28, 2022 at 7:00AM

The Pullias Center for Higher Education at the University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education, in partnership with the American Association of Colleges & Universities (AAC&U) has selected Montgomery College as one of two winners of the Delphi Award for 2022. The other winner is Dominican University (CA). Montgomery College and Dominican will each receive $15,000 cash awards to continue their work to support adjunct, contingent, and/or non-tenure-track faculty (NTTF) in promoting student success.

“From a competitive pool of applicants, we chose this year’s winners for their significant work ensuring that contingent faculty are supported,” stated Professor Adrianna Kezar, Director of the Pullias Center and primary investigator on the Delphi Project. “The two organizations selected have instituted scalable and innovative institutional policies that remove equity barriers for non-tenure-track faculty and are prime examples of the exemplary work occurring across the country.”

Events

Young Artist Award Competition; Submission Deadline At the End of The Year

By MCS Staff

Published September 28, 2022 at 6:58AM

The City of Gaithersburg, in association with the Kentlands Community Foundation, presents the 20^thannual Young Artist Award, a juried competition culminating in a concert for the top prize winners. The goal of the Young Artist Award is to provide musicians ages 12 – 18 with an enriching artistic experience & encourage them in their love of music.

The 2023 Young Artist Award Competition includes the 3^rd annual awarding of the Carrie McMahon Dietz Award for Excellence. This award is presented to a City of Gaithersburg resident who participates in the competition & has the highest score of all City residents. The award is given in honor of Carrie McMahon Dietz, longtime Executive Director of the Kentlands Community Foundation & one of the founders of the Young Artist Award Competition. Online application here.

Bethesda

5 of Top 7 Private High Schools in Maryland are in MoCo, According to Niche

By MCS Staff

Published September 27, 2022 at 5:34PM

Niche, a rankings and review resource that provides information on K-12 schools, colleges, cities, neighborhoods, and companies across the United States, has just published its new 2023 Best Schools and Districts rankings. Now in its ninth year, the rankings include updated data for 92,743 public schools, 30,112 private schools, and 11,820 school districts nationwide. 5 of the top 7 private high schools in Maryland are located in Montgomery County, with Bethesda’s Holton-Arms School earning the top spot.

Per Niche: “The 2023 Best Private K-12 Schools ranking is based on rigorous analysis of key statistics and millions of reviews from students and parents. Ranking factors include SAT/ACT scores, the quality of colleges that students consider, student-teacher ratio, private school ratings, and more. Data sourced from the U.S. Department of Education, Niche users, and the schools directly. Read more on how this ranking was calculated.”

Education

7 of Top 10 Public High Schools in Maryland Are in MoCo; All MCPS High Schools In Top Half of Rankings, According to Niche

By MCS Staff

Published September 27, 2022 at 4:27PM | Updated September 28, 2022 at 5:44AM

Niche, a rankings and review resource that provides information on K-12 schools, colleges, cities, neighborhoods, and companies across the United States, has just published its new 2023 Best Schools and Districts rankings. Now in its ninth year, the rankings include updated data for 92,743 public schools, 30,112 private schools, and 11,820 school districts nationwide. 7 of the top 10 public high schools in Maryland are located in Montgomery County, with Poolesville High School earning the top spot (All MCPS schools listed can be seen below and there are 282 public high schools in the state).

Per Niche: “While traditional rankings rely almost exclusively on metrics like test scores and academic performance, Niche’s rankings combine user input — ratings from current students, alumni, and parents — with quantitative data from sources like the U.S. Department of Education to evaluate teachers, resources and facilities, extracurricular activity opportunities and more. The 2023 Best Schools rankings include 2,906 newly ranked public schools, 1,018 newly ranked private schools, and 547 newly ranked school districts across the country.”

Maryland

Governor Hogan Announces Launch of Small Acreage Cover Crop Program to Support Urban Agriculture

By MCS Staff

Published September 27, 2022 at 3:48PM

Initiative Aimed at Helping Historically Underserved Farmers and Communities

Per the State of Maryland: Governor Larry Hogan today announced the launch of a Small Acreage Cover Crop Program to support small farm producers and urban agriculture. The pilot program is operated by the Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) and aimed at helping historically underserved farmers and communities build healthy soils, increase yields, sequester carbon, and improve local water quality. Financial assistance for this program is capped at $1,000 per grower, per year. “The incredible character, work ethic, and resilience of our farmers has been an inspiration to me and to all Marylanders,” said Governor Hogan. “Grant programs like these demonstrate our commitment to ensuring that all our farmers continue to be good stewards of the land and that agriculture remains our state’s number one industry.”

Maryland

Governor Hogan Announces Nearly $32 Million In Affordable Rental Housing Awards

By MCS Staff

Published September 27, 2022 at 3:45PM

More Than 1,300 High Quality, Energy-Efficient, Affordable Units To Be Created Or Preserved

Per the State of Maryland:—Governor Larry Hogan today announced nearly $32 million in project awards through the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development’s (DHCD) 2022 application round for federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) and state Rental Housing Funds. Funds have been awarded to 12 projects as part of the competitive round. Nine additional noncompetitive awards were made through the Multifamily Bond Program, bringing the total awards to 21. These awards will result in the creation or preservation of 1,340 high quality, energy-efficient, affordable rental units.

Rockville

Bambu Cafe to Close Permanently at the end of October

By MCS Staff

Published September 27, 2022 at 12:42PM

Bambu, a cafe in Rockville that specializes in bubble tea, coffee, tea, desserts, Chè, and Indonesian cuisine, will close on October 31st, according to a representative we spoke with earlier today. The cafe, located at 12242 Rockville Pike, opened in 2019.

Equipment from the restaurant is currently available via auction at Capital Auction. Featured photo courtesy of Google Maps.

Crime

FBI Seeking Info About “Red Hat Guy” Who is Wanted For Montgomery County Bank Robbery

By MCS Staff

Published September 27, 2022 at 10:02AM

The Baltimore office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has tweeted that it’s “seeking info about the “Red Hat Guy”, wanted for committing a bank robbery on September 16, 2022, in Silver Spring, Maryland. The suspect displayed a black handgun and is described as a White male, 50 to 60 years old, and 6’0″ to 6’2″ (tweet below)”

At approximately 12:25 p.m., 3rd District Officers responded to the location for the report of an armed bank robbery that just occurred. The investigation by detectives has determined that the suspect entered the bank and approached an employee. The suspect displayed a black handgun and demanded money. The employee handed over an undisclosed amount of money to the suspect who then left the bank.

Damascus

‘That Smoothie Place’ to Open in Damascus in Coming Weeks

By MCS Staff

Published September 27, 2022 at 7:34AM

Back in May we let you know about ‘That Smoothie Place’ coming to Damascus, taking over the location that was formerly home to Sprint in the Damascus shopping center at 9815 Main Street, suite 106. The store is now expected to open within the next couple weeks.

That Smoothie Place has been operating as a food truck since 2018, frequenting Damascus and other surrounding areas. They offer a variety of smoothies known as “Rock Star Smoothies” named after popular rock stars of the past and present. The featured photo shows a special known as “The Lennox” named after Annie Lennox of the popular 80s group Eurythmics and contains apple, banana, apple cider and a few other ingredients. Other smoothies on the menu include the Ozzy, Ringo Starr, Jagger, Morrison, and more.

Downtown Silver Spring

Nike Unite Store Sets Opening Date in Silver Spring

By MCS Staff

Published September 27, 2022 at 7:21AM

Back in June we let you know that a Nike Unite store is coming to Downtown Silver Spring, taking over the location that was formerly home to DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse location at 910 Ellsworth Drive. The store has set an opening date of November 3rd, per its Google listing (photo below, first reported by Source of the Spring).

An employee at the Nike Unite store told us that the pricing and products offered at a Unite store are similar to that of a Nike Factory store (often found at outlets), with a slightly different layout and a specific return section for items purchased on Nike.com. Nike describes the Nike Unite concept as: