MCS Staff, Author at The MoCo Show

Governor Hogan Calls on President Biden, Secretary Buttigieg to Reverse Federal Highway Administration Decision to Delay Traffic Relief Plan For I-270/495, American Legion Bridge

Published August 5, 2022 at 11:00AM

From the Office of Governor Larry Hogan: Governor Larry Hogan today issued the following statement and sent a letter calling on President Biden and U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg to immediately reverse the acting federal highway administrator’s decision to overrule the agency’s professional staff and delay the State of Maryland’s Traffic Relief Plan for the American Legion Bridge and the Capital Beltway:

“President Biden and Secretary Buttigieg pledged to support the states’ most critical infrastructure projects to create jobs and improve the quality of life in our communities. I united governors from both parties around an infrastructure plan, and held a summit in Annapolis to help pass the bipartisan infrastructure law.

Rockville

(Located) Rockville Police Asking For Assistance in Locating Missing 70-Year-Old-Man

By MCS Staff

Published August 5, 2022 at 10:24AM | Updated August 5, 2022 at 9:45PM

Update: Mr. Clukey has been located safe and unharmed.

The Rockville City Police Department is asking for the public’s assistance in locating a missing Rockville man. Dale Calvin Clukey, age 70, of College Parkway, was last seen several days ago. He does not drive, suffers from dementia and other medical issues. Police are concerned for his welfare.

Business

Germantown’s Senseonics Announces Expanded Insurance Coverage For Its Implantable Glucose Monitoring Systems

By MCS Staff

Published August 5, 2022 at 9:52AM

Senseonics Holdings, Inc. (NYSE American: SENS) a medical technology company based in Germantown that focuses on the development and manufacturing of long-term, implantable continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) systems for people with diabetes, announced that Anthem is providing coverage for implantable CGM, which includes the Eversense CGM System. Anthem’s decision will add more than 45 million covered lives for the long-term implantable CGM system to help manage their diabetes. This recent coverage decision adds to the growing number of payers who are writing Eversense into their CGM coverage policies that now benefit approximately 250 million covered lives, as well as paying for the healthcare provider’s time for the in-office sensor insertion. This allows Ascensia Diabetes Care, Senseonics’ global commercial partner, to introduce the Eversense CGM System to more people living with diabetes.

Per the press release: Anthem (now Elevance Health) is the second largest health insurance company in the U.S. and a leading health company dedicated to improving lives and communities, and making healthcare simpler. Through its affiliated companies, Anthem serves people across 14 states, including more than 45 million within its family of health plans. This most recent coverage decision, in addition to Cigna, Aetna, Humana, HCSC Blue Cross Blue Shield and other health insurance providers, demonstrates broad-based coverage across the United States from the majority of commercial payers, enabling their members to access the benefits of the long-term Eversense CGM System.

DMV

New UMD Basketball Coach Kevin Willard Buys Home in Potomac

By MCS Staff

Published August 5, 2022 at 9:38AM

New Maryland Men’s Basketball head coach Kevin Willard, and his wife Julie, have purchased a home in Montgomery County. The custom home constructed and designed by PKK Builders and GTM Architects is in Potomac and sold for $4.9 million in July, according to public record (photo below). Kevin Willard was named the new head coach of the Maryland Men’s Basketball program in March. Willard recently coached Seton Hall to its fifth NCAA Tournament appearance in the last six years the tournament was held, having won a regular-season conference championship, conference tournament championship and earning conference coach of the year, Willard is one of 10 active head coaches in the Power 6 conferences to achieve each of the accomplishments in the last six seasons.

The home is described as a “six-bedroom, seven-and-a-half bathroom stunner features over 11,000 square feet of thoughtful design and resort-styled landscaping with manicured backyard.” It was built in 2014 and boasts palatial front doors, wide plank oak hardwoods, a gourmet kitchen, stone patio with a complete and covered outdoor kitchen, waterfall, three-level elevator, his and her offices, heated master bathroom floors, and a lot more, according to the listing by Washington Fine Properties.

Business

Teamsters Edge Closer to National Work Stoppage at Costco

By MCS Staff

Published August 5, 2022 at 9:12AM

A press release sent out by The Teamsters announced that more than 17,000 Costco Teamsters are currently working under an expired contract and that workers are “planning job actions across the country to send message to the company.” The release noted that the Costco Teamsters are “one step closer to a nationwide work stoppage” as they negotiate for a new national contract. There are two Costco locations in Montgomery County- Gaithersburg and Wheaton. The full press release can be seen below:

Costco Teamsters are one step closer to a nationwide work stoppage following another day of contentious negotiations for a new national contract. The Teamsters are bargaining with the company this week for the first time since members overwhelmingly rejected Costco’s “last, best and final” contract offer in June. “Our members at Costco will stand up for their rights and withhold their labor if necessary,” said Sean M. O’Brien, Teamsters General President. “As always, if our members decide to act, they will have the backing of the 1.2-million member International Brotherhood of Teamsters behind them.”

MoCo History

‘A Pictorial History of Rockville’ Will Be Focus of Montgomery History’s Free Online Presentation on Tuesday, Aug. 9

By MCS Staff

Published August 5, 2022 at 8:02AM

“A Pictorial History of Rockville” will be the focus of a free online presentation of Montgomery History at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 9. Ralph Buglass will lead the discussion. The presentation will draw extensively on vintage photos from “Rockville: Images of America,” a book produced by Peerless Rockville and coauthored by Mr. Buglass. It will cover the 250-year history of Rockville and will look at how Rockville grew from a tiny crossroads community to the bustling government center of Montgomery County—and one of the nation’s most diverse cities.

Mr. Buglass often speaks about many aspects of Montgomery County history. He has a bachelor’s degree in American history from Cornell University and a master’s in journalism from American University. To register for the presentation, go to https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_8accXj9CRD6PytAnLLnpbA. “Drawing extensively on vintage photos from a book produced by Peerless Rockville, this talk covers the 250-year history of Rockville from a tiny crossroads community to the bustling government center of Montgomery County—and one of the nation’s most diverse cities. Rockville not only has a fascinating history all its own, but also exemplifies our county’s history in many ways—and has ties to significant national events and figures. The speaker co-authored the book for Peerless Rockville.”

MoCo

Department of Permitting Services Conducts ‘Sign Sweep’ to Collect Illegally Placed Signs

By MCS Staff

Published August 5, 2022 at 7:57AM

Montgomery County’s Department of Permitting Services (DPS) conducted a “sign sweep” on Thursday, Aug. 4, to remove signs illegally placed in public rights-of-way throughout the County. Those signs included campaign signs that were placed leading up to the July 19 Maryland gubernatorial primary election. The “sign sweep” was conducted on County-maintained roads.

DPS Zoning and Code Compliance Manager Greg Nichols said inspectors formed teams to target assigned areas around the County. He said the teams removed any type of sign—not just campaign signs—that were placed illegally in the public right-of-way. DPS staff delivered the signs to the Shady Grove Processing Facility and Transfer Station in Derwood for recycling and disposal.

WMATA

Metrorail Running Scheduled Service Following Wednesday Morning System Issue

By MCS Staff

Published August 5, 2022 at 7:48AM

While many Metro customers have expressed dissatisfaction with recent service issues, Metro has also been applauded for providing consistent communication regarding issues that have taken place affecting service since Randy Clarke took over as General Manager/CEO on July 1st.

Per Metro: At approximately 7am on Wednesday morning, Metro’s Rail Operations Control Center (ROCC) identified an intermittent IT network connection issue that impacted communications between systems. Customers throughout the rail system were notified to expect delays and received notification through social, text, Web and Metro Alerts to allow for additional travel time while the issue was assessed. After further review, it was determined that the customer data feed was providing incorrect information to our passenger information system, trip planner and third party apps. The majority of customer trips remained on time throughout the morning, and Metro is currently running scheduled service on all rail lines.

MoCo Government

Marc Elrich Leads David Blair By 154 Votes Going Into Friday’s Canvass Session

By MCS Staff

Published August 5, 2022 at 7:40AM | Updated August 5, 2022 at 10:39AM

Canvassing of mail-in and provisional ballots continues on Friday after a day off on Thursday. The current remaining canvass days are scheduled for Friday, August 5th and Sunday, August 6th (staring at 10am), with additional dates to be added should they be needed, according to the Montgomery County Board of Elections. The latest update by the Maryland State Board of Elections in the Democratic primary for Montgomery County Executive (9:51pm, 8/3) shows that incumbent Marc Elrich (51,883, 39.28%) has maintained his lead over David Blair (51,729, 39.16%), going from a lead of 173 votes after Tuesday night’s tabulations to 154 votes in Wednesday night’s update.

David Blair led by 1,191 votes when early voting and Election Day votes were tallied. Elrich took the lead early on during the canvassing of mail-in votes, but Blair closed the gap and eventually reclaimed the lead. Elrich regained the lead on the first day of August, increased it by 53 additional votes in Tuesday night‘s update, with David Blair cutting the lead by 19 in the Wednesday night update. Overall, Blair has received 22,375 mail-in/provisional ballot votes compared to 23,885 for Marc Elrich. Marc Elrich defeated David Blair by just 77 votes in the 2018 Democratic Primary.

Crime

Man Who Made Threats Against Dr. Anthony Fauci and Other Federal Officials Sentenced to Over Three Years in Federal Prison

By MCS Staff

Published August 5, 2022 at 7:19AM

Per the United States Attorney’s Office, District of Maryland: U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis sentenced Thomas Patrick Connally, Jr., age 56, most recently of Snowshoe, West Virginia to 37 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for making threats against a federal official, specifically for sending emails threatening harm to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the current Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Connally further admitted threatening Dr. Francis Collins, the former Director of the NIH, Dr. Rachel Levine, currently the Assistant Secretary for Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, as well as a Massachusetts public health official and a religious leader.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron and Deputy Inspector General for Investigations Christian J. Schrank, Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Crime

Update on Catherine Hoggle, The Montgomery County Woman Charged With The Murder of Her Two Young Children Who Have Been Missing Since 2014

By MCS Staff

Published August 4, 2022 at 5:32PM

State’s Attorney John McCarthy today provided an update on defendant, Catherine Hoggle, the mother charged with murder of her two young children, Sarah and Jacob Hoggle, who have been missing since 2014. The State asked for the judge to voir dire (question) Catherine Hoggle in order to assist in the court’s determination of her competency. Judge Jordan invited both the State and the defense to submit questions for him to potentially include if he does speak with the defendant. He also indicated that he would be interested in hearing from witnesses. The hearing was continued. Preliminarily, a date of October 7^th was discussed, but still needs to be confirmed. The recorded live stream of State’s Attorney John McCarthy and Troy Turner (the father of Sarah and Jacob Hoggle) speaking following today’s hearing is available here: https://fb.watch/eHVquF99du/

Background of the case, per the Maryland Court of Special Appeals: Catherine Hoggle is the mother of Sarah Hoggle and Jacob Hoggle. According to the State, the two children were last seen in the care of their mother on September 7, 2014. At that time, Sarah was five years old, and Jacob was three years old. Hoggle was arrested three days after the children disappeared. Officers interrogated her for several hours, but they did not learn the location of the children.