Updated on 7/20/22: There is concern for a missing Montgomery County teenager who was last seen in Hagerstown on Sunday, July 17th. Skylar Lea Paige, who goes by Sky, is 16 years old and could be in the Glenmont/Wheaton/Silver Spring area.
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Author: MCS Staff
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Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services (MCFRS) responded to a call near the waterfall on the Northwest Branch Stream Trail in the Burnt Mills area of Silver Spring at a little before noon on Tuesday.
According to MCFRS Chief Spokesperson Pete Piringer, a child slipped into the water while he was with a group of campers/hikers on the trail. An adult counselor jumped in to save the child, but also became trapped in the swift moving water that contained underwater rocks and logs. According to Piringer, “another child washed downstream and self-rescued.”
With teens obtaining driver’s licenses during the summer more than any other season, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2022’s Best & Worst States for Teen Drivers. The state of Maryland has come in ranked as the 4th safest state for teen drivers.
In order to determine the safest and least costly driving environments for U.S. teenagers, WalletHub compared the 50 states based on 23 key metrics. The data set ranges from the number of teen driver fatalities to the average cost of car repairs to the presence of impaired-driving laws.
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Matt Hilburn, the man behind the “Unsuck DC Metro” Twitter account and self-proclaimed Metro Lover Hater, has died at 54, according to a report by Washingtonian. Unsuck DC Metro began as a blog in 2009, but became almost exclusive to Social media (mainly Twitter and Facebook until the Facebook page was deleted in late 2021), with just four blog posts in the last 9 years compared to constant activity on Twitter as recently as late last week.
Per a 2019 DCist report, “The Unsuck D.C. Metro blog and social media account began a decade ago as one of the few ways that residents could learn about delays and other issues on the WMATA rail system.” Hilburn remained anonymous as the account continued providing updates, but also began to criticize Metro, Metro employees, and even passengers primarily through curated retweets and reposts of others doing the same as the account grew in popularity.
The Montgomery County Department of Health and Humar Services has shared a video on Twitter where Dr. Ashish Jah, the Covid Response Coordinator for the White House, let’s the public what they need to know about BA.5, a version of the Omicron variant, that’s causing the majority of Covid-19 cases in the United States.
In the video, “Dr. Ashish Jha shares what you need to know about BA.5, the Biden-Harris Administration’s strategy to manage BA.5, and the steps all Americans can take to stay protected.” In the video, Dr. Jha mentions that BA.5 is a version of last winter’s Omicron variant that has been tracked since April and is now the majority of Covid-19 cases in the United States. Dr. Jha refers to BA.5 as “highly immune evasive”, explaining that a lot of reinfections of those previously infected are occurring, and breakthrough infections in those who haven’t been vaccinated in a while. He notes that current tools, vaccines, and therapeutics still work against BA.5.
On Monday, Doreen Gentzler spoke with Leon Harris on NBC4 about his sobriety, as well as the time he recently spent in jail after his DUI conviction earlier this year. Harris told that Gentzler that he was in worse shape than he thought at the time and that he could have killed someone while driving impaired, “I thought after having about four glasses of wine I was good.. I wasn’t, nobody is going to be good after that.” Harris said he now spends three hours a day in therapy talking to other people in recovery.
According to WTOP, Harris spent 10 days in jail and is on three years of supervised probation. Harris returns to the anchor desk on tonight’s 6PM newscast. You can watch the full video below courtesy of the @nbcwashington Twitter:
Courtesy of Montgomery Planning: Montgomery County is home to a surprising number of rural areas. The forward-thinking 1964 General Plan focused growth in defined corridors emanating from the population centers in and around the Capital Beltway. Between those corridors, the General Plan called for wedges of low-density residential uses, open space and protected farmland. The rural areas encompass the 93,000 acre Agricultural Reserve along with the larger rural communities of Damascus and Poolesville; small crossroad communities such as Beallsville, Sunshine and Dickerson; and areas with mixed open land and housing. Aerial video available below:
Progress Labs at Progress Way in Gaithersburg, MD is a two-building approximately 495,000 SF development situated on 44 acres with I-270 visibility and access off of exit 11 Montgomery Village Avenue. Construction commenced at Progress Labs at 700 N. Frederick Avenue in Gaithersburg, MD back in October, and according to the video below (posted by Progress Labs on Monday, July 18th), is scheduled to be delivered in Q4 of 2022, which is ahead of schedule based on the schedule provided on its website, also seen below:
Commence Construction: 10/2021
Per the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Maryland: United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron and Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division announced today that the Justice Department has opened a civil pattern or practice investigation into the Maryland Department of State Police (MDSP) under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The investigation will assess whether MDSP has engaged in racially discriminatory hiring and promotion practices.
“This office strives to protect the civil rights of all Marylanders, including the rights of our sworn law enforcement officers,” said U.S. Attorney Erek L. Barron for the District of Maryland. “This investigation also furthers our mission to restore trust between law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve by ensuring fair employment practices by police departments.”
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Back in October we let you know that Giant Food signed on to open at the Orchard Center on Cherry Hill Rd in Calverton. The Landover-based grocery announced it signed a 20-year lease with MCB Real Estate for a 64,626-square-foot building to open a new grocery store location at the former ShopRite space at 12028 Cherry Hill Rd. ShopRite closed back in February of 2021after Aldi opened in the shopping center in October of 2020. The grocery store has announced that it will open on Friday, August 5th at 6am. Nearby location at 11701 Beltsville Drive in the Calverton Shopping Center (located in Prince George’s County) will be closing permanently at midnight on Thursday, August 4th.
Giant operates 164 supermarkets in Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, and the District of Columbia with about 20,000 associates. Included within the 164 stores are 152 full-service pharmacies, 82 full-service PNC Banks and 24 Starbucks locations. This will be the 21st Giant Food location in Montgomery County.
Lazzaro’s Authentic Italian Deli opened in the Montgomery Mall Food Court back in May, in the space previously occupied by Big Al’s Sub Shop. Earlier this week the stall in the food court was closed and mostly cleared out and Google listed the restaurant as permanently closed.
Early this morning there was confirmation that the food court location has closed, but hope of a reopening in a brick and mortar locations, when owner Larry Lazarro wrote the following in response to a post on the Support MoCo FB page: “Thank you for all you and everyone has done on this page. Business was great and so was the feedback. It was a personal family health matter. But this is not the end I’m looking to move into a brick/ mortar. This place fell into my lap. Goin into the mall was never my first choice. lol Thank you to everyone we’ll miss seeing your beautiful faces every day! We love you and appreciate what everyone has done for us in this group! And the family is doing fine now.”