A Heat Advisory is in effect from 11am Wednesday, July 26tj until until 8pm on Thursday, July 27th for the entire DMV area. Heat index values around 105 degrees are expected within this time.
Featured photo courtesy of Dronify DMV
Long awaited renovations are about to begin at Columbia Local Park, located at 14900 Old Columbia Pike in Burtonsville. The park, which is adjacent to the Marilyn J. Praisner Community Recreation Center and the Marilyn J. Praisner Library, has consisted of a baseball field, two tennis courts, and picnic shelter receive very little use, compared to the southern portion of the park. In addition to the baseball field, tennis court, and picnic shelter in the northern portion of the park, three additional tennis courts have been taken out of service, leaving only a large, open paved area surrounded by a ten-foot-tall fence.
The 25.2-acre park is bisected by a densely forested stream valley, effectively splitting the park into two distinct spaces. With significant frontage along Old Columbia Pike, the three basketball courts, two baseball fields, and multi-user swing in the southern portion of the park are highly visible and heavily used. Beyond the forested stream valley, the northern portion of the park is relatively isolated, obscured from Old Columbia Pike by the nearby library and recreation center. As such, The purpose of this project is to find a permanent use for the former tennis courts and simultaneously activate the northern portion of the park to make it more inviting to future users and to discourage inappropriate activities from occurring. Because Columbia Local Park is within the Upper Paint Branch Special Protection Area, the amount of impervious surface within the park cannot be increased. One of the goals of the project is to remove and de-consolidate paved areas wherever possible.
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources is now accepting applications for the 2023 black bear hunt lottery. Successful applicants will receive a permit valid for the 6-day hunting season open October 23-28 in Allegany, Frederick, Garrett, and Washington counties.
The annual bear hunt, now in its 20th year, is an important management tool used to slow the increase of Maryland’s black bear population and limit expansion of Maryland bears into the eastern suburbs and cities. The department will once again issue 950 hunting permits this year.
Summer is heating up at Good Counsel Athletics!
Our summer camps are filling fast, and only a few spots remain! Whether you’re looking to sharpen your skills, stay active, or have fun with friends, now is the time to register.
Don’t miss your chance to train with Falcons coaches and athletes this summer. Register today before camps sell out! www.olgchs.org/camps
The City of Gaithersburg presents works by the Gaithersburg Camera Club, on display through October 1, 2023, at Kentlands Mansion. Meet the artists and view their works at a free Artists Reception on Sunday, August 6 from 2 to 3:30 p.m. All our welcome; light refreshments will be served.
This exhibit features 55 images depicting a wide variety of subject matter. Featured artists include Michael Brown, Sabine Dickens, Wendy Dinova-Wimmer, Cheryl Gillerman, Deborah Gillham, Carol Gregoire, Judy Gross, Linda Joy, Michael Kedda, Anis Khan, Judy MacArthur, David Oakes, Ed Palaszynski, Barry Scheiner, Dottie Schmidt, Goutam Sen & Alan Simmons.
Join Us for StoryBox Comics Fair, a two-day festival celebrating local and independent comics authors!
Day 1 – Saturday, June 27th, 11-5pm @ DwightMess compound (805 Silver Spring Ave): Events are open to the public, admission is FREE. Featuring Special Guest Artists, gallery exhibitions, workshops, artist talks, a modeling session (suggested donation) and exhibitors, you can dig in to indie comics and also tour the compound, which features an extensive comics collection, a rare video collection, Risograph and screenprinting studios.
The future is looking clearer for Metrobus, as Metro and the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) announce the start of the 45-day minimum warning period for the Clear Lanes program. The goal is to improve bus speeds and reliability. Parked cars and vehicles illegally using dedicated bus lanes and bus stop zones slow buses down and impedes customer safety.
Under the program, cameras mounted on Metrobuses will capture video and photos of vehicles illegally operating, parking, standing, or stopping in dedicated bus lanes and bus zones. All enforcement will be handled by DDOT. Metro will not have any role in ticketing and enforcement.
Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services (MCFRS) responded to the scene of a crash at approximately 10pm on Frederick Rd (355) and Ridgemont Avenue near King Farm on Tuesday night.
According to MCFRS Chief Spokesperson Pete Piringer, there was also a fire in the engine compartment of the vehicle. The driver was able to exit the vehicle and crews were able to extinguish the fire, but two people were transported to the hospital.
In April it was announced that all 360 Bed Bath & Beyond and all 120 Buy Buy Baby stores will be closing permanently. Buy Buy Baby’s sole Montgomery County location, at 1683 Rockville Pike in Rockville’s Congressional Plaza, will be closing its doors forever on Sunday, July 30th. The Rockville location was the first Buy Buy Baby store to ever open.
Currently, the store is offering major discounts on all products, but is out of furniture, toys, and other items. There is still a high volume of clothes offered with major discounts. An employee let us know that this is changing by the day, so we recommend anyone checking it out to those who are interested and won’t get into specifics on what is available aside from the clothes.
The Metro Transit Police Department (MTPD) is searching for Adrian Barnes, 29, of Washington, DC for an attempted rape that occurred at ~11pm on July 24 at the Shady Grove Metro Station. According to MTPD, “Suspect approached woman in Shady Grove garage & attempted to rape her. She fought him off & escaped. If you have info on his whereabouts call 202-962-2121 or text MyMTPD (696873)”
Additional details: “Victim reported the suspect, identified as Adrian Barnes, approached her from behind as she was getting in her car. The suspect forced her to the ground, then attempted to rape her. The victim fought off the suspect and ran from the garage to get help.”
Earlier this month we let you know that Montgomery County’s very own Katie Ledecky finished the 1500m with a time of 15:29.64 and now now owns all of the top 15 times ever recorded in the event. Now, Ledecky has become the first person to win five world titles in two different events and she has tied Michael Phelps for the most individual world golds in swimming with 15.
Ledecky won the 1500m freestyle by a whopping 17.04 seconds at the world championships in Fukuoka, Japan, on Tuesday. According to NBC Sports, “It was Ledecky’s best time since lowering her world record to 15:20.48 in 2018, a welcome sight after moving from Stanford to the University of Florida after the Tokyo Olympics.
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Update: The targeted opening is now by the end of September
The Heights Food Hall at Wisconsin Place in Chevy Chase is now targeting a late August opening. The new food hall will be located in the space formerly occupied by Anthropologie and PF Chang’s on the 5400 block of Wisconsin Ave. The Heights will offer both indoor and outdoor patio dining and will be open seven days a week from 11am-Midnight. According to Common Plate Hospitality (CPH) group, the food hall will include: e one full-service restaurant (Urbano), a full-service bar (The Heights Bar), a speakeasy (The Turncoat), and eight local food stalls, including one stall picked from Urbano’s “Stall Wars” competition. We expect the following culinary partners at this anticipated culinary space:
Last March we let you know that F45, which has been opening locations across Montgomery County with recent openings in Potomac and Olney, is coming to Gaithersburg with an upcoming Kentlands location. Construction has been ongoing and while an opening date isn’t currently available, it may be ready within a few months (photo below). A Germantown location is also expected to open soon in the Seneca Meadows shopping center near Wegmans (no date available).
The company had pre-Covid plans to make a move into Gaithersburg’s Rio Lakefront, which fell through, but signed on to take over the space that was recently closed for a few years and previously home to Subway (between Caspian House of Kabob and the recently closed Edible Arrangements).